Other Philosophy Commons^™

“Meddling In The Work Of Another”: Πολυπραγμονεῖν In Plato’S Republic, Brennan Mcdavid

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

The second conjunct of the Republic’s account of justice—that justice is “not meddling in the work of another”—has been neglected in Plato literature. This paper argues that the conjunct does more work than merely reiterating the content of the first conjunct—that justice is “doing one’s own work.” I argue that Socrates develops the concept at work in this conjunct from its introduction with the Principle of Specialization in Book II to its final deployment in the finished conception of justice in Book IV. Crucial to that concept’s development is the way in which the notion of “another” comes to …

Perversion: A Genealogy Of Deviance And Creation Of The "Other", J D. Lyell

University Honors Theses

Drawing from Thomas Aquinas' Theory of Natural Law, I investigate Euro-Christian conceptions of naturalness and unnaturalness and how they were weaponized to cast racialized groups as perverse in the construction of the United States. I focus on the enforcement of Euro-heteropatriarchy to demonize Indigenous family and gender structures, as well as the characterization of Black bodies as abnormal by white academia to demonstrate some of the ways gender and sexuality have been colonized in the U.S. My research provides a general outline tracing a genealogy of deviance as established by Euro-Christian norms of sexuality and gender, which emerges from a …

Decay In Educational System: The Nigerian Perspective, Itohowo Paul Ignatius, Iniobong Daniel Umotong Dr.

Journal of Graduate Education Research

Education is the bedrock of development in every society. In developing countries including Nigeria, education is conceived as the tool through which national objectives (such as nation building, social integration and economic development) are achieved. Although education has so many prospects for developing countries, Nigeria continues to be crawling with its education sector. It is against this background that this paper seeks to answer the fundamental questions: what are the problems facing the Nigerian educational sector and in what ways can they be mitigated? The national policy of education (1998) in Nigeria has five working objectives and philosophies through which …

Sweet Fooling: Ethical Humor In King Lear And Levinas, Kent R. Lehnhof

English Faculty Articles and Research

"In recent years, scholars have increasingly put the works of William Shakespeare (1564-1623) in dialogue with the ethical philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas (1905-1995)... The majority of these Shakespearean references are to Hamlet and Macbeth, but contemporary critics working in the vein of Levinas have tended to favor King Lear. No Shakespearean play has been subjected to Levinasian analysis more fully or more frequently.⁵ This critical proclivity is not unwarranted, for Shakespeare's tragic play and Levinas's ethical writings tell the same basic story: that of the egoist who heedlessly pursues his own interests until he is until he …

“A Levinasian Reading Of Grendel By John Gardner, The Retold Narration Of Beowulf Myth”, Negar Basiri

Tête à Tête: Journal of Francophone Studies

No abstract provided.

First-Person Experience Cannot Rescue Causal Structure Theories From The Unfolding Argument, Michael H. Herzog, Aaron Schurger, Adrian Doerig

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

We recently put forward an argument, the Unfolding Argument (UA), that integrated information theory (IIT) and other causal structure theories are either already falsified or unfalsifiable, which provoked significant criticism. It seems that we and the critics agree that the main question in this debate is whether first-person experience, independent of third-person data, is a sufficient foundation for theories of consciousness. Here, we argue that pure first-person experience cannot be a scientific foundation for IIT because science relies on taking measurements, and pure first-person experience is not measurable except through reports, brain activity, and the relationship between them. We also …

Dr. Naomi Reshotko, Anit Tyagi

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

An interview with Dr. Naomi Reshotko.

What Is Transpersonal Psychology? A Concise Definition Based On 20 Years Of Research, Glenn Hartelius

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Research on definitions of the field of psychology and themes in the literature of the field over a period of 20 years inform this description: Transpersonal psychology is a transformative psychology of the whole person embedded within a diverse, interconnected, and evolving world that pays particular attention to states of consciousness and developmental models reflecting expansion beyond conventional notions of self. Each element of this definition is examined, as well as the four phases of definitional development within the field from its founding in 1968 up to the present.

The Mystical Exodus In Jungian Perspective: Transforming Trauma And The Wellsprings Of Renewal, B. Les Lancaster

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

No abstract provided.

Life Before Birth: A Thematic Analysis Of Memories Of Coming Into Life Part 2: Recollections Of Fetal Life And Birth, Jenny Wade

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

This article examines a second set of data produced in a thematic analysis of 68 “earliest memory” narratives submitted to an independent website to explore the question: what do people who claim to remember how they came into the world say about their experience prior to and including birth? Part 1 examined the first and largest subset of the data, narratives of an otherworldly existence consistent with Western reincarnation intermission stage 2 experiences, near-death experience accounts and mythic traditions. This article thematically analyzes descriptions of life in the womb, birth, and apparently veridical out-of-body and other paranormal impressions of events …

Unexpected Side Effects: A Cautionary Note On Challenges Of Persistent Self-Transcendence, Elizabeth D. Stephens, Harris L. Friedman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Self-transcendence is an ambiguous construct without consensual meaning, yet many claim that it relates to, or even causes, beneficial outcomes. Few discuss its potential deleterious side effects, choosing to focus primarily on positive effects. However, anything with sufficient potency to heal may have unintended side effects, especially when it leads beyond a transitory state to becoming an enduring trait, such as when self-transcendence (ST) becomes persistent self-transcendence (PST). With PST, evidence is overviewed here, along with two illustrative case reports, that people can suffer emotional difficulties, motivation changes, loss of self-reflexivity, anhedonia, dissociation, depersonalization, memory problems, and other psychological concerns. …

