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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

The Cerberus: Parental Licensing And The Equalization Of Opportunity, Sidney Madison Prescott Apr 2016

The Cerberus: Parental Licensing And The Equalization Of Opportunity, Sidney Madison Prescott

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.


Race, Class And Wealth: Thomas Gainsborough's Mr. And Mrs. Andrews (1750) And Yinka Shonibare's Mr. And Mrs. Andrews Without Their Heads (1998), Yema Thomas Apr 2016

Race, Class And Wealth: Thomas Gainsborough's Mr. And Mrs. Andrews (1750) And Yinka Shonibare's Mr. And Mrs. Andrews Without Their Heads (1998), Yema Thomas

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.


Hyperreality & Spectacular Social Ontology: Reexamining Baudrillard, Debord, & Searle, Nathan D. Ward Apr 2015

Hyperreality & Spectacular Social Ontology: Reexamining Baudrillard, Debord, & Searle, Nathan D. Ward

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.


Gender Performativity And Objectification, Lindsay A. Wilson Apr 2015

Gender Performativity And Objectification, Lindsay A. Wilson

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.


Notes On Hegel’S ‘New Account Of Conceptual Form’,” Critique Online Symposium On Sally Sedgwick’S Hegel’S Critique Of Kant; From Dichotomy To Identity, Sebastian Rand Jan 2015

Notes On Hegel’S ‘New Account Of Conceptual Form’,” Critique Online Symposium On Sally Sedgwick’S Hegel’S Critique Of Kant; From Dichotomy To Identity, Sebastian Rand

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Incentives For Bone Marrow, Alexander Davis Apr 2014

Incentives For Bone Marrow, Alexander Davis

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.


Review Of John Mccumber, Understanding Hegel's Mature Critique Of Kant, Stanford University Press, 2014, Sebastian Rand Apr 2014

Review Of John Mccumber, Understanding Hegel's Mature Critique Of Kant, Stanford University Press, 2014, Sebastian Rand

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Review Of “Sally Sedgwick, Hegel’S Critique Of Kant: From Dichotomy To Identity,” Oxford: Oxford University Press 2012., Sebastian Rand Jan 2014

Review Of “Sally Sedgwick, Hegel’S Critique Of Kant: From Dichotomy To Identity,” Oxford: Oxford University Press 2012., Sebastian Rand

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Honest Intentions, Problematic Results: Sexual Identity Therapy, Jamie R. Moon Mar 2013

Honest Intentions, Problematic Results: Sexual Identity Therapy, Jamie R. Moon

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.


Hume’S Perceptions And The Burden Of Representation, Casey R. Fowler Mar 2013

Hume’S Perceptions And The Burden Of Representation, Casey R. Fowler

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

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Review Of The Cyrenaics By Ugo Zilioli, Acumen, Tim S. O'Keefe Jan 2013

Review Of The Cyrenaics By Ugo Zilioli, Acumen, Tim S. O'Keefe

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Review Of Rebecca Comay, Mourning Sickness: Hegel And The French Revolution, Sebastian Rand Jan 2013

Review Of Rebecca Comay, Mourning Sickness: Hegel And The French Revolution, Sebastian Rand

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Review Of Epicurus And Democritean Ethics: An Archaeology Of Ataraxia, By James Warren, Cambridge University Press., Tim S. O'Keefe Jan 2013

Review Of Epicurus And Democritean Ethics: An Archaeology Of Ataraxia, By James Warren, Cambridge University Press., Tim S. O'Keefe

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


The Tempering Of A Defense: Further Critiques Against Error Theory In Light Of Russ Shafer-Landau’S Ethical Nonnaturalism, Christopher Fidalgo Jan 2012

The Tempering Of A Defense: Further Critiques Against Error Theory In Light Of Russ Shafer-Landau’S Ethical Nonnaturalism, Christopher Fidalgo

DISCOVERY: Georgia State Honors College Undergraduate Research Journal

J.L. Mackie’s paper “The Subjectivity of values” makes a convincing case for why objective values do not exist. In response, Russ Shafer-Landau’s “A Defense for Ethical Nonnaturalism” provides a counterpoint to Mackie’s claims. However, there is more an error theorist can say. In my paper, I argue that, while there is more an error theorist can say, those responses are not sufficient to trump Shafer-Landau’s claims to an objective, nonnatural ethical system. As he puts it and I affirm, ethics is not solely bound to natural terms, like science, but is nevertheless objective, mainly because of the reasons that support …


Consciousness, Self-Control, And Free Will In Nietzsche, Bryan T. Russell Dec 2011

Consciousness, Self-Control, And Free Will In Nietzsche, Bryan T. Russell

Philosophy Theses

Brian Leiter is one of the few Nietzsche interpreters who argue that Nietzsche rejects all forms of free will. Leiter argues that Nietzsche is an incompatibilist and rejects libertarian free will. He further argues that since Nietzsche is an epiphenomenalist about conscious willing, his philosophy of action cannot support any conception of free will. Leiter also offers deflationary readings of those passages where Nietzsche seemingly ascribes free will to historical figures or types. In this paper I argue against all of these conclusions. In the first section I show that, on the most charitable interpretation, Nietzsche is not an epiphenomenalist. …


