Department of Philosophy

From dis-enclosure to decolonisation : in dialogue with Nancy and Mbembe on self-determination and the other

Gerber, Schalk Hendrik (MDPI, 2011-04-13)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: What might a sense of decolonisation (not)/be? Or, what comes after the logic of the coloniser? This question is at the centre of many debates in South Africa and extends to all countries worldwide who ...

Harm: The counterfactual comparative account, the omission and pre-emption problems, and well-being

De Villiers-Botha, Tanya (Taylor & Francis, 2018-03)

The concept of “harm” is ubiquitous in moral theorising, and yet remains poorly defined. Bradley suggests that the counterfactual comparative account of harm is the most plausible account currently available, but also ...

Raising ethical issues in the dead: an exploration of ethical challenges in Forensic Medicine

De Vaal, Celeste (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03)

ENGLISH SUMMARY: This dissertation explores ethical challenges in the forensic medicine field. Pivotal to forensic pathology are the deceased and the medico-legal investigation. The unique relationship between forensic ...

(Mis)identifying the phenomenological-semiotic locus of human sexual (in)difference

Mare, Alexander (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03)

ENGLISH SUMMARY: The aim of this thesis is to critique the validity of selecting specific material features of human embodiment (such as sex or skin colour) as stable sources of identity. Insofar as such identities are ...

The exploitation of the labour of love

Calitz, Vasti (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03)

ENGLISH SUMMARY: This thesis seeks to establish the wrongfulness of an unequal division of nurturing work between members of heterosexual couples. Nurturing work is the overlapping constellation of housework, care, and ...

Citizenship as a human well-being capability

Munyiswa, Isaiah (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03)

ENGLISH SUMMARY: The aim of this dissertation is to defend the claim that citizenship is an architectonic human well-being capability. Citizenship so conceived is a necessary condition for human flourishing. I make and ...

Citizen solidarity in diverse societies: a case for deliberative democracy

De Wet, Nico Els (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03)

ENGLISH SUMMARY: This thesis seeks to answer the Question: What is the most appropriate basis for solidarity among citizens of diverse societies? Members of such societies do not only have different belief systems and ...

A decent minimum of health care in South Africa: a bioethical proposal

Fourie, Francois (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03)

ENGLISH SUMMARY: In this thesis I identify some of the major challenges faced by the current health care system of South Africa. Thereafter conceptual analyses are done with regards to what is meant by a health care system ...

The ethics of responsibility : the ethical philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas

Van der Merwe, Willie; De Voss, Vida (SUN MeDIA Bloemfontein, 2008-06)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics is based on the Other/other. He argues that we are in an asymmetrical relationship with our neighbour that pre-destines us to ethical responsibility even before consciousness or ...

Complexity, postmodernism and the bioethical dilemma

De Roubaix, Malcolm; Cilliers, Paul (SUN MeDIA Bloemfontein, 2008)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This article examines the implications of a postmodern ethics for bioethical problems. Traditional approaches to bioethics, with specific reference to “principlism”, depend on a modernist strategy which ...

Human rights discourse : friend or foe of African women’s sexual freedoms?

Du Toit, Louise (SUN MeDIA Bloemfontein, 2014-12)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: From an overview of the current state of the global debate on human rights, the need to strike a balance between the transcendent and immanent dimensions of such rights claims is distilled as an important ...

Morality and Freedom: a critical investigation of the relatedness of morality and freedom, and its significance for the moral justification of the practice of biomedical moral enhancement

Mantovani, Beatrice S. A. (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03)

ENGLISH SUMMARY: Recent scientific developments in areas such as biotechnology and biomedicine have led to a revolution in the field of biomedical enhancement and to the emergence of innovative and revolutionary possibilities ...

On the paradox of the political/transcendence and Eschatology : transimmanence and the promise of love in Jean-Luc Nancy

Gerber, Schalk Hendrik; Van der Merwe, Willem Lodewikus (MDPI, 2017)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The debate on the possibility of re-thinking transcendence at the so-called end or closure of the metaphysical tradition and its relation to the political is situated at the heart of contemporary continental ...

Moral bioenhancement: an ethical and philosophical investigation

Palk, Andrea Christy (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03)

ENGLISH SUMMARY: It has been argued, in the bioethics literature, that traditional forms of moral instruction and development are no longer adequate in equipping humanity to address the urgent nature of the ethical problems ...

Ethics and risk. Toward a responsible approach to acceptable risk impositions

Bijloos, Annemarie Dorothee (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12)

ENGLISH SUMMARY: This research deals with the ethical evaluation of risk impositions, i.e. actions that expose other human beings to risk. When – under what circumstances or conditions – is it acceptable to perform an ...

Price, virtues, principles: how to discern what inspires best practices in water management? a case study about small farmers in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico

Ramirez, Rafael R.; Seeliger, Leanne; Di Pietro, Filippo (MDPI, 2016)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Improving water practices among small farmers in a water scarce area like the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico is a complex task. Despite government attempts to enforce regulations and question the possibility ...