Issue Iv: Sátya,
2026
Smith College
Issue Iv: Sátya, Moby Yang, Patrick Van Hoven, Sofie Robinson, Emma Cohler, Konstandina Deleidi, Teneil Reddy
Sátya
No abstract provided.
Advice For Nonactualists: Embrace Metaphysically Vague Ficta,
2026
James Madison University
Advice For Nonactualists: Embrace Metaphysically Vague Ficta, Jeffrey C. Goodman
Faculty Scholarship
I here critically discuss “the Selection Problem”, a vexing problem for metaphysicians who are realists about fictional entities and who further claim that such entities are identified with nonactualia. The Selection Problem arises due to the fact that the nonactualist is forced to defend the view that ficta are somehow discovered, or selected, by authors who then present them to us so we may entertain their exploits. But how exactly does an author manage this when there are a vast number of eligible candidates to be found in the relevant nonactual realms? I argue that the realist who is also …
What Common Themes Are Challengers Trying To Silence And What Would Be Lost Without Them?,
2026
Ursinus College
What Common Themes Are Challengers Trying To Silence And What Would Be Lost Without Them?, Corrine H. Martello
Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics
This research paper aims to analyze the controversies surrounding The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky, three commonly challenged books that are often found in high school English classes, in order to answer the question “what themes in these books are challengers trying to silence, and what would be lost without them?”. It will be broken into four sections, Alienation, Mental Health Struggles & Trauma, The Loss of Innocence, and Exploring Identity, which are common themes presented in all three books. …
Justice, Autonomy, Beneficence, And Non-Maleficence: The Global Failure To Heed Ethical Mandates In Birth Spaces,
2026
Ursinus College
Justice, Autonomy, Beneficence, And Non-Maleficence: The Global Failure To Heed Ethical Mandates In Birth Spaces, Julia Dees
Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics
Respectful and safe care in all birthing spaces has long been an ideal that global communities fail to meet. Birthing people are disrespected, physically or emotionally harmed, or left to completely fend for themselves during a period of extreme emotional and medical vulnerability. Historically, autonomy especially has been ignored in birthing spaces with medical trends like the twilight sleep, where women were drugged into a state of unconsciousness during birth (Taylor, 2023), demonstrating the desire of western medicine, in particular, to reduce birthing people to bystanders in their own birth. While birth trends and medical treatments have changed throughout time, …
Obscuring Vivian Maier,
2026
Ursinus College
Obscuring Vivian Maier, Caroline Yuratich
Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics
Vivian Maier, despite being unknown during her lifetime, has undoubtedly become one of the most impactful photographers of the twentieth century. Her vast oeuvre has been shown worldwide, her bold and unconventional photographs rapidly capturing the attention of millions. Maier primarily photographed the streets of Chicago in the 1950s to 70s, snapping people and storefronts on her iconic Rolleiflex camera. Her most well-known works are perhaps her self-portraits, and her foreboding upward-shot street portraits have also taken the stage as some of her best work. However, people who knew her during her lifetime state that they knew almost nothing about …
Bioengineering The Future Of The Human Species: H+’S Ideological Iterations Of Trans-/Posthumanity As Exemplified By Futurist Literary Texts = (Bio)Technological Solutions For (And/Or) Reification Of Systemic Inequities?,
2026
Old Dominion University
Bioengineering The Future Of The Human Species: H+’S Ideological Iterations Of Trans-/Posthumanity As Exemplified By Futurist Literary Texts = (Bio)Technological Solutions For (And/Or) Reification Of Systemic Inequities?, Marjorie E. Bomhower
English Theses & Dissertations
While humanity has, throughout our species’ history, endeavored to dream and create astonishing, and ever-evolving, (bio)technologies with the utopian ideals of bettering our day-to day lives and achieving greater longevity, our endeavors have (thus far) not only produced remarkable, beneficial advances in longevity and quality of life, but have also yielded devastating and dire outcomes; often at the cost and victimization of marginalized communities. This dissertation focuses on select (bio)technologies – particularly, those promoted by H+ (the most current and popular technoutopianist non-profit, “educational,” organization) – with an investigation of current and nascent (bio)technological evolutions, futurist literary texts, and critical/digital …
Deportation And Death: Examining The Second Trump Administration’S Immigration Policy Through The Lens Of Just War Theory,
2026
Augustana College, Rock Island Illinois
Deportation And Death: Examining The Second Trump Administration’S Immigration Policy Through The Lens Of Just War Theory, Finley W. Snyder
Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics Essay Contest
