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Political Science

Louisiana State University

Theses/Dissertations

Political philosophy

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The Lost City: Examining The Relationship Between Science, Philosophy And The Atlantis Myth, Kimberly Hurd Jan 2012

The Lost City: Examining The Relationship Between Science, Philosophy And The Atlantis Myth, Kimberly Hurd

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Francis Bacon, long considered a minor figure in the founding of modern political thought, is now recognized as one of its foremost thinkers. Bacon not only championed a new type and method of scientific inquiry, he also developed a plan for how modern society could be re-ordered to accommodate and promote scientific progress. Bacon’s scientific writings cannot be wholly understood apart from his political writings, and many of his works combine the two topics so subtly that it is difficult to even place them in a definitive category. My project expands on the previous literature with a detailed analysis of …


Aristotelian Liberalism: An Inquiry Into The Foundations Of A Free And Flourishing Society, Geoffrey Allan Plauche Jan 2009

Aristotelian Liberalism: An Inquiry Into The Foundations Of A Free And Flourishing Society, Geoffrey Allan Plauche

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation builds on the recent work of Douglas Rasmussen, Douglas Den Uyl and Roderick Long in developing an Aristotelian liberalism. It is argued that a neo- Aristotelian form of liberalism has a sounder foundation than others and has the resources to answer traditional left-liberal, postmodern, communitarian and conservative challenges by avoiding certain Enlightenment pitfalls: the charges of atomism, an a-historical and a- contextual view of human nature, license, excessive normative neutrality, the impoverishment of ethics and the trivialization of rights. An Aristotelian theory of virtue ethics and natural rights is developed that allows for a robust conception of the …


Wendell Berry And The Politics Of Homecoming: Place, Memory And Time In Jayber Crow, Drew Kennedy Thompson Jan 2009

Wendell Berry And The Politics Of Homecoming: Place, Memory And Time In Jayber Crow, Drew Kennedy Thompson

LSU Master's Theses

This study examines the “politics of homecoming” appearing in author Wendell Berry’s novel Jayber Crow. The novel portrays the community of a small rural town, as narrated through the autobiography of its bachelor barber. The life-story of Jayber Crow is a journey of homecoming, progressing through three stages of nativity, estrangement, and restoration. These phases correspond and interact with philosophical motifs that can be traced throughout Berry’s corpus, but reaching their fullest expression in Jayber Crow. “Place” is the first motif, and facilitates a discussion of Berry’s contemporary agrarian vision of community. “Memory,” the second motif, becomes effective during the …


Richard Rorty's Map Of Political Misreading, Shaun Kenan King Jan 2008

Richard Rorty's Map Of Political Misreading, Shaun Kenan King

LSU Master's Theses

For more than a quarter century, Richard Rorty was one of the most controversial writers. Critics of Rorty have often clustered their remarks around distinct themes within Rorty’s body of literature. Is Rorty’s criticism of the correspondence theory of truth valid and what standard of validity could confirm that? Does Rorty’s treatment of pragmatists such as William James and John Dewey accurately reflect their writings? Is Rorty’s brand of liberalism defensible when it assumes no non-circular form of justification can be proffered? These are the questions most often addressed by Rorty’s critics. He responded to their objections for two decades. …


Being Otherworldly In The World: Michael Oakeshott On Religion, Aesthetics And Politics, Elizabeth Campbell Corey Jan 2004

Being Otherworldly In The World: Michael Oakeshott On Religion, Aesthetics And Politics, Elizabeth Campbell Corey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is a study of the thought of Michael Oakeshott with particular emphasis on his writings about the character of religion and aesthetics. The dissertation as a whole makes the case that a certain moral vision-one informed by religious and aesthetic considerations-lies at the center of Oakeshott's thought and informs his political philosophy. The dissertation begins as an examination of Oakeshott's debts to St. Augustine and to British Idealist thinkers such as F. H. Bradley, and moves to a study of Oakeshott's own views on religion and aesthetics. It turns next to a consideration of Oakeshott's two essays entitled …