Is Ignorance Bliss?, 2024 Gettysburg College
Is Ignorance Bliss?, Eliana R. Mandelberg
CAFE Symposium 2024
This project explores the ethics of telling someone factual information, even if it could hurt them. Specifically, the main question is: If a person were to learn that our world was just The Matrix, would they be obligated to tell people to be truthful or keep it to themselves to spare the feelings of others?
The Divided Self: Internal Conflict In Literature, Philosophy, Psychology, And Neuroscience, 2024 The Graduate Center, City University of New York
The Divided Self: Internal Conflict In Literature, Philosophy, Psychology, And Neuroscience, Yulia Greyman
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
This thematic project examines the notion of self-division, particularly in terms of the conflict between cognition and metacognition, across the fields of philosophy, psychology, and, most recently, the cognitive and neurosciences. The project offers a historic overview of models of self-division, as well as analyses of the various problems presented in theoretical models to date. This work explores how self-division has been depicted in the literary works of Edgar Allan Poe, Don DeLillo, and Mary Shelley. It examines the ways in which artistic renderings alternately assimilate, resist, and/or critique dominant philosophical, psychological, and scientific discourses about the self and its …
A Madhyamaka Critique Of Jaegwon Kim's Supervenience Argument, 2024 San Jose State University
A Madhyamaka Critique Of Jaegwon Kim's Supervenience Argument, Tyler J. Jungbauer
Comparative Philosophy
Jaegwon Kim’s supervenience argument objects to the possibility of emergent causation (both downward and same-level) based on both (1) the causal overdetermination of both (a) higher-level emergent events and (b) lower-level basal events, and (2) the causal closure principle of the physical domain. Kim argues that emergent causation entails epiphenomenalism. Madhyamaka Buddhist philosophy skeptically critiques the primary (ultimate) existence of causal phenomena and instead suggests that all such phenomena may only be secondarily (conventionally) existent. Mādhyamikas acknowledge that, conventionally, emergent phenomena appear to cause both basal phenomena and other emergent phenomena. However, contra Kim, Mādhyamikas doubt that causal relations ultimately …
Unveiling The Unseen: A Feminist Exploration Of Consciousness And Empowerment Among Homeless Women Through Consciousness-Raising, 2024 Claremont Colleges
Unveiling The Unseen: A Feminist Exploration Of Consciousness And Empowerment Among Homeless Women Through Consciousness-Raising, Scarlett Liu
CMC Senior Theses
Homeless women have been forgotten subject matter in the study and practice of feminist consciousness and consciousness-raising efforts. However, they grapple with the compounded challenges of both gender and homelessness within an oppressive societal structure. This thesis therefore seeks to conceptualize the consciousness of women, and particularly homeless women, in a feminist lens. Specifically, this thesis explores the Othering of women’s consciousness through the intellectual lineage of Simone de Beauvoir and Hegel, and emphasizes the role of material circumstances in shaping consciousness-raising efforts. Then, this thesis examines two unique struggles faced by homeless women – survival sex and homeless motherhood. …
A Demonstration Of Enactivist Personality Assessment Using The Five-Factor Model, 2023 Duquesne University
A Demonstration Of Enactivist Personality Assessment Using The Five-Factor Model, Garri Hovhannisyan
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation seeks to extend the intellectual and existential horizon of the enactive approach by bringing forth an enactivist understanding of human cognitive life as it is lived from the perspective of personality traits. The theoretical task of this dissertation is to review existing evidence in support of the Enactivist Big-5 Theory (EB5T) of personality and its potential for bridging the phenomenological gap between minimal and human cognition. As a phenomenologically grounded theory of personality, EB5T conceptualizes individual differences not merely as differences in trait measures within a person but as differences in styles of how individuals bring forth, experience, …
Mrs. Dalloway As A Window For Understanding Life, 2023 Chapman University
Mrs. Dalloway As A Window For Understanding Life, Kristen Venegas
English (MA) Theses
Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway may be dismissed as fiction, and fiction consequently is dismissed as fantasy. However, the novel enables readers to practice an intellectual exercise of meta-awareness that extends beyond the pages and onto real world phenomena. Under a cognitive neuroscience perspective, Mrs. Dalloway is a literary masterpiece due to its hyper- realistic execution of the intimacies of life. Through the narrative style of free-indirect discourse, Woolf illustrates what occurs in the minds of characters as they develop their own perceptions of reality and identity, exposes the fear and inadequacies of mankind’s distress in times of chaos and disorder …
A Talk With Time, 2023 SUNY College Cortland
A Talk With Time, Samanatha Kuban
Master's Theses
I chose to write a collection of genre-mixing short stories to depict the vastness and complexity of time as my English Master’s thesis project. Thinking about the constructs of time and how they function or do not function within our society sparked my interest in this field of knowledge and discussion. I am a person that tends to feel a large amount of anxiety surrounding the passage of time or time limits so reading deeper into studies of time and how we think about it in various ways proved to be an outlet for a better understanding. I chose to …
Gaston-Paul Effa, Moine-Pèlerin Et Flambeur Au Risque De La Forêt Camerounaise, 2023 SUNY College at Old Westbury
Gaston-Paul Effa, Moine-Pèlerin Et Flambeur Au Risque De La Forêt Camerounaise, Sylvie Kande
The Goose
Book review of Gaston-Paul Effa's 2019 novel, La vertical du Cri. The narrator finds salvation in wandering between nations and throughout the African rainforest.
