Cosmopsychism, Micropsychism, and the Grounding Relation

Constitutive micropsychism is the view that all facts are grounded in consciousness-involving facts at the micro-level. Constitutive cosmopsychism is the view that all facts are grounded in consciousness-involving facts concerning the universe. I argue that micropsychism is, whilst cosmopsychism is not, reliant on a deflationary account of facts concerning human and animal experience, and that because of this the former is a much less plausible view than the latter

Panpsychism and Free Will: A Case Study in Liberal Naturalism

There has been a resurgence of interest in panpsychism in contemporary philosophy of mind. According to its supporters, panpsychism offers an attractive solution to the mind–body problem, avoiding the deep difficulties associated with the more conventional options of dualism and materialism. There has been little focus, however, on whether panpsychism can help with philosophical problems pertaining to free will. In this paper I will argue (a) that it is coherent and consistent with observation to postulate a kind of libertarian agent causation at the micro-level, and (b) that if one if believes in libertarian agent causation at the macro-level, there are significant advantages in also postulating its existence at the micro-level

Essentialist modal rationalism

It used to be thought that rational coherence and metaphysical possibility went hand in hand. Kripke and Putnam put a spanner in the works by proposing examples of propositions which seem to violate this principle. I will propose a nuanced form of modal rationalism consistent with the Kripke/Putnam cases. The rough idea is that rational coherence entails possibility when you grasp the essential nature of what you’re conceiving of

Academical Dress in the University of Westminster

The following is the account of how the system of academical dress came into being, beginning with what Dr Avery wrote on the subject in his report to the Polytechnic of Central London Court of Governors’ sub-committee on university status, on 16 December 1991. [Excerpt]

’Blithering Nonsense’: The Open University and its Academic Dress

With the largest number of students in Britain, one of its younger academic institutions celebrates fiftieth anniversary

A Dress without a Home: The Unadopted Academic Dress of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 1923–24

Following the death of Bill Keen, the Managing Director of Ede & Ravenscroft, in 1996, one of [Goff\u27s] tasks, as Academic Consultant, was to sift through hundreds of files and letters at the Chancery Lane premises. On one occasion, a yellowing, quarto-size page fell out of a book. It was headed Supplement to the Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and the bold title of the piece caught his eye: ‘Proposals for the Adoption of an Academic Dress for Members and Licentiates of the Royal Institute of British Architects’. This was followed by some illustrations of the costume for Members (that is Fellows and Associates) and Licentiates, and these are reproduced [in the article], by permission. [Excerpt]

University of Portsmouth Academic Dress

The University of Portsmouth has its origins in the Portsmouth and Gosport School of Science and Art (1870), the Portsmouth Municipal Technical Institute (1894) and Portsmouth Municipal College (1908), which replaced the earlier Institute. The College also took under its wing the College of Art, Portsmouth Day Training College for teachers and a public library.This article examines the development of academic dress at the University of Portsmouth

Is Consciousness Transcendent?: Comments on James Tartaglia’s Philosophy in a Meaningless Life: A System of Nihilism, Consciousness and Reality

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