A Problem Of Access: Autism, Other Minds, And Interpersonal Relations, Ryan Born Dec 2011

A Problem Of Access: Autism, Other Minds, And Interpersonal Relations, Ryan Born

Philosophy Theses

Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASCs) are marked by social-communicative difficulties and unusually fixed or repetitive interests, activities, and behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). In this thesis, I review empirically and conceptually based philosophic proposals that maintain the social-communicative difficulties exhibited by persons on the autism spectrum result from a lack of capacity to understand other persons as minded. I will argue that the social-communicative difficulties that characterize ASCs may instead result from a lack of ability to access other minds, and that this lack of ability is due to a contingent lack of external resources.


Why Not Penal Torture?, Cleo Grimaldi Dec 2011

Why Not Penal Torture?, Cleo Grimaldi

Philosophy Theses

I argue here that the practice of penal torture is not intrinsically wrongful. A common objection against the practice of penal torture is that there is something about penal torture that makes it wrongful, while this is not the case for other modes of punishment. I call this claim the asymmetry thesis. One way to defend this position is to claim that penal torture is intrinsically wrongful. It is the claim I argue against here. I discuss and reject three versions this claim. I first address a version that is based on the idea that penal torture, unlike other …


The Many Faces Of Besire Theory, Gary Edwards Aug 2011

The Many Faces Of Besire Theory, Gary Edwards

Philosophy Theses

In this paper, I analyze the concept of a besire. I argue that distinguishing between different types and interpretations of besires is a critical tool for adequately assessing besire theories of moral judgment. I argue for this by applying the results of this conceptual analysis of a besire to David Brink’s version of the moral problem and to objections against besire theories made by Michael Smith, Simon Blackburn, and Nick Zangwill.


Secular Foundations Of Liberal Multiculturalism, Mohammad O. Khan Jul 2011

Secular Foundations Of Liberal Multiculturalism, Mohammad O. Khan

Philosophy Theses

In pursuit of a just political order, Will Kymlicka has defended a liberal conception of multiculturalism. The persuasive appeal of his argument, like that of secular-liberalism more generally, is due to presenting liberalism as a neutral and universal political project. Utilizing Charles Taylor’s genealogy of ‘exclusive humanism’ in A Secular Age, this thesis attempts to re-read Kymlicka in order to make certain theological commitments in his work explicit. Here I argue that Kymlicka, in order to make his conception of multiculturalism plausible, relies on a theologically-thick and controversial humanism operating under secular conditions of belief. By committing himself to …


Making Robert Kane's Libertarianism More Plausible: How James Woodward's Interventionist Causal Theory Can Give An Agent Control Over Her Undetermined Decisions, Tracy Van Wagner Jun 2011

Making Robert Kane's Libertarianism More Plausible: How James Woodward's Interventionist Causal Theory Can Give An Agent Control Over Her Undetermined Decisions, Tracy Van Wagner

Philosophy Theses

Robert Kane asserts that some decisions and actions which are made by an agent are undetermined. These undetermined decisions are what allow an agent to have free will and ultimate responsibility for her decisions and actions. Kane appeals to probabilistic causation in order to argue that these undetermined decisions are not arbitrary or random. I argue that Woodward’s interventionist approach to causation can be used by Kane to make his theory of free will more plausible by illustrating how the agent causes her decision. Woodward’s account can link an agent’s reasons with her decision, activity in her self-network with her …


Self-Ownership, Freedom And Eudaimonia, Keith D. Fox May 2011

Self-Ownership, Freedom And Eudaimonia, Keith D. Fox

Philosophy Theses

In this thesis I will explore the relationship between Nozick’s self-ownership principle and freedom. I will defend G.A. Cohen’s critique of self-ownership and try to show how his argument that self-ownership is hostile to genuine freedom presents a problem for Nozick. I think it is clear that Nozick’s self-ownership does little to protect a meaningful sort of freedom; and a meaningful sort of freedom is exactly what Nozick aims to protect. This is true because eudaimonistic moral beliefs ought to undergird Nozick’s self-ownership thesis, and self-ownership can therefore be assessed in light of whether it actually promotes human flourishing in …


A Fregean Response To Moore And Altman, Sean S. Martin May 2011

A Fregean Response To Moore And Altman, Sean S. Martin

Philosophy Theses

In this paper I give a thorough account of the history of the open question argument. I have provide Moore’s original impetus for it and its traditional formulation. I then examine the Cornell Realists’ objection to that original formulation and showed that their objection does indeed show the open question argument to be incorrect in its conclusions. Having presented the history of the open question argument and having assessed the most challenging objections to it, I turn to Andrew Altman’s powerful reconstruction of the open question argument in order to see how well, if at all, it sidesteps the objections …


Rescuing Inclusive Legal Positivism From The Charge Of Inconsistency, Cindy L. Phillips May 2011

Rescuing Inclusive Legal Positivism From The Charge Of Inconsistency, Cindy L. Phillips

Philosophy Theses

Scott Shapiro, an exclusive legal positivist, argues that inclusive legal positivism is inconsistent with the view that legal norms must conceptually provide reasons for agents of a legal system to act in specified ways. I defend inclusive legal positivism from Shapiro's charge of inconsistency.


