Other Philosophy Commons^™

Public Deliberation And Epistemic Parity In Direct Democracies, Léa Farine

OSSA Conference Archive

In a context of public-policy making, I propose to consider a fundamental norm of epistemic parity as contributing to the justification, the acceptability and the legitimacy of decisions taken through deliberative processes. I also suggest that models of semi-direct democracy, whose constitutional foundations include the possibility of deliberations among all citizens sanctioned by popular votes, promote epistemic parity.

A Theory Of Philosophical Arguments, Christoph Lumer

OSSA Conference Archive

In the main part of the article, a new, idealizing-hermeneutic methodological approach to developing a theory of philosophical arguments is presented and carried out. The basis for this is a theory of ideal philosophical theory types developed from the analysis of historical examples (Lumer 2011b; 2020). According to this theory, the following ideal types of theory exist in philosophy: 1. descriptive-nomological, 2. idealizing-hermeneutic, 3. technical-constructive, 4. ontic-practical. These types of theories are characterized in particular by what their basic types of theses are. The main task of this article is then to determine the types of arguments that are suitable ...

Death Positivity: A New Genre Of Death And The Genre Function Of Memento Mori, Melony Elsie Del Real

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This article explores Caitlin Doughty’s “death positivity” as an evolved form of the medieval memento mori, and how this medieval genre serves as a genre function for current day thanatophobic audiences. This is specifically done by analyzing Doughty’s book titled Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, as well as some of her other death positivity mediums. By modeling her rhetoric of death positivity after memento mori, Doughty can effectively deliver her anti-death fearing message to the very audiences that fear death.

Furthermore, analyzing Doughty’s rhetoric as operating within the genre function, a concept put forth by Anis Bawarshi ...

Backing Up Into Advocacy: The Case Of Smartphone Driver Distraction, Robert Rosenberger

The Journal of Sociotechnical Critique

For the last decade, I’ve been studying the topic of the driving impairment of smartphones. While this began as an exclusively academic project, it has increasingly compelled public engagement. One example of this came in an opinion piece I wrote in 2018 in response to a new traffic law. I take the opportunity here to fill out the academic backstory of this particular op-ed, reflect on how this larger project has evolved to include an unanticipated public-facing edge, and abstract some lessons about public writing.

From Protecting To Performing Privacy, Garfield Benjamin

The Journal of Sociotechnical Critique

Privacy is increasingly important in an age of facial recognition technologies, mass data collection, and algorithmic decision-making. Yet it persists as a contested term, a behavioural paradox, and often fails users in practice. This article critiques current methods of thinking privacy in protectionist terms, building on Deleuze's conception of the society of control, through its problematic relation to freedom, property and power. Instead, a new mode of understanding privacy in terms of performativity is provided, drawing on Butler and Sedgwick as well as Cohen and Nissenbaum. This new form of privacy is based on identity, consent and collective action ...

Mental Associations And Music Therapy: Including The History Of Associationism And The Neurology Of Associations, Dianna Rose

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Associations are formed in our minds based upon three elements: sensory experience, emotions, and memories. These associations, unique to each individual, dictate thoughts, beliefs, behaviors, and actions. Some are necessary and supportive, while others can be maladaptive. Established associations can be changed, and new associations can be formed, to align with a client’s goals. The literature presents a strong history of associationism, as well as a body of research that demonstrates the neurological processes of how mental associations are formed. There are also studies showing how music activates the brain. However, there is a lack of research which draws ...

One Of Wittgenstein’S Methods: A Defense And Elaboration Of Baker’S Analogy, Griffin Pion

2020 JHU Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium

In his later writings, Wittgenstein uses the term “picture” in a variety of ways. One such way is to mean a “conception” of or “way of looking” at a given philosophical problem (PI §144). Gordon Baker and David Egan offer two detailed accounts of this use (Baker 2004, 266-278; Egan 2011); for convenience, I will call such pictures “conceptual pictures”. Baker finds a helpful analogy between conceptual pictures and the phenomenon of aspect-seeing: in the same way that we can shift the aspect under which we view an image, Wittgenstein shifts the conceptual picture by means of which we view ...

