https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/20827 2026-04-11T03:11:06Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/20937 Title: Materialsm and the mind and body problem : a critical analysis Abstract: The philosophy of mind has become dominated by the mind and body problem: the relation between the physical (the body) and the mental (the mind). Substance dualism had traditionally been the method for accounting for this problem. Substance dualism though, as we shall see, has been very ineffective in accounting for all problems. A consequence of this failure has been the rise of materialism in the forms of behaviorism, identity theory (also known as physicalism) and functionalism. Many tend to believe that materialism may provide us with the solution to the mind and body problem; however, in this essay I will argue that the materialist perspective, like the substance dualist tradition, is flawed. It can only account for the quantitative and objective aspects of the mind and not the qualitative and personal ones. 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/20936 Title: Critique as therapy : reflections on Foucault and Derrida Authors: Borg, Kurt Abstract: Perhaps one of the most crucial philosophical questions to ask is "what is philosophy?" But, perhaps too, the possibility of asking that question points towards the fragmented nature of the enterprise. Through the shadows of Foucault and Derrida, I will try to show how this question is important since it continually expands the definition of philosophy, blurring its territorial boundaries in such a way that enables an otherwise-thought world, preventing philosophy from being another disciplinary regime. Since antiquity, philosophy's reliance on a notion of truth provided it with analytical leverage. Hence, by placing the currency of truth itself under scrutiny, it is claimed that thinkers like Foucault and Derrida risk undermining philosophical inquiry tout court, reducing philosophy to rhetoric or fiction, with no critical function whatsoever. What's more, because of this, no normative grounding can be extrapolated from their ideas, no emancipatory aim can be sought and no ethical framework can be pursued. Both FoucauIt and Derrida were often criticized along these lines (Habermas, 1987). 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/20935 Title: The capacity to begin : Arendt's concept of 'Natality' (a humble tribute on the 40th anniversary of her death) Abstract: In this short essay I intend to refer to Arendt's concept of 'natality', which she expounds in her book The Human Condition, to argue against the distinction which Peter Singer makes between a human person and human non-person; with reference to his book Practical Ethics (1993) as being representative of preference-utilitarianism and consequentialism. 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/20933 Title: The artist behind the art : an interview with Adrian Abela Abstract: Interview with Adrian Abela about his art and his latest piece inspired by architect Adolf Loos. 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z