Argumenta – Journal of Analytic Philosophy

This paper investigates the perceptual nature of affective properties—qualities such as sadness, excitement, boredom, or comfort—that we experience as belonging to objects, environments, or events. I propose a taxonomy that distinguishes three classes of affective properties: arousal properties, expressive properties, and affective affordances, each characterized by different relations to perception, affectivity, and response dependence. Drawing on philosophical accounts of high-level perception and ecological psychology, I argue that these properties can be considered at least partly perceptual insofar as they contribute to the phenomenal character of experience. I then explore how…

The aim of this paper is to show that if and only if agents are motivated to act by good reasons for acting, they flourish, since, in so doing, they consciously act in accordance with their nature through virtuous actions. I offer an account of what good reasons for acting consist of reconsidering Aquinas’ natural inclinations. Based on a critical analysis of Anjum and Mumford's work on dispositions in analytic metaphysics, I argue, contra Hume’s law, that Aquinas’ natural inclinations show that metaphysics is foundational for ethics. I claim that…

Tyler Burge (2010) provided a scathing critique of all programs for naturalizing concepts of representation, especially teleological naturalizing programs. He intended to demonstrate that “representational content” is a concept that cannot be reduced to more fundamental biological or physical ideas. According to him, since the 1970s, the concept of representational content has been firmly established in cognitive psychology as a mature science and utilized in adequate explanations. Since Dretske’s program is Burge’s primary objective, this paper concentrates on Dretske’s perspective. Following Burge’s criticisms, I concur that Dretske’s naturalizing program trivializes…