Philosophy Commons^™

Powers And The Metaphysics Of Fundamentality, Benjamin Cook

Dissertations - ALL

In this dissertation, I address the question of whether ground, the relation that obtains between entities e1...en and a further entity e when e ontologically depends on, and is metaphysically explained by, e1...en, should be understood causally and, if so, whether this has any substantive implications. I answer both in the affirmative. I argue that ground and causation are similar enough to motivate characterizing ground as a special kind of causation, and that this can be done if we adopt a powers-theoretic account of causation. Moreover, I argue that the resultant view of ground, what I call “powerful, existential causation,” …

Metaphysical Coherentism, Jan Swiderski

Dissertations - ALL

I defend metaphysical coherentism, according to which reality is an interdependent network, system, or web, held together by a relation philosophers call "metaphysical explanation" or "grounding". If coherentism is true, nothing is ungrounded, things ground each other, and understanding what it is to be any given thing – a tree, a house, or a person – is grasping how it fits in: how it grounds and is grounded by its environment.

Coherentism is inconsistent with a widely-accepted, orthodox view of grounding, according to which certain fundamental facts about reality asymmetrically determine everything else. In Chapter 1, I argue that this …

Save And Continue?, Douglas Boyd Johnson

Theses - ALL

The purpose of this thesis is to describe the research I completed and the body of work produced during the course of my Master's studies. The paper begins by briefly recounting early influences and the nature of my practice at the time I began the program. Then elaboration follows on the development of my work across various media, both traditional and digital. The work centers on formal questioning of pictorial media and draws conclusions on the nature of picture making, and the motivations I have for pursuing pictorial art.

The Problem Of The "Virtual": Virtual Reality, Digital Dualism, And Religious Experience, Jordan Brady Loewen

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation uses resources from religious studies to critique the problem of digital dualism haunting notions of the "virtual" in the discourse of contemporary virtual reality technologies (VR). Digital dualism is the idea that digital or "virtual" worlds are fundamentally distinct from the "real" or physical world. Digital dualism is a problem because it mischaracterizes how we experience the spatial and temporal connections to our body in digital-virtual worlds and contributes to a false sense of subjective singularity rather than multiplicity that destabilizes how we relate to ourselves and others. Using the study of religion, philosophy, and aesthetics, we can …

American Transcendentalism Contra Contemporary Political Philosophy: Applications Of Thomas Carlyle And Ralph Waldo Emerson To Liberal Democratic Capitalism, Platonism, Islamism, Technology, And The "End Of History", Brian Wolfel

Dissertations - ALL

I construct Thomas Carlyle's political philosophy in the contexts of twentieth-century and contemporary political philosophy by dialoging and contrasting Carlyle with the work of John Rawls, Alasdair MacIntyre, Jacques Ellul, and Sayyid Qutb, among others. I also focus my attention on Carlyle as a philosopher who is an intermediary between ancient Platonism and nineteenth-century American Transcendentalism. Carlyle's Sartor Resartus is a Platonic text that provided a foundational inspiration for Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and American Transcendentalism writ-large. Despite Carlyle being a chief source of inspiration for American Transcendentalism, his political theory did not inspire the development of a …

Transcendentalism, Art, And Social Change: An Overview For A New Generation, Nidra Kilmer

Theses - ALL

The purpose of this study is to investigate the philosophy, art, methods, and outcomes of the Transcendentalist movement in 19th century America, with the aim of identifying strategies for creative practice that may inspire artists and educators in the 21st century. In the introductory section, the need for such an inquiry is established. Correlations are drawn between transcendental art from China, India, and America, in order to enrich the conversation by examining how ideas of transcendentalism, art, and social change are approached from different cultural perspectives. The historical context and philosophical roots of the American Transcendentalists is summarized, followed by …

Imaginative Rhetorical Invention In The 21st Century: An Analysis Of Afrofuturism And Black Utopian Thought In A Black Lady Sketch Show As An Avenue Toward Black Liberation, Natalie Weathers

Theses - ALL

Inspired by recent events following the deaths of unarmed Black bodies killed at the hands of police officers and white vigilante citizens (Griffith, 2020; Oppel, 2020; BBC, 2020) this thesis seeks to validate the seemingly impossible aspirations of Black struggle and liberation in attempt to dismantle white supremacist ideology and oppression. Grounded in rhetorical theory emphasizing the imagination and canon of invention alongside critical perspectives of Afrofuturism and Black utopian thought, this thesis demonstrates the liberatory power of the Black American imagination within the United States in the 21st century through an analysis of A Black Lady Sketch Show (2019).

