S/P/341. Should Hume be interpreted as Maintaining a Regularity Theory of Causation?

The paper examines the views of David Hume on the links between cause and effect known as 'regulatory' theory and 'modified necessity' theory. Philosophical understanding of causation is discussed arguing the amount of experience sufficient to establish the cause and effect relationship between phenomena.

S/P/141. What makes an explanation good?

The paper seeks to identify whether effective explanation has logical, metaphysical, semantic or psychological roots. Academic approaches to the nature of explanation are reviewed.

S/P/137. Is arithmetic logic?

The paper examines arithmetical notions from the perspective of logic focusing on the ideas of Frege and critically analysing them with reference to Potter, Neo-logicists, Hume, etc. Conclusions are made about the nature of the 'Julius Caesar problem'.

S/P/108. Is every true identity statement a necessary truth?

In this essay I will be analysing Kripke's claim of certain true identity statements being necessarily true i.e. in the case of names and theoretical identifications. A counterexample will then be put forward, showing that such identity statements can be contingently true. It will also be demonstrated in this essay, that such different claims about identity statements are dependent on the varying notions of possible worlds.

E/P/14. Logical argumentation and objective truth

The paper examines the nature of argument offering its definitions and seeking to identify whether a successful argument can be considered as objectively true. The controversial issues of logic are addressed; the function of rhetoric as the art of persuasion is discussed.

S/P/43. How should Goodman’s Paradox be solved?

This essay argues that a solution to Goodman’s Paradox turns upon identifying the relevant asymmetry between predicates like ‘grue’ and those like ‘green’, which (drawing upon Fact, Fiction and Forecast (1954)) is best undertaken by way of an entrenchment criterion. It first explains the paradox and elaborates on the main points of interest, then discusses several attempts to solve it, and their failings. Finally, it examines Goodman’s concept of entrenchment, and some of the issues it has to deal with if it is to be used to finally solve the paradox.

S/P/42. What are the advantages of Frege's distinction between sense and reference over 'psychologism'?

In this essay I shall examine the core content of ‘psychologism’, and Frege’s alternate analysis of sense and reference, or 'sinn' and 'bedeutung', with the view that the distinction between sense and reference was intended to establish the objectivity of Fregean Thoughts. Finally, I will cover some of the problems that Frege’s answer provides before summarizing the advantages such a separation of content provides.

P/P/203. Is rationality universal across cultures?

The paper looks into the nature of rationality examining its definitions and arguing its universal character. Ethnocentric (relativist) and Universalist viewpoints on rationality standards and cultural beliefs are reviewed.

P/P/178. Relations between physical and mental states

The paper poses the question whether mental events are determined by physical events subjecting to criticism the physicalist (materialist) view that all mental properties are really physical. The concept of supervenience is applied not only to the relationship within a possible world but also across possible worlds.

P/P/174. Can mental states cause physical events?

The paper seeks to understand to what extent mental processes can cause physical events arguing physicalist views on overdetermination and the identity between physical and mental events. A review of philosophic approaches to causal relations is given highlighting the problem of mental causation.

P/P/161. Philosophic origins of nothingness and negation

The paper is a philosophic discourse on the subject of negation and nothingness discussing the views of Husserl and Sartre and making allusions to ancient Greek philosophers and Homers Odyssey. Conclusions are made about distinguishing between two ways of being: being-in-itself and being-for-itself.

P/P/161. Philosophic origins of nothingness and negation

The paper is a philosophic discourse on the subject of negation and nothingness discussing the views of Husserl and Sartre and making allusions to ancient Greek philosophers and Homers Odyssey. Conclusions are made about distinguishing between two ways of being: being-in-itself and being-for-itself.

S/P/21. Do ideas of 'natural rights' provide the best philosophical defence for human rights?

This essay argues that theories of natural rights are fundamentally flawed, providing a philosophically weak basis for theories of human rights. Criticisms of the theories of Hobbes and Locke are discussed, including those of Marx, Bentham and MacDonald. It is suggested that there is no indisputable defence of human rights as they are a value-judgement. However, this does not take away from their practical importance in the modern world. It suggests a legal positivist position is more productive.

S/P/20. Does David Lewis succeed in showing that time-travel is logically possible?

Einsteinian physics has shown time-travel to be theoretically plausible. All it would take is for an object to be spun faster than the speed of light, and relativity would send it spiralling towards an earlier time-frame. David Lewis attempts to eliminate any potential contradictions arising from time-travel in "Paradoxes of Time-Travel". How successfully does Lewis demonstrate the logical possibility of time-travel? In order to answer this question, we will firstly examine the 'Grandfather paradox' objection to time-travel and Lewis' solution to this before detailing Horwich's probability argument, then finally Smith's attempt to prove the possibility of time-travel.

S/P/19. How significant is Nelson Goodman's "New Riddle of Induction" as a challenge to the rationality of our scientific practices?

The basic problem of inductive proof as exemplified by Hume in the Treatise of Human Nature has long been a thorn in the side of philosophers. How can we bear the assumption that the future will resemble the past and how can we have any grounds for generalising from the past to the future? Various philosophers have come up with differing views yet none of them seem to have adequately concluded the issue at hand. Popperian falsification dealt with induction from a completely different perspective but the problems raised by induction were far from being conclusively resolved. In 1954 with the publication of Fact, Fiction and Forecast, Nelson Goodman intensified the debate by demonstrating that Hume's basic problem of induction was only half the issue. Goodman's "New Riddle of Induction", as it has come to be known, asks how we can move precisely from the past to the future. How much significance can this new theory be said to bear on scientific practices?

P/P/120. Scientific theory Vs. non-scientific theory

The paper touches upon the philosophy of science arguing that there may be a very narrow divide between scientific assertions and pseudo-scientific assertions. The author looks at modes of argumentation within the framework of inductive and deductive logic. The theory of falsification by K. R. Popper is referred to; the contradictions in his arguments are outlined.

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