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Try To Remember Breath, Rita Chapman

Theses

A collection of original poems.

Looking Past The Images: Art And Film As Propaganda Apparatuses, Alexander Schumm

Theses

This paper aims to show that art and film can operate as propaganda in subtle and unintentional ways. Jacques Ellul called such propaganda “sociological propaganda.” Recent work in philosophy has relied on the notion of intention in defining how propaganda works to affect the beliefs and attitudes of its recipients. This paper argues that intention is not a necessary condition for messages to be propagandistic and works to decouple propaganda from intention. Because our current models rely on intention in defining propaganda, recent work in philosophy cannot account for sociological propaganda. Ellul’s gestures toward defining propaganda explicitly feature intention as …

Gone To Ground, Brian Blair

Theses

Gone to Ground is a collection of short stories that explores the possibilities beyond the edge of the everyday. They are an attempt to peek beyond the imaginary boundaries we erect for ourselves in the name of danger or the unknown. Each story is an opportunity to see our own familiar humanity in others, no matter the accidents of fortune that separate us. Though the stories in Gone to Ground often touch the surreal or the magical, they are firmly rooted in what could be out there, on the other side of our walls, whether real or imagined. These are …

For That What Didn't, Sue Britt

Theses

ABSTRACT The work of this book was pursued with the objective of exploring psychological and sociological causes and effects of the human condition with themes including family, love, solitude, loss, abandonment, estrangement, maternity, sex, and gender power dynamics--especially that of male dominance of women and varying female responses to this sociological organization--using characters, animals, settings and voices in the artistic medium of poetry. The assembly of the book is in the style of novel structure, but neither story nor chronology were considered in the order of organization as each poem is an independent piece. Epigraphs were used at the beginning …

Professional Heartbreakers: Male Entertainers And The Divide Between Popular Culture And History In Japan, Meradeth Lin Edwards

Theses

While prostitution in Japan is widely studied, there are seldom specific examinations of males in these roles. This paper uses primary sources and secondary sources to study men as purchasable commodities, and how these roles have shaped the fictional world as well as the real world in Japan.

The Visit: A Full Length Play, Rosalia A. Portillo

Theses

The Visit served as my thesis production to fulfill the requirements for a Masters of Fine Arts from Lindenwood University. This paper details my role as director in the production from its conception, to production, to evaluation. I will explore the details of my process for the project as well as what I have learned.

A Conferralist Account Of Individuality, Zachary Auwerda

Theses

The individual is at the center of liberal political theory. Despite this, oppressed groups that are members of liberal societies are not respected as individuals. This paper attempts to explain one way in which this happens. I argue that some people are not treated as individuals, because they are in fact not individuals. In some cases, to be an individual requires recognition as an individual. I attempt to show that certain uses of the term “individual” refer to conferred properties. A conferred property is a property that is given to an object by a subject. Thus, conferred properties are not …

Constraints And Explanation, Alexander Bolano

Theses

For the past 40 years, causal-mechanical approaches to explanation in science have been the received view. In this paper, I will argue that causal-mechanical approaches to explanation are not the whole story; there is a notable class of explanations that I call constraining explanation. Constraining explanation do not work by describing some causal structure; rather they work by highlighting mathematical constraints on what kinds of structure there can be. Constraining explanations are different that causal explanations because they give a kind of modal knowledge that causal-mechanical explanation alone cannot give.

Second Safest City In America, Liam Cassidy

Theses

Second Safest City in America is a collection of short fiction set in Midwestern cities and suburbs, as well as the Gulf Coast. These stories explore the untethered expectations, broken promises, and absurdity of American life. The characters are violent, funny, emotionally unstable, politically wrong-minded, and compassionate. They implore empathy or actively avoid the pain of others. They search out security or take matters into their own hands. They sacrifice and they seek revenge. They are not outliers in this country. They are part of the mainstream weirdness that permeates everything.

