Courses by David Egan
"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." So said Benjamin Frank... more "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." So said Benjamin Franklin. Some people have got pretty good at avoiding tax but—so far—nobody has successfully avoided death. So the next question is, should we fear it? In this course, we'll consider two related questions. The first is whether death is intrinsically bad. That is, leaving aside all the bad things that often surround death—the illness and pain, the grief of others, the often untimely nature of death—is death, in itself, a bad thing? And the second is whether not dying—immortality, in other words—would be desirable. We'll see arguments concerning these questions from Epicurus, Lucretius, Thomas Nagel, Bernard Williams, and Nick Bostrom. 5 video lessons83 views
Papers by David Egan
Mind, 2020
This paper argues that the problematic of rule following in Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investig... more This paper argues that the problematic of rule following in Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations and Heidegger's analysis of anxiety in Being and Time have analogous structures. Working through these analogies helps our interpretation of both of these authors. Contrasting sceptical and anti-sceptical readings of Wittgenstein helps us to resolve an interpretive puzzle about what an authentic response to anxiety looks like for Heidegger. And considering the importance of anxiety to Heidegger's conception of authenticity allows us to locate in Wittgenstein's later philosophy a covert appeal to something resembling Heideggerian authenticity.
This paper assesses Grice's work on conversational implicature in the light of one of its early t... more This paper assesses Grice's work on conversational implicature in the light of one of its early targets: Austin's claim that we cannot isolate the meaning of an expression from the context in which it is used. Grice argues that we can separate the literal meaning of many utterances from their pragmatic implicatures through the mechanism of explicit cancellation. However, Grice's conception of cancellation does not account for the fact that an explicit cancellation must be uttered, and that its utterance involves further implicatures that undermine the attempted cancellation. What Grice calls explicit cancellations are better understood as utterances that resolve ambiguities, and hence apply only in cases where there exists an ambiguity that needs resolving. If Grice's work does not undermine Austin, we are in a position to reassess an Austinian form of philosophical criticism that emphasizes the ordinary usage of expressions deployed in philosophical arguments.
Like works of literature, thought experiments present fictional narratives that prompt reflection... more Like works of literature, thought experiments present fictional narratives that prompt reflection in their readers. Because of these and other similarities, a number of philosophers have argued for a strong analogy between works of literary fiction and thought experiments, some going so far as to say that works of literary fiction are a species of thought experiment. These arguments are often used in defending a cognitivist position with regard to literature: thought experiments produce knowledge, so works of literary fiction can too. This paper concedes that works of literary fiction can be put to use in thought experiments, but not in a way that is helpful to the cognitivist. In particular, it draws three disanalogies in the ways we engage critically with thought experiments and with literary fictions. First, we use thought experiments to make arguments; second, we read thought experiments in strongly allegorical terms; and third, the terms of criticism we apply to thought experiments and to works of literature differ. Although these disanalogies present problems for the cognitivist position, they also give us a sharper picture of the distinctive educative potential of works of literary fiction.
The similarities between Wittgenstein and Heidegger are striking, the more so because they wrote ... more The similarities between Wittgenstein and Heidegger are striking, the more so because they wrote in different styles and wrote from different traditions. Following in a path blazed by Karl-Otto Apel and Hubert Dreyfus, a number of scholars have found in Wittgenstein's discussion of rules and privacy useful fodder for fleshing out Heidegger's conception of Being-with. However, Heidegger finds a too-ready absorption in our shared public practices to be a signal feature of inauthenticity, raising the question of whether Wittgenstein's emphasis on the ordinary echoes the average everydayness of inauthentic Dasein. But far from insisting on the unshakeability of our ordinary practices, I claim, Wittgenstein emphasizes their ungroundedness. This emphasis on ungroundedness allows me to trace the moments in Wittgenstein’s appeal to ordinary language that parallel Heidegger’s description of anxiety, the uncannines that it discloses, and the authenticity of owning up to this uncanniness.
Ludwig Wittgenstein famously compares units of language to games, but his pupil Rush Rhees finds ... more Ludwig Wittgenstein famously compares units of language to games, but his pupil Rush Rhees finds that analogy limiting. Unlike uses of language, says Rhees, games are not part of a larger whole and do not have a point, which means that games, unlike language, cannot lead to growth in understanding. Treating language like a game, according to Rhees, is characteristic of sophistry. But this paper claims that sophistry is not like playing a game but like playing the spoilsport. Wittgenstein’s fluid understanding of the distinction between games and non-game play allows his conception of language-games to avoid the charge of sophistry.
Heidegger’s discussion of das Man in Being and Time is notoriously inconsistent, and raises a num... more Heidegger’s discussion of das Man in Being and Time is notoriously inconsistent, and raises a number of interpretative issues that have been debated in the secondary literature. This paper offers two arguments that aim to make for a consistent and charitable reading of das Man. First, unlike Dasein, das Man’s way of being is not existence: das Man lacks Dasein’s particularity (it offers only general guidelines, and cannot address Dasein’s unique situation), unity (das Man is not a unified set of norms, but rather an often conflicting set of principles) and distinctness (the boundary that fixes the concept of das Man is fuzzy). Second, this paper proposes that we read das Man as standing in contrast with Abständigkeit, or distantiality. Das Man is the socially constituted set of norms that we necessarily belong to, and distantiality is the equally inescapable difference that sets us apart from others. Together, they provide a framework within which Dasein is constituted by norms without inhibiting the possibility of authentic existence.
The word “picture” occurs pervasively in Wittgenstein's later philosophy. Not only does Wittgenst... more The word “picture” occurs pervasively in Wittgenstein's later philosophy. Not only does Wittgenstein often use literal pictures or the notion of mental pictures in his investigations, but he also frequently uses “picture” to speak about a way of conceiving of a matter (e.g. “A picture held us captive” at Philosophical Investigations§115). I argue that “picture” used in this conceptual sense is not a shorthand for an assumption or a set of propositions but is rather an expression of conceptual bedrock on the model of an organising myth. This reading builds primarily on work by Gordon Baker and Stanley Cavell.
Teaching Documents by David Egan
Includes a list of courses taught, a teaching statement, a statement of contributions to diversit... more Includes a list of courses taught, a teaching statement, a statement of contributions to diversity, teaching evaluations, and sample syllabuses
Books by David Egan
Introduction to my 2019 book from OUP.
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Courses by David Egan
Papers by David Egan
Teaching Documents by David Egan
Books by David Egan