Epistemology of Testimony We get a great number of our beliefs from what others tell us. The epistemology of testimony concerns how we should evaluate these beliefs. Here are the main questions. When are the beliefs justified, und warum? When do they amount to knowledge, und warum? When someone tells us p, where p is some statement, and we accept it, then we are forming

Animals and Ethics What place should non-human animals have in an acceptable moral system? These animals exist on the borderline of our moral concepts; the result is that we sometimes find ourselves according them a strong moral status, while at other times denying them any kind of moral status at all. Zum Beispiel, public outrage is strong when knowledge of “puppy mills” is made available;

Mental Causation The term “mental causation” applies to causal transactions involving mental events or states, such as beliefs, Wünsche, Gefühle, and perceptions. Typischerweise, the term is used to refer to cases where a mental state causes a physical reaction: Zum Beispiel, the mental state of perceiving a Frisbee flying your way can cause the physical event of your springing up to catch it. It should

Doxastic Voluntarism Doxastic voluntarism is the philosophical doctrine according to which people have voluntary control over their beliefs. Philosophers in the debate about doxastic voluntarism distinguish between two kinds of voluntary control. The first is known as direct voluntary control and refers to acts which are such that if a person chooses to perform them, they happen immediately. Zum Beispiel, a person has direct voluntary

Truthmaker Theory Truthmaker theory is the branch of metaphysics that explores the relationships between what is true and what exists. Diskussionen über Wahrmacher und Wahrheitsfindung beginnen typischerweise mit der Idee, dass Wahrheit vom Sein abhängt, und nicht umgekehrt. Zum Beispiel, ob der Satz „Kängurus leben in Australien“ wahr ist, dann leben in Australien Kängurus. Und ob in Australien Kängurus leben,