Philosophy Commons^™

Not Of Woman Born? Extra-Uterine Destining And The Individual, Social, And Spiritual Implications Of Ectogenesis, Laura Johnson Dahlke

Ph.D. Dissertations (Open Access)

The development of ectogenesis or artificial womb technology is currently ongoing and likely to be in use in the near future. This qualitative study analyzes the potential individual, social and spiritual implications of ectogenesis. It argues that while there may be therapeutic benefits to the artificial womb, it will ultimately result in dehumanization and alienation from the body. While much of the current conversation about this technology addresses the health implications to the fetus and neonate, this dissertation investigates the possible impact of artificial wombs on women. It employs Martin Heidegger’s philosophy of technology as a model to assist in …

World Of Water: Betsy Damon’S Ties To Ecofeminism, Colleen Sullivan

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis establishes a critical examination of the evolution of Betsy Damon’s artistic practice as overtime she engages with ecofeminist thought. As a whole, this work extends contemporary scholarship on ecofeminist engaged art to include Damon’s artistic production while amplifying social and critical ecofeminism as necessary ideologies to explore when analyzing art through an ecofeminist lens. Beginning with her first environmentally focused work in the United States the organization of the following chapters reveals Damon’s deepened understanding and exploration of ecofeminist principles and their application to her artistic practice. It goes on to further explore Damon’s pursuit of environmentally sustainable …

Parallels Of Quantum Mechanics And Mahāyāna Buddhist Philosophy: An Argument For Relational Quantum Mechanics, Axel I. Palapa

CMC Senior Theses

Western orthodoxy philosophy is based on the principle of noncontradiction and thus, the philosophy of science is as well. The most prominent interpretations of quantum mechanics, since its inception, have followed this principle. In this paper, two quantum phenomena, the Observer Problem (measurement problem) and quantum entanglement will be analyzed from a Mahayana Buddhism ontological perspective. I will analyze the mathematical and philosophical arguments proposed by Graham Priest and Jay Garfield, based on dialethism, pertaining to Nagarjuna and the Net of Indra. Demonstrating the parallels and adaptability of the arguments to further the philosophical groundwork for Carlo Reveille’s Relational Quantum …

A Call For Ethical And Responsible Treatment Of Invasive Species By Recreational Anglers, Kevin A. Adeli

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Invasive species pose a prominent threat to global biodiversity, with aquatic ecosystems being particularly susceptible. In an effort to limit the spread of aquatic invasive species, numerous public awareness programs have been launched, and several regions have enacted “must-kill” angling regulations, which prohibit the live release of invasive fish species when captured. Many education programs, however, demonize invasive species and lack any instruction for humane euthanasia. This unbalanced approach has translated into widespread mistreatment of invasive species among recreational anglers. This piece addresses these concerns by discussing their significance and providing recommendations for how education programs can adopt a more …

"Let’S See If We Can Go A Whole Day On The Road Eating Free Food": Encountering The Divine With Claire Dwyer In The Private Spaces Of Richmond’S Highway To Heaven, Justin K. H. Tse

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article recounts the development of the author’s positionality in studying religion in a Canadian suburb through a collaborative project with the late feminist geographer of religion Claire Dwyer. The field site was No. 5 Road, the “Highway to Heaven” in Richmond, British Columbia with over 20 religious institutions on a three kilometre stretch of road. Building from Dwyer’s writing on “encountering the divine” through field work from 2010 to 2012, the author offers an account of a personal shift from evangelical religious exclusivism to an understanding of the plurality of interreligious experience. Using a reflexive writing style, the article …

Righting Health Policy: Bioethics, Political Philosophy, And The Normative Justification Of Health Law And Policy, D. Robert Macdougall

Publications and Research

In Righting Health Policy, D. Robert MacDougall argues that bioethics needs but does not have adequate tools for justifying law and policy. Bioethics’ tools are mostly theories about what we owe each other. But justifying laws and policies requires more; at a minimum, it requires tools for explaining the legitimacy of actions intended to control or influence others. It consequently requires political, rather than moral, philosophy. After showing how bioethicists have consistently failed to use tools suitable for achieving their political aims, MacDougall develops an interpretation of Kant’s political philosophy. On this account the legitimacy of health laws does …

