Thesiss

This dissertation is a philosophical exploration of the formulation, convergence and divergence of conceptions of freedom1 in selected contemporary South African feminisms. I engage critically with concepts and conceptions that I identify as dominant within the feminisms underpi…

The thesis argues that the relationship between liberalism and conservatism is closer than is commonly supposed. Though the 'triumph of liberalism' - whether intellectual or political - is a commonplace it in fact rests on a conceit: liberalism's claim to be able to provide a pu…

Two contrasting forms of advice for decision-makers are to either follow one’s heart (emotions) or one’s head (reason). This is a false dichotomy – but how should decision-makers combine heart and head? Decisions can be fruitfully analysed as a set of components: a decision-prob…

This dissertation offers a new perspective on the emergence and development of the Turkish novel from the 1880s to the 1970s, through an intellectual and social-historical investigation of the role of reason and rationality in the Turkish modernization project. Starting with the…

Despite being one of the oldest topics in the history of western philosophy, the nature of rationality is still a substantial source of disagreement, especially when it comes to its normativity. Current theories of rationality are either not exhaustive enough or do not sufficien…

This dissertation describes the genesis of the idea of femicide in a period of English and American Letters, the last decade of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century, in which patriarchal values and constructions were entering a crisis which resulte…

This dissertation begins to explore the philosophical significance of the thesis that some facts about an agent’s mind are facts about the agent’s abilities. This thesis, though likely intuitive enough from the points of view of folk psychology and certain other academic discipl…

This supportive statement examines a philosophical conception of the self and how it can be identified through experience, consciousness, and perception by focusing on a human inclination to rationalize, or concretize, that which is everchanging. The methods of exploring this co…

René Descartes and John Locke were some of history’s most outstanding proponents of the idea that deontological concepts are appropriately applied to the domain of belief. Inasmuch as it is allowed that “ought” implies “can,” then, this suggests that both authors held that our b…

The "German problem," a pathology of political culture which caused two world wars and a holocaust, was an example of extreme "spiritual cultural polarity," which was in turn caused by the long-term "geocultural" position of Germany on a steep "cultural gradient" in Europe. More…

In the philosophical and theological debates concerning religious pluralism, scant attention has been paid to the methodologies that underlie comparisons of the world's religious traditions. I argue that any comparative religious inquiry must proceed in accordance with a hermene…