/library/oar/handle/123456789/72567 2025-12-27T21:33:56Z 2025-12-27T21:33:56Z Buttigieg, Jean Galea, Natasha /library/oar/handle/123456789/135993 2025-06-02T08:26:59Z 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Logic basics Authors: Buttigieg, Jean; Galea, Natasha Abstract: Arguments are the key to good philosophical reasoning. In ordinary language we tend to think of an argument as a quarrel with another person. But in philosophy we think of arguments as forms of reasoning that we employ to support what we believe in and which everyone can accept.

2018-01-01T00:00:00Z Grech, Michael /library/oar/handle/123456789/122624 2025-04-21T09:06:16Z 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: [Book review] Sandri Luigi Anno 2289 L’Ultimo Conclave Authors: Grech, Michael Abstract: In philosophy, as well as in certain empirical sciences or mathematics, counterfactuals are frequently used to determine the soundness of a hypotheses or theory. One would imagine a possible but not real scenario, to see whether the theory or hypothesis in question works in the counterfactual situation. If in this scenario the hypothesis or theory “holds,” the theory or hypothesis will be established as sound. Luigi Sandri: Anno 2289 L’Ultimo Conclave involves such an exercise in relation to certain religious and theological issues; issues that have been topical at least since the Second Vatican Council. These concern how the church ought to be organized, the idea of priesthood, the role/s women ought to play within the Church and, more generally, what changes are desirable and/ or possible within the Roman Church, and the manner in which changes ought to occur, for instance, whether change ought to be carried out by an enlightened Pontiff, or whether it ought to start off at grass-roots level.

2022-01-01T00:00:00Z Young, Niki /library/oar/handle/123456789/71894 2021-03-23T07:07:24Z 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Only two peas in a pod : on the overcoming of ontological taxonomies Authors: Young, Niki Abstract: In his 2016 work entitled Dante’s Broken Hammer, Graham Harman first coins the term “onto-taxonomy”, and proclaims it to be the main nemesis of his “object- oriented” approach to philosophy. The term has however rarely appeared in the absolute majority of his subsequent works, and has also been largely overlooked by thinkers broadly working within and around the field of Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO). In this paper, I propose to make up for this relative neglect in two ways. Firstly, Harman’s critique of “onto-taxonomy” is analysed and situated in the context of other prominent critiques, such as those of Martin Heidegger’s assessment of “Onto-theology” and Quentin Meillassoux’s assessment of “correlationism.” Secondly, I shall show how what I believe to be the three fundamental tenets of Harman’s philosophical approach are derivable from his critique of “onto-taxonomy.”

2021-01-01T00:00:00Z Grech, Michael /library/oar/handle/123456789/71892 2021-03-23T07:07:14Z 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Two ways of saying no to Quine Authors: Grech, Michael Abstract: W. V. O. Quine holds that the raison d’etre of metaphysics is the drawing of two lists; the list of entities that are part of the world and of those that are not. To achieve this aim, he suggests regimenting true sentences belonging to ‘our best theories’ to determine their ontological commitments. Many accept Quine’s project, differing with each other regarding what are the best theories, the sentences that belong to these and the entities that are part of the world. Other philosophers find this characterization of metaphysics deficient. Jonathan Schaffer considers the issue of what exists as trivial or uninteresting. The important issue is whether the things said to exist exists derivatively or fundamentally. He believes that there is a set of fundamental entities, and metaphysics ought to be concerned primarily with delineating this set of entities. Philosophical debates ought to be reconsidered along these lines. Theodore Sider on the other hand, thinks that the world contains a distinctive structure, and the aim of metaphysics is to discover the notions that enable us to describe facts concerning structure. Some of the possibilities and limits of these two approaches are highlighted.

2021-01-01T00:00:00Z