Fiction And Politics: Karl May And The American West In Nineteenth Century German Sociopolitical Consciousness, Emily Scott

Theses

This thesis seeks to answer the following question: Why did the nineteenth century novels and short stories of Karl May, which take place in the American West, find such great commercial success in Germany? Through the examination of the novels themselves, in addition to various primary and secondary sources related to the life of May and the historical context in which this phenomenon took place, this question is answered. Though the novels take place in an American landscape, they are full of references to various cultural and political phenomena which took place throughout the course of May’s life in Germany. …

Knock-Knock! Whose Peer? The Epistemic Significance Of Humor, Kaci Harrison

Theses

Debates about the epistemic significance of peer disagreement are highly idealized. Some have even suggested that genuine cases of epistemic peer disagreement never in fact obtain, since even seemingly trivial differences in experience and attitudes can bias evidential processing. This thesis defends the view that these criticisms are overstated: the problem is not that epistemic peer disagreements do not exist, but rather that we lack an account of how it is possible to identify our epistemic peers. I argue that attention to the sense of humor provides one important source of evidence regarding the experiences and attitudes of others that …

Social Media: On Tech-Caves, Virtual Panopticism, And The Science Fiction-Like State In Which We Unwittingly Find Ourselves, Michael Major

Theses

Making use of three historic philosophical thought experiments, this paper blends psychological perspectives with philosophical reasoning to show how social media is corrupting our perception of reality, the result of which is ultimately detrimental to society as a whole. This is accomplished by first using Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” to analyze and discuss the ways in which social media is limiting humanity’s access to real knowledge. Next, Michel Foucault’s analysis of punishment in its social context, Discipline and Punish, is used to discuss the ways in which social media is adversely affecting our behavior. Finally, Robert Nozick’s “Experience …

Re-Embodying Our Discipline, Chelsea Dryer

Theses

This Master's Thesis uses personal narrative and scholarly works to examine the benefits of embodiment in literary studies. Special attention is given to how lived experience can provide legitimate sources of academic evidence when examining texts and that texts can be used to integrate, examine, and reframe lived experiences.

Xaminer, Terry Artis

Theses

“Rocket” Rowan Bell is a young Black idealist who has an audacious notion to disseminate what he perceives as truth to his community through news publication. As an adolescent boy, he was a good kid and athlete with a good heart from a poor Black neighborhood. Rocket experienced what seemed to be an episode of sexual assault by a youth-minister/track-coach at his church. The ordeal may have shaped his young adult perspective and evolved into a philosophy through which Rocket contends:There are three Negro (P)s that perpetuate the pathetic plight of Black people — the Negro Preacher, the Negro …

For The Sake Of The Intellect, Let Them Have Art: A Possible Reconciliation For The Value Of Mimetic Arts In The 'Republic', Breanna Liddell

Theses

This paper explores the possibility of a cohesive philosophy that recognizes both Plato’s concern about art as a moral danger in the Republic and the aesthete’s—a worthy adversary—position of art as something worth preserving. Plato understood the arts as mimêsis, or imitative and representational. Additionally, this paper suggests that Plato’s take on art extends beyond the limited realm of the performative arts that depict the misguided actions of Greek heroes and gods and how those arts positively or negatively impact the educational development of a citizen of the Republic. Rather, I assert that what he means by “art” is …

Is It Morally Permissible To Have Children, Awinyandji W. Djebou

Theses

Having children is something that has always been considered morally good. Generations and generations of human beings have been raised with the idea that procreating is part of the natural processes of life. To have a child is often considered an important milestone in a person’s life most societies. In fact, it is expected of any well-rounded adult. However, in recent years, some philosophers have argued against the moral permissibility of having children. In this thesis I aim to end the debate on the morality of procreation. I will argue that it is morally permissible to have children, but only …

Design Thinking: A Case Study Of Implementation Within The It Software Industry., Jean-Baptiste Liberge

Theses

In the global economy, competition and market pressures push the majority of company managers to drive with more efficiency by improving processes, optimizing performance and reducing costs. Companies are increasing shareholder value by improving cash flow' and cutting costs. How many cost savings can finance departments reproduce and for how long? Is this enough to lead their markets to deliver better services to their customers? Is it enough to build customer loyalty? The 11 industry fails to escape these constraints, operating in an intensely competitive market. To compete in this environment, companies need to face frequent new product launches and …

‘The Show Must Go On’: Amateur Musical Theatre As A Community Of Practice, Kevin Walsh

Theses

Amateur musical theatre has its roots in long-standing theatre traditions that include both professional and amateur production. Apart from the performance, which is the over-arching goal, participation in amateur musical theatre yields many other personal and social benefits in areas of learning, community and identity, aligning with Wenger’s concept of a ‘Community of Practice’.

