Philosophy Commons^™

Red Bird Sings: The Story Of Zitkala-Ša (2011) By Gina Capaldi, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Picture Books

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries American and Canadian government agencies and Christian churches established Indian residential schools where hundreds of thousands of children were “reeducated” in English and Christianity. They were not allowed to use their native languages or given names, to practice their religions, or to communicate with their siblings or parents. They were made to work in crop fields, kitchens, laundries, and industrial workshops. Many were physically and sexually abused. Many never saw their families again. The nine picture books reviewed here are accounts of survivors of residential schools from eight different Indigenous nations. In addition to …

Free Speech On The Web And Its Limits, Moris Stern

Open Educational Resources

This assignment uses ChatGPT as a learning tool to examine the democratic justification and limits of free speech on the web. Students analyze arguments for and against online free expression through Kantian respect for persons and Utilitarian maximization of overall well-being. Using AI-generated historical and controversial cases, students evaluate whether specific instances of free speech are morally justifiable, challenge their own conclusions with AI-constructed counterarguments, and critically assess AI-generated summaries. The assignment emphasizes philosophical reasoning, ethical analysis, and reflective engagement with AI as an academic tool.

I Know A Lady (1986) By Charlotte Zolotow, Gareth B. Matthews

Picture Books

“On our block, there is a lady who lives alone.” That line begins young Sally’s reflection on a neighbor friend, an elderly woman who is a comforting presence to the neighborhood. I Know a Lady gives us a model of a mutually supportive inter-generational friendship. Near the end of the story, Sally wonders “if some old lady she knew had a garden and cooked and smiled and patted dogs and fed cats and knew her name.” Sally’s thought includes a realization hard for children and adults to manage: that old people were once children. Sally then thinks that if she …

Shrek! (1990) By William Steig, Gareth B. Matthews

Picture Books

Shrek is a revoltingly ugly and repulsive ogre who, after a series of adventures, falls in love with an equally ugly princess. Many children have delighted in William Steig’s story of incredible ugliness and vulgar behavior--striking a blow for their own liberation against oppressive adult expectations. Why not actually discuss with them the way they (and many of us!) become fascinated with ugliness? Steig’s story also raises an important philosophical question about whether there can be anything genuinely attractive, even beautiful, that is also extremely ugly.

Legal Stories Without Villains, Alison Peck

Law Faculty Scholarship

Lawyers have always been storytellers, and cognitive science is increasingly demonstrating that human beings are wired to learn through story. But legal stories may have a dark side if, as theorists have recently suggested, stories motivate pro-social action by reinforcing in-group identification and out-group hatred. In an increasingly divided polity, are we doomed to stories that drive us toward social disintegration? A solution to the legal storyteller’s dilemma may be found in an ancient source: Aristotle’s Poetics. By crafting legal stories that track the elements of the Tragedy as described by Aristotle and adapted by modern storytellers from Broadway …

A Patient-Centered Approach To Physician-Assisted Death For Patients With Treatment-Resistant Major Depressive Disorder, Moc Lan Nguyen

Honors Program Theses

In medical ethics, the arguments for allowing physician-assisted death (PAD) access for physically and terminally ill patients are well-accepted. These arguments mainly stem from the rise of support for patient autonomy and recent criticisms of paternalism. While this notion in support of PAD is generally held in various medical disciplines, psychiatry remains staunchly couched in their conviction of paternalism. Compounded with the principle of suicide prevention, psychiatry is reluctant to accept PAD for its mentally ill patients as it goes against their profession’s role responsibilities. Furthermore, there is plenty of skepticism regarding mentally ill patients’ competency, which calls into question …

Just War Theory In The Hunger Games: Suzanne Collins’S Critique Of Violence, Power, And Rebellion, Laila Hannum

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis applies just war theory to Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games trilogy, arguing that while the districts' rebellion satisfies the principles of jus ad bellum (justice in going to war), it systematically violates jus in bello (justice in the conduct of war) and jus post bellum (justice after war), and ultimately replicates the oppressive structures of the Capitol it sought to overthrow.