Exploring The Metaphysics Of Grief, Carolyn Garland

Dissertations - ALL

The goal of this dissertation is to develop an understanding of grief utterances: expressions of grief that in losing a loved one, the bereaved lost a part of herself. Grief utterances are commonplace, and their accompanying phenomenology suggests they are true. That gives us reason to think they are true. But if they are, what makes them true? I establish two potential answers to this question, ultimately favoring one according to which when a loved one dies we lose parts of our practical identities.

Chapter One introduces and sets up this topic it. It then focuses on the extent to …

Imaginative Rhetorical Invention In The 21st Century: An Analysis Of Afrofuturism And Black Utopian Thought In A Black Lady Sketch Show As An Avenue Toward Black Liberation, Natalie Weathers

Theses - ALL

Inspired by recent events following the deaths of unarmed Black bodies killed at the hands of police officers and white vigilante citizens (Griffith, 2020; Oppel, 2020; BBC, 2020) this thesis seeks to validate the seemingly impossible aspirations of Black struggle and liberation in attempt to dismantle white supremacist ideology and oppression. Grounded in rhetorical theory emphasizing the imagination and canon of invention alongside critical perspectives of Afrofuturism and Black utopian thought, this thesis demonstrates the liberatory power of the Black American imagination within the United States in the 21st century through an analysis of A Black Lady Sketch Show (2019).

Exploring The Metaphysics Of Grief, Carolyn Garland

Dissertations - ALL

The goal of this dissertation is to develop an understanding of grief utterances: expressions of grief that in losing a loved one, the bereaved lost a part of herself. Grief utterances are commonplace, and their accompanying phenomenology suggests they are true. That gives us reason to think they are true. But if they are, what makes them true? I establish two potential answers to this question, ultimately favoring one according to which when a loved one dies we lose parts of our practical identities.

Chapter One introduces and sets up this topic it. It then focuses on the extent to …

Biblical Rhetoric Of Separatism And Universalism And Its Intolerant Consequences, James Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

The long history of the Jewish and Christian use of separatist rhetoric and universal ideals reveals their negative consequences. The Hebrew Bible’s rhetoric about Israel as a people separated from the Egyptians and Canaanites is connected to Israel’s purity practices in Leviticus 18 and 20. Later communities wielding greater political power, however, employed this same anti-Canaanite pollution rhetoric in their efforts to colonize many different parts of the world. Separatist rhetoric was used to protect small Jewish communities in the early Second Temple period. The Christian New Testament rejected many of these purity practices in order to makes its mission …

How Civility Works, Keith Bybee

Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics, and the Media at Syracuse University

Is civility dead? Americans ask this question every election season, but their concern is hardly limited to political campaigns. Doubts about civility regularly arise in just about every aspect of American public life. Rudeness runs rampant. Our news media is saturated with aggressive bluster and vitriol. Our digital platforms teem with expressions of disrespect and trolls. Reflecting these conditions, surveys show that a significant majority of Americans believe we are living in an age of unusual anger and discord. Everywhere we look, there seems to be conflict and hostility, with shared respect and consideration nowhere to be found. In a …

An Exploration Of The Societal Impact Of Neuroethics In Scientific And General Communities, Katelyn Marie Edel

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Neuroethics serves as a roadmap for maneuvering the difficult and often personal concerns that arise concurrently with advancements in neuroscience. It is important to consider these issues at present and to take a proactive, rather than reactive, approach towards assuaging fears and hesitations related to the quickening applications of neuroscience into the non-scientific community. This Capstone explores recent suggestions made by prominent scholars in the neuroethics field related to the integration of neuroscience into society. Three cogent issues in neuroscience are discussed, with a focus on the possible effects that neuroscientific advancements have on society. Using a framework of human …

