American Dialectic is an online journal committed to enriching scholarly publication, discourse, and intellectual development in Philosophy and related fields. As an organization, American Dialectic is devoted to publishing intellectually excellent articles and to promoting the dialectical development of ideas among a broad community of readers. This is accomplished by combining the best aspects of a traditional publication with the best aspects of a scholarly conference: lead articles are published on our website and then are followed throughout the publication cycle by edited responses that are written and submitted by our readers. Through this unique publishing mechanism, American Dialectic aims to foster the continued intellectual development of contributors, respondents, and readers alike. The American Dialectic format is designed to develop a more robust understanding of important philosophical themes and issues by promoting an enhanced discussion throughout the academic community and beyond. This begins with well-written scholarly articles covering both timeless philosophical themes as well as recent philosophical developments. Our publications will offer perspectives on the history of philosophy and its inveterate fields while at the same time keeping a mindful eye on important inquiries and novel explorations. With this in mind, our editing staff will actively seek out those articles that present strong philosophic material that is conducive to the American Dialectic format. Readers are encouraged to genuinely engage with the articles by asking targeted questions and formulating insightful responses. Substantial questions and responses, junior submissions themselves, are then actively published following the lead article. The lead authors, respondents and readers can then, as a community, identify important points, clarify issues, resolve problems, and ultimately find common ground by building toward a more complete philosophic understanding.