Argumenta – Journal of Analytic Philosophy

 

On Sellars’ Attempt to Build a Synoptic Image of the World [Special Issue]

Issue: Issue 16 • Author/s: Mauro Dorato
Topics: Epistemology, Metaphysics, Ontology, Philosophy of science, Theoretical philosophy

In the first part of the paper, I discuss three possible ways to achieve some unity between Sellars’ manifest and scientific image of the world. The plurality of scientific methods that I am advocating is compatible with the fact that all empirical sciences strive for beliefs based on the normative concepts of evidence, explanatory power, and experimental accuracy. Such methods provide different means to reach the common purpose of justification. In the second part of the paper, I criticize Sellars’ definition of the manifest image in terms of a suddenly…

The Affective and Practical Consequences of Presentism and Eternalism

Issue: Issue 17 • Author/s: Mauro Dorato
Topics: Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of science, Theoretical philosophy

In the dispute between presentism and eternalism, the affective dimensions of the debate have been somewhat neglected. Contemporary philosophers of time have not tried to relate these ontological positions with two of the most discussed maxims in the history of ethics—“live in the present” vs. “look at your life under the aspect of the eternity” (sub specie aeternitatis)—that since the Hellenistic times have been regarded as strictly connected with them. Consequently, I raise the question of whether the endorsement of one of these two ontological views can make a practical…