Drawing primarily on Michael Walzer's Just and Unjust Wars and on Brian Orend's ideas on post-war justice, this thesis traces the rebellion's moral arc across all three novels. Chapter One shows that the rebellion meets the criteria …

Personhood Amidst Process, Bennett B. Gilbert

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

Both process philosophy and key forms of philosophical personalism aim to harmonize the flux of reality, especially of organisms, with cosmic values and human meaningfulness. This is because both must face our mortality. This paper makes four suggestions for considering further the connection between these two approaches. First, that process philosophy can supply for personalism a thoroughly reasoned ground for nonreducible complexity. Second, that process thought borrows from personhood its model for cosmic creativity. Third, that both approaches share strong notions of the interdependence of all parts of a relational universe. And fourth, that they differ in respect of moral …

Creativity Through Thought Exercises: Developing A Personal Heuristic For Choreographic Decision-Making, Jalisa R. Johnson

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis explores the development of a personal set of heuristics, or accessible thought tools, that can be used in choreographic or creative decision-making. Through an in-depth study of the visual art of Romare Bearden paired with an evaluation of patterns of the author’s personal history, three tools or “dials” emerge: derealization, contextuality and inversion. A close study of Bearden’s work demonstrates a pattern of repurposing and distorting ideas in ways consistent with the three dials. The author found similar patterns emerge in an excavation of her personal narrative, indicative of a cyclical and prophetic re-imagining of previous life experiences. …

Duties To Yourself, Julian Sommers

2026 Research Poster Competition

I will be writing a thesis paper with the guidance of Dr. Purdy so I can graduate from the honors program with a bachelor's within philosophy. This paper is still very much in the planning stages, but we have a rough idea of what it will look like. The broad topic is moral duties one could have to themselves and potentially how that relates to duties you might have to others as well. We are interested in this project because I believe our common idea of morality excludes the self from being regarded as a person. I believe morality focuses …

On The Untherapeutic Nature Of Philosophy, Zack Roy

2026 Research Poster Competition

This project is an inquiry into the nature of philosophy and the relation it bears to the person who philosophizes. I will argue that philosophy is an inquiry into truth. But the sorts of truths on the table for philosophical inquiry do not necessarily comport with our desires and values. This project will explore them, dividing them into truths about the human condition and truths about external reality. We will see that the various philosophical questions posed with respect to these two domains allow for answers whose acceptance could have radical, upsetting, and perhaps ultimately harmful consequences. Friedrich Nietzsche raised …

Who Cares? A Critique Of Digital Classrooms In K–12 Education And What It Means For Students And Teachers, Jade R. Mccobb-Pratt

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis presents a critical analysis of digital classrooms, i.e., pre-made digital curriculum modules being used in in-person K–12 schools as a replacement for face-to-face instruction. By applying Martin Heidegger’s critique of modern technology, I will demonstrate that digital classrooms fundamentally alter the traditional classroom structure, centering it around domination and exploitation. I will expand Heidegger’s critique by drawing on Albert Borgman’s work to explain how digital classrooms commodify education, thus removing the possibility of a meaningful and enriching educational experience. These critiques run parallel to Michel Foucault’s critiques of discipline in schools. I will recount Foucault’s critiques, apply them …

The Self And The Afterlife, Elizabeth Schmidt

Honors Undergraduate Theses

My thesis explores aspects of the self in the context of a classical theistic Heaven: a perfect place with perfect persons. The relevant philosophical literature raises issues on free will, personal identity, and the desirability of Heaven. Will there be free will in Heaven? If yes, inhabitants of Heaven can introduce evil to it. This conflicts with theists' assumption that Heaven is perfect. If there is no free will in Heaven, then God could have created a world in which there is good without evil by omitting free will. In this case, God allows unnecessary suffering on Earth, which nullifies …

Rawls On The Status Of Future Citizens, Michael Moeny

Honors Undergraduate Theses

John Rawls sought to articulate principles for a just democratic society. Those principles must be justified by reasons that could be accepted by all reasonable citizens, regardless of their personal philosophical, religious, or moral commitments—what Rawls refers to as public reason. Basic political concepts, such as citizenship and rights, must also be justified in terms of public reason. Rawls stipulates that citizens enter society at birth, a claim that shapes his answer to whether legal protections for the unborn are justified. I argue that Rawls was not entitled to this stipulation, since it relies on contentious commitments that cannot be …