Japanese-English Translation: Nishida Kitarō––“Self-Determination Of The Eternal Now” 「永遠の今の自己限定」、西田幾多郎著(昭和六年七月) (July 1931) §1 Of 4; Complete Draft (Supersedes Draft Of 2 Jan 19); Translated By Christopher Southward; Revision And Expansion Underway, 2023 Binghamton University--SUNY
Japanese-English Translation: Nishida Kitarō––“Self-Determination Of The Eternal Now” 「永遠の今の自己限定」、西田幾多郎著(昭和六年七月) (July 1931) §1 Of 4; Complete Draft (Supersedes Draft Of 2 Jan 19); Translated By Christopher Southward; Revision And Expansion Underway, Christopher Southward
Comparative Literature Faculty Scholarship
Japanese-English Translation: Nishida Kitarō––“Self-Determination of the Eternal Now” (July 1931) 「永遠の今の自己限定」、西田幾多郎著(昭和六年七月)
§1 of 4; Complete Draft (Supersedes Draft of 2 Jan 2019)
Translated from the Japanese by Christopher Southward; Revision and Expansion Underway, October 2023
Japanese-English Translation: Miki Kiyoshi —Thinking With Master Nishida (First Published In Fujin Kōron, August 1941) Complete Draft; Translated, Edited, And Revised By Christopher Southward, October 2022-September 2023 「西田先生のことども」、三木清著(初発 婦人公論、昭和十六年八月), 2023 Binghamton University--SUNY
Japanese-English Translation: Miki Kiyoshi —Thinking With Master Nishida (First Published In Fujin Kōron, August 1941) Complete Draft; Translated, Edited, And Revised By Christopher Southward, October 2022-September 2023 「西田先生のことども」、三木清著(初発 婦人公論、昭和十六年八月), Christopher Southward
Comparative Literature Faculty Scholarship
Japanese-English Translation: Miki Kiyoshi —Thinking with Master Nishida (First Published in Fujin Kōron, August 1941) Complete Draft; Translated, Edited, and Revised by Christopher Southward, October 2022-September 2023「西田先生のことども」、三木清著(初発 婦人公論、昭和十六年八月)
Source text transcribed and published by Aozora Bunko–a compendium of public-domain Japanese literature, philosophy, and criticism
General website: https://www.aozora.gr.jp
Current text: https://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000218/files/50538_37481.html
The Phenomenology And Intentionality Of Normative-Evaluative Experience, 2023 Western University
The Phenomenology And Intentionality Of Normative-Evaluative Experience, Shawn K. Bartlett
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
In the first paper of this dissertation, I argue that bodily experiences, such as pain and itch experiences, emotional experiences, and mood experiences have intentional content that supervenes on their phenomenal character. I call these kinds of experiences normative-evaluative experiences. I argue that these experiences have intentional content that is determined, at least in part, by their positive and negative phenomenal characters.
In the second paper of this dissertation, I examine the tracking representationalist theory of pain experience defended by Brian Cutter and Michael Tye. On their view, the phenomenal character of pain experience supervenes on its intentional content, which …
Multiple Ways To Implement And Infer Sentience, 2023 Wilfrid Laurier University
Multiple Ways To Implement And Infer Sentience, Nicolas Rouleau, Michael Levin
Animal Sentience
Segundo-Ortin & Calvo’s (S&C’s) thorough review of “plant neurobiology” presents evidence supporting the possibility of plant sentience. They make a compelling case that plants anticipate, assess risk, cooperate, mimic, and pursue goals, as do their animal counterparts. S&C point out that there is a double standard: behavioural patterns associated with subjective experiences in humans are considered valid for inferring cognition in non-human animals but not in diverse other systems including plants. We argue that cognitive functions, including sentience, can potentially be achieved by very different systems and their disparate substrates. We offer some context from the basal cognition literature and …
Crazier Hypotheses: Panpsychism, 2023 University of Guadalajara, Mexico
Crazier Hypotheses: Panpsychism, José E. Burgos, Giselle M. Castañeda
Animal Sentience
Abstract: Segundo-Ortin & Calvo (S&C) invite readers to consider seriously the hypothesis that plants have phenomenal consciousness or sentience. Their case is based on behavioral evidence to support their hypothesis. While the hypothesis seems crazy to many, there is a crazier hypothesis – panpsychism – according to which everything is sentient. We discuss panpsychism to raise a number of philosophical questions about S&C’s hypothesis.
