You are invited to attend the HT presentations. Each presentation will be about 20 minutes, followed by about 15 minutes of question time.

Date: Friday, 14 Nov 2012
Time: 2-4pm
Venue: Philosophy Resource Room, AS3-05-23.

 Presenter           :             Mr. Lim Xue Li Zack
Time                   :             2pm to 2:35pm
Title                    :             Kant’s flawed derivation of duties

Abstract            :   
In Kant’s Groundwork, he established four duties that each moral agent is to have. Focusing only on his use of the Formula of Universal Law, I examine how each derivation is flawed in some way.

Presenter            :           Mr. Sim Yeow Huat Jonathan
Time                   :            2:35pm to 3:10pm
Title                    :            Notions of Harmony in Classical Chinese Thought

Abstract            :            
Harmony is a concept that is central to Chinese thought, yet very little study has been done on this concept. One key area lacking in present scholarship is the absence of a detailed study in attempting to explain what precisely is involved in harmony and what it entails. At the same time, the concept of harmony is often closely associated with Confucianism. Chinese thinkers, whom we traditionally regard as Confucians, such as Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi, are unfortunately grouped together as if they form a single train of thought on what harmony is. This, however, is a big problem as it assumes that the conception of harmony is homogeneous amongst these thinkers. Furthermore, very little is said about harmony in the other philosophical schools apart from Confucianism. And this has led to a misconception that the concept of harmony in China has been a single homogeneous concept across time, cultures, and and thinkers. In this paper, I will explore the various notions of harmony in classical Chinese thought. I will trace the historical development of the philosophical concept of harmony, showing how the concept is derived from two sources – cooking and music – and show how this has developed into a common notion shared amongst the thinkers from Confucius onwards. I will then proceed to carry out a close textual study of the texts of the various classical thinkers and show the minute differences in how they have conceived of harmony and their prescriptions on how to achieve it.

Presenter            :         Miss Saw Cheng Ee Elizabeth
Time                   :          3:10pm to 3:45pm
Title                           :            The Philosophy of Music – The Relation between Music and Emotion.

Abstract            :            
It is widely agreed that music is closely related to the emotions. This is evident in the way people – both lay people and music professionals – describe or characterize music or think about their musical experiences. However, it is not clear what exactly this relation amounts to.

Through a discussion of various theories proposed by different philosophers and comparisons to analogous cases in language, other perceptions and perhaps other forms of art, I will find out what the implications of subscribing to each theory are. I hope to reach a conclusion on which theory, if any, is the best (e.g it must be able to accommodate or account for the phenomenology of musical experience, must consistently apply across cases, etc), or if the most sensible conclusion would be a form of ‘pluralism’, in which there is no one way by which music is related to the emotions; but rather, music relates to the emotions in different ways in different specific contexts/cases.

You are invited to attend the HT presentations. Each presentation will be about 20 minutes, followed by about 15 minutes of question time.

Date: Friday, 01 Nov 2012
Time: 2-4pm
Venue: Philosophy Resource Room, AS3-05-23.

Presenter:  Miss Loo Wei Ling, Jane
Time: 2pm to 2:35pm
Title:  Presentism and Special Relativity

Abstract:            
Presentism is the view that only what presently exists is real. This view is coherent within the framework of a classical Newtonian conception of space and time, but it is no longer so when we move to a relativistic conception of spacetime. Mark Hinchliff in his paper “A Defense of Presentism in a Relativistic Setting” suggests three models that make presentism and the special theory of relativity compatible. Two of these models involve redefining the present, and the other involves an alternative interpretation of special relativity. I argue that none of these models are acceptable, and that the two theories are not compatible.

Presenter : Miss Ng Ee Tien, Georgina
Time: 2:35pm to 3:10pm
Title: Intuitionism, disagreement and off-track influences

Abstract:            
Michael Huemer argues that if we reject ethical intuitionism, the theory that we are prima facie, non-inferentially justified in believing our ethical intuitions, we would also have to reject basic logical intuitions, forcing us into a kind of philosophical skepticism. I attempt to refute this, firstly, by giving reasons (based on considerations of disagreement and off-track influences) to distrust our ethical intuitions, our awareness of which would prevent us from reasonably accepting that we are non-inferentially justified in believing such intuitions. Secondly, I show that these reasons do not apply to our basic logical intuitions, which implies that Huemer is wrong and we can accept the notion of non-inferential justification for our logical, but not ethical intuitions.

Presenter: Mr. Han Yong Ming
Time: 3:10pm to 3:45pm
Title: Not received from Yong Ming yet.

Abstract:  Not received from Yong Ming yet.

You are invited to attend the HT presentations. Each presentation will be about 30 minutes, followed by about 15 minutes of question time.

Date: Friday, 7 Sep 2012
Time: 2-4pm
Venue: Philosophy Resource Room, AS3-05-23.

Embodiment as the highest standard of Knowledge in Later Chinese Thought: Adventures in Alternative Epistemologies
by Mr. Yeo Siew Hua

Abstract:

Inherited models of Western epistemology has aligned itself closely to the way we do sciences in the modern world, emphasizing on objective truths and repeatability. But in the last few decades, there have been proposals of alternative systems of epistemology to which my work positions itself with. I wish to explore the possibilities of embodiment as a form of knowledge, taking cue from Neo-Confucian metaphysics, particularly, the conceptual strategy of Body (体) and its Uses (用), and its fundamental grounding in social interaction. Finally, to reclaim claims like “i know how it is to be in your shoes” as possible forms of knowledge.

A Will-to-Power Reading of ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’
by Mr. Doan Tuan Duc

Abstract:

My thesis aims to interpret the crucial point in Nietzsche’s ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ where Zarathustra feels nausea at the thought of the eternal recurrence. Starting out as a prophet of the future Superman – the ideal for human greatness in part I, Zarathustra in part III envisions his failure to complete such project when thinking about the eternal recurrence of the small man. Such nausea is later overcome when Zarathustra embraces the eternal recurrence with joy.

Applying recent findings on Nietzsche’s doctrine of will to power as the activity of overcoming resistances, I argue that Zarathustra maximizes the power of his will when he overcomes his nausea and embraces the eternal recurrence. Zarathustra’s will goes through two steps: (1) the confrontation with resistance as the will realizes its entanglement in the eternal recurrence’s deterministic complex of causes and (2) the overcoming of resistance as the will admits its inefficacy and dissolves into the ‘Ring of Eternity’, an act which paradoxically increases the will’s power and brings Zarathustra immense joy in the concluding part IV.