Volume 9 is now available.

On behalf of the A Priori editorial board, we're proud to be presenting the 9th volume of A Priori, featuring ten exceptionally thoughtful philosophical papers from undergraduates across the world. We congratulate and thank the authors and our editorial staff who have made this volume possible.

— The 9th Editorial Board of A Priori

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The Question Concerning Large-Language Models

Callum Yeaman

In 1954, Heidegger's "The Question Concerning Technology" warned that technology's true danger emerges when we mistakenly view it as something "neutral," urging rigorous questioning of our relation to emerging technologies. Today, nearly 75 years later, technological development has spiraled to…

The Question Concerning Large-Language Models

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A Challenge to the Moral Argument: The Problem of Animal Suffering

Adrian Haagen

Within contemporary theology, the moral argument is one of the most frequently cited challenges to the naturalist. Andrew Ter Ern Loke offers a new formulation to the argument, framing divine nature as the necessary ontological standard for moral realism. This paper will offer an internal critique…

How Does Pain Fit into the Social Model of Disability?

Sophia Decherney

The Social Model of Disability, though its conception varies across theorists, claims that people are disabled not only by impairment and difference, but also, by the barriers constructed by society. However, theorists such as Elizabeth Barnes and Susan Wendell believe pain poses a special problem…

Pornography as Group Libel

Irmak Aydemir

This paper argues that pornography is an instance of group libel against women. Using Jeremy Waldron's framework of hate speech, the paper defines group libel as undermining the reputation of a group and the social standing of its members, and identifies four different types of group libel. The paper argues that pornography is group libel because it disseminates misogynist ideals: first, by presenting women as essentially sexual; second, by commercializing and illegitimating their emotions; and third, by depicting women as naturally and willingly sexually subordinate to men. Each of these…

Buberian Intersubjectivity and Racist Encounters

Kwesi Thomas

In this essay, I explore a few ways that the German Jewish philosopher Martin Buber can contribute to the philosophy of race. More specifically, I will here explicate what Buber's dialogical "ontology of the inter-human" in I and Thou and Distance and Relation can tell us about racist encounters. I…

Care Bots & The Issue of Deception

Ila Kacker

The aging population in America is growing faster now than ever. However, we lack the proper infrastructure and resources to care for them adequately. Those involved in the field of elder care are experimenting with solutions to this problem. One of the most pressing solutions is the use of…

Aesthetics as a Humanism

Christina Pan

Philosophical treatments of suicide have largely proceeded along two canonical trajectories: ethical and existential. Ethical frameworks, grounded in normative assessment, often risk intensifying self-condemnation by situating suicidal desire within the register of moral failure. Existentialist…

A Refugee's Right to Citizenship

Carol Michelle Beyda

This paper discusses the extent of duties that are morally owed to refugees in ethical immigration practices. I begin by explaining the humanitarian account often used to ground obligations to refugees and present this approach's limitations. After rejecting this inadequate method, I draw from…