New Commandments, 2023 Rhode Island School of Design
New Commandments, Jacob Sussman
Masters Theses
I reach into the earth, pull out mud-encrusted objects, and recombine them to define new meanings. With every object transposed, the past breaks down; new potentials form. “New Commandments” recombines historical symbolism through an intuitive building, destroying, and merging to reimagine or re-establish meaning.
The work critiques rites of passage, masculinity, and stereotypes by deconstructing how histories, ideologies, and preconceptions form.
As a queer person raised in-between Judaism and Christianity, social preconceptions and religious expectations festered my formation. Our choice is taken away at this moment of conception. To take back autonomy, I reimagine historical, and religious symbolism and transmute …
When Do Parts Form Wholes? Integrated Information As The Restriction On Mereological Composition, 2023 Chapman University
When Do Parts Form Wholes? Integrated Information As The Restriction On Mereological Composition, Kelvin J. Mcqueen, Naotsugu Tsuchiya
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
Under what conditions are material objects, such as particles, parts of a whole object? This is the composition question and is a longstanding open question in philosophy. Existing attempts to specify a non-trivial restriction on composition tend to be vague and face serious counterexamples. Consequently, two extreme answers have become mainstream: composition (the forming of a whole by its parts) happens under no or all conditions. In this paper, we provide a self-contained introduction to the integrated information theory (IIT) of consciousness. We show that IIT specifies a non-trivial restriction on composition: composition happens when integrated information is maximized. We …
Creating Project Contrast: A Video Game Exploring Consciousness And Qualia, 2023 Seattle Pacific University
Creating Project Contrast: A Video Game Exploring Consciousness And Qualia, Pierce Papke
Honors Projects
Project Contrast is a video game that explores how the unique traits inherent to video games might engage reflective player responses to qualitative experience. Project Contrast does this through suspension of disbelief, avatar projection, presence, player agency in storytelling, visual perception, functional gameplay, and art. Considering the difficulty in researching qualitative experience due to its subjectivity and circular explanations, I created Project Contrast not to analyze qualia, though that was my original hope. I instead created Project Contrast as an avenue for player self-reflection and learning about qualitative experience. While video games might be just code and art on a …
Disentangling Sentience From Developmental Plasticity, 2023 London School of Economics and Political Science
Disentangling Sentience From Developmental Plasticity, Jonathan Birch
Animal Sentience
Plants, like animals, display remarkable developmental plasticity, inviting the metaphorical use of terms like “decision” and “choice”. In the animal case, this is not taken to be evidence of sentience, because sentience is a complex product of development, not something that guides it. We should apply the same standards when evaluating the evidence in plants. It is hard to overstate the contrast with the case of invertebrates such as octopuses, where pain markers that were originally developed for use in mammals have been clearly demonstrated and plausible neural substrates for sentience have been identified.
Plant Sentience: Time Scale Matters, 2023 University of Messina
Plant Sentience: Time Scale Matters, Alessio Plebe
Animal Sentience
Segundo-Ortin & Calvo (2023) have made a valuable effort in directing the discussion about plant sentience toward a strict scientific path. However, scientific endeavors must reconcile with common sense beliefs. Although nowadays people tend to accept the idea of animal sentience, this is not easily extended to plants. One reason is the difference in time scale in which phenomena occur in plants and animals; but this still does not preclude the possibility , in principle, of plant sentience in a form difficult for us to imagine.
The Psychedelic Dasein: Modelling The Effects Of Psilocybin With Heidegger’S Phenomenology, 2023 University of Windsor
The Psychedelic Dasein: Modelling The Effects Of Psilocybin With Heidegger’S Phenomenology, Eamon Robert Stuart Macdougall
Major Papers
This paper argues that the mystical experience induced by psilocybin (understood through the tradition of Heideggerian phenomenology) modulates the attuned understanding of oneself, the world, and how the individual relates to the world. This kind of particular experience is not accessible to the individual through ordinary consciousness, therefore psilocybin may give us access to a new kind of understanding. This understanding may offer a solution to the empirical deficiencies surrounding the short-term and long-term effects of psilocybin, such as how a meagre two to three high doses have yielded unprecedented results in the treatment of tobacco addiction, and in the …
Anxiety In The Capitalism Of Late Modernity, 2023 Independent researcher
Anxiety In The Capitalism Of Late Modernity, Toyo Kawabata
Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis
The logic of capitalism affects both individuals and society. Alienation augments existential anxiety in the current precarity capitalism, which keeps urging competition among individuals to survive in capitalism and grow more. Excessive individualism, materialism, and consumerism in capitalism may weaken social ties and lower self-recognition, augmenting the existential anxiety of individuals. Losers in capitalism aggravate their anxiety whereas even winners may keep being anxious in the never-ending competition in capitalism. As long as people are kept engaged in capitalism, the pressure of the competition leads to a vicious cycle that keeps inducing anxiety, which signifies the precarity of capitalism. Existential …