History Commons^™

Logos-Sophia, Elliott Norman, Donald Wayne Viney, Keith Elliott Perkins, Addyson Kay Campbell, Hunter Hinds, Scott Squires

LOGOS-SOPHIA: The Journal of the PSU Philosophical Society

Logos-Sophia, Volume 17, Spring 2024. The Journal of the Pittsburg State University Philosophical Society has largely been a student publication with occasional faculty contribution

A Friend Who Does Me No Good: Aphorism In Matteo Ricci’S On Friendship, Maximilian Chan Weiher

Asian Languages and Cultures Honors Projects

This paper argues that Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) designed his aphoristic compilation, Jiaoyou Lun 交友論–On Friendship (1595)–to serve the Jesuit mission of converting the Chinese to Catholicism and express the conflict he may have felt exploiting friends to forward the Jesuit mission. Utilizing friendships to allow for greater social influence was central to the Jesuit proselytization strategy in China. However, Ricci’s moral education from youth taught him to judge utilitarian friendships as immoral. The extant scholarship regarding Ricci’s On Friendship fails to acknowledge the significance of the aphoristic form to this work. To illuminate the value of aphorism …

From City State To Medina: The Timeless Wisdom Of Aristotle’S Polis, Spencer Koehl

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Many philosophers and thinkers have considered the idea of community and what makes it strong, beneficial, and enduring. The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle is no exception. Aristotle wrote thoroughly on the nature of the ideal community, which he observed in Greek city-states. Called a “polis”, this ideal community, according to Aristotle, is one that provides for its residents to live a good life above all else. In doing so, it usually is small enough that all its residents share a similar lived experience while being big enough to be self-sufficient. While Aristotle wrote on this subject over 2000 years ago, …

Utkir Hoshimov's Artistic Interpretation Of Spiritual And Moral Problems In Comic Stories, Shukrullo Jurayev

Mental Enlightenment Scientific-Methodological Journal

The article reveals the spiritual and moral aspects of Utkir Hoshimov's humorous stories, as well as the inner experiences of the heroes in the humorous stories and the flaws in the spiritual world. Defining the role and significance of the creative work of Utkir Hoshimov, the artistic depiction of the issues of the period and the person, as well as the main stages of development of the author's skill in this regard. The author's comic stories are a scientific study of the peculiarities of the nation's way of life and the process of its creation in the context of the …

De Libero Conscientia: Martin Luther’S Rediscovery Of Liberty Of Conscience And Its Synthesis Of The Ancients And The Influence Of The Moderns, Bessie S. Blackburn

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

One fateful day on March 26, 1521, a lowly Augustinian monk was cited to appear before the Diet of Worms.[1] His habit trailed behind him as he braced for the questioning. He was firm, yet troubled. He boldly proclaimed: “If I am not convinced by proofs from Scripture, or clear theological reasons, I remain convinced by the passages which I have quoted from Scripture, and my conscience is held captive by the Word of God. I cannot and will not retract, for it is neither prudent nor right to go against one’s conscience. So help me God, …

The Woman's Role In Human Reproduction And Generation According To Ancient Greek And Roman Philosophers, Olivia Miller

Honors Theses

From the Greek archaic period to the end of the Roman Empire, theories of reproduction and inheritance developed as new philosophers and medical practitioners tackled fundamental issues of generation and sex. Without tools to help them see the complex chemical and cellular processes of the body, ancient thinkers relied on their own observations and commonly-held beliefs about sex and gender to understand the human body. Until the Roman Empire, dissections and similar forms of clinical study were strictly taboo, with the result that the Greek philosophers could not conduct close investigations into human anatomy. Instead, they relied on their own …

Greek Music Theory Vs. The Bible, Kearsten M. Kostelnik

The Research and Scholarship Symposium (2013-2019)

The great philosophers of Ancient Greece have been studied in depth and are known throughout society. Famous Greek philosophers and writers, such as Plato and Pythagoras, formulated theories on musical philosophy — it’s purpose, use, dangers, power, and importance in society. Greek philosophy of music heavily influenced early European society’s view and development of music, it only partially supports Biblical views and principles of music and worship. Pythagoras introduces the theory that music is more than just entertainment with his notion of Music of the Spheres but fails to align with the biblical view of stars and planets as mere …

From Heo To Zir: A History Of Gender Expression In The English Language, Brodie Robinson

Senior Honors Theses

With the growing presence of the LGBTQ+ community on the global stage, the matter of gender has been rushed to the forefront of the public consciousness. News outlets have hotly debated the topic of gender expression, a topic which has motivated mass demonstrations and acts of violence, and this has promoted a linguistic conversation at the international level.