Using an analytical framework based on previous studies in this area, this research investigates how amateur musical theatre functions as a ‘Community of Practice’. The research was conducted using an ethnographic case study of two contrasting local amateur productions. Experiential data and details regarding participant interactions …

The Shadow In The Light: The Dark Romanticism Of Francisco De Goya, Elizabeth Burns-Dans

Theses

The work of Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) is impressive both in its skill, and in its scope; but perhaps most strikingly in its diversity. This diversity has cultivated a crisis-narrative of Goya’s life; his famed artistic darkness only appeared following significant ‘crisis moments’ in his life. This research contends with this narrative by analysing a collection of Goya’s earlier, lesser-known artworks, the Tapestry Cartoons. The cartoons provide a powerful comparison to the collections of his later years, such as the Black Paintings (1819–23) and the Disasters of War (1810–20). Framing this analysis is the influence of Dark Romanticism, which was …

Harbouring Discontent: Activism In 1930s Fremantle, Paul Reilly

Theses

The 1930s was a period of huge economic and political turmoil, with the Great Depression and the rise of fascism in Europe, leading to the Second World War. Western Australia has been portrayed as a place of relative calm and consensus during this decade. This research challenges this view, and examines local community activism in Fremantle in relation to unemployment, industrial strife and the rise of fascism in Europe, particularly the civil war in Spain. The research indicates a highly active and politically conscious labour movement in Fremantle in this decade.

Insight Into Unexplained Infertility: How Do Women Make Sense Of Their Experience Of Unexplained Infertility Followed By Spontaneous Conception, Fabienne Michea

Theses

The causes of infertility are diverse and broadly fall under four categories: male, female, combined or unexplained (Wynter et al., 2013, p. 285). Treating infertility is usually associated with an often medically invasive procedure and fertility clinics have been expanding globally in the last thirty years (Krisak, 2013). Furthermore, medical research and treatment for this condition have allowed for considerable progress to be made, allowing a greater number of couples to have children despite their difficulty or inability to conceive at some time in their life (Bushnik, Cook, Hughes, & Tough, 2012). The focus of this study will be the …

Picasso's Guernica: The Imaginative Treatment Of History, Riley Buchanan

Theses

What does it mean to reinterpret a violent event on a motionless, silent, two-dimensional canvas; where that event is compressed as an instantaneous flash that belongs not to the documentary, but to the imagination? In this thesis, Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937), the artists’ searing response to the Francoist bombing of the Basque town of Gernika during the Spanish Civil War, is treated as a case study through which the efficacy of imagination for historical interpretation is tested. Guernica offers a way of understanding a past reality not through the literal, but through abstraction and creative invention: incongruous lines, deformed shapes, …

The Impact Of Pilgrimage Upon The Faith And Faith-Based Practice Of Catholic Educators, Rachel Capets

Theses

A pilgrimage of Catholic educators from Sydney Catholic Schools served as a phenomenographic case study for an investigation into the impact of pilgrimage upon the faith and faith-based practice of Catholic educators. Forty-five Catholic educators embarked on a pilgrimage for the Canonisation of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II in April 2014. The pilgrimage itinerary led the educators through Italy, whereby the pilgrims visited the holy sites of Saints significant in the life of the Church.

