Philosophical Perspectives Essays on Reality, Knowledge, and Morality

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction:

The Love of Wisdom

Process

Proof

Definition

Praxis

Pedagogy

Conclusion

1     Who Mourns for Adonais?

       Or, Where Have All the Gods Gone?

1.1     Encounter with Adonais

1.2     Methodological Orientation

1.3     Creator Gods

1.4     Ruler Gods

1.5     Progressive Synthesis

1.6     Nostalgic Reminders

1.7     Requiem for Adonais

1.8     Relevance of Precedents: Syncretism or Parallelomania?

Appendix: Tables

2     No More This than That:

       Skeptical Impression or Pyrrhonian Dogma?

2.1     Epistemic Journey

2.2     Evidentiary Context

2.3     Conceptual Perspective

2.4     Practical Perspective

2.5     Deep Disagreement

2.6     Conclusion

3     Fool Me Once, Shame on You, Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me:

       The Alleged Prisoner’s Dilemma in Hobbes’s Social Contract

3.1     Overview

3.2     Problem

3.3     Analysis

3.4     Solution

3.5     Conclusion

4     Kant’s Neglected Alternative:

       Neither Neglected nor an Alternative

4.1     Overview

4.2     Problem

4.3     Analysis

4.4     Solution

4.5     Evaluation

4.6     Conclusion

5     What’s So Good About the Good Will?

       An Ontological Critique of Kant’s Axiomatic Moral Construct

5.1     Overview

5.2     The Good Will as a Qualified Concept

5.3     The Good Will and the Highest Good

5.4     The Problem with Axiomatic Qualification

6     Rawls’s Justification Model for Ethics:

       What Exactly Does It Justify?

6.1     Overview

6.2     Critical Context

6.3     Application Bias

6.4     System Sterility

6.5     Broader Context

6.6     Conclusion

7     Rawls’s Justification Model for Ethics:

       What Exactly Justifies the Model?

7.1     Overview

7.2     Critical Context

7.3     Defensive Strategy

7.4     Possible Objections

7.5     Conclusion

8   Angelique:

     An Angel in Distress, Morality in Crisis

8.1     Overview

8.2     Literary Interpretation

8.3     Philosophical Appraisal

8.4     Critical Reception

8.5     Conclusion

Works Cited

Index

Biography

Necip Fikri Alican is an independent scholar with research interests in metaphysics and value theory. He holds various academic degrees, specifically a B.B.A. (1985) and B.A. (1986) from Millsaps College with a triple major in business administration, economics, and philosophy (magna cum laude); an M.B.A. (1988) from Vanderbilt University with a concentration in finance; and an M.A. (1990) and Ph.D. (1994) in philosophy from Washington University in St. Louis with a specialization in ethical theory and social and political philosophy. He is the author of several books, including Rethinking Plato: A Cartesian Quest for the Real Plato (2012), One over Many: The Unitary Pluralism of Plato’s World (2021), Quine on Ethics: The Gavagai of Moral Discourse (2021), Mill's Principle of Utility: Origins, Proof, and Implications (2022), and The Devil’s Advocate versus God’s Honest Truth: A Dialectical Inquiry into the Rationality of Religion (2025).