Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Review Of: Agency And The Foundations Of Ethics: Nietzschean Constitutivism By Paul Katsafanas, Ariela Tubert

All Faculty Scholarship

This article reviews the book Agency and the Foundations of Ethics: Nietzschean Constitutivism by Paul Katsafanas

Abby Williams Hill: A Case Study Of Early 20th Century Environmental Thought, Neal Cooper

History Theses

This paper attempts to put forward an understanding of environmental thought in the early 20th century through a case study of Abby Williams Hill. By examining her stance on environmental issues in comparison with prominent writers and naturalists who preceded her the author suggests both a logical progression of American environmental thought between the early 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as the necessity to acknowledge the differences in perception and action towards nature that Abby Hill pursued throughout her life as an example of the necessity to understand personal and local attitudes towards broader historical themes.

Crosscurrents: Fall 2014, Associated Students Of The University Of Puget Sound

Crosscurrents

No abstract provided.

The Hidden Point Of Intersection: Bio-Politics In Foucault And Agamben, Jason Walsh

Puget Sound Undergraduate Philosophy Conference

The relationship between sovereignty and bio-politics has been frequently discussed and debated in the literature sounding the work of Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben. A number of commentators firmly align themselves with Foucault, charging Agamben with some combination of ahistoricism and reductionism in his account of sovereignty. They see Foucault as not guilty of these sins, and therefore preferable. Many of these critiques, however, arise from conflating two separate levels of analysis: history and power. By holding apart these two domains, I will attempt to offer a qualified defense of Agamben and subsequently show that he and Foucault are not …

Commentary On "Contrasting Models Of The God-World Relation: Avicenna, Maimonides And Al-Shahrastani", Matthew Williams

Puget Sound Undergraduate Philosophy Conference

In his paper “Contrasting Models of the God-World Relationship: Avicenna, Maimonides and Al-Shahrasānī,” Harrington Critchley makes a very cogent argument for the superior adaptability of Avicenna’s model for the necessary existence of God, as compared to Maimonides’ and Al-Shahrasānī’s own. Though there are certainly problems to be found in Avicenna’s model, I would prefer to take this opportunity to admire rather than critique it.

Contrasting Models Of The God-World Relation: Avicenna, Maimonides And Al-Shahrastani", Harrington Critchley

Puget Sound Undergraduate Philosophy Conference

This essay considers Avicenna’s conception of God as the ‘Necessary Existent’ and the subsequent uses of this designation in the thinking of Moses Maimonides and Muhammad Al-Shahrastānī. Specifically, it considers how this term affects each thinker’s understanding of God’s being ‘above perfection,’ as suggested by their respective intimations regarding what they take to be His most prominent attribute. In turn, these distinct understandings influence their contrasting models of the relationship between God and the created order. I demonstrate how Avicenna employs his modal categories in order to determine God’s attributes, pinpointing ‘necessity’ as the attribute that he highlights as best …

Pragmatic-Expressivist Semantics In Ovid's Poetics, Jaryth Webber

Puget Sound Undergraduate Philosophy Conference

The Augustan poets had at their disposal a vast storehouse of philosophical vocabulary, consimilar to their cache of both mythological and historical vocabularies. Vergil, for instance, had incorporated much of both the prevailing Epicureanism and the impending Stoicism of his age; the notion of philosophical appropriation in poetry as a defense against amphigory is superabundant in the aesthetics of Horace’s Ars Poetica:

Humano capiti ceruicem pictor equinam

iungere si uelit et uarias inducere plumas

undique collatis membris, ut turpiter atrum

desinat in piscem mulier formosa superne,

spectatum admissi, risum teneatis, amici? [i]

It would not be a maggoty, vagarious …

Philosophical Consolation, Sam Taylor

Puget Sound Undergraduate Philosophy Conference

In November of 2012 my father was diagnosed with a severe form of brain cancer. In this paper, I outline how I try to use the teachings of two philosophers, Epictetus and Albert Camus, to try and find solace and consolation my father’s diagnosis and fate.

