Microsoft Teams: https://go.um.edu.mo/wnp200k4   Abstract We often refer to the remnants, fragments, and seeds of physical objects in everyday life: the remnants of a fallen building or exploded firecracker, a fragment from a chipped mug, or the seed of an acorn tree. In referring to these, we find nothing of obvious metaphysical difficulty; adequately conceptualizing these items seems to require just basic object concepts, and basic representations of the mereological and temporal relations in which they stand. But what about the remnants or residues of mental phenomena? Here we do confront a metaphysically difficult question, namely whether such mental minutiae exist at all. I first introduce the concept of mental minutiae, contrasting them with “minimally complete” mental phenomena that are […]

Microsoft Teams: https://go.um.edu.mo/4sjk6f1d   Abstract This work draws from Daoist thought to argue that epistemic humility is not only a necessary pre-condition to wisdom but is also sufficiently constitutive of wisdom. Additionally, I argue that going beyond that sufficiency undermines the genuineness of said wisdom. More specifically, both Zhuangzi and Laozi argue that going beyond epistemic humility assumes a context-transcending truth, epistemic justification, or metanormative value which exists, and can be known. In contrast, genuine wisdom understands that no knowledge, truth, or epistemic claim transcends any given context. I advance three central arguments: First, epistemic humility is incompatible with holding any "belief," "knowledge," or "understanding" that is taken to be epistemically justifiable or rational. Second, epistemic humility is sufficient, and […]