From day one of the second Trump administration, the White House has treated illegal immigration as an invasion, both rhetorically and, to a lesser extent, legally. The administration has not shied away from the use of force in this campaign, leading to the notable killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti along with countless acts of violence across the nation. This essay seeks to evaluate the ethics of the second Trump administration's immigration policy from within this "war" framing through the lens of just war theory. While there has been considerable attention to just war theory in the context of …
Evolution As Spatial Projection,
2026
Western Kentucky University
Evolution As Spatial Projection, Charles H. Smith, Ngoc Nguyen
Faculty/Staff Personal Papers
A theory combining explanations for the nature of three-dimensional systems and evolutionary processes is advanced, set to a geometric simulation, and then discussed in the context of several empirical studies bearing on its validity. The concept “evolution” is first discussed, then related to Baruch de Spinoza’s ideas on natural philosophy, including his concept of the conatus. These ideas are then extended by posing the possible existence of a general form of natural systems subsystemization leading to the extended space condition. A geometrical/topological simulation study projecting spatial relations among subsystem structures interpretable through entropy maximization and multidimensional scaling methods is presented, …
Social Murder,
2026
University of Richmond School of Law
Social Murder, Marissa Jackson Sow
Washington and Lee Law Review
In recent years, variations on Engels’s concept of social murder have been adopted into British legal and sociological lexicons to conceptualize the state’s reckless sacrifices of its most vulnerable populations—people deemed socially undesirable, legally undeserving, and economically redundant. The state allows these populations to die a multitude of deaths by failing to protect them; notably, victims of social murder are relegated to society’s underclasses, if not completely excluded from the body politic, before they are physically eliminated. Social murder is neither genocide nor ethnic cleansing; instead, social murder captures the elimination of groups of people via atrocious events for which …
How Theists Can Answer The “Why Be Moral?” Question: An Indirect Reason-Generation Account,
2026
University of Texas at Tyler
How Theists Can Answer The “Why Be Moral?” Question: An Indirect Reason-Generation Account, Justin Morton
Politics, Philosophy, and Law Faculty Publications and Presentations
In this paper, I give a new type of theistic answer to the “Why be moral?” question. After briefly clarifying the version of the question I'm concerned with, as well as extant theistic answers to the question, I argue for a new kind of answer. Roughly, while on standard answers, future (post death) benefits directly generate present reason to be moral, on my view, they only do so indirectly. On my view, we only have present reason to be moral because we will have reason to be moral in the afterlife. I propose a principle of reason inheritance that would …
Neurophenomenology: A Research Method Combining Neuroscience And Philosophy,
2026
St. Mary's University
Neurophenomenology: A Research Method Combining Neuroscience And Philosophy, Jonas Lokensgard
Posters - 2026
Neurophenomenology – Cognitive Sciences + Phenomenology Phenomenology – the study of consciousness (basically just how you experience things) Cognitive Sciences – The study of the functional processes of the mind, and the operations of the brain that enable these processes to be performed. (“Cognitive Science” 2004)
A Phenomenology On The Possibility Of Freedom, Grounded In The Lifeworld,
2026
DePaul University
A Phenomenology On The Possibility Of Freedom, Grounded In The Lifeworld, Sheldon T. White
Theses and Dissertations from DePaul University
The work here is aimed at three primary goals. The first is largely exegetical and focuses on explicating Edmund Husserl’s phenomenological analysis of the intentional process which constitutes our empathic experience of other people. This is relevant because phenomenology’s capacity to examine intersubjectivity depends on the validity of the pairing association put forth by Husserl in section 51 of the Cartesian Meditations. I accomplish this by analyzing not only the sections in the Cartesian Meditations where Husserl makes his case, but also by engaging with his previous works, upon which his analysis of the pairing association depends. The second goal …
Finding Light,
2026
St. Mary's University
Finding Light, Jose Enrique Martinez Melgar
Posters - 2026
Finding Light is a narrative driven RPG that follows the journey of Hop, a protagonist who is navigating a fragmented world of lost memories. By exploring diverse environments and interacting with environmental puzzles, you can uncover a story of existentialism and self-discovery. This project aims to explore how interactive media can represent the process of reclaiming one's identity in moments of darkness. Moreover, Finding Light aims to promote mental health awareness.
