Philosophy Commons^™

The Fall And Natural Suffering, Andrew Banacos

Obsculta

Evolutionary theory poses several questions for Christian notions of origins: 1) common ancestry of all creatures rather than monogenesis; 2) the violent history of evolution as a challenge to the notion of a fall from paradise into sin, death, and suffering; and 3) the relationship between suffering and evil in light of evolutionary process. This paper seeks to address the concept of the fall in the context of dialogue between evolution and the Christian faith.

How To Talk About God: Origen And Gregory Of Nazianzus On Divine Transcendence And Theological Language, Coleman S. Kimbrough

Obsculta

This article discusses the doctrine of God of the early Church Fathers Origen and Gregory of Nazianzus. According to these two theologians, the tension between God's transcendence and God's immanence conditions the language we use to name and describe God. Such "God-talk" is necessarily limited by the ontological divide between the human and the divine. Using Origen and Gregory as reference points, I examine how the precise and careful use of apophatic, cataphatic, and analogical language is necessary to properly account for both God's eternal nature and God's work in the material world.

Review Of C. S. Lewis On Politics And The Natural Law, Crystal Hurd

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of Justin Buckley Dyer and Micah J. Watson, C. S. Lewis on Politics and the Natural Law (New York, NY: Cambridge, 2016). ix+160 pages. $26.99. ISBN 9781107518971.

C. S. Lewis On Atheism, Joel D. Heck

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Lewis had a lot to say about atheists and atheism, mentioning the topic at least seventy-eight times in at least thirty books and essays. Having been an atheist himself, he understood Christianity from—as he put it—the outside. He held many of the same positions that atheists did in the 1910s and 1920s and for many of the same reasons that still influence people today. Although he did not compose any sort of systematic description, definition, or formal reaction to atheism, we can glean a great deal from his writings. Perhaps most important of all, Lewis knew quite a few atheists …

Mere Christianity And The Moral Argument For The Existence Of God, Christopher A. Shrock

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

C. S. Lewis’s moral argument for the existence of God from Mere Christianity has been called the “most widely-convincing apologetic argument of the twentieth century.” It is concise and commonsensical. But Lewis’s argument has come under heavy fire in past decades, most notably from John Beversluis and Erik Wielenberg. This article offers an alternative reading on which the moral argument from the opening chapters of Mere Christianity is not only valid but also original and defensible. Unlike other moral arguments, Lewis deals in neither metaethics nor moral pragmatics. So he avoids prickly objections related to Divine Command Theory and accusations …

Paradise Retained: C. S. Lewis On The Nature Of Knowledge, Reality, And Morality In Perelandra, Richard L. W. Clarke

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

The world-view which informs Perelandra (1943) in particular and the so-called “space trilogy” more generally, of which it is the second volume, is deeply infused with that blend of Christianity and Platonism that is the hallmark of the thought of C. S. Lewis and which I explore at some length in the companion essay to this piece in this volume, “The Neoplatonic Christianity of C. S. Lewis.” Perelandra is, I would argue, a literary rendition of some of the most important philosophical arguments in defense of Christianity mounted by Lewis in Mere Christianity and elsewhere.

The Neo-Platonic Christianity Of C. S. Lewis, Richard L. W. Clarke

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

I shall attempt to show how Lewis’s fusion of Platonism with Christianity gives rise to his belief, metaphysically speaking, that the physical universe is not all there is but, rather, “transposes” (as he terms it) a greater non-physical or spiritual reality and is, as such, part of a divinely-ordained, orderly, and purposeful scheme of things. I shall also argue that for Lewis, epistemologically speaking, knowledge of this grand design and the place of humans therein is conveyed not through the human senses, at least as these are conventionally conceived, but, rather, through our higher reason, which is capable of objective …

Women Who Kill: Providing And Justifying Alternative Legal Pathways To The Use Of Battered Women Syndrome As Self-Defense, Sara Das '23

Senior Scholarly and Creative Symposium

Legal scholars have been grappling with how to handle legal cases concerning battered women since the 70s. Lenore Walker argued that battered women have a condition called battered woman syndrome that alters their perceptions. The cases by themselves do not fulfill requirements for self-defense, a justification doctrine nor duress, an excuse doctrine. I argue that battered women should be excused, not through using battered women syndrome to support pre-existing claims, but instead by using other psychological research to support Morse’s partial excuse doctrine. The first part of the paper argues why battered woman syndrome does not work as a psychological …

Redefining Anger For Sexual And Gender Minorities Using Art As A Visual Voice, Kirsten Ranheim

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Art therapy is an increasingly popular approach for addressing trauma and anger in clinical settings. This literature review explores the connections between art therapy, trauma, gender, and anger, drawing on a range of studies and theoretical perspectives. Background is provided on the history of anger within the context of societal institutions, interpersonal power dynamics, psychiatric nosology, and social justice movements. The review concludes that art therapy is ideally suited as a trauma-informed approach to addressing anger in the therapeutic setting. This is due to the unique opportunities that art making provides for helping individuals express and process their emotions nonverbally, …

Political Theory, Activism, And Visual Media: The Ideology Of Protest Symbols, Jilly E. Crane-Mauzy Mx.

