Philosophy
Our senior thesis writers this semester have been working on some interesting topics. Want to raise some questions this week that have come to mind listening to them develop their arguments. One is looking at the notion of ownership. From the Enlightenment, rights-based approach to property, there seems to be a single thing which is ownership, but is this true? Does how you came to own the thing alter what it means to own it? If four people have the same thing, but one person made it for herself, one person bought it for himself, one person received it as a gift, and one person inherited it from a relative who passed away, the object may have different meanings for them, but is the sense of ownership the same in all of them?
If I buy a Picasso, it is my painting, I own it, but in a sense it is not my painting. Is there a partial sense of ownership here? Can something with cultural meaning be fully owned or is it partly owned by the culture? Does this apply to something like a sports team as well as say an important landmark?
- Fricking Fracking Fixtures
Two questions from Michael Schmidt. First, "Frack" a suitable substitute for the expletive "fuck," and "frickin'" (or "frikkin'") is a suitable substitute for the participle "fuckin'". Why, then, is "frick" rarely used as a substitute...
- Continuity Of Self
Today is my birthday and it is fun to look at all of the greetings on Facebook from folks I've known over the entire range of my life. Some who know me only as a graying department chair and others who knew me as a member of the red group in...
- Grammar Curmudeons
Had a student ask yesterday about grammatical pet peeves. His was "irregardless." My big three are: 1) "Quote" used for "quotation." Quote is a verb. You quote someone. What you write down is not a quote, but a quotation. ...
- Ownership And Access
The notion of intellectual property has never been made fully consistent. It is an attempt to marry an Enlightenment era notion about possession of things and land to a changed notion of "the fruits of one's labor." I remember as an undergraduate...
- Presidential Age Limit
On the heels of the Iowa caucus, let's ask about the requirements to be President of the United States. It is written into the second article of the Constitution that to be eligible for the position, one must be thirty five years old. ...
Philosophy
Are there Varieties of Ownership?
Our senior thesis writers this semester have been working on some interesting topics. Want to raise some questions this week that have come to mind listening to them develop their arguments. One is looking at the notion of ownership. From the Enlightenment, rights-based approach to property, there seems to be a single thing which is ownership, but is this true? Does how you came to own the thing alter what it means to own it? If four people have the same thing, but one person made it for herself, one person bought it for himself, one person received it as a gift, and one person inherited it from a relative who passed away, the object may have different meanings for them, but is the sense of ownership the same in all of them?
If I buy a Picasso, it is my painting, I own it, but in a sense it is not my painting. Is there a partial sense of ownership here? Can something with cultural meaning be fully owned or is it partly owned by the culture? Does this apply to something like a sports team as well as say an important landmark?
- Fricking Fracking Fixtures
Two questions from Michael Schmidt. First, "Frack" a suitable substitute for the expletive "fuck," and "frickin'" (or "frikkin'") is a suitable substitute for the participle "fuckin'". Why, then, is "frick" rarely used as a substitute...
- Continuity Of Self
Today is my birthday and it is fun to look at all of the greetings on Facebook from folks I've known over the entire range of my life. Some who know me only as a graying department chair and others who knew me as a member of the red group in...
- Grammar Curmudeons
Had a student ask yesterday about grammatical pet peeves. His was "irregardless." My big three are: 1) "Quote" used for "quotation." Quote is a verb. You quote someone. What you write down is not a quote, but a quotation. ...
- Ownership And Access
The notion of intellectual property has never been made fully consistent. It is an attempt to marry an Enlightenment era notion about possession of things and land to a changed notion of "the fruits of one's labor." I remember as an undergraduate...
- Presidential Age Limit
On the heels of the Iowa caucus, let's ask about the requirements to be President of the United States. It is written into the second article of the Constitution that to be eligible for the position, one must be thirty five years old. ...