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The Impossibility Of Evil Qua Evil: Kantian Limitations On Human Immorality, Timothy Alan Crews-Anderson
The Impossibility Of Evil Qua Evil: Kantian Limitations On Human Immorality, Timothy Alan Crews-Anderson
Philosophy Theses
Kant denies that evil qua evil can be an incentive to human beings. Is this a fact about what sorts of reasons human beings find interesting? Or, is it rooted entirely in Kant’s notion of human freedom? I focus on key facets of Kant’s system: human freedom, immorality and incentives. With an understanding of these concepts based in Christine Korsgaard’s reading of Kant’s moral theory, I argue that the impossibility of acting solely from evil qua evil is not rooted in human incentives and that if we were able to represent an unconditioned principle of immorality, we would have as …
Aesthetic Excuses And Moral Crimes: The Convergence Of Morality And Aesthetics In Nabokov's Lolita, Jennifer Elizabeth Green
Aesthetic Excuses And Moral Crimes: The Convergence Of Morality And Aesthetics In Nabokov's Lolita, Jennifer Elizabeth Green
English Theses
This thesis examines the debate between morality and aesthetics that is outlined by Nabokov in Lolita’s afterword. Incorporating a discussion of Lolita’s critical history in order to reveal how critics have chosen a single, limited side of the debate, either the moral or aesthetic, this thesis seeks to expose the complexities of the novel where morality and aesthetics intersect. First, the general moral and aesthetic features of Lolita are discussed. Finally, I address the two together, illustrating how Lolita cannot be categorized as immoral, amoral, or didactic. Instead, it is through the juxtaposition of form and content, parody and reality, …
Walter M. Miller, Jr.'S A Canticle For Leibowitz: A Study Of Apocalyptic Cycles, Religion And Science, Religious Ethics And Secular Ethics, Sin And Redemption, And Myth And Preternatural Innocence, Cynthia M. Smith
English Theses
Walter M. Miller, Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz is a timeless story about apocalyptic cycles, conflicts and similarities between religion and science, religious ethics and secular ethics, sin and redemption, myth and preternatural innocence. Canticle is a very religious story about a monastery dedicated to preserving scientific knowledge from the time before nuclear war which devastated the world and reduced humanity to a pre-technological civilization. The Catholic Church and this monastery are portrayed as a bastion of civilization amidst barbarians and a light of faith amidst atheism. Unfortunately, humanity destroys the Earth once again, but Miller ends with two beacons …