Philosophy Commons^™

The Method Of Antinomies: Oakeshott And Others, Stephen Turner

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Michael Oakeshott employed a device of argument and analysis that appears in a number of other thinkers, where it is given the name “antinomies.” These differ from binary oppositions or contradictories in that the two poles are bound together. In this discussion, the nature of this binding is explored in detail, in large part in relation to Oakeshott’s own usages, such as his discussion of the relation of faith and skepticism, between collective goal-oriented associations and those based on contract, and between a legal regime based on neutral rules and one oriented to policy goals . Other examples might include …

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Phi 1600 (Logic And Moral Reasoning), Jesse Rappaport

Open Educational Resources

This course examines the principles of clear and accurate thought, including sound and valid arguments and methods of scientific reasoning in moral and political argument.

The Evolution Of Personal Pledging For The Freemen Of Norwich, 1365-1441, Ruth H. Frost

Quidditas

This paper examines the evolution of the personal pledging system used by newly admitted freemen, or citizens, of Norwich between 1365 and 1441. It argues that in the late fourteenth century new freemen chose their own sureties, and a large, diverse body of men acted as their pledges. The personal pledging system changed early in the fifteenth century, however, and from 1420 to 1441 civic office holders, particularly the sheriffs, served as the vast majority of pledges. This alteration to the pledging system coincided with changes to the structure and composition of Norwich’s government, and it paralleled a decrease in …

Implementing Climate Change Research At Universities: Barriers, Potential And Actions, Walter Leal Filho, Edward A. Morgan, Eric S. Godoy, Ulisses M. Azeiteiro, Paula Bacelar-Nicolau, Lucas Veiga Ávila, Claudia Mac-Lean, Jean Hugé

Faculty Publications - Philosophy

Many universities around the world have been active centres of climate change research. However, there are a number of barriers to climate change research, stemming both from the nature of the research and the structure of institutions. This paper offers an overview of the barriers which hinder the handling of matters related to climate change at institutions of higher education (IHEs), and reports on an empirical study to investigate these barriers using a global survey of higher education institutions. It concludes by proposing some steps which could be followed with a view to making climate change more present and effective …

Language, Literacy, And Conscientização In American Public Schools, Julie Ward

Theses and Dissertations

Language, Literacy, and Conscientização in American Public Schools synthesizes poststructural language theory to critique literacy teaching and assessment norms in American public schools in order to theorize a pedagogy of racial and economic justice that embraces globalization and immigration. Chapter I creates a theoretical framework for language that rests firmly on both Lev Vygotsky’s and Jacques Lacan’s sociohistorical approach to language acquisition and language use. Mikhail Bakhtin’s work demonstrates the heteroglossic nature of discourse, while Antonio Gramsci politicizes this framework through an understanding of hegemony. Chapter II sketches ethnographic research on teaching practices of various American communities, focusing on ideology …

Paul Piccone’S Providential Moment: Phenomenology, Subjectivity, And 20th Century Marxism In Telos, Jacob A. Ulmschneider

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the intellectual history of editor, writer, and philosopher, Paul Piccone and Telos, an independent journal of contemporary critical theory, which he founded in 1968. Born in Italy, Piccone lived most of his life in the United States, earning his Ph.D. in philosophy at SUNY-Buffalo in 1970. Piccone served as Telos’ editor and a major contributor from 1968 to 2004. This thesis follows the trajectory of his thought by contextualizing his writing within the broader world of Marxist, and eventually post-Marxist, political philosophy. Telos also concerned itself with modern interpretations of historical dialectics and early 20^th-century …

Comparison Of Malaria Control Interventions In Southern Africa, Ferdinand Nsengimana

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is lack of evidence on which of the two highly recommended malaria prevention methods, insecticide treated bednets and indoor residual spraying, is more effective than the other. There is also limited peer reviewed literature that compares the characteristics of people who use the two malaria prevention methods. Based on the Health Belief Model, the research questions tested whether there is any relationship between the use of mosquito bednet or the use of indoor residual spraying and contracting malaria, and whether there is any relationship between sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors and the use of malaria prevention methods. Using a quantitative …

Women's Experiences Of The Glass Ceiling In U.S. Manufacturing And Service-Based Industries, Diane Michele Mastroguiseppe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Fewer women occupy executive-level positions in U.S. companies compared to the number of men. Antidiscrimination laws have been in place for 30 years to combat the threat to gender equality. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences of executive-level women employed in the manufacturing and service-based industries to explore the persistence of the glass ceiling. Social learning theory provided the framework for the study. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with 12 executive-level women in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Data analysis involved hand coding and software coding to identify six themes: discrimination, opportunities, support …

Is Viewing A Painting Really Like Reading? An Investigation Of Trans-Symbolic Comprehension Processes, Christian C. Steciuch

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Humans form mental models of the world around them. A large body of research has outlined these mental processes for comprehending texts, yet less work has been conducted in the world of comprehending artworks. The recent Trans-Symbolic Comprehension (TSC) Framework has posited that there are shared comprehension processes between the domains of text and artwork. The current study tested this claim by having individuals think-aloud while viewing paintings and reading texts. Think-aloud protocols were then parsed and coded for six distinct mental processes that the TSC framework claims are required for comprehension across symbol systems. It was hypothesized that individuals …