Life Before Birth: A Thematic Analysis Of Memories Of Coming Into Life Part 1: Recollections Of Another Realm, Jenny Wade

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Autobiographic memories prior to birth remain controversial in psychology because such memories are traditionally believed to begin much later when some sense of self is formed. Prenatal sentience, including fetal learning, occurs in species from arthropods to humans, and evidence for autobiographic memories from pre- and neo-natal humans has typically come from clinical case histories of altered-state regression techniques eliciting records from adults or clinical case histories of children in normal states. This thematic analysis examined 68 “earliest memory” narratives submitted to an independent website to explore the question: what do people who claim to remember how they came into …

How Perception Meets Hermeneutics: An Empirical Investigation Of Tasseography, Elizabeth Avetisian

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Tasseography is a divination method to provide insight about the seeker’s past, present, or future life by interpreting patterns in the dregs of a liquid. Although it has been practiced with coffee throughout Europe and Middle East, particularly among women, no known studies exist on the seer’s perceptual process of the ambiguous patterns or how the roles of the seeker and seer, symbols, ritual, and cultural epistemology shape the divinatory hermeneutics. This study focused on the Armenian coffee divination ritual, asking what are the processes and conditions that enable experienced cup readers to obtain divinatory insight in tasseography? Two seekers …

Ishita – Atemporality In Bemba Eco-Existentialism, Chammah J. Kaunda

Zambia Social Science Journal

This article delineates Bemba eco-existentialism of atemporality. It demonstrates inshita as lived which is deeply entrenched in the quest to become Lesa (God). Bemba atemporality is never conceived in terms of the past or the future. Rather, as the locus of intercourse, a critical site of spiritual interaction, transaction, and exchange aimed at actualizing equilibrium of all vital relationships that make up the cosmos. In this way, inshita is lived and a manifestation of meaningful actions that promote flourishing-becoming of all things.

History, Cognition And Nostromo: Conrad’S Explorations Of Torture, Trauma, And The Human Rage For Order, Richard Ruppel

English Faculty Articles and Research

Focusing on Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo, this essay historicizes the treatment of what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder, demonstrating how Conrad anticipated our current understanding and treatment of the illness. The second part of the essay addresses Nostromo’s treatment of historiography. Part three is concerned with epistemology and the relationship between neurological discoveries concerning the gap between perception and consciousness, relating those discoveries to Conrad’s use of delayed decoding.

Posthuman Ethics In The Science Fiction Of Rosa Montero And Rita Indiana, Brittany Frodge

Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies

In this dissertation I put Posthumanist theory in tension with the ‘lived’ experiences of the posthuman protagonists of two recent Science Fiction trilogies. My aim in doing so is to uncover the shortcomings of Posthumanist accounts of ethics and discover alternative paths forward.

The first chapter of my dissertation is an overview of Posthumanist theory and Science Fiction, with a particular emphasis on the contributions Hispanic authors and women have made to the genre. In the second chapter, I develop a critique of Posthumanist ethics that place the onus of ethical-political intervention on marginalized subjects through a close reading of …

A Marxist Re-Imagining Of Capitalism, Alejandro Villegas

CMC Senior Theses

This paper explores the reasons that Hegel and Smith were optimistic about the promise of capitalism. I identify the virtues and characteristics that capitalism would provide in theory which focused on the potential benefits it would have for average person. I then examine capitalism in practice and identify the ways that Hegel and Smith were wrong. I use Henry Hansmann model of the firm and his account of cost, which fits well with the problems I hope to address. With the help of Henry Hansmann’s account of ownership and cost, I offer potential methods to address the failures of the …

The Power Of The Influencer: Old Gods, Rejected Elites, And Secular Idols, Laura Brenalvirez

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis explores the phenomena of influencers in America, and what makes their power distinct from institutional forms of authority. As we are disillusioned by the establishment, we turn to influencers, since we have greater exercise of autonomy and agency in our deference. Our parasocial relationships demonstrate an anti-elitist desire to feel truly represented by our authorities. I aim to open scholarship about celebrities through a more charitable lens than many condescending takes.

To Integrate Or To Assimilate: An Epistemic Analysis Of Racial Segregation In Education, Nandini Mittal

CMC Senior Theses

Color has been the demarcating factor in systematically separating particularly Black and white communities, insofar as barring access to education, housing, transportation, and basic civil rights. In the fight against segregation, and a movement towards integration, the area that this we have notoriously failed in is education. This paper is an opportunity to combine the practical with the epistemological (relating to beliefs about knowledge acquisition and validity) and question the hidden or coded elements that are associated with social integration. Where do we draw the line between the social integration and assimilation? I will be exploring the concept of epistemological …

Literary Fiction And Sympathy: How Reading Makes You A Better Person, Emma Rose Wick

Honors Theses and Capstones

I argue in this thesis that literary fiction enhances our ability to sympathize with others as a result of observing—and thereby coming to feel for—the perspectives of the characters by engaging in mental perspective-taking. As a result, we become able to sympathize with an array of individuals whose experiences are unlike our own, and which we may never understand otherwise. I argue that the ability to sympathize with others is valuable for the sake of being a morally good person, and for having an overall good character. This has value in and of itself, particularly from an Aristotelian perspective. I …