Revision Of United States Drug Law, Alexander Fernandez

Honors Capstone Projects - All

In this essay I will lay out two distinct but associated arguments that will show that United States drug policy on is both in principle and in practice unjustifiable. I will be focusing specifically on marijuana cocaine and heroin. While there are many controlled substances in the DEA schedules, I take it that showing current policy to be unjustifiable for these three substances will be sufficient to show that the policy of total prohibition and harsh punishment is wrong. The first section will normatively analyze the current policies of prohibition and punishment for use and sale of illicit substances. I …

Questions And Inquiry: Some Epistemological Applications, Jason Rourke

Dissertations - ALL

Abstract: A recent and innovative research program in epistemology aims to connect the related phenomena of questions and inquiry with epistemological concerns. This dissertation project contributes to that program, taking as its inspiration the contrastive theory of knowledge developed by Jonathan Schaffer in a series of recent papers. The dissertation is comprised of three main parts. I begin by articulating a positive account of the evaluation of knowledge attributions, an account that aims to respect the basic insights of Schaffer's contrastivism while situating them in a modal framework that makes manifest the utility of questions for epistemological theorizing. Then I …

Feeling In Character: Towards An Ethics Of Emotion, John Monteleone

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation contends that emotions are subject to ethical assessment, not simply as motives or overt expressions, but in their own right. Emotions, I argue, are subject to assessment because they are aspects of a person's character. Specifically, emotions involve voluntary acts of attention, which are due to habituation. These acts show character by manifesting certain stable, deeply-held desires called 'concerns.' This view, dubbed 'Attentional Voluntarism,' is opposed to the prevalent view, dubbed 'Rationalism,' that emotions are subject to assessment because of their propositional content. Rationalism is unable to account for certain kinds of irrational emotion, where one forms an …

Centralizing Ambiguity: Simone De Beauvoir And A Twenty-First Century Ethics, Kristen Oganowski

Dissertations - ALL

In this dissertation, I examine the relevance of Simone de Beauvoir's Ethics of Ambiguity to contemporary feminist thought on the self, autonomy, and ethics. More specifically, I argue that this text has the potential to make unique contributions to these areas of contemporary feminist philosophy.

Putting The Ghost Back In The Machine: A Defense Of Common Sense Dualism, Matthew Andrew Skene

Dissertations - ALL

Gilbert Ryle once ridiculed substance dualism, describing it as the view that we are a "ghost in the machine." Since that time, substance dualism has found few defenders, and a presumption toward naturalism has dominated philosophical inquiry. Here, I offer an unapologetic defense this unfashionable view of the self. To do so, I first explain why philosophy should endorse a shift in method away from naturalism and toward common sense philosophy. I then show how, from within that approach, substance dualism is far better supported than its competitors. My defense of the common sense method rests heavily on an account …

Modern Libertarian: Philosophy An Uncertain Lineage, Ian Ludd

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This study examines the true nature of libertarian political philosophy, avoiding reductive arguments and attempting to present these positions in a holistic manner that cuts to the core of what distinguishes this philosophy as being unique. The study then challenges the libertarian claim that many highly praised and well-respected historic political and economic philosophers are their philosophical antecedents.

The study examines the political philosphies of Classical Liberal thinkers and well-respected economists, presenting their positions in the same holistic manner and avoiding any selective quoting that serves only to oversimply the complexity of their arguments. The challenge of the study will …

Nude, Glorious, Living, William Robert

Religion - All Scholarship

No abstract provided.

To Live, By Grace, William Robert

Religion - All Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Towards A Revisionist Account Of Moral Responsibility, Kelly Anne Mccormick

Philosophy - Dissertations

Revisionism is the view that we would do well to distinguish between what we think about moral responsibility and what we ought to think about it, that the former is in some important sense implausible and conflicts with the latter, and so we should revise our concept of moral responsibility accordingly. There are three main challenges for a successful revisionist account of moral responsibility: (i) it must meet the diagnostic challenge of identifying our folk concept and provide good reason to think that significant features of this concept are implausible, (ii) it must meet the motivational challenge and explain why, …

Ideology, Truthmaking And Fundamentality, Anthony Robert James Fisher

Philosophy - Dissertations

In chapter 1 I outline two conceptions of ideology: ideological pessimism and ideological realism. Ideological pessimism is the view that ideological inquiry has dim prospects insofar as ideology is tied to meaning. Ideological realism is the view that there is a fact of the matter about which ideology is taken as primitive when attempting to describe reality correctly. I respond to an argument on behalf of ideological pessimism, develop ideological realism, and then defend it against an objection that attempts to derive the unpalatable consequence that a main dispute in the metaphysics of properties is verbal.