Developing A Contemplative Classroom. Are There Other Approaches That Usefully Extend Angelo Caranfa?, Rosemary Laoulach

Theses

This study will explore the literature on silence and contemplation in order to develop an approach for a contemplative classroom. It will examine Angelo Caranfa’s ideas on silence in education and a contemplative curriculum. The research will highlight some of the influences on his work, critiquing them and pointing out what can be further developed by outlining what a contemplative classroom might look like.

Contemplative practices will be defined broadly as silence, attentiveness, reflection, humility, attentive listening, and mindfulness. I will provide a theoretical and practical account of these to inform educators towards a holistic approach to teaching and learning …

The Virtue Of Appropriate Transparency: Research Psychology And The Replication Crisis, Barry Mannolini-Winwood

Theses

I argue that one step toward addressing the replication crisis in psychology is through the application of appropriate transparency in research communication. Drawing upon virtue epistemology, I propose that appropriate transparency can be defined as a contextually informed point between understatement and overstatement. As such, I contend that judging appropriate transparency in research psychology requires a shared research design nomenclature (RDN). As researchers’ definitions of terms related to research psychology are not necessarily identical between individuals, it is beneficial to use transparent definitions of pivotal concepts to facilitate effective communication between researchers and their audience. However, the boundaries of appropriate …

The Birds, The Bees, The Trees, And The Breeze: Expanding The Moral Universe Throught Rsk Anlysis, Jared Gibbs

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Re-Storying Grant Creek: A Case Study Of Relational Dynamics On A Degraded Montana Stream, Seamus Rucci Land

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration began in 2021, and after a history of contentious ethical debates, ecological restoration is increasingly portrayed as a viable framework for combating environmental degradation and supporting more healthy and stable social-ecological systems. The proposed ecological restoration of Grant Creek, a degraded stream near Missoula, Montana, offers an opportunity to connect a restoration site to the broader, rapidly growing field of restoration practice. It also allows the opportunity to forward the ‘relational turn’ proposed by many in the sustainability sciences as an ontological and methodological means to move beyond positivist portrayals of social-ecological systems, which …

“Wilfrid Sellars And Liberal Naturalism”, Willem A. Devries

Faculty Publications

An examination of Wilfrid Sellars' somewhat problematic relation to liberal naturalism

Sentience And The Science-Policy Interface, Jonathan Birch

Animal Sentience

I contrast my picture of the relationship between the science and policy of animal sentience with that of Marian Stamp Dawkins, who thinks “the science of animal sentience and the politics of animal welfare should be kept separate” because they involve irreconcilably different standards of evidence. On my alternative picture, (i) the science of animal sentience, like any other empirical science, delivers evidence but not certainty; (ii) this evidence allows us to make better practical decisions, both within and outside science and (iii) the quality standards we apply to the evidence should be high in all contexts, including the formulation …

The Incoherence Of An Evil God, Carlo Alvaro

Publications and Research

The evil god challenge is for theists to explain why a good god’s existence should be considerably more reasonable than an evil god’s existence. Challengers note that there is a symmetry between a good god and an evil god. Moreover, the classical arguments for a good god can prove the existence of an evil god just as well. Furthermore, theodicies can be mirrored by reverse theodicies. Consequently, the evil god challenge leads to two implications. One, if an evil god is deemed absurd, by logical symmetry, a good god must also be absurd. Two, if an evil god is not …

Story Boat (2020) By Kyo Maclear, Samantha Piede

Picture Books

When the protagonist in Kyo Maclear’s Story Boat (2020) opens the book with “Here we are,” it is unclear to readers where exactly “here” might be. When safety must take precedence over familiarity, one develops a fleeting relationship with place. It is tempting, in stories like these, to emphasize the pain of the refugee experience: the uncertainty, the loss of one’s ‘heres’. But Maclear takes a different tack, giving readers the tools to focus on hope and wonder. Teachers may prompt students, in light of the book, to reflect on what they think a ‘home’ or a ‘here’ feels like …