By No Mere Means, Lu-Vada Dunford

Puget Sound Undergraduate Philosophy Conference

Photographs are many things. The mechanical process by which photographs are generated ensures their factivity. The information they carry is independent of whatever a photographer might believe. We have faith in the veracity of photographs. And they are democratic. Anyone who has access to a camera has the means to image reality. But photographs are not just exemplar recordings. They can be so much more. Photographic art speaks to us and continuously inspires new personal realizations. But Scruton claims that to defend photography as art is to place in the hands of everyone the means to be an artist. I …

Comments On ‘A Marxist Critique Of The Individual, Rational, Self-Interested, Wealth Maximizer”, Lee Pennebaker

Puget Sound Undergraduate Philosophy Conference

This paper brings to light many pertinent observations and claims about the nature of individuals, our relationships to one another, and society as a whole. This paper appears to be deeply concerned with human psychology and the philosophical conditions that characterize it. I plan to focus my comments on both the psychological and normative aspects of the paper: specifically, concerns about the author’s[1] examination of the processes that shape our minds and the prevailing questions that almost certainly follow if these claims are true. In short, I would like to explore further the author’s examination of the human mind …

Unified Teleology: Paul Taylor's Biocentric Egalitarianism Through Aristotle, Zoe Grabow

Puget Sound Undergraduate Philosophy Conference

In this paper I examine the similarities between Paul Taylor’s and Aristotle’s teleological accounts as outlined in Taylor’s concept of biocentric egalitarianism from Respect for Nature and Aristotle’s concept of “for the sake of” from Politics I.8, and I show how Aristotle’s account can partially support Taylor’s. I discuss Aristotle’s virtue ethics and what they offer in terms of piecing together an environmental ethic, and I draw attention to an implied value—recipient value—that assigns significant worth to all living things “for the sake of” that is similar to Taylor’s biocentric egalitarianism. Lastly I address two problems that arise for Taylor’s …

Divergent Teleology: A Response To Zoe Grabow’S Reconciliation Of Taylor And Aristotle, Austen Harrison

Puget Sound Undergraduate Philosophy Conference

In this paper, I will provide a commentary of “Unified Teleology: Paul Taylor’s Biocentric Egalitarianism through Aristotle.” In addition to providing an account of Zoe Grabow’s reconciliation of Aristotle’s value ethics with Paul Taylor’s “respect for nature,” I will also attempt to offer a few thoughts on some of the primary philosophical tensions mentioned by Grabow. The most notable of these issues include the adoption of Aristotle’s ancient philosophy to a modern conception of environmental ethics, the limitations of Taylor’s “biocentric egalitarianism”, and the nature of the relationship between humans and the environment.

Commentary On "Narrow Bridge Games And Their Rescue Of Rational Constraints In Moral Contractualism", Maia Bernick

Puget Sound Undergraduate Philosophy Conference

Commentary on "Narrow Bridge Games and Their Rescue of Rational Constraints in Moral Contractualism"

Narrow Bridge Games And Their Rescue Of Rational Constraints In Moral Contractualism, Gabriel Rusk

Puget Sound Undergraduate Philosophy Conference

Contractualism is a normative theory of ethics that posits that what an individual ought or ought not do arises from an antecedent (or prior) moral agreement, deliberation, or acknowledgement. The nature of this agreement, as in its conditions, such as the nature of the persons involved, the circumstances of the agreeing process, and the constraints on the process should produce the resulting deliberative and normative morality. In this paper I will explore the “constraint critique” of contractualism. First I will explore the necessary tenets of contractualism and why any constraints are necessary. Second, I will explain why contractualist agreements cannot …

The [Ftaires!] To Remembrance: Language, Memory, And Visual Rhetoric In Chaucer's House Of Fame And Danielewski's House Of Leaves, Shannon Danae Kilgore

Honors Program Theses

Geoffrey Chaucer's dream poem The House of Fame explores virtual technologies of memory and reading, which are similar to the themes explored in Danielewski's House of Leaves. "[ftaires!]", apart from referencing the anecdotal (and humorous) misspelling of "stairs" in House of Leaves, is one such linguistically and visually informed phenomenon that speaks directly to how we think about, and give remembrance to, our own digital and textual culture. This paper posits that graphic design, illustrations, and other textual cues (such as the [ftaires!] mispelling in House of Leaves] have a subtle yet powerful psychological influence on our reading and …