Phenomenographic data collection and analysis are used to investigate the range of ways educators’ perceive the impact of pilgrimage on faith. Pilgrimage is …

The Emergence & Evolution Of The Concepts Of “The Author”, “The Work” And “Literary Property” With Specific Reference To Enlightenment England 1450-1769: The Role And Influence Of John Locke In The Case Of Millar V Taylor (1769), Mark Doepel

Theses

This thesis argues that the political philosophy of John Locke, as mostly contained in his Two Treatises of Government, but also in a number of other of his works, and especially in relation to his theory on how property rights might be acquired, had a direct influence on the emergence of the modern notions of the author, the literary work and copyright as witnessed through a series of legal cases brought before the courts of England and Scotland over the period of 1700 to 1780. It is specifically shown that Locke’s philosophy had a direct influence on the acknowledgment of …

How Do The Writings Of Pope Benedict Xvi On "Transformation" Apply To A Couple's Growth In Holiness In Sacramental Marriage?, Houda Jilwan

Theses

No abstract provided.

The Christian Concept Of The Nature Of Motherhood And Its Implications In A Contemporary Context, Christine Fisk

Theses

The contemporary context presents countless ideologies and conflicting views about what femininity is and what it is not. In particular, the modern pursuit of equality and autonomy has resulted in the perception of motherhood as inconvenient in some quarters or, worse yet, inconsequential. This thesis considers the question as whether or not motherhood is separable from womanhood, and if there is indeed any inherent value to motherhood. The intent of this thesis was to go beyond the variety of views of what motherhood is to the two primary female figures in Scripture – Eve and Mary - to discern what …

Because He Has Spoken To Us Joseph Ratzinger, The Revelation Of The Logos In Jesus Christ, And A Fundamental Pattern For Evangelization, Bradley Bursa

Theses

In a 1983 lecture, Joseph Ratzinger noted that one need not demonstrate at great length the apparent difficulties within the epoch’s catechetical efforts, even going so far as to declare the situation a state of crisis. He argues that the reversal of roles between content and method – with content now serving method – served as a significant source of the purported crisis.1 The bulk of Ratzinger’s expansive theological work is a response to various crises within the understanding of the contents themselves, with a willing admission on his part that he did not have responsibility for catechetical methods.2 However, …

The Plight Of Mass Man & The Concept Of Creatura According To Romano Guardini & Josef Pieper, Andriya Martinovic

Theses

This thesis argues that the plight of Mass Man finds relief when creaturely awareness is practised. For Guardini, a close reading of key passages substantiates the basis for the thesis. The Pieper response considers a broad selection of texts to affirm what is explicit in Guardini regarding Mass Man, established continuity with it, and to explicate what Guardini infers regarding creatura. Chapter 1 finds that Guardini affirms the goodness of matter or masses, and man’s mediative role in perfecting it (Ur-Werk), by drawing upon Augustine’s theory of hyle as creation; but shows the possibility of massification when man, as created …

Ontologia Ad Theologia: An Intellectual History Of Contemporary English Language Rahner Scholarship, Maddison Reddie-Clifford

Theses

This thesis develops the methodology of the practice of the History of Ideas for the study of English language Rahnerian literature. Drawing primarily on the Cambridge School and techniques of French analysis, it endeavours to recover the intended consequence of particular writings of Karl Rahner and to examine how this intended consequence conforms with the current English language understanding. It facilitates this with a study of several questions that arise in the current dominant hermeneutics of English language Rahner study. By deploying a rigorous intellectual history of Rahner’s theological development, it tests the extent to which the non-foundationalist approach to …

Between Forum And Tower: The Sources Of Political Judgement In The Leadership Of Pope John Paul Ii, Cormac Mccaughan

Theses

According to Mary Ann Glendon, scholars and statespersons have often grappled with a tension of pursuing their political ideals within practical realities. In The Forum and The Tower, Glendon examines how the political judgments of prominent public figures illuminates how conceptions of political ends inform, or do not inform, those decisions. This thesis draws from contemporary debates on Aristotle’s phronesis to explore how political actors deliberate between acting with integrity and compromising their political ideals. It develops a theoretical framework to examine the sources of political judgment in the leadership of Pope John Paul II towards Communist authority in Poland. …