The Signature Of The Self: Toward A Critique Of The Phenomenological Origins Of Self-Constitution, Dylan Mendez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis is primarily concerned with how the narrative self emerges, as conceptualized in literature spanning phenomenology, philosophy of identity, and psychology. The first chapter focuses on an argument given by Dan Zahavi, in which he claims that an account of narrative self-constitution necessitates an account of minimal subjectivity, which he terms the “minimal self.” I argue against this claim on the grounds that an account of minimal intersubjectivity is a far more pragmatic and compatible model in determining how the narrative self emerges and develops throughout the lifespan. The model of minimal intersubjectivity that I propose is Trevarthen’s primary …

Being-Online: Towards A Phenomenological Account Of Virtual Place And Narrative Selfhood, Ben Runey

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to explore and explicate a phenomenology of virtual place by investigating how environments motivated by computers and smart devices appear within lived experience as well as how these virtual places found and mediate interpretative narratives of self-identity. Many individuals today spend vast portions of their waking hours concerned with or engaged within virtual domains. While contemporary scientific research aims to uncover the effects of this on human psychology, physiology, and social structures, phenomenology must be utilized to reveal the existential, lived dimensions of virtual places. This investigation will be founded upon, but not limited …

To Print A Remake: An Analysis Of Hollywood Remakes And Their Cultural Value, Connor F. Seaton

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In recent years, audiences and movie critics have expressed concern that Hollywood’s growing reliance on remakes, sequels, franchises, and similar adaptations has led to a broader worry that originality is fading from modern cinema and that the industry is instead focused on using adaptations to maximize profits. Although adaptation is often seen as a commercially driven framework for reproducing existing intellectual property in a new media format, this thesis argues that it should be recognized as an autonomous cultural category with its own artistic, historical, and social significance and merit. By analyzing adaptation scholarship and reviewing its complex historical development, …

Mycoethics: Reverence For Life In Light Of Modern Science, Charis E. Meyers

Honors Undergraduate Theses

There is a 21^st century wave of passion surrounding fungi and mycology, and it’s becoming louder and louder. The mycoenthusiasts themselves have a uniquely inspired ethical system born out of their science, and my aim is to both formally introduce their position, including many unspoken foundations, and defend its potential. I call this position mycoethics and attempt to collect it from the scattered tidbits in mycological media. I first identify its historical precedent, then spend a length of time establishing where its sense of goodness comes from, postulating it as a utilitarian offspring of Albert Schweitzer’s reverence for life. …

Who Bears The Cost? A Module For Researching The Intersection Of Technology, The Individual, And Climate Change, Jonathan Auyer

Climate Change and the Individual, 2025-26

Who Bears the Cost? A Module for Researching the Intersection of Technology, the Individual, and Climate Change is a multi-day writing and research module designed for first-year composition courses. Using the ongoing controversy surrounding the Science, Technology & Advanced Manufacturing Park (STAMP) in Genesee County, New York as a central case study, students investigate the ethical, environmental, and social dimensions of artificial intelligence and climate change. The module guides students from initial inquiry, exploring the philosophical question of whether technology is value-neutral or value-laden, through source research, collaborative discussion, and persuasive writing. Drawing on the rhetorical framework of They Say …

Models Of Emulation: Representations Of Foreign, Indigenous, And Accented Speech In Early American Literature, Elaina A. Frulla

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

“Models of Emulation: Representations of Foreign, Indigenous, and Accented Speech in Early American Literature” explores how American writers used depictions of “nonstandard” English and accented English language speech, traditionally described as “literary dialect,” as a way to negotiate identity, power, and political belonging in the formative years of nation building after the American Revolution. Beginning with Noah Webster’s mission to establish a standardized pronunciation of the English language that would simplify and purify spoken American-English and definitively differentiate it from what he saw as the corrupted, cosmopolitan British-English model, each of the three chapters examines literary representations of nonstandard emulated …