Ryan Nichols - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Ryan Nichols

World Archaeology, 2021

ABSTRACT Where do Chinese gender norms come from and how did they culturally evolve through time?... more ABSTRACT Where do Chinese gender norms come from and how did they culturally evolve through time? This question receives ample debate in the context of Warring States, pre-Imperial, and Imperial China. Many archaeologists and interdisciplinary scholars contend that earliest China treated its women relatively well. This paper’s interdisciplinary examination of bioarchaeological evidence from Neolithic and pre-Imperial sources synthesizes new information to enrich this debate. Discussed are studies of sex-linked DNA drawn from human remains, sex ratio data from burials, and indicators of diet quality including isotopic studies of nitrogen and carbon as well as dental pathologies. The paper focuses on data drawn from polities within the phylocultural cultural trunk leading to Imperial China. Evidence indicates that women in pre-Imperial China were treated less well than in other early societies. Comparative lessons about the cultural evolution of Chinese gender norms in the context of norms in other early civilizations are drawn.

Does the pantheon of supernatural agents in early China include beings that the cognitive science... more Does the pantheon of supernatural agents in early China include beings that the cognitive science of religion would recognize functionally as high gods? Most sinologists—experts on Ancient China—answer in the negative. However, cognitive and behavioral research on religion gives reason to doubt their scholarly judgments. We first frame this study in terms of previous sinological research about supernatural agents, then introduce the concept of a high god from within the framework of the cognitive and behavioral sciences of religion. We hypothesize that supernatural beings that are candidates for high god status— Tian 天, Di 帝, and Shangdi 上帝—will bear stronger associations with punishment and reward than will lower supernatural beings. By quantitatively measuring the association of Chinese characters in several conceptual categories—including high gods, low gods, reward, and punishment—we operationalize this hypothesis and test it with a database of over 5 million characters from 96 ...

Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2017

This article focuses on the debate about mind-body concepts in early China in order to demonstrat... more This article focuses on the debate about mind-body concepts in early China in order to demonstrate the usefulness of large-scale, automated textual analysis techniques for scholars of religion. As previous scholarship has argued, traditional, "close" textual reading, as well as more recent, human-coder-based analyses, of early Chinese texts have called into question the "strong" holist position, or the claim that the early Chinese made no qualitative distinction between mind and body. In a series of follow-up studies, we show how three different machine-based techniques-word collocation, hierarchical clustering and topic modeling analysis-provide convergent evidence that the authors of early Chinese texts viewed the mind-body relationship as unique or problematic. We conclude with reflections on the advantages of adding "distant reading" techniques to the methodological arsenal of scholars of religion, as a supplement and aid to traditional, close reading.

Mennonite Life, Mar 19, 2014

Dao, 2015

If you would like to know when your article has been published online, take advantage of our free... more If you would like to know when your article has been published online, take advantage of our free alert service. For registration and further information, go to:. Due to the electronic nature of the procedure, the manuscript and the original figures will only be returned to you on special request. When you return your corrections, please inform us, if you would like to have these documents returned.

Assume for the sake of argument that doing philosophy is intrinsically valuable, where 'doing phi... more Assume for the sake of argument that doing philosophy is intrinsically valuable, where 'doing philosophy' refers to the practice of forging arguments for and against the truth of theses in the domains of metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, etc. The practice of the history of philosophy is devoted instead to discovering arguments for and against the truth of 'authorial' propositions, i.e. propositions that state the belief of some historical figure about a philosophical proposition. I explore arguments to think that doing history of philosophy is valuable, specifically, valuable in such a way that its value does not reduce to the value of doing philosophy. Most such arguments proffered by historians of philosophy fail egregiously, as I show. I then offer a proposal about what makes doing history of philosophy uniquely valuable, but it is one that many historians will not find agreeable. There are scholars for whom the history of philosophy (ancient as well as modern) is itself their philosophy; the present prolegomena have not been written for them. They must wait until those who endeavor to draw from the wellsprings of reason itself have finished their business, and then it will be their turn to bring news of these events to the world. Failing that, in their opinion nothing can be said that has not already been said before...

... The author of several articles on Reid&#x27;s moral philosophy and in contemporary me... more ... The author of several articles on Reid&#x27;s moral philosophy and in contemporary metaethics, he is also the editor of Religion in the Liberal Polity ... arti-cles in epistemology, he is the author of Putting Skeptics in Their Place (2000) and the editor of Reading Sosa (forthcoming) and ...

The Modern Schoolman, 2011

The role of epistemology in philosophy of religion hastransformed the discipline by diverting que... more The role of epistemology in philosophy of religion hastransformed the discipline by diverting questions away from traditionalmetaphysical issues and toward concerns about justificationand warrant. Leaders responsible for these changes, includingPlantinga, Alston and Draper, use methods and arguments fromScottish Enlightenment figures. In general theists use and cite techniquespioneered by Reid and non-theists use and cite techniquespioneered by Hume, a split reduplicated among cognitive scientistsof religion, with Justin Barrett and Scott Atran respectively framingtheir results in Reid’s and in Hume’s language and argument. Thisstate of affairs sets our agenda. First we identify Reid’s use in theepistemology of religion and in the cognitive science of religion.Then we turn to Reid’s texts in an effort to assess the interpretationsand extrapolations of Reid given by participants in these debates.The answers to our research questions shed light on whatReid would believe today, were he apprised of the latest research inepistemology of and cognitive science of religion.