Revolution Or Reform: Contradictions Within The Ideology And Actions Of The Black Panther Party, 1969-1970, Jana Cary-Alvarez

Honors Program Theses

Surprisingly limited scholarship exists on the Black Panther Party, and much of that scholarship has an extremely divided view of the Party; either the Party is separatist or built alliances, either the Party is revolutionary or reformist. By studying the Black Panther newspaper in the year 1969, "The Year of the Panther," it becomes clear that the Party was all of these things. The party created alliances with a wide variety of groups while maintaining that they were a Black Power organization. It practiced revolutionary Communism while advocating reform of the American system. In short, the Black Panther Party was …

Preserving Memory In The Digital Age: Curatorial Practices Of 9/11 Digital Archives, Marissa Friedman

History Theses

The events of September 11 presented historians and archivists alike with new puzzles and dilemmas concerning the preservation and representation of the historical-memorial record in a digital world. Existing scholarly literature on the subject of digital archiving of the 9/11 historical-memorial record has mostly been focused on the mediating effects of the digital realm on the collection and preservation of this record. This research attempts to expand upon this existing literature to incorporate the specific conditions and choices which scholars, archivists, amateur and professional historians, and other curatorial agents faced when putting together these digital archives. What capacity do curators …

Have You Hugged A Soldier Today? Veterans Struggle With Invisible Wounds Of War From Vietnam To Afghanistan, Gabe Mora

History Theses

the misinformation about Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in American society has lead to the stigmatization and discrimination of veterans since the war in Vietnam. PTSD was not a formal diagnosis until 1980, resulting in negative public perception of veterans suffering with this mental illness. Even today as research and information about the disorder has become increasingly available to the public, veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are facing the same discrimination's as the veterans of Vietnam during their transitions back to civilian life.

Coffee And The Ottoman Social Sphere, Marita Ervin

History Theses

In 1555 two Syrian merchants named Hakam and Shams opened the first coffeehouse in Ottoman Istanbul. The coffeehouse gained immediate popularity, and within fifteen years there were over six-hundred coffeehouses within the capital alone. Due to Istanbul’s flourishing merchant economy, the Ottoman public had access to many commodities such as chocolate, opium, tobacco, and tea. However, none of these items triggered the emergence of a social sphere. Coffee’s properties, specifically its temperature, bitterness, and thickness, led to the need for a specific space in which to consume the beverage. Although coffee went through many modes of presentation, the beverage eventually …

Fidel Castro’S Cultural Armament Of Cold War Cuba: Developing Education, 1960 – 1969, Maya Steinborn

History Theses

Through Castro’s speeches and secondary educational scholarship, this research explores the following question: In what ways was Cuban education constructed in the 1960s to promote a revolutionary cultural consciousness, and how did that education grow over time to support the Cuban position in the Cold War? This question rose from the educational policy studies of Rolland G. Paulston, whereby he declared post-revolutionary Cuba successful in its educational reform because Castro created “new social institutions and a basic social and cultural realignment [using a] ‘societalcentric’ [model] that morally rewards [the working masses].” Grounded in seminal definitions of the revolution as an …

Steel Chrysanthemums: Feminism And Nationalist Rhetoric In Meiji Japan, Alix Bruce

History Theses

This thesis focuses on Hiratsuka Raichou, a prominent Japanese feminist, and Tsuda Umeko, a famous educator, and their published works in regards to the nationalistic Meiji state. By analyzing their work, as well as the contexts within which they operated, a new perspective on feminism in Japan can be put forward: that feminism, like many other movements in Japan during the same period, was affected extensively by Japanese nationalism and the cult of imperial personality.

Yoga In The Modern World: The Search For The "Authentic" Practice, Grace Heerman

Sociology & Anthropology Theses

Western yoga practitioners and academics alike have become preoccupied in recent years with the thought of modernized, Western yoga practice existing in contrast to the transcendental, “classical” yoga of the East. This has led to the assumption that somewhere beneath all the diversity and transformation of contemporary yoga there exists (presumably in India) a monolithic core of yoga philosophy and practice. But is this dichotomy accurate? Did such an untainted tradition ever exist? If so, what did it look like, and what does it look like today?

