The Universal And The Unique, 2024 Portland State University
The Universal And The Unique, Martin Zwick
Systems Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
This paper explores the abstract dyad of universality and uniqueness. It notes that the two might be complementary and even synergistic, or that they might be alternatives that oppose one another. It also explores how the unique might be an emergent from a primal universality, as well as how the universal might be an emergent from a primal uniqueness. Finally, it offers an interpretation of this dyad in which the universal and the unique are equivalent transforms of one another and thus two sides of the same coin.
Keywords: Universality, uniqueness, general and particular, similarity and difference, fundamental dyad, dualism
Fallen Kingdoms And Ancient Monoliths: The Influence Of Atlantis And Egypt In Tolkien’S Númenor, 2024 Independent Scholar
Fallen Kingdoms And Ancient Monoliths: The Influence Of Atlantis And Egypt In Tolkien’S Númenor, Charlotte J. Brockway
Journal of Tolkien Research
In light of the recent publication of The Fall of Númenor, my essay aims to focus on Tolkien’s, somewhat underappreciated, influences on Gondor; particularly Ancient Egypt. This essay looks at Plato's Timaeus and Critias, Ignatius Donnelly's theories, and examines the Atlantean and Egyptian motifs in Tolkien’s version of Westernesse, in particular, the remnants of Atlantean civilization survived by Egyptian colonists which mirror the Realms of Exile (Gondor and Arnor).
Constructive Engagement Between Ecological Thoughts Of Karl Marx And Lao Zi, 2024 San Jose State University
Constructive Engagement Between Ecological Thoughts Of Karl Marx And Lao Zi, Hongyin Zhou, Yuqi Chen
Comparative Philosophy
The global ecological crisis has posed unprecedented survival challenges to human being. Consequently, ecological issues have naturally become central concerns in philosophy. From the methodological perspective of constructive engagement in comparative philosophy, we have chosen to compare the ecological thoughts of two thinkers—Karl Marx and Lao Zi (老子)—who are separated by vast spans of time and cultural tradition. We argue that Karl Marx holds a mild anthropocentric ecological view, while Lao Zi holds a transcendental ecological view. In addressing ecological issues, Lao Zi’s transcendental methodological guiding principles can provide negative methodological constraints for Karl …
A New Look At The Debate Between Confucian Soft-Power And Legalist Hard-Power Statecrafts And Its Contemporary Significance, 2024 San Jose State University
A New Look At The Debate Between Confucian Soft-Power And Legalist Hard-Power Statecrafts And Its Contemporary Significance, Shirong Luo
Comparative Philosophy
In recent years, comparative scholars and commentators have attempted to find ways to best characterize the opposition between Confucianism and Legalism. For example, it has been argued that Confucianism exemplifies “idealism”, whereas Legalism is a version of “realism” and that their dispute can be construed as a clash between the broader philosophical frameworks of idealism and realism. While casting these opposing political philosophies as such can shed some light on the differences between the two schools of classical Chinese philosophy, these conceptual labels are too broad to capture their fundamental differences, which in my view are their different understandings of …
The 17th Century Legacy Of Neo-Stoic Ethics, 2024 The University of Western Ontario
The 17th Century Legacy Of Neo-Stoic Ethics, James Mackey
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Justus Lipsius was a 16th -century renaissance humanist and literary scholar who, crucially for the history of philosophy, was involved in the publication and reinterpretation of Stoic thought, primarily focusing on the works of Seneca. Despite a fair amount of scholarship on Lipsius’s contribution to the history of philosophy, the role of Stoicism in the early to mid-17th century is still not well understood. In this thesis I show, through close examination of Lipsius’s work, that Neo-Stoic ethics in the 17th century amounts to a view about the relationship between providence and human actions. After identifying ways that Stoic philosophy …
Form And Matter In Kant's Theoretical Philosophy, 2024 Duquesne University
Form And Matter In Kant's Theoretical Philosophy, Aaron Higgins-Brake
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation examines the use of the terms “form” and “matter” in Kant’s theoretical philosophy from his earliest publications up to the Critique of Pure Reason (1781). I argue that these two concepts have received unfortunately little attention in the development of Kant’s thought and in his mature writings. I begin in Chapter One by examining his increasing use of them in his pre-critical writings culminating in the Inaugural Dissertation (1770), where he first develops his theory of space as a form of intuition. Then in Chapters Two to Five, I examine his account of them in his accounts of …
Denigration Of The Body In Plato’S Philosophy, 2024 University of Northern Colorado
Denigration Of The Body In Plato’S Philosophy, Jamie Alexander
Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado
The denigration of the body is a common feature of Western religions, but its origins can be traced back to Plato. His teacher, Socrates, proposed a separation of body and soul, but careful reading of Plato's Dialogues suggest Plato took a particularly negative view of the body compared to his predecessor. Analyzing the effects of the Peloponnesian War on Plato's life and society, this article looks at reasons Plato may have had a developed an unfavorable view toward the body by comparing "war bodies" with "intellectual bodies," and discussing the impact democracy had on Plato's worldview.
