Philosophy Commons^™

Material Consequence And Counter-Factuals, David Hitchcock

Philosophy Publications

A conclusion is a “material consequence” of reasons if it follows necessarily from them in accordance with a valid form of argument with content. The corresponding universal generalization of the argument’s associated conditional must be true, must be a covering generalization, and must be true of counter-factual instances. But it need not be law-like. Pearl’s structural model semantics is easier to apply to such counter-factual instances than Lewis’s closest-worlds semantics, and gives intuitively correct results.

Transubstantiation And Quantum Physics: The Parallels Of Mystery In Religion And Science, Zachary Sexton

Spring 2013, Science and Religion

As the study of physics has progressed into the abstract realm of quanta, some have argued that the notion of transubstantiation is an unreasonable understanding of the Eucharist. However, when confronted with the uncertainty that modern physics presents, sharp parallels between this uncertainty and the metaphysical mysteries of transubstantiation. If it is reasonable to accept uncertainty in quantum physics, then it should be reasonable to accept the mysteries within the metaphysical world.

Shattering The Political Or The Question Of War In Heidegger’S "Letter On Humanism.”, Babette Babich

Working Papers

Jean Beaufret’s question concerning humanism was “politically” framed on several levels as initially presented to Heidegger.1 Accordingly, Heidegger’s own response was itself political: invoking both technology and the self-same question of science that we remain—and to this day—still “too pious” (in Nietzsche’s words) to be able to frame as a question: the very same question Heidegger develops in his later lectures delivered to the businessmen of Germany, including his Question Concerning Technology. The preoccupation with thinking technology and thinking science remains with Heidegger to the end of his life. Even more significant perhaps (particularly ...

How Can We Explain Altruism?, Teresa Levasseur

Spring 2013, Science and Religion

This paper looks at the topic of Altruism, or more specifically altruistic behaviors. The paper explores the explanations offered from a scientific perspective as well as those from a theological perspective to determine which view offers a deeper understanding of altruism.

The Antibiotic Revolution, Alyssa Olsen

Spring 2013, Kuhn's Philosophy of Science

In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin, which revolutionized the way infections were treated. This discovery was revolutionary because it impacted the scientific field, the medical field, the pharmaceutical industry, and all of humanity. Alexander Fleming’s discovery of Penicillin sparked the development of antibiotics, which has continued to save people’s lives since the revolution. Thomas Kuhn would qualify the discovery of Penicillin by Alexander Fleming as a revolution because it led to a paradigm shift. Prior to the discovery of Penicillin, patients died from trivial injuries and infections. Fleming’s discovery of Penicillin is revolutionary because it changed the ...

Star Spangled Saints: Ritual Practices That Legitimate War And Violence In The American Church, Terry Dewayne Shoemaker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The objective of this research is to analyze the ways in which the conservative,
American church has been ideologically and ritualistically shaped by an imperial culture enamored with war, the military, and violence; and how those positions and practices, in effect, legitimate war and the military. While many authors have surveyed historical Christian positions regarding war and the current nationalistic tendencies of conservative Christians, little research has been conducted to assess the effects of violence, nationalism, patriotism, and military enchantment on Christian rituals, practices, and ethos. Within this research, I argue that contemporary, conservative Christians have surpassed previously held nuanced ...

When God Dies: Deconversion From Theism As Analogous To The Experience Of Death, William David Simpson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In this thesis, I explore the psychological and experiential aspects of the shift from a supernatural theistic worldview (specifically born-again Christianity) to a
philosophically naturalistic and atheistic worldview in the context of the religious
landscape in the U.S. I posit that certain features of this transition, which is known as "deconversion,” can be thought of as potentially analogous, both psychologically and subjectively, to the experience of another's death as an objective environmental change. I provide anthropological and psychological evidence that believers often experience the God of born-again Christianity as an independently existing and active agent in the world ...

A Grammatical Paradigm, Alexia Polacheck

Spring 2013, Kuhn's Philosophy of Science

Avram Noam Chomsky is known for his work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for his political pursuits, and most importantly, for his theories in the discipline of linguistics. Chomsky linguistic pursuits aimed to answer the following linguistic studies: how a person learns and develops a language, how a person structures and understands a sentence, and what the purpose of linguistics is as a whole. His theories dramatically changed the linguistic paradigm. Due to this change, this paper also attempts to illustrate the correlation between scientific philosopher Thomas Kuhn’s belief in ‘paradigm shifts’ and the subsequent change in linguistic thought ...

Just Because You're Offended Doesn't Mean You're In The Right: A Perspective On Language, Comedy, And Ethics, James Garrett '13

Student Publications

Some humor is offensive, but does this convey a moral constraint on what comedians can include in their jokes? Using stand up bits and reflections on comedy from George Carlin, Louis C.K., and Doug Stanhope, various philosophies of humor, and the linguistic philosophy of H.P. Grice, I explore the given question and attempt to settle the disputes about when it is prudent to be offended, in what ways comedians should be allowed to offend, and whether or not words can hurt just as much as sticks and stones.

This Existential Life: It’S Not About Cigarettes And Black Berets, Emma E. Kilbane

Senior Honors Projects

Try not to cast existentialism aside prematurely. Although often misbranded as the philosophy of egocentric, chain-smoking melodramatics, when given the careful attention it deserves, existential philosophy proves to be more empowering and hopeful than anything else. Existential questions – questions of meaning and purpose – are central not only to the major questions in philosophy, but to the particular individual’s daily existence, as well. Confronting these questions and becoming a reflective, autonomous being proves to be an extraordinary task, but one that is essential in order to create a colorful, self-chosen narrative.

