Thomas J Spiegel
Biographic Data
| ID | 1076980 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Thomas J Spiegel |
| GIVEN NAMES | Thomas J |
| FAMILY NAME | Spiegel |
| SIGNATURE | SPIEGEL T J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Potsdam |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7962-3838 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Naturalism and Alienation
The larger part of the discourse surrounding (scientific) naturalism is devoted to metaphysical, methodological, or meta-ethical questions. Only few authors (prominently Habermas, Taylor, and Bilgrami) have reflected on the socio-political implications of naturalism as the dominant intellectual worldview regarding the human form of life. This article argues that scientific naturalism implies a certain form of alienation, that is, a pragmatic self…
Introduction to Naturalism and Human Life
Irredeemable Evildoers as Post-Persons
This article argues that certain irredeemable evildoers qualify—at least in some cases—as post-persons under certain normative accounts of personhood. Post-persons are conventionally understood as individuals who, due to injury, sickness, or cognitive decline, no longer meet the criteria for personhood where personhood is understood in terms of certain cognitive capacities. However, this article extends the concept to cases of moral failure in a …
Do philosophers need to find relevant what they publish? The relevance norm of academic publishing
Recently philosophers have debated whether philosophers ought to have at least some degree of belief in the assertions that they put forth and argue for [Plakias, Alexandra. 2019. “Publishing Without Belief." Analysis 79: 1–10; Barnett, Zach. 2019. “Philosophy Without Belief.” Mind 128 (509): 109–138; Fleisher, Will. 2020. “Publishing Without (Some) Belief.” Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 9 (4): 225–306; Sarihan, Isik. 2022. “Problems with Publ…
Attraction and Alienation
Normative questions about discrimination and preferences in dating have recently received mounting attention. I first argue that the current discourse can be reconstructed as between two theoretical camps: proponents of mere preference accounts and proponents of obligation accounts. Second, I argue that both positions presuppose a framework assumption to the effect that attraction is to be conceived of in terms of (positive or negative) obligatio…
What’s Wrong with Lookism? Personal Appearance, Discrimination, and Disadvantage
Lookism is a topic that philosophers have been eerily silent about. Some notable exceptions notwithstanding, it seems that some philosophers either have personal looks as a blind spot in their thinking or simply do not deem it a relevant topic for systematic philosophical inquiry. But given that race and gender receive so much attention in social philosophy, it is an increasingly notable omission that looks are so underappreciated, given that loo…
Can video games be philosophical
Lookism as Epistemic Injustice
Lookism refers to discrimination based on physical attractiveness or the lack thereof. A whole host of empirical research suggests that lookism is a pervasive and systematic form of social discrimination. Yet, apart from some attention in ethics and political philosophy, lookism has been almost wholly overlooked in philosophy in general and epistemology in particular. This is particularly salient when compared to other forms of discrimination bas…
Cringe
While shame and embarrassment have received significant attention in philosophy and psychology, cringe (also sometimes called ‘vicarious embarrassment’ and ‘vicarious shame’) has received little thought. This is surprising as the relatively new genre of cringe comedy has seen a meteoric rise since the early 2000s. In this paper, I aim to offer a novel characterization of cringe as a hostile social emotion which turns out to be closer to disgust a…
Normativity between Naturalism and Phenomenology
There is an unresolved stand-off between ontological naturalism and phenomenological thought regarding the question whether normativity can be reduced to physical entities. While the ontological naturalist line of thought is well established in analytic philosophy, the phenomenological reasoning for the irreducibility of normativity has been largely left ignored by proponents of naturalism. Drawing on the work of Husserl, Heidegger, Schütz, Stein…
Naturalism, Quietism, and the Threat to Philosophy
Two opposed movements of thought threaten philosophy as an autonomous practice from the inside: scientific naturalism and quietism. Naturalism (qua methodological thesis) threatens to turn philosophy into a mere ancilla of the sciences, quietism understood as the prescription to remain silent in philosophy would not countenance any more “positive” philosophy. This book reconstructs naturalism and quietism such that it becomes clear naturalism doe…