Gregor Samsa’S Pagkagimata (Awakening) In Bikol: A Becoming-Minor In Translation,
2026
Ateneo de Naga University
Gregor Samsa’S Pagkagimata (Awakening) In Bikol: A Becoming-Minor In Translation, Victor John M. Loquias
Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance
Kristian Cordero’s translation of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis instantiates what the philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari call minor literature. Preferring the Bikol term Pagkagimata—the literal event of Gregor Sama’s becoming-animal in the novel as title of the translation and the utilization of the Rinconada Bikol language for the transformed Samsa—Cordero has typified a perspective of translation that challenges the popular view of fluent translation from the source text to the target language. Exemplifying the concept of becoming-minor of Deleuze and Guattari and deploying Lawrence Venuti’s notion of the “remainder,” An Pagkagimata ni Gregor Samsa exhibits a deterritorialization of Bikol …
Quantum Superpositions Of Conscious States In A Minimal Integrated Information Model,
2026
Chapman University
Quantum Superpositions Of Conscious States In A Minimal Integrated Information Model, Kelvin J. Mcqueen, Ian T. Durham, Markus P. Müller
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
Could there be quantum superpositions of conscious states, as suggested by the Wigner’s friend thought experiment? Mathematical theories of consciousness, notably integrated information theory (IIT), make this question more precise by associating physical systems with both quantitative amounts of consciousness and structural characterizations of conscious states. Motivated by a recent proposal that ties wave-function collapse to integrated information, we construct a simple quantum circuit that would, on that proposal, place a minimal system—a feedback dyad—into a superposition of states that differ in their associated conscious states. This “Schrödinger’s dyad” provides a controlled setting for evaluating a central desideratum of consciousness-based …
On The Scientific Stature Of Data Science: The Epistemological Unicorn,
2026
Rochester Institute of Technology
On The Scientific Stature Of Data Science: The Epistemological Unicorn, Ernest Fokoue
Articles
Data Science has ignited unprecedented academic, industrial, and pedagogical fervor, yet its status as a \textit{science} in the classical sense---comparable to physics or biology---remains profoundly unsettled. This article interrogates the epistemological foundations of Data Science by examining its hybrid theoretical lineage, from the Universal Approximation Theorem to the No-Free-Lunch Theorems, with special emphasis on the fundamental Bayesian optimality results for both regression and classification. We argue that Data Science is in a vigorous \textit{gestational period}, characterized not by an absence of principles but by a creative tension between empirical pragmatism and deep mathematical theory. The Cross-Validation score emerges as the …
A Case Against Pragmatic Encroachment,
2026
Pepperdine University
A Case Against Pragmatic Encroachment, Mahali Kuzyk
Global Tides
In their paper, Evidence, Pragmatics, and Justification Fantl and McGrath offer a seemingly intuitive and attractive route to a revision of what counts as epistemic justification and knowledge. They argue that knowledge is not just a matter of evidence, but depends in part on one’s practical situation. Higher stakes and different utilities can change whether a belief is knowledge-constituting. This essay will argue that Fantl and McGrath’s attempt to use their Knowledge-Action principle (KA) to back pragmatic encroachment ultimately fails.
Epochs Vol. 1 No. 2025 - Full Issue,
2026
Fort Hays State University
Epochs Vol. 1 No. 2025 - Full Issue, Emma Pfannenstiel
Epochs Art History Journal
No abstract provided.
Madeleine Stegman: Elegant Juxtapositions Through The Creative Process,
2026
Fort Hays State University
Madeleine Stegman: Elegant Juxtapositions Through The Creative Process, Claire Brown
Epochs Art History Journal
No abstract provided.
Tokio Ueyama: Japanese American Artist,
2026
Fort Hays State University
Tokio Ueyama: Japanese American Artist, Hannah E. Tinkel
Epochs Art History Journal
No abstract provided.