This thesis is intended to provide the historical context for the contemporary debate on gender expression in the English language, and explores both the grammatical background (the Indo-European origins of linguistic gender, the development of the modern pronoun system, etc.) and the …

Differentiating Averroes’ Accounts Of The Metaphysics Of Human Epistemology In His Middle And Long Commentaries On Aristotle’S De Anima, Caleb H A Brown

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

Averroes (an Islamic Andalusian philosopher in the 12^th century) discusses the metaphysics of human epistemology extensively, and his socio-religious context sheds light on this discussion. Several of his works, most prominently his three commentaries on Aristotle’s De Anima, attempt to explain how finite, particular minds interact with universal, eternal intelligibles. Current scholarship focuses on the two longer commentaries, the Middle Commentary and the Long Commentary, but there is no consensus regarding which of these presents Averroes’ final articulation of the metaphysics of human epistemology. Those who maintain that Averroes wrote the Middle Commentary last tend to minimize …

Civilizational Analysis And Paths Not Taken, Part Ii: The Great Divergence, Toby Huff

Comparative Civilizations Review

The current president of the Association and noted scholar in the foundations of modern science discusses the evolution of distinct civilization with stress on Islamic and Chinese civilizations. The article covers three encounters that have occurred in history between different civilizations. The first encounter was between Byzantium and the Islamic World in the 9th and 10th century; the second was the interaction between the West and Islam in the 12th century, and the third was between European missionaries and China after 1400. His conclusion is that despite cross-pollination in various areas, the basic features of the Islamic and Chines cultures …

The Poet And The Polemist: Demystifying The Natural Law Theory Of John Milton, John J. Mazola

Theses and Dissertations

A summation of the influences behind Milton's Natural Law theory as found in the works of Aristotle, Grotius, Hobbes, and Thomas Aquinas. The essay's intent is to uncover this important thread that runs through both Milton's Poetic Verse as well as his Polemic tracts.

Technology In Eurasia Before Modern Times: A Survey, Norman C. Rothman

Comparative Civilizations Review

This work traces the development of technology in Eurasia before 1400 C.E. It covers the Middle East, China, India, and Europe. It puts the emphasis on such key areas as metallurgy and textiles as well as the development of inventions and innovations in the technological and applied scientific processes. Simultaneously, it examines the role that trade, urbanization, governmental policy, and cultural imperatives played in this process. Chronologically, it covers the ancient, classical, and medieval period periods. It includes a brief introduction dealing with definitions and ends with a general conclusion.

Queering The Library Of Congress, Carlos R. Fernandez

Works of the FIU Libraries

This poster will attempt to apply the techniques used in Queer Theory to explore library and information science’s use and misuse of library classification systems; and to examine how “queering” these philosophical categories can not only improve libraries, but also help change social constructs.

For millennia, philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle, have used and expounded upon categories and systems of classification. Their purpose is to make research and the retrieval of information easier. Unfortunately, the rules used to categorize and catalog make information retrieval more challenging for some, due to social constructs such as heteronormality.

The importance of this …

From Aristotle’S Teleology To Darwin’S Genealogy: The Stamp Of Inutility, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (Pdf: Introduction)., Marco Solinas

Marco Solinas

Sing To The Lord A New Song: John Calvin And The Spiritual Discipline Of Metrical Psalmody, Brandon J. Bellanti

Musical Offerings

The purpose of this essay is to evaluate the way that psalmody - specifically metrical psalmody - serves as a sort of spiritual discipline. In other words, this essay seeks to demonstrate how the singing of psalms can be a tool to aid in spiritual growth. Much of the research for this essay focuses on the theological writings of the Protestant reformer John Calvin, as well as the way in which he incorporated metrical psalmody into his liturgical framework. The research also comprises primary writings from Aristotle, Plato, Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Basil, and Saint Augustine - all of whom …

Busting Myths About ‘Species’, Charles H. Pence

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

"Crawling Between Earth And Heaven" : Shakespeare And Elizabethan Aristotelianism, Matthew Fairchild Vivyan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

From the twelfth century well into the seventeenth century, Aristotelianism was the dominant philosophical system in Europe, and William Shakespeare's life and professional career coincided with a broad and significant revival of interest in Aristotelianism in Elizabethan England. Shakespeare responded to this intellectual movement, and in Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida, Measure for Measure, and Timon of Athens, he demonstrates a highly sophisticated, comprehensive understanding of Aristotelian moral philosophy which, I argue, he gained by reading John Case's Speculum quaestionum moralium (1585), the standard Elizabethan commentary on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. William Shakespeare, the man who over the centuries has become all …