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Naturalism, Quietism, and the Threat to Philosophy
Two opposed movements of thought threaten philosophy as an autonomous practice from the inside: scientific naturalism and quietism. Naturalism (qua methodological thesis) threatens to turn philosophy into a mere ancilla of the sciences, quietism understood as the prescription to remain silent in philosophy would not countenance any more “positive” philosophy. This book reconstructs naturalism and quietism such that it becomes clear naturalism doe…
Normativity between Naturalism and Phenomenology
There is an unresolved stand-off between ontological naturalism and phenomenological thought regarding the question whether normativity can be reduced to physical entities. While the ontological naturalist line of thought is well established in analytic philosophy, the phenomenological reasoning for the irreducibility of normativity has been largely left ignored by proponents of naturalism. Drawing on the work of Husserl, Heidegger, Schütz, Stein…
Lookism as Epistemic Injustice
Lookism refers to discrimination based on physical attractiveness or the lack thereof. A whole host of empirical research suggests that lookism is a pervasive and systematic form of social discrimination. Yet, apart from some attention in ethics and political philosophy, lookism has been almost wholly overlooked in philosophy in general and epistemology in particular. This is particularly salient when compared to other forms of discrimination bas…
Cringe
While shame and embarrassment have received significant attention in philosophy and psychology, cringe (also sometimes called ‘vicarious embarrassment’ and ‘vicarious shame’) has received little thought. This is surprising as the relatively new genre of cringe comedy has seen a meteoric rise since the early 2000s. In this paper, I aim to offer a novel characterization of cringe as a hostile social emotion which turns out to be closer to disgust a…
Can video games be philosophical
Do philosophers need to find relevant what they publish? The relevance norm of academic publishing
Recently philosophers have debated whether philosophers ought to have at least some degree of belief in the assertions that they put forth and argue for [Plakias, Alexandra. 2019. “Publishing Without Belief." Analysis 79: 1–10; Barnett, Zach. 2019. “Philosophy Without Belief.” Mind 128 (509): 109–138; Fleisher, Will. 2020. “Publishing Without (Some) Belief.” Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 9 (4): 225–306; Sarihan, Isik. 2022. “Problems with Publ…
Attraction and Alienation
Normative questions about discrimination and preferences in dating have recently received mounting attention. I first argue that the current discourse can be reconstructed as between two theoretical camps: proponents of mere preference accounts and proponents of obligation accounts. Second, I argue that both positions presuppose a framework assumption to the effect that attraction is to be conceived of in terms of (positive or negative) obligatio…
What’s Wrong with Lookism? Personal Appearance, Discrimination, and Disadvantage
Lookism is a topic that philosophers have been eerily silent about. Some notable exceptions notwithstanding, it seems that some philosophers either have personal looks as a blind spot in their thinking or simply do not deem it a relevant topic for systematic philosophical inquiry. But given that race and gender receive so much attention in social philosophy, it is an increasingly notable omission that looks are so underappreciated, given that loo…
Naturalism and Alienation
The larger part of the discourse surrounding (scientific) naturalism is devoted to metaphysical, methodological, or meta-ethical questions. Only few authors (prominently Habermas, Taylor, and Bilgrami) have reflected on the socio-political implications of naturalism as the dominant intellectual worldview regarding the human form of life. This article argues that scientific naturalism implies a certain form of alienation, that is, a pragmatic self…
Introduction to Naturalism and Human Life
Irredeemable Evildoers as Post-Persons
This article argues that certain irredeemable evildoers qualify—at least in some cases—as post-persons under certain normative accounts of personhood. Post-persons are conventionally understood as individuals who, due to injury, sickness, or cognitive decline, no longer meet the criteria for personhood where personhood is understood in terms of certain cognitive capacities. However, this article extends the concept to cases of moral failure in a …
Philosophy (8 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · Law (5 works) · Political science (5 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Philosophical Ethics and Theory (4 works) · Free Will and Agency (3 works) · Naturalism (3 works) · Social Psychology (3 works) · Alienation (2 works)