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95A brief handout summarizing Andrew Lang's criticisms of Frazer.
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157We associate the method of reflective equilibrium with developing principles of social justice, but it can also be used on a literary canon, with the aim of identifying principles of inclusion and exclusion. But I note three risks of doing so, using the American literary canon as an example.
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72This paper considers an argument for why kinship is not significant in industrialized Western societies. There are various objections to the argument, of which I present one supported by two examples.
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158I raise a worry that Shashi Tharoor’s criticism that “much of Narayan’s prose reads like a translation” is inconsistent with his criticism “the ABC of bad writing – archaisms, banalities and cliches – abounded” because these things tend to be worded in a way that exploits local linguistic features, such as alliteration, making translation difficult. I also flag another inconsistency worry, but earlier in this paper.
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83The paradox of an island, we are told, is at once to be isolated from and open to the rest of the world. It seems the paradox is easily solved by clarifying isolated and open to the rest of the world.
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96The conceptual map solution to the paradox of analysisIjrdo - Journal of Educational Research 9 (4): 1. 2023.Why do a conceptual analysis on a word that we already know how to use? Marilyn Strathern provides some information on garden cities and suburbs which suggests a novel solution to me.
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90Who's afraid of a non-adaptable constitution?IJRDO - Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research 9 (1): 26-27. 2023.Joseph Raz criticizes John Rawls for a procedure supporting a non-adaptable constitution. This paper considers how a non-adaptable constitution can seem not so counterintuitive and also when.
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126I consider Kathleen Stock’s response to trans-rights claims which appeals to the concept of immersion in a fiction. I propose that some fictional personas, however artificial they seem, are fixed points within a subject’s system. That fiction is there come what may.
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114What is the relationship between myths and the iconic? This paper analyzes a dialogue from an R.K. Narayan novel which suggests a criterion for belonging to a natural kind in the world of myth, a criterion which makes reference to the iconic.
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128This paper proposes a solution to a puzzle regarding when people switch from one skilled area of specialization to another, in which they have had little training. Certain analogies between the previous area and the area switched to enable this. I use Susan Carey as an example.
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123T.H. Irwin characterizes the reflective equilibrium procedure as one which should not involve ruthless surgery, in a metaphorical sense. I argue that many people will find avoiding this difficult, because they do not conceive or go in for subtle options.
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124This paper presents two definitions to cover temptations as objects external to persons.
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87Historian of anthropology George Stocking tells us: from the point of view of parts of the Victorian middle class, Victorian society was highly evolved yet also contained savage components. Why don’t they change their ways, or why didn’t they? There is a Quinean solution.
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96This paper presents an explanation for why Jeanette Edwards did anthropology fieldwork at home. The explanation latches on to her claim “Scrutiny of Western social life, albeit one version of it, has the ability to shed light on the anthropological enterprise itself…” It is presented within a mildly comical dialogue with a character called N, who has featured in my writings before. And the comedy is just to prevent an excess of coldness.
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112According to Marilyn Strathern, it is, or was, an axiom of social anthropology that societies differ in how they handle the same facts. I present a challenge which I anticipate and respond to it.
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74You may remember that a document circulated amongst University of Manchester staff asks, “Can top down management make our university great?” I suspect there is a difficulty with solving this problem by increasing the admission requirements, in terms of the grades you need to get in. At a certain level, one encounters a widespread and strong preference not to be the bottom level.
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98I present a vision of a university in which each of the departments is based on having solved a paradox (especially for those who think that philosophers on here lack vision, in a grand sense!). I do so imitating a notable modernist writer, apologies for any political incorrectness.
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81This paper proposes that Fodor has, or had, a personal reason to avoid the creative writing department, to do with his opposition to inferential role semantics.
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79A department where you study creative writing is a paradox, given the following assumption: creativity is something natural to creative people and they do not need to study it. I try to formulate the paradox more clearly and note a logical gap.
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150John Rawls famously prioritized the protection of liberty rights over realizing an economy which is better for the worst off. But his arguments have been disputed. I present a somewhat alternative approach.
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242What is R.K. Narayan’s position in relation to his story “Such perfection”? It is natural to interpret him as conveying a message similar to one Western readers are familiar with from ancient Greek myths: fear perfection; it offends the gods. But there is room for a more complicated interpretation.
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85This paper tries to formulate the paradox of organic solidarity more precisely and propose a solution.
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92I present a solution to the paradox of the kalela dance based on the need for a contrast.
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94P.E. Easterling presents a brief description of the life of Sophocles according to which he was “evidently a classic from the start.” I note a concern about the description, that all classics would seem to be classics from the start.
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97I present a difficulty with evaluating analytic political philosophy based on a lack of data to compare achievements there with. For example, if a paradox was (or were) given to members of an elite university college for a day, how many solutions would they come up with?
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110I respond further to an undergraduate philosophy essay writing guide which tells readers that they are studying philosophy not creative writing. I note an obvious disadvantage of the claim.
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83This paper presents a structural-functionalist solution to a paradox that historian of anthropology George Stocking dug up: from the point of view of parts of the Victorian middle class, Victorian society was highly evolved yet also contained savage components.
Manchester, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
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