E-Mailing the Editors The editors of the IEP are happy to respond to queries. Before writing, though, please check the following: Dates of our Articles: We do not provide information about the dates our articles are written, nor their revision dates. If you need a date, use the date you accessed the IEP. Citing our Articles: Here is an example. “Naturalistic Epistemology,” by Chase B.

Art and Emotion It is widely thought that the capacity of artworks to arouse emotions in audiences is a perfectly natural and unproblemmatic fact. It just seems obvious that we can feel sadness or pity for fictional characters, fear at the view of threatening monsters on the movie screen, and joy upon listening to upbeat, happy songs. This may be why so many of us

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. For instance, a person has direct voluntary

Instructions for Referees Thank you for agreeing to evaluate an article for The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP). All of our correspondence is through e-mail, and so we request that you submit your report via e-mail to the IEP editor who contacted you. You are a blind referee in the sense that the author will never be told your name. You can include your report

Autonomy Autonomy is an individual’s capacity for self-determination or self-governance. Beyond that, it is a much-contested concept that comes up in a number of different arenas. For example, there is the folk concept of autonomy, which usually operates as an inchoate desire for freedom in some area of one’s life, and which may or may not be connected with the agent’s idea of the moral

Human Rights Human rights are certain moral guarantees. This article examines the philosophical basis and content of the doctrine of human rights. The analysis consists of five sections and a conclusion. Section one assesses the contemporary significance of human rights, and it argues that the doctrine of human rights has become the dominant moral doctrine for evaluating the moral status of the contemporary geo-political order.