Skip to main content

2013 Winner: Gregory Furmaniuk


Greg Furmaniuk is in the fourth and final year of his Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at the University of Winnipeg. His focus for the time being includes critical theory, virtue ethics, interpreting the world and maybe trying to change it. After completing his undergraduate degree, Greg intends to apply for law school and / or graduate programs in political theory. Download his winning paper Prometheus and the Owl of Minerva and comment on it below.

Prometheus and the Owl of Minerva

Abstract: This essay is an investigation into the moral and political theories of Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor, often grouped together under the “communitarian” label in the liberal-communitarian debate. My definition of a communitarian is one who believes that humans are fundamentally social and political animals, and sees human life as embodied in context, in the community and in human interaction. Examining the dynamics between MacIntyre and Taylor, two of the debate’s most prominent thinkers, is crucial to our understanding of this tradition, along with its grandeur and misère. The first section of this paper describes MacIntyre and Taylor’s criticism of modernity. The second aims at capturing both MacIntyre and Taylor’s method of forging a renewed human agency. The final section reveals my critique of Taylor and MacIntyre, with the conclusion that the communitarian project remains unfinished.

2013 Short List

Congratulations to the the following applicants whose papers were short listed for the Keenan Prize for 2013!

  • Robert Mason from the University of Waterloo – Liberal Neutrality and the Problem of Persons
  • Jonathan Wald from McGill University – Two Models of Culture, Two Models of Toleration
  • Emma Byrnes from Queen’s University – Marxism vs. Liberal Egalitarianism: The implications of the debate, and a possible way forward
  • Vincent Hanlon from Queen’s University – Is Freedom the Absence of Constraints?

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

2019 Winner: Nelson Guedes

Nelson Guedes is a student at the University of Victoria majoring in Philosophy. He is working on a transdisciplinary theory that provides a strong foundation for knowledge. He plans to use his theory to address a wide variety of social-economic problems. His interests include, inter alia, general systems theory, complexity science, game theory, metaphysics, philosophy of law & political philosophy, Zen Buddhism and Taoism. Law as an Emergent Natural Phenomenon Abstract: Increasing instability in foreign relations threatens to breakdown the decentralized international legal order. In this paper, I examine the natural decentralized emergence of law, the difficulties the international legal order is facing and the sources of instability. I will then tap into insights from decentralized indigenous legal orders and use those insights to address the difficulties the international legal order is facing. Finally, I will briefly present a solution that creates a stable decentralized inter...
Read more

2021 Winner: Nicholas Duguay

Nicholas Duguay is completing an Honours degree in Philosophy at Concordia University, where he also studied Mandarin. His primary interests in philosophy are in liberal theory and its critiques (from both Western and other philosophical traditions). In particular, Nicholas is interested in the state and its legitimacy, as well as in the debate between neutralists and perfectionists over whether the state can (and/or should) promote certain conceptions of the good. Beyond the classroom, Nicholas enjoys writing poetry and songs, cycling, and spending time with his family. Download the 2021 paper, The Problem of Stability: A Case for Civic Friendship in the Rawlsian Society. 2021 Short List Congratulations to the the following applicants whose papers were short listed for the Keenan Prize this year: Eleanor Hamilton from Concordia University – Putting the Judge in Prejudice Tyler Paetkau from University of Alberta – Environmental Racism and the Capabilities Approach to Justice: Private ...
Read more

2020 Winner: Sophia Whicher

Sophia Whicher recently graduated from the University of Toronto with a double major in Philosophy and Ethics, Society and Law. She is especially interested in Ethics and the Philosophy of Emotions, and their intersection with the public sphere, including our political and legal systems. One of her favourite parts of her degree was being able to teach, and she hopes to incorporate teaching philosophy and the spirit of inquisitive learning it encourages into her future. Outside of her academic life, she enjoys travelling, drinking tea, and annoying her partner by tirelessly asking questions about everything. Legal Positivism and a Dynamic Picture of the Law Abstract: The question of whether there is a necessary connection between law and morality is one which manifests concretely in the aftermath of immoral legal systems. In this paper, I use the post-war German Grudge Informer cases as a lens through which to examine HLA Hart’s defence of the Separation Thesis. In thinking about what ...
Read more