This project delves into some of these pressing existential ...

Removing The Classical Landmark: Assessing An Epistemology Governed By Methodological Naturalism, Kegan Shaw

Masters Theses

This paper proposes to assess the naturalist project in epistemology with an eye towards exposing the project as deficient for serving as a robust epistemological project. Epistemologists treasure a certain family of questions and burden themselves with a number of specific concerns the most important of which, I think, cannot be answered by the epistemological naturalist. Ignoring these questions, I will argue, essentially amounts to a dismissal of the principle tension that primarily motivates and properly guides epistemological theorizing. This tension is the familiar appearance vs. reality distinction and characterizes what I am calling the classical landmark or boundary-stone for ...

Carruthers And Constitutive Self-Knowledge, John C. Hill '13

Student Publications

In his recent book, The Opacity of Mind, Peter Carruthers advances a skeptical theory of self-knowledge, integrating results from experimental psychology and cognitive science. In this essay, I want to suggest that the situation is not quite as dire as Carruthers makes it out to be. I respond to Carruthers by advancing a constitutive theory of self-knoweldge. I argue that self-knowledge, so understood, is not only compatible with the empirical research that Carruthers utilizes, but also helps to make sense of these results.

The Intricacy Of Death And Destiny, Christopher Rogers

Undergraduate Publications

It is our eternal shadow and our ultimate judge. It is our shared destiny and greatest fear; death. The conceptualization of death has always been a fascination of man; we have forever explored it, pondered it, dissected it, but never conquered it. We know how to live, but yet very few of us know how to die.

Two of the most brilliant explorations of this dynamic are vastly different yet inherently important works. The genius of both George Orwell’s political satire 1984, and Albert Camus’ The Plague is their accessibility to the imagination regarding dying, the authors ability to ...

From Cells To Cell Theory: What Would Kuhn Say?, Laura Kurjanowicz

Spring 2013, Kuhn's Philosophy of Science

Cells as we know them today were discovered in the 1600s by Robert Hooke. A couple hundred years later, scientists came to a final conclusion about how cells arose. The theory of spontaneous generation of life was abandoned in favor of cell theory, the idea that all cells come from preexisting cells. Louis Pasteur was an important thinker and experimentalist in this transition. Furthermore, the implications of this transition were far reaching and can even be seen today with the constant use of HeLa cells in scientific research. But what would Thomas Kuhn, philosopher of science, have to say about ...

A Kuhnian Analysis Of Willis, Katie Meloro

Spring 2013, Kuhn's Philosophy of Science

Seventeenth century scientist Thomas Willis dedicated his research to understanding the complexities of the human brain. He made several crucial discoveries about the brain's functional organization and in the process contradicted Rene Descartes' pineal theory regarding the location of the soul. Willis' writings were analyzed and modified by renowned students like John Locke, but his emphasis on empirical research and his creation of the four pillars of neurology has led to Willis' continuing influence on the practices of modern science. This paper analyzes the work of Willis from a Kuhnian perspective of scientific history.

Syllabus: Kuhn's Philosophy Of Science, Joseph Torchia

Spring 2013, Kuhn's Philosophy of Science

A critical investigation of the philosophy of science of Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996), with a special focus upon his critique of the classical model of the development of science in terms of a cumulative acquisition of knowledge, and by implication, a gradual progression toward truth. In broader terms, the course assesses the metaphysical and epistemological implications of Kuhn’s understanding of scientific change and the possibility of scientific progress.

Interview Of Frederick Van Fleteren, Ph.D., Frederick Van Fleteren Ph.D., Leo Wong

All Oral Histories

Frederick Van Fleteren was born in St. Clair Shores, Michigan in 1941. He was raised by two devout Catholic parents who valued his education. He went to Catholic grade schools and colleges in the United States, as well as two Irish universities when he was getting his PhD. in philosophy. His interest in philosophy would guide his academic and professional career from his undergraduate years to the present day where he is a Philosophy professor at La Salle University. From 1967 until 1978, he was an ordained priest with the Augustinians. He received his B.A. and M.A. from ...

Nietzschean Narratives Of Hero And Herd In Walt Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles, C. Heike Schotten

C. Heike Schotten

A critical reading of the Nietzschean politics of the Walt Disney/Pixar film The Incredibles.

The Degeneration Of The Human Mind: An Analysis Of Alzheimer’S Disease, A Kuhnian Perspective, Genevieve Ilg

Spring 2013, Kuhn's Philosophy of Science

In 1906, a German physician, Dr. Alois Alzheimer, specifically identified a collection of brain cell abnormalities (and the formation of plaque in the brain) as a disease, which forever changed the way scientists view degenerative cognitive disorders. Today, this brain disease bears his name, and is one of the most common diseases among the aging population. The discovery of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) can be seen as a revolutionary, paradigmatic shift in regards to scientific discovery from a Kuhnian perspective. In that vein, the discovery presents philosophical implications for the notion of personhood and how those suffering from AD are ...

Digital Reading: A Question Of Prelectio?, Noel Fitzpatrick

Digital reading as superficial reading is examined by demonstrating that technologies act as placeholders for different types of memory, artificial memory and true memory. This chapter argues that the affordances of digital technologies enable certain types of reading activity, digital reading, but hinders others, such as deep reading. In particular, there is a tenuous relationship between digital reading and scanning for information in the printed text, a form of reading traditionally known as prelectio. This latter is a pre-reading of the text for salient information, not for deep understanding: it is, rather, a scanning or skimming of the text. Since ...