Kantian Reason & Epistemic Humility, 2024 Taylor University
Kantian Reason & Epistemic Humility, Elias Seeman
Lux et Fides: A Journal for Undergraduate Christian Scholars
Immanuel Kant continues to be one of the most influential thinkers in the history of philosophy. His thought shapes much of contemporary culture and has dramatically influenced Christian philosophy and theology. While some of this influence is beneficial, there are components of Kantian thought – especially as it pertains to the capabilities of human reason to arrive at true knowledge of God – that are decidedly problematic. In this paper, two different readings on Kant’s work on this subject are presented, followed by a brief overview of key insights and shortcomings. The final section charts a positive way forward for …
“Women And Lockean Theory: John Locke, Rachel Speght, And Egalitarian Personhood, 2024 Chapman University
“Women And Lockean Theory: John Locke, Rachel Speght, And Egalitarian Personhood, Katherine Gillespie, Bas Van Der Vossen
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
Liberal political thought affirms the moral equality of all persons. The Lockean tradition within liberalism captures this equality by endowing people with equal natural rights. However, a powerful line of criticism holds that the theory fails to live up to its egalitarian billing by treating men and women differently. This article offers a rational reconstruction of the Lockean position on gender equality, and the rights of women in particular. We propose a novel interpretative method which puts Locke into conversation with a contemporary female author, Rachel Speght. In Speght, we find an interesting argument supporting an egalitarian Lockean view, grounded …
Teaching Margaret Cavendish’S Philosophy: Early Modern Women And The Question Of Biography, 2024 Northeastern University London
Teaching Margaret Cavendish’S Philosophy: Early Modern Women And The Question Of Biography, Peter West
ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830
In my contribution to this Concise Collection on Margaret Cavendish, I focus on teaching Cavendish’s work in the context of philosophy (and, more specifically, Early Modern Philosophy). I have three aims. First, to explain why teaching women from philosophy’s history is crucially important to the discipline. Second, to outline my own reflections on teaching Cavendish’s philosophy. Third, to defend a specific claim about the benefits of teaching Cavendish to philosophy students; namely, that introducing biographical detail alongside philosophical ideas enriches the learning experience.
Illusions Of Freedom? A History Of Attitudes Toward Death, 2024 Clemson University
Illusions Of Freedom? A History Of Attitudes Toward Death, Dominick Bucca
All Theses
My thesis explores the historical question: “Is there any freedom from death?” through three figures within the Western metaphysical tradition: Thucydides (460-400 BCE), Augustine (354-430 CE), and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616). In so doing, my thesis suggests the following: for Thucydides, freedom from death arose through the immortality of empire; for Augustine, through the immortality of God’s grace; and for Cervantes, through the immortality of narratives/attitudes of immortality. Moreover, I nest my claim within an exploratory narrative. Which is to say that, lifting a page from Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), I have attempted to break away from the near total …
The Self In The Mirror Of Despair: Søren Kierkegaard On The Authentic Christian Life, 2024 William & Mary
The Self In The Mirror Of Despair: Søren Kierkegaard On The Authentic Christian Life, Yi Shao
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Søren Kierkegaard describes a human life as a dialectic of three stages: the esthetic, the ethical, and the religious. He argues that there is a qualitative break between the ethical and religious spheres, which requires a “leap” for the individual to cross. In this thesis, I argue that the key to understanding the concept of the leap is to focus on its inevitable failure. Failure is essential to an individual’s transformation to becoming a Christian, as no human beings in this life can ever achieve authentic faith, become a knight of faith, or arrive at Religiousness B. For an …
The Myths Of Plato: Socratic Kenosis And The Call Of Beauty, 2024 Southeastern University - Lakeland
The Myths Of Plato: Socratic Kenosis And The Call Of Beauty, Daniel Edward Shirley
Master of Arts in Classical Studies
The myths of Plato have been inordinately subordinated to the “intellect” of Plato since the eighteen-thirties. The ancient Christian tradition of interpreting stories and scriptures with symbolic understanding serves as a potentially primary hermeneutical pattern that could correct the modern tendency of subconscious materialism. To restore the Platonic myths, there are two foundational arguments to be made about the myths. The first is that these myths are kenotic in function. Observing the Socratic call to self-emptying, especially in the cosmological image of the World Axis, challenges modern assumptions concerning the second goodness of Platonic myth. The second argument is the …
A Metaphysics Of The Moral Imagination: John Ruskin's Realism, Revisited, 2024 Duquesne University
A Metaphysics Of The Moral Imagination: John Ruskin's Realism, Revisited, Jesse Goodman
Graduate Student Research Symposium
The Victorian philosopher John Ruskin is primarily remembered for his political writing, as a forerunner of what we would today call Christian Socialist politics. In aesthetic circles, he is also often considered something of a punchline: a stuffy conservative who represents the worst vagaries of his day, an enemy of abstraction. Ruskin thus has a double-being in cultural memory: both an admired social reformer and a laughingstock art critic.