Nietzsche's Causally Efficacious Account Of Consciousness, Bradley Wissmueller May 2011

Nietzsche's Causally Efficacious Account Of Consciousness, Bradley Wissmueller

Philosophy Theses

Many interpreters read Nietzsche as an epiphenomenalist. This means that, contrary to everyday “felt” experience, consciousness has no causal influence on our actions. In the first half of this paper I show that an epiphenomenalist interpretation proposed by Brian Leiter is unsupported by Nietzsche’s texts. Further, contemporary research does not conclusively support epiphenomenalism, as Leiter claims. In the second half of the paper I present the novel, causally efficacious view of consciousness that is supported by Nietzsche’s texts. This view of consciousness does not present consciousness as a self-caused faculty that is in some way separate from the rest of …


Bayle's Theory Of Toleration, Benjamin Eliazar Fischer May 2011

Bayle's Theory Of Toleration, Benjamin Eliazar Fischer

Philosophy Theses

This paper gives an overview of Pierre Bayle’s theory of toleration and derives a normative principle of toleration from it that is meant to compete with other normative principles of toleration such as the Harm principle.


Dignified Animals: How "Non-Kantian" Is Nussbaum's Conception Of Dignity?, Mary Leukam May 2011

Dignified Animals: How "Non-Kantian" Is Nussbaum's Conception Of Dignity?, Mary Leukam

Philosophy Theses

Martha Nussbaum’s conception of dignity is integral to her capabilities approach. She argues that dignity is rooted in the flourishing and striving of animals. Her view is distinct from Kant’s, as Kant claims that persons have dignity in virtue of their rational nature. Though Nussbaum’s conception of dignity is important to her approach, its exact content and its relation to her thought is not clearly stated in her work, and I will attempt to provide an overview of Nussbaum’s conception of dignity. Also I will compare and contrast Nussbaum’s dignity with Kant’s (and contemporary Kantians’). Nussbaum provides four reasons for …


Rethinking Legal Retribution, Stephen Parsley Apr 2011

Rethinking Legal Retribution, Stephen Parsley

Philosophy Theses

In this paper I discuss retributivist justifications for legal punishment. I argue that the main moral retributivist theories advanced so far fail to support a plausible system of legal punishment. As an alternative, I suggest, with some reservations, the legal retributivism advanced by Alan Brudner in his Punishment and Freedom.


But What Kind Of Badness?: An Inquiry Into The Ethical Significance Of Pain, Andrew L. Hookom Apr 2011

But What Kind Of Badness?: An Inquiry Into The Ethical Significance Of Pain, Andrew L. Hookom

Philosophy Theses

In this thesis, I argue against a claim about pain which I call the "Minimization Thesis" or MT. According to MT, pain is objectively unconditionally intrinsically bad. Using the case of grief, I argue that although MT may be true of pain as such, it is not true of particular pains. I then turn to an examination of the justification provided by Thomas Nagle for offering the MT and find that his argument is inadequate because it depends on an implausible phenomenology of pain experience. I argue it is more plausible to claim, as Kant does, that pain has desire-conditional …


Rational Requirements For Moral Motivation: The Psychopath's Open Question, Maria L. Montello Apr 2011

Rational Requirements For Moral Motivation: The Psychopath's Open Question, Maria L. Montello

Philosophy Theses

Psychopaths pose a challenge to those who make claims about the strength of moral assessments. These individuals are entirely unmoved by the moral rules that they articulate and purportedly espouse. Psychopaths appear rationally intact but are emotionally broken. In some cases, they commit horrendous crimes yet show no guilt, no remorse. Sentimentalists claim that the empirical evidence about psychopaths’ affective deficits supports that moral judgment is rooted in emotion and that psychopaths do not make genuine moral judgments—they can’t. Here, I challenge an explanation of psychopathy that indicts psychopaths’ emotional impairments alone. I conclude that there are rational requirements for …


The Role Of Poetry And Language In Hegel's Philosophy Of Art, Daniel Griffin Apr 2011

The Role Of Poetry And Language In Hegel's Philosophy Of Art, Daniel Griffin

Philosophy Theses

Hegel's view of poetry clarifies the overall role of language in his system and allows him to makes sense of a difficult linguistic issue: how to distinguish between poetry and prose. For Hegel, this distinction is crucial because it illuminates the different ways poetry and prose allow us to understand ourselves as members of an ethical community. In this paper, I argue, using Hegel, that the distinction between poetry and prose can only properly be understood in terms of their fundamentally different kinds of content instead of in terms of any formal differences between the two. Then, I address an …