The Political Animal: Aristotle's Man And The Natural Political Life, Joseph Rodriguez

2020 JHU Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium

Aristotle's Politics offers what may be called a "political anthropology". I argue that Aristotle's conception of the polis as natural derives from the specifically human kind of partnership that is tied to the exercise of the specifically human capacity for logos. I assert that Aristotle's political naturalism is rooted in two claims: (a) the claim that humans are the most political animal and (b) the claim that the polis is naturally prior to the individual. Together these two claims constitute Aristotle's argument that the polis alone has the potential to fully satisfy our unique human capacity ...

Relations And Folds In Leibniz: Monadological Intimacy, Jeff Lambert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My goal is to provide a clear explanation of Leibniz’s notoriously difficult system of relations. Relations among ‘windowless’ substances that exert no causal power over one another seems like a pipe dream that should be abandoned. However, I demonstrate that each substance expresses its relations only through the unique representation of all other substances. That is, any relation a substance expresses is due to this unique, perspectival, non-causal, representation of others. Because this is the case for all substances, this means that this relation of representation is an ongoing process of interconnection for all substances. This representation is not ...

A Rhetoric And Philosophy Of Gifts, Mary Eberhardinger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project synthesizes a selected scope of rhetorical and philosophical perspectives of the gift. The research question is what the relationship between gifts and rhetoric might be. In order to approach this question, this project offers a review of related literature on the topic of gifts. It then provides analysis and discussion that contextualize the question. The project finally concludes by offering implications. The implications address why the question concerning the relationship between gifts and rhetoric matters for the larger landscape of international relations.

The Psychology Of Dystopian And Post-Apocalyptic Stories: The Proverbial Question Of Whether Life Will Imitate Art, Donna Roberts

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic genres challenge our notions of Aristotelian mimesis vs Anti-mimesis – i.e., In the study of the human condition, does life imitate art or art imitate life? Popular culture, then and now, provides us with examples to depict the circularity of these notions and the psychological importance of exploring this aspect of human nature, particularly the contemplation of our own collective demise. While we recoil in horror at the images these genres portray, we are also morbidly fascinated by them, and we can’t help but ask ourselves . . . Could that really happen? Will that happen?

Comment. Two intellectual ...

The Science That Will Save The World: Tektological Practice For The Coming Storm, Remi Debs Bruno

2020 JHU Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium

Alexander Bogdanov, a Russian physicist, philosopher of science, and Old Bolshevik who strove to devolve scientific knowledge from its rarified perch amongst the 'intelligentsiya' to the level of mass engagement originated what has since been developed into systems theory. The conjuncture between Bogdanov's Tektology (meaning, roughly, "the universal science of organization", which was later developed into the field of cybernetics and complexity theory) and a universalizable approach to ecology is a fecund terrain containing, this presentation will argue, the seeds of a revolutionary approach to the existential impasses of the Anthropocene-- those interposed amongst social formations as well as ...

Up Close And Personal: Ritual, Social Criticism, And The Russell Tribunal, Henry Blackburn

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis attempts to provide a conception of the Russell Tribunal as an organization deeply rooted in ritual practice and social criticism. Contrary to prevailing views that describe the Tribunal as nothing more than a (failed) legal court or an organization that sought to engage with international law, this thesis argues that the Tribunal, far from an organization rooted in judging the legality of the Vietnam War, can actually be understood as an organization that sought to enhance the social criticism of its members.

Mapping The Modern History Of Philosophy Of Religion With Machine Learning, Jackson C. Foster

2020 JHU Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium

A current debate in the philosophy of religion ("PoR") is about future routes for scholarship (see Bilimoria and Irvine 2010; Crockett, Putt, and Robbins 2014; Wildman 2010). Yet, while many scholars have assessed where the field should expand, few have addressed the disciplines' modern history. Making use of new methods in the digital humanities, this project proposes a history of the field based on empirical evidence, a meaningful foundation for future growth. "Mapping the History" utilizes various computational techniques to process twenty-thousand research articles from fifteen journals in PoR and religious studies, spanning a period of over ninety years (from ...

