•  122
    Kant’s reputation for making absolutist claims about universal and necessary conditions for the possibility of experience are put here in the broader context of his goals for the Critical philosophy. It is shown that within that context, Kant’s claims can be seen as considerably more innocuous than they are traditionally regarded, underscoring his deep respect for “common sense” and sharing surprisingly similar goals with Wittgenstein in terms of what philosophy can, and at least as importantly …Read more
  •  81
    Kant’s General Logic and Aristotle
    Proceedings of the Xxii World Congress of Philosophy 16 181-189. 2008.
    In the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant uses the term “logic” in a bewildering variety of ways, at times making it close to impossible to determine whether he is referring to (among others) general logic, transcendental logic, transcendental analytic, a "special" logic relative to a specific science, a "natural" logic, a logic intended for the "learned" (Gelehrter), some hybrid of these logics, or even some still-more abstract notion that ranges over all of these uses. This paper seeks to come to g…Read more
  •  67
    Naturalism and the surreptitious embrace of necessity
    Metaphilosophy 42 (1-2): 17-32. 2011.
    Abstract: In this article, two philosophical positions that structure distinct approaches in the history of metaphysics and epistemology are briefly characterized and contrasted. While one view, “naturalism,” rejects an a priori commitment to necessity, the other view, “transcendentalism,” insists on that commitment. It is shown that at the level of the fundamentals of thought, judgment, and reason, the dispute dissolves, and the naturalists' employment of “necessity for all practical purposes” …Read more
  •  59
    Why Doesn’t Kant Care about Natural Language?
    Dialogue 40 (1): 25. 2001.
    At the same time, it is not entirely inappropriate to ask why Kant does not care about natural language. One searches in vain for many remarks about, let alone any kind of developed discussion of, language in Kant’s texts, a lacuna that becomes especially salient in the Critique of Pure Reason, particularly to those reading that text in the late twentieth century. Yet it is in this text, along with the Critique of Judgement, where one would expect to see a discussion of language in Kant’s system…Read more
  •  45
    The Grammatical Background of Kant's General Logic
    Kantian Review 13 (1): 116-140. 2008.
    In the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant conceives of general logic as a set of universal and necessary rules for the possibility of thought, or as a set of minimal necessary conditions for ascribing rationality to an agent . Such a conception, of course, contrasts with contemporary notions of formal, mathematical or symbolic logic. Yet, in so far as Kant seeks to identify those conditions that must hold for the possibility of thought in general, such conditions must hold a fortiori for any specific…Read more
  •  38
    Looking for a Fight
    Teaching Philosophy 29 (4): 343-362. 2006.
    This exercise requires students—particularly in Introduction to Philosophy courses—to use Internet chatrooms in an “agonistic” fashion,actively seeking out others with whom to argue. Generally using topics in applied ethics, students develop skills in articulating their positions, providing evidence to support those positions, and presenting arguments. These Internet exchanges have resulted in improvement in students’ critical thinking skills, writing, and classroom discussion, and have revealed…Read more
  •  38
    Was Wittgenstein a Neo-Kantian?
    Grazer Philosophische Studien 45 (1): 187-202. 1993.
  •  25
    Nietzsche and Metaphysics
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 35 (2): 312-313. 1997.
  •  24
    Kant’s Critical Model of the Experiencing Subject
    Idealistic Studies 25 (1): 1-24. 1995.
    In an appendix to the Transcendental Analytic of the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant remarks.
  •  21
    The Limits o f Gendered Reason
    Grazer Philosophische Studien 57 (1): 237-273. 1999.
    In recent years, an approach within feminist philosophy of reason has emerged, for convenience called "gendered reason", that states that due to differences of sex and gender, women and men perceive, think, know, understand, judge, reason about, interact with others and (possibly) constitute the world in fundamentally distinct ways. On the basis of three distinct but interrelating arguments it is tried to show that there is a basic difficulty in maintaining at least some versions of this view; i…Read more
  •  14
    The Noise of Battle
    Proceedings of the Xxii World Congress of Philosophy 35 29-35. 2008.
    Although the Internet is often used to talk with those with whom one agrees, this paper presents an "agonistic" strategy designed to help students find discussion partners with whom they disagree. This "agonistic" strategy has a number of advantages, specifically helping students' skills in writing, reading, logic, and rhetoric, as well as helping them recognizes the values of these skills and the importance of being well-informed when one enters a debate. As a further benefit, this approach has…Read more
  •  12
    Looking for a Fight
    Teaching Philosophy 29 (4): 343-362. 2006.
    This exercise requires students—particularly in Introduction to Philosophy courses—to use Internet chatrooms in an “agonistic” fashion,actively seeking out others with whom to argue. Generally using topics in applied ethics, students develop skills in articulating their positions, providing evidence to support those positions, and presenting arguments. These Internet exchanges have resulted in improvement in students’ critical thinking skills, writing, and classroom discussion, and have revealed…Read more
  •  11
    Was Wittgenstein a Neo-Kantian?
    Grazer Philosophische Studien 45 (1): 187-202. 1993.
  •  8
    The Limits o f Gendered Reason
    Grazer Philosophische Studien 57 (1): 237-273. 1999.
    In recent years, an approach within feminist philosophy of reason has emerged, for convenience called "gendered reason", that states that due to differences of sex and gender, women and men perceive, think, know, understand, judge, reason about, interact with others and (possibly) constitute the world in fundamentally distinct ways. On the basis of three distinct but interrelating arguments it is tried to show that there is a basic difficulty in maintaining at least some versions of this view; i…Read more
  •  4
    Drawing on Kant's published and unpublished texts and a wide range of texts from the history of logic and philosophical inquiries into language, Mosser provides an interpretation of some of Kant's most complex arguments.