Optimality And Teleology In Aristotle's Natural Science, Devin Henry

Devin Henry

In this paper I examine the role of optimality reasoning in Aristotle’s natural science. By “optimality reasoning” I mean reasoning that appeals to some conception of “what is best” in order to explain why things are the way they are. We are first introduced to this pattern of reasoning in the famous passage at Phaedo 97b8-98a2, where (Plato’s) Socrates invokes “what is best” as a cause (aitia) of things in nature. This passage can be seen as the intellectual ancestor of Aristotle’s own principle, expressed by the famous dictum “nature does nothing in vain but always what is best for …

Taney’S Zeno And Scalia’S Mobilia, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Zeno’s most famous paradox (of motion) is related to us through Aristotle, who presents Zeno’s ‘problems’ in his Physics, 239b11-14. Aristotle “asserts (on Zeno’s behalf) the non-existence of motion on the ground that any object in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal.”

The Role Of Optimality In Aristotle's Natural Science, Devin Henry

Devin Henry

In this paper I examine the role of optimality reasoning in Aristotle’s natural science. By “optimality reasoning” I mean reasoning that appeals to some conception of “what is best” in order to explain why things are the way they are. We are first introduced to this pattern of reasoning in the famous passage at Phaedo 97b8-98a2, where (Plato’s) Socrates invokes “what is best” as a cause (aitia) of things in nature. This passage can be seen as the intellectual ancestor of Aristotle’s own principle, expressed by the famous dictum “nature does nothing in vain but always what is best for …

Aristotle And The Unity And Diversity Of Life (Project Description), Devin Henry

Devin Henry

No abstract provided.

Aristotle's Pluralistic Realism, Devin Henry

Devin Henry

In this paper I explore Aristotle’s views on natural kinds and the compatibility of pluralism and realism, a topic that has generated considerable interest among contemporary philosophers. I argue that, when it came to zoology, Aristotle denied that there is only one way of organizing the diversity of the living world into natural kinds that will yield a single, unified system of classification. Instead, living things can be grouped and regrouped into various cross-cutting kinds on the basis of objective similarities and differences in ways that subserve the explanatory context. Since the explanatory aims of zoology are diverse and variegated, …

Aristotle’S Pluralistic Realism, Devin Henry

Devin Henry

In this paper I explore Aristotle’s views on natural kinds and the compatibility of pluralism and realism, a topic that has generated considerable interest among contemporary philosophers. I argue that, when it came to zoology, Aristotle denied that there is only one way of organizing the diversity of the living world into natural kinds that will yield a single, unified system of classification. Instead, living things can be grouped and regrouped into various cross-cutting kinds on the basis of objective similarities and differences in ways that subserve the explanatory context. Since the explanatory aims of zoology are diverse and variegated, …

La Svista Di Darwin. Sulla Rivoluzione Della Tradizione Aristotelica, In «Chronos», 29 (2010), Pp. 5-28., Marco Solinas

Marco Solinas

No abstract provided.

L’Impronta Dell’Inutilità. Il Tramonto Delle Cause Finali Nell’Impianto Evoluzionistico, In "Leussein. Rivista Di Studi Umanistici", Ii, 3/6 (2009), Pp. 127-145., Marco Solinas

Marco Solinas

No abstract provided.

Organismal Natures, Devin Henry

Devin Henry

No abstract provided.

Review Of Monte Ransome Johnson's Aristotle On Teleology, Devin Henry

Devin Henry

No abstract provided.

How Sexist Is Aristotle's Developmental Biology?, Devin Henry

Devin Henry

No abstract provided.

Aristotle On The Mechanisms Of Inheritance, Devin Henry

Devin Henry

In this paper I address an important question in Aristotle’s biology, What are the causal mechanisms behind the transmission of biological form? Aristotle’s answer to this question, I argue, is found in Generation of Animals Book 4 in connection with his investigation into the phenomenon of inheritance. There we are told that an organism’s reproductive material contains a set of ‘‘movements’’ which are derived from the various ‘‘potentials’’ of its nature (the internal principle of change that initiates and controls development). These ‘‘movements,’’ I suggest, function as specialized vehicles for com- municating the parts of the parent’s heritable form during …

Understanding Aristotle's Reproductive Hylomorphism, Devin Henry

Devin Henry

No abstract provided.