V.1 Winter 2022, Center For Arts & Language, Students Of Risd, Risd Archives

All Student Newspapers

v.1 is a publishing platform for the ongoing work, ideas, discussions, debates, and aspirations of students at the Rhode Island School of Design. The Winter 2022 issue is a special edition "art writing capsule," with three zines that each feature a student writing about a work of art, and a fourth zine with an editor's note and postscript. Writing 1 is Angelina Rogers on Salman Toor's "Two Boys with a Dog," Writing 2 is Maxwell Fertik on Shahzia Sikander's "Epistrophe," and Writing 3 is Sabo Kpade on Lynette Yiadom-Boakye's "Any Number of Preoccupations."

Stories Of Teaching On A Conceal And Carry Stage: A Dramaturgical Narrative Inquiry, Christopher J. Miller

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The story of a mass shooting occurring on the place of school seems to be a common one in contemporary American cultural narrative. One of the more controversial solutions offered within this narrative is allowing citizens to protect themselves through the practice of conceal and carry. The practice of legally allowing individuals to conceal and carry a firearm while at the place of school and in the place of class is at the cornerstone of this research inquiry.

This qualitative research study employs a dramaturgical narrative approach to explore the daily lives of full-time community college faculty members. In figuratively …

Toward A Dialectical Account Of Nature, Georgia Rae Grimm

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The protection of nature has been a central aim of environmentalism for well over a century. However, the concept of nature has been subjected to abundant critiques in recent literature, threatening the conceptual tenability of this goal. In this paper, I discuss why I find the concept of nature too valuable to dismiss and offer an account of nature that I believe remedies existent critiques. In Chapter 1, I recount arguments for the protection of nature and illustrate their dualistic underpinnings. In Chapter 2, I discuss issues with dualistic accounts of nature and demonstrate why Steven Vogel’s monistic alternative is …

Traversing Paradigms: An Environmental Journey To Body And Mind, Martin Ceja Mejia

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Traumatic life experiences altered the way I perceive the world. As a result, I embark on a journey to reshape my relationship to self, the built and natural world; to environment. In this thesis I ask: How do I want to relate to the environment? Considering I am a doubly colonized agent, I also aim to decolonize my relationship to environment along the process. Therefore, this work aims to formulate a new, personal, relationship to environment through academic literature, history, psychology, Indigenous knowledge and science, and literary studies, among other fields of knowledge. This work is interdisciplinary in nature; life …

Age And Pain Predicting Hospital Length Of Stay Among Individuals With Sickle Cell Disease, Tyanna Qualls

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Most patients with sickle cell disease (SCD), especially those from low socioeconomic status, experience financial constraints in meeting their hospital bills resulting from prolonged hospital stays. The research was guided by Andersen’s (1995) behavioral model of health services (BMHS) as the theoretical framework. The purpose of this retrospective quantitative correlational study was to evaluate whether and the extent to which age and pain crisis affect the length of hospital stay among patients with SCD in the United States. Secondary data were collected from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). A chi-square test was used to test the relationship between …

The Relationship Between Kindergarten To Grade 8 Principals’ Epistemological Beliefs And School Success, Leland Stuart Sanford

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although current research links teacher effectiveness and student success to epistemological beliefs, little is known about how those beliefs influence principal leadership and school success. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which epistemological beliefs of K-8 principals predict school success in a large U.S. metropolitan area (LMA). The theoretical framework was Perry’s theory of epistemological development and Schommer-Aikin’s theory of personal epistemology. In this quantitative correlational study, epistemological beliefs of K-8 principals were measured with the Schommer-Aikins Epistemological Belief Inventory and school success with School Quality Rating Policy (SQRP). Data were collected through a convenient …