These views of Ruskin can be potentially reconciled by showing how his critics have misunderstood his aesthetic philosophy. Ruskin is often described as an aesthetic realist, the view on which art …
Of Method: A Propaedeutic To Coleridge's Prose Works, 2024 The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Of Method: A Propaedeutic To Coleridge's Prose Works, Michael A. Granger
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Coleridge’s prose works, published and unpublished, demonstrate a thorough and critical testing and understanding of British and German philosophical responses to skepticism and the ability of philosophy to progress by maintaining a double-minded and conflicted suture of both the practical or imaginative eclipse of knowledge and theorizing the hypothetical epistemological absolute that explains the relativity of facticity. Any inadequate method of inquiry stagnates within attempting a purely figurative or purely demonstrative solution to skepticism. Thus, the appropriate way to approach Coleridge’s understanding of philosophy is the struggle to make inquiry adequate though progression. Coleridge’s methodological impulse originates explicitly in a …
The Roaring Lion Of Berlin: The Life, Thought, And Influence Of Eugen Dühring, 2024 University of Missouri, St. Louis
The Roaring Lion Of Berlin: The Life, Thought, And Influence Of Eugen Dühring, Arden Roy
Undergraduate Research Symposium
The life and influence of 19th-century German polymath Eugen Dühring remain but a mere footnote in the history of ideas, being primarily relegated to the status of little more than a theoretical rival to Marxism in the German socialist movement and the occasional object of Freidrich Nietzsche's rhetorical flogging. Despite the current consensus on the subject, Eugen Dühring was a scholar of vast, remarkable learnedness, contributing greatly to philosophy, economics, and the natural sciences. The aim of this talk will be to clear the fog surrounding the life and work of the controversial blind scholar and give an account of …
Heraclitus And The Rig Veda: A Cross-Tradition Engaging Examination, 2024 San Jose State University
Heraclitus And The Rig Veda: A Cross-Tradition Engaging Examination, Eleni Chronopoulou
Comparative Philosophy
As early as the 18th century, the similarities between Greek and Iranian thought have raised questions about the origins of Greek philosophy and a possible Oriental influence many have ventured to highlight parallels and to explain this proximity of ideas. However, although it is very well-known that Iranian philosophy is influenced by the early Hindu thought, and there are studies on the analogies between the Greek and the Indian philosophy only few scholars have studied the closeness of the Heracletean philosophy with the early Indian thinking. This article attempts to compare some fragments of the Ionian philosopher on fire …
Lincoln's Shakespearean Education, 2024 Claremont Graduate University
Lincoln's Shakespearean Education, Ted Jones Richards
CGU Theses & Dissertations
This dissertation demonstrates that Abraham Lincoln’s self-education in the works of William Shakespeare substantially animates his thought and statesmanship, that Lincoln’s political philosophy is indelibly etched with Shakespeare’s influence. The project begins with an introduction, justifying this thesis and explaining the methodology. The paper’s justification relies on several important Shakespeare references in Lincoln’s speeches and writings. I analyze those references, comparing them to their original context, and thereby demonstrate Lincoln’s impressive grasp of Shakespeare, and Shakespeare’s deep influence on Lincoln. Once I establish this, I begin a series of thematic chapters on the basis of these references and their import, …
The Evolution Of Stoicism: An Overview Of Prominent Features And Discussions In Modern Stoicism, 2024 West Chester University
The Evolution Of Stoicism: An Overview Of Prominent Features And Discussions In Modern Stoicism, Christopher Sanchez
West Chester University Master’s Theses
This thesis project is an overview of the philosophy of Stoicism and its history, including research on prominent features and discussions in contemporary Stoicism. Stoicism today, known as “Modern Stoicism” or “contemporary Stoicism,” has undergone a recent revival in interest, leading to a new wave of academic and popular study. One purpose of this project is to investigate why and how this resurgence of Stoicism took place; I argue that one primary cause of the resurgence and manifestation of Modern Stoicism is a characteristic of accessibility in Stoic philosophy. This accessibility allows for an exponential growth of interaction with Stoic …
Relationality In Rousseau's Philosophy Of Education, 2024 University of Kentucky
Relationality In Rousseau's Philosophy Of Education, Thayne Cameron
Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s assertion of Emile that “Our true study is that of the human condition” serves as the foundation for this dissertation, which examines the significance of certain kinds of basic experiential relationships in Rousseau’s philosophy of education. By analyzing the relationships between the self and objects, the self and others, and the educator and the learner, this work elucidates how these interactions underpin Rousseau’s pedagogical views and their implications for fostering personal and social virtue.
The dissertation explores the self-object relationship through affectivity, embodiment, and purposeful activity, demonstrating how direct engagement with objects shapes perceptions and behaviors. It then …