In chapter 2 I …

Moral Luck, Patrick A. Beach

Philosophy - Dissertations

The problem of moral luck arises because of an apparent conflict between the luck that humans face, the pervasiveness of moral considerations in our lives, and the idea that moral responsibility requires a level of control that luck robs them of. The claim is that we cannot be governed by luck and be morally responsible. The notions of luck and moral responsibility are developed, and several solutions to the problem of moral luck are discussed and rejected. Finally, a solution is offered that dissolves the problem. In particular, the luck that affects an agent's moral standing comes from the choices …

An Essay On The Ontology Of Reasons, Jeremy Anon Dickinson

Philosophy - Dissertations

I argue that many recent anti-psychologistic accounts of agential reasons are unsatisfactory. I also argue that psychologistic accounts are false. Then I develop and defend an anti-psychologistic, propositionalist theory of reasons whereby agential reasons are propositions. I also develop a corresponding anti-psychologistic account of reason-explanation that is able to help resolve some of the more difficult problems for theories of anti-psychologism. Next, I argue for a Russellian theory of propositionalism. Finally, I argue against teleological theories of reasons.

How Digital Media Affects The Nature Of Social Interactions, Johnny Liang

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for evaluating and understanding the roles of digital media, in particular the mobile phone and the internet, in our interpersonal and societal relationships. Though this paper is essentially grounded in research, drawing from the work of psychologists, cyber anthropologists, philosophers, and professors of communication studies as well as years of personal observations, it should be understood as more of a theoretical rather than research-based primer on the effects of digital media in our everyday lives. While this paper includes various ways digital connections can improve our relationships, it primarily discusses …

Thomas Hobbes' Response To The Fool: Justice And Magnanimity, Andrew James Corsa

Philosophy - Dissertations

I focus on Thomas Hobbes' response to the moral skeptic - the Fool - who claims it is sometimes reasonable to break valid covenants (contracts). The Fool maintains that, in some circumstances, violating a covenant will be in a person's best self-interest, and it will be reasonable to violate when it is. I interpret Hobbes to respond that it will never be reasonable for anyone to break a valid covenant, even in the state of nature (prior to society). In fact, everyone is obliged to keep all of his valid covenants, and it is always both reasonable and in each …

Free Culture, Ian Heifetz

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Free Culture is a documentary short that aims to promote user-autonomy in the digital age, with a focus on culture proliferations. The film takes a look a critical stance against the Digital Millennium Copyright act, arguing it is unenforceable through either legislative or technical means. To support this viewpoint, interviews with Yochai Benkler of the Harvard Law School and Fred von Lohmann, Senior Copyright Council to Google, are provided. While threats to the DMCA, such as piracy, are often seen as illegal criminal action, they signify a changing environment. One man taking advantage of this is Benn Jordan, a.k.a. The …

In Defense Of Existence Monism, Peter Finocchiaro

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The objective of this paper is a defense of a particular answer to van Inwagen’s Special Composition Question: when is it the case that some objects together compose some additional object? The answer is the conjunction of two claims. The first claim, compositional nihilism says that, necessarily, there is never an instance of material composition, and therefore all material objects that do exist are simple, or without proper parts. The second claim, existence monism, says that there exists a material object, and that all other material objects are identical with this object. In other words, there is just one …

Grassroots Poverty And Grassroots Human Rights: Grounding Theory In Practice, Scott Collison

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Philosophical discourse on human rights is broad and contested, and not all of it agrees with human rights practice. None of the common philosophical problems, such as the reconciliation between theory and human rights law, the debate between civil-political and socio-economic rights, or even what sort of thing human rights are, has been answered definitively. What is uncontested, however, is the fact that human rights are far from fulfilled in the world today, as world poverty and inequality persist into the 21^st century.

A recent trend across the board—from philosophy to development studies to human rights practice—is to view …