With this paper, I seek to challenge the commonly held perception that yoga …

Education, Community, Narrative Voices: The Internet As A Queer Storytelling Platform, Melody Yourd

Gender & Queer Studies Research Papers

The Internet provides a space where artists may produce queer narratives without censorship, so these representations often offer more diversity and complexity than the negative, stereotype-based queer representations that are more common in more mass-consumed fiction. This paper examines how the online fiction podcast Welcome to Night Vale and the webcomic The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal represent their queer main characters, and how those storytelling forms and the Internet as a storytelling platform influence both queer and non-queer audiences alike. These interactive storytelling forms allow queer audiences to participate in creating their own narratives, and also …

Chile Beyond The Transition: The Changing Nature Of Public Memory 40 Years After The Pinochet Coup, Miriam Cook

History Theses

The year 2013 was the 40^th anniversary of the military coup in Chile carried out by General Augusto Pinochet. Chile remembers this historical moment in a very polarized manner. Each year, Chileans commemorate September 11^th and recognize the coup, however did so in 2013 with social effervescence, discussion, and critique like never before. This reinforces the demand for institutional change that is surging out of multiple social movements. Based on 30 interviews conducted by the author inChile, this paper seeks to capture the state of public memory inChile during the significant anniversary year of 2013.

Black Ice, Volume 3, Black Student Union

Black Ice

Black Ice, a publication of the BSU, features art, essays, fashion, humor, poetry, photography, stories rants, and much more.

Permission To Diverge: Gender In Young Adult Dystopian Literature, Hannah Smith

Gender & Queer Studies Research Papers

This thesis explores issues of gender and sexuality in young adult dystopian literature, focusing on the Divergent series. I review the plot of the trilogy and provide a brief overview of the significance of young adult literature in American society. I then discuss ways in which the series encourages perspectives about young women that subvert traditional American gender roles, from the social groups that exist in this particular dystopian universe to the way in which female characters hold their own in physical altercations. Then, I examine the parts of the story that reaffirm traditional femininity, such as the emphasis on …

Rome, Women And Religion: Asserting Agency Through Decoration, Chloe Ginnegar

Summer Research

My research focused upon the use of Roman domestic decoration to convey feminine agency. The Roman Empire was comprised of male dominated social systems and state institutions. Men were able to define themselves through politics and business which were often public matters or conducted in the public space. The embedded patriarchal patterns seen in various facets of Roman society were inherently engrained in the domestic environment. While the Roman household was perceived to be a feminine space in its utility, the decorative elements worked to convey the paterfamilias’ identity. The decorative materials presented in my research were situated in two …

Exploring Distortion And Clarity In The Modern Printed Portrait, Karina M. Harper

Summer Research

My work has focused on two sides of the artistic process: inspiration and application. While studying abroad, I read, saw, and experienced modern France, living with a host family in Dijon. In the midst of this, I researched the work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a French printmaker who utilized the lithographic process and pushed it forward as a modern and respected art practice. Lithography is a type of art involving changing the chemical nature of limestone to attract ink where an image is drawn with greasy pens. Returning to the Puget Sound campus and to one of the few lithograph …

Copperplate Etching, Traditional And Modern Techniques And Exploring Philosophical Concepts, Bianca Jarvis

Summer Research

The main idea that I worked with and that evolved through this process is that death created time, and that our bodies are confining vehicles used to accomplish or do what our mind/ soul needs to express. Although death may not seem like a clear theme in these pieces, the temporal significance of our bodies is something that is attached to death, the ultimate end of our physical self. Our bodies are the physical manifestation of the self, a fleshy concept of who we are or want to be. I focused on the female figure in my prints as a …

Portraits Of Queen Elizabeth I Of England: Representations Of Gender, Influence, And Power, Nichole Lindquist-Kleissler

Summer Research

This research project focuses on portraits of Queen Elizabeth I of England, specifically, portraits commissioned after she inherited the throne in 1558 at the age of twenty-five. Elizabeth I is one of the most remarkable women in history, she was not only a successful queen (no easy task in a patriarchal society), but she overcame a lifetime of obstacles to become one of the most powerful, beloved, and significant monarchs in world history. My project sought to understand how she was portrayed and to what extent that portrayal was self-fashioned. I argue that a great deal of Elizabeth’s portrayal was …