"I Am The Sole Author": Challenging The Dictionary Of The Social Self In Zadie Smith's Nw, Rachel Mary Stroia

2020 JHU Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium

Zadie Smith explores the tension between the notions of identity based on essentialism and identity as fluid. Her novel NW (2012) follows the lives of Leah Hanwell and Natalie Blake in their respective struggles to forge their identities in post-multicultural London. I propose that Smith's characters fall on either side of the spectrum between stasis and becoming, and neither one can achieve the balance between the two extremes. In addition to exploring these ontological questions, Smith challenges the promise of self-sufficiency, individualism, and social mobility in contemporary London, categories which are immersed in neoliberal sensibilities that ostensibly celebrate autonomy ...

The Conceptions Of Self-Evidence In The Finnis Reconstruction Of Natural Law, Kevin P. Lee

St. Mary's Law Journal

Finnis claims that his theory proceeds from seven basic principles of practical reason that are self-evidently true. While much has been written about the claim of self-evidence, this article considers it in relation to the rigorous claims of logic and mathematics. It argues that when considered in this light, Finnis equivocates in his use of the concept of self-evidence between the realist Thomistic conception and a purely formal, modern symbolic conception. Given his respect for the modern positivist separation of fact and value, the realism of the Thomistic conception cannot be the foundation for the natural law as Finnis would ...

Socrates As A Philosophical Exemplar, Aria Mia Loberti

Senior Honors Projects

In Plato’s dialogues, Socrates famously denied being a teacher. Nonetheless, others took him to be a teacher, and there is no doubt that his attempts to encourage people to philosophy are pedagogical. So, we are presented with a puzzle—one that is still with interpreters today, despite important work on the issues (e.g., Nehamas 1985, 1992). In this project, I approach these issues from a different angle, asking not whether Socrates is a teacher (or whether philosophy can be taught) but considering Socrates as a philosophical exemplar. I contend that this question will help us to understand not ...

06. Richard Richards, Robert Roberts, And Aristotelian Aristotelianism, Steven Gimbel

Praxis, Poems, and Punchlines: Essays in Honor of Richard C. Richards

This paper is a tribute to a philosopher and a person I have long admired, Richard C. Richards. As a clear and rigorous thinker, a thoughtful and accessible writer, and as a kind, blunt, and extremely funny person, Richard embodies virtues I hope to someday claim as well. [excerpt]

07. Richard Richards Is A Gay Scientist, David Monroe

Praxis, Poems, and Punchlines: Essays in Honor of Richard C. Richards

A little recognized and under-appreciated fact about the august Richard Richards is that he is a gay scientist. I know what you may be thinking—Richard’s never shagged dudes, and if he has, it’s shitty to out him in an essay that’s meant to honor him. That’s strictly his business. Or you may be thinking that that Richard identifies as a philosopher, not a physicist, biologist, or even (egads!) a psychologist. As far as I know, you would be right in both cases—and it would be terrible to call him out--despite the fact that this ...

05. Aesthetics, Humor, And Virtue: Reflections On Richards And The Good Life, Elizabeth Victor

Praxis, Poems, and Punchlines: Essays in Honor of Richard C. Richards

In A Philosopher Looks at the Sense of Humor, Richard C. Richards discusses how one's appreciation of and ability to create incongruities is a necessary condition for developing a sense of humor. One's sense of humor, according to Richards, can be a component of happiness. In this paper, I will build on Richards's concept of the sense of humor. I will argue that Richards account is consistent with an Aristotelian picture of happiness as holistic well-being. Specifically, I will suggest that the attitude underlying the aesthetic and/or the humorous is a kind of pro-attitude that must ...