Whittier Scholars Program

Art changes culture while policy codifies it. Radical revolutionary movements are often accompanied by equally radical shifts in art and design. I cataloged, compared, and contrasted the semiotic power of three specific symbols and their most significant historical moments in the United States. Through the examination of; Stonewall, The Equality March March Against Death, The Day The World Said No To War, The 1968 Summer Olympics, and The 2020 Black Lives Matter, the shifting of each ideologies symbol from inflammation in the media to recognition showcases the clarifying function along with creating unity and pride in community that is integral …

"Foul Death, Bitter Death": On Ivan Illich's Amicus Mortis, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

Artistic, Artworld, And Aesthetic Disobedience, Adam Burgos, Sheila Lintott

Faculty Journal Articles

Jonathan Neufeld proposes a concept of aesthetic disobedience that parallels the political concept of civil disobedience articulated by John Rawls in A Theory of Justice. The artistic transgressions he calls aesthetic disobedience are distinctive in being public and deliberative in their aim to bring about specific changes in accepted artworld norms. We argue that Neufeld has offered us valuable insight into the dynamic and potent nature of art and the artworld; however, we contend that Neufeld errs by constraining aesthetic disobedience to the artworld. Through a reconsideration of the parallel between aesthetic and civil disobedience, we illustrate how aesthetic disobedience …

Paragons Of Art And Nature In Eighteenth-Century British Aesthetic Theory., Eduard Ghita

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the interaction of nature and art as objects of aesthetic appreciation in eighteenth-century Britain, with special emphasis on the aesthetic theories of Anthony Ashley-Cooper-3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, Joseph Addison, and William Gilpin. Despite its openness to explore principles of aesthetics and concepts, such as beauty and sublimity, that were common to both nature and art, modern aesthetic theory framed the relation of art to nature hierarchically, an aspect captured by the term ‘paragon’. In this dissertation I trace a movement away from theories in which the superiority of nature to art was recognized (chapter 2 on Shaftesbury’s …

The Well-Tempered Android: Philosophical Posthumanism In Science Fiction Cinema., Cody Gault

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines philosophical posthumanism as a means for critical analysis of the interaction between humans and nonhuman androids in select science fiction cinematic universes. The interaction is analyzed through several facets, notably the interactions between humans and nonhuman androids, particularly as interactions between the human and nonhuman are often sites of violence. Chapter one is an introduction. Chapter two describes the development of philosophical posthumanism from humanism, also including an analysis of philosophical posthumanism, and how it can be used as a critical lens. Chapter three begins an analysis of science fiction cinema by examining the Blade Runner films …

The Landscape Does Not Care It Is A Landscape: A Utopian Pessimist Journey In Kentucky., Shachaf Polakow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

These thesis and exhibition, invite the viewers to travel through different places in Central and Eastern Kentucky. The region’s landscape, like many other American landscapes, is often known to the public through the settler colonial lens—a lens that ignores Indigenous peoples’ history in the region. The work in the exhibition is a response to landscape art's history and its complicity with American settler colonialism- art that was recruited to create a new identity for the settlers and for the country from the beginning of the American Colonial Project. Landscape art was a crucial part of this effort, presenting the land …

Ethics And Contemporary Leadership: Do Ethical Leadership Theories Align With Scripture?, Anthony Scott Poston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Morals, ethics, and values are instrumental for leaders to know and choose between right and wrong. Leadership theories regularly discuss ethics, but where do these ethics come from? Frequently, the source of leadership ethics is glossed over or left out entirely. This study sought to address this gap in contemporary leadership literature by answering the question: how do contemporary leadership theories, which contain morals, ethics, and/or or values components, align with similar themes found within the Hebrew and Christian scriptures? The researcher used a thematic analysis of contemporary leadership literature to identify ethical themes within the literature. Next, the themes …

Meaningfulness, Existentialism, And The Reverse Priority View, Aimee Adriana Santillan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis, I will argue that existentialism provides a more helpful guideline to understanding the relationship between meaningfulness and morality. Then, I will explain how existentialist ethics provides a good example of a moral theory that balances morality and meaningfulness. In Chapter 1, I will highlight the important considerations that philosophers like Susan Wolf, Bernard Williams, Harry Frankfurt, and Sophie Grace Chappell have pointed out could be reasons for action that are important enough to outweigh moral duty in some situations. In Chapter 2, I will further outline Wolfâ??s criticism of normative ethical theories and explain her â??meaningfulnessâ?? objection. …

An Emergentist Critique Of The Contract Theory Of The State Of Nature, With A Consideration On Two Types Of Polity And Their Origins., Ryan A. Apperson

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

The theories of the state of nature provided by the political philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke have made a significant impact in the general conceptions of the origin of states. Though there are many critical differences in the conceptions of the state of nature between each in their seminal works, they both possess of a view of states that is rational and constructivist.

In this paper, I use the game theory concepts of the coordination game, collective action problem, and focal point to illustrate a lacuna in this rational and constructivist conception of the origin of states, as their …

Teacher Instructional Strategies Impacting Rural, High-Poverty Student Academic Outcomes, Erin Kinney Burt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is an abundant amount of interest among educators surrounding what actions can be taken by the government, local representatives, school boards, administrators, and teachers to assist rural, high-poverty students flourish academically. An uninspiring truth related to this subject is many times, a student receives the education the state and local communities are able to provide based on the quality of teachers they are able to retain and the resources available. Instructional strategies teachers implement could influence the quality of education students receive and could leave a community in a constant cycle of dependency and hardship. The purpose of this …

Comparison Of Traditional To Hybrid Modality Of Instruction, Paul Michael Spadaro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruption in education across the United States. Prior to the pandemic, students in third grade struggled with low reading proficiency, a difficulty that predicts persistent academic struggles, school dropout, and even delinquency. Districts in South Carolina and around the United States adapted to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in various ways, and among these strategies were a traditional learning modality, where students attended school only in-person and when possible, and a hybrid learning modality, where students alternatively attended in-person and remotely. It is important to understand the potential impacts of these scheduling decisions on …