Alexander Pruss's Blog

Believers in teleology also tend to believe in a distinction between the normal and the abnormal. I think teleology can be prised apart from...

Thomas writes : We see that things which lack intelligence, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting ...

The cheetah whose maximum speed is 40 mph is subnormal. The cheetah whose maximum speed is 58 mph is merely normal. The cheetah whose maximu...

The B -properties supervene on the A -properties provided that any two possible worlds with the same A -properties have the same B -properti...

One problem for functionalism is the problem of defect. David Lewis, for instance, talks of a madman for whom pain is triggered by something...

When I taught calculus, the average grade on the final exam was around 55%. One could make the case that this means that our grading system ...

There are two teleological concepts: that of a telos and that of proper function . Each of them helps us make certain teleological judgment...

It is common, since Mary Anne Warren's defense of abortion, to define personhood in terms of appropriate developed intellectual capaciti...

I don't think you have much hope of having a distinction between treatment and enhancement unless you have the notion of the normal stat...