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 1999

The Philosophical Quarterly, 2002

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears... more Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Teaching Philosophy, 2010

"Philosophy Through Science Fiction offers a fun, challenging, and accessible way in to the ... more "Philosophy Through Science Fiction offers a fun, challenging, and accessible way in to the issues of philosophy through the genre of science fiction. Tackling problems such as the possibility of time travel, or what makes someone the same person over time, the authors take a four-pronged approach to each issue, providing · a clear and concise introduction to each subject · a science fiction story that exemplifies a feature of the philosophical discussion · historical and contemporary philosophical texts that investigate the issue with rigor, and · glossary, plot profiles of pertinent science fiction stories and films, and questions for further reflection. Philosophy Through Science Fiction includes stories from contemporary science fiction writers including Greg Egan and Mike Resnick, as well as from classic authors like Philip K. Dick and Robert Heinlein. Philosophy readings include historical pieces by René Descartes and David Hume, and contemporary pieces by John Searle and Mary Midgley."

Philosophy East and West, 2011

The project is to traverse with quite novel questions, and as though with new eyes, the enormous,... more The project is to traverse with quite novel questions, and as though with new eyes, the enormous, distant, and so well hidden land of morality-of morality that has actually existed, actually been lived.

Philosophical Review, 2009

Monist, 2013

AbstractWork in philosophy of religion exhibits at least four symptoms of poor health: it is too ... more AbstractWork in philosophy of religion exhibits at least four symptoms of poor health: it is too partisan, too polemical, too narrow in its focus, and too often evaluated using criteria that are theological or religious instead of philosophical. Our diagnosis is that, because of the emotional and psychosocial aspects of religion, many philosophers of religion suffer from cognitive biases and group influence. We support this diagnosis in two ways. First, we examine work in psychology on cognitive biases and their affective triggers. This work supports the view that, while cognitive biases are no doubt a problem in all inquiry and in all areas of philosophy, they are particularly damaging to inquiry in philosophy of religion. Second, we examine work in social and evolutionary psychology on religious sociality and its attendant emotions. This work establishes that the coalitional features of religion are correlated with group bias, and we contend that this bias is also harmful to inquiry in philosophy of religion. We close by offering both a prognosis and recommendations for treatment.What is the first business of philosophy? To part with self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn what he thinks that he already knows.-Epictetus, Discourses, Book 2, Ch. 17I think it clearly and abundantly evident that true religion lies very much in the affections.-Jonathan Edwards, A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, Part 31. SymptomsIt is widely believed, at least by philosophers of religion, that philosophy of religion is flourishing. It is not difficult to find evidence supporting this optimistic assessment. For example, many university students at all levels are intensely interested in the subject, and philosophy of religion gamers far more attention from people outside academia than most other areas of philosophy. Also, in terms of sheer quantity of articles, books, conferences, and specialty journals, philosophy of religion compares favorably with many other areas of philosophy. This has not always been so. Philosophers of religion today, including the two of us, owe a considerable debt of gratitude to the extraordinarily talented philosophers responsible for the growth of philosophy of religion in the second half of the twentieth century. Their own careers would not have been possible were it not for ground-breaking work by distinguished thinkers like William Alston, Nelson Pike, Alvin Plantinga, William Rowe, and Richard Swinburne, to mention just a few.Having said that, our role in this paper will be that of the proverbial skunk at the garden party. For in spite of the recent expansion of work in philosophy of religion, it exhibits at least four symptoms of poor health: it is too partisan, too polemical, too narrow in its focus, and too often evaluated using criteria that are theological or religious instead of philosophical. Before we offer any diagnosis, we describe these symptoms in more detail. We do not, however, try to prove that philosophy of religion exhibits these symptoms. Instead, we assume that most philosophers familiar with the literature in philosophy of religion will easily recognize them.Partisanship is so entrenched that most philosophers of religion, instead of being alarmed by it, just take it for granted. This manifests itself in a variety of ways. For example, for the sake of balance, editors of collections on topics in philosophy of religion usually invite both theists and nontheists to contribute, assuming that they know which side each will take on the topic of the collection, even when taking the unexpected side is perfectly compatible with the authors' theism or nontheism. A philosopher of religion who is a theist, for example, could consistently admit (and even defend the view) that horrendous evil is strong evidence against theism, so long as they think, for instance, that this evidence is outweighed by even stronger evidence (whether inferential or noninferential) on the other side. …

Metaphilosophy, 2006

Assume for the sake of argument that doing philosophy is intrinsically valuable, where ''doing ph... more Assume for the sake of argument that doing philosophy is intrinsically valuable, where ''doing philosophy'' refers to the practice of forging arguments for and against the truth of theses in the domains of metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and so on. The practice of the history of philosophy is devoted instead to discovering arguments for and against the truth of ''authorial'' propositions, that is, propositions that state the belief of some historical figure about a philosophical proposition. I explore arguments for thinking that doing history of philosophy is valuableFspecifically, valuable in such a way that its value does not reduce to the value of doing philosophy. Most such arguments proffered by historians of philosophy fail, as I show. I then offer a proposal about what makes doing history of philosophy uniquely valuable, but it is one that many historians will not find agreeable.

Journal of the History of Philosophy, 2002

Journal of Scottish Philosophy, 2012

Faith and Philosophy, 2002