The Emergence & Evolution Of The Concepts Of “The Author”, “The Work” And “Literary Property” With Specific Reference To Enlightenment England 1450-1769: The Role And Influence Of John Locke In The Case Of Millar V Taylor (1769), Mark Doepel

Theses

This thesis argues that the political philosophy of John Locke, as mostly contained in his Two Treatises of Government, but also in a number of other of his works, and especially in relation to his theory on how property rights might be acquired, had a direct influence on the emergence of the modern notions of the author, the literary work and copyright as witnessed through a series of legal cases brought before the courts of England and Scotland over the period of 1700 to 1780. It is specifically shown that Locke’s philosophy had a direct influence on the acknowledgment of …

Employee Perceptions Of Leadership Styles That Influence Workplace Performance, Carla Wren

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The leadership style found in government is usually diverse in nature, with the chain of command being top-down and focused on bureaucracy. There are some leadership styles that can adversely impact or vastly improve workplace performance. This descriptive phenomenological study was used to understand employee perceptions of leadership styles that affect their workplace performance. Bass's transformational leadership theory guided this study to explore how a supervisor's leadership style impacts an employee's workplace performance. The primary research question focused on positive and negative perceptions employees held related to supervisors' leadership behaviors and characteristics. The data collection was derived from in-depth interviews …

Contemporary Approaches To The Philosophy Of Lying, James E. Mahon

Publications and Research

The chapter examines fifty years of philosophers working on lying - from the 1970s to the current day – focusing on how lying is defined (descriptively and normatively), whether lying involves an intention to deceive (Deceptionists) or not (Non-Deceptionists), why lying is wrong, and whether lying is worse than other forms of deception, including misleading with the truth. Philosophers discussed include Roderick Chisholm and Thomas Feehan, Alan Donagan, Sissela Boy, Charles Fried, David Simpson, David Simpson, Bernard Williams, Paul Faulkner, Thomas Carson, Roy Sorensen, Don Fallis, Jennifer Saul, Andreas Stoke, Jonathan Webber and Clea Rees

Secrets Vs. Lies: Is There A Moral Asymmetry?, James E. Mahon

Publications and Research

In this chapter I argue that the traditional interpretation of the commonly accepted moral asymmetry between secrets and lies is incorrect. On the standard interpretation of the commonly accepted view, lies are prima facie or pro tango morally wrong, whereas secrets are morally permissible. I argue that, when secrets are distinguished from mere acts of reticence and non-acknowledgement, as well as from acts of deception, so that they are defined as acts of not sharing believed-information while believing that the believed-information is relevant, the correct interpretation of the commonly accepted moral asymmetry between secrets and lies is that secrets are …

Fictionalism, Semantics, And Ontology, Gordon Purves

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

This article expands upon the argument of a previous work which defended a variational account of scientific fictions. Specifically, I show that this understanding of scientific fictions can provide guidance for realist interpretations of scientific theories and models. Depending on a model's variational properties, different ontological commitments are appropriate, providing a principled way for a realist to moderate her views according to the structural properties of a given model. This reasoning is then applied the Lee-Yang theory and Kubo-Martin-Schwinger statistics, two foundational models in quantum statistical mechanics. The Lee-Yang theory is analyzed in a way that permits a robust realist …

Sustaining Temporal Peace: A Worldview For Sustainable Living Inspired By Saint Augustine’S Philosophy, Joseph Emmanuel D. Sta. Maria

Philosophy Department Faculty Publications

My paper aims to use the philosophical resources of Saint Augustine’s thought, particularly as found in the City of God, in order to sketch a basic worldview which can educate and lead people towards living lives that promote sustainable development. Specifically, I wish to show how Saint Augustine’s concepts of order, rightly ordered love, and temporal peace can serve as material to create a rough metaphysical framework in which human beings are understood to be an integrated part of a greater whole which is the earth. The ethical corollary of this framework is that human beings should act in such …

The Kantian Principle Of Treating Humanity As An End, Erjus Mezini

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This paper emphasizes the central role of the Formula of Humanity in Kantian ethics. It focuses mostly on Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, with hypotheses being tested on Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals as well. It starts with an analysis of the argument Kant offers for the Formula of Humanity in Groundwork II, explicating the meaning of this formula and its distinction from the Formula of the Universal Law. It further develops on comparing all the formulations of the categorical imperative, and it argues that not all formulations are equivalent. It concludes that the categorical imperative is exhausted by …

Matter, Memory, Multiverse : The Prism Of Reality, Sean William Johnson

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

When Isaac Newton conducted his prism experiment, and discovered a “new theory of light and colours,” the experiment had far more social and scientific import than he could have anticipated. In his paper, Newton broke “whiteness” down into its true, conglomerate, multi-layered essence. “For the first time,” a phrase that was used quite a bit during the Enlightenment and Restoration of the 17th-18th centuries, whiteness was understood as a composite that contained every other colour. What happens to the paradox of the Enlightenment-- predicated upon “individuality” that was strangely restricted to white males-- when the very basis of “whiteness” has …

Democracy For Resistance: Employing Participatory Democracy As A Tool For Social Resistance, Sally-Ann Akuetteh

UNF Undergraduate Capstone Projects and Honors Theses

In this paper, I argue that intentional and active participation in public life made possible by a participatory democracy is perhaps the most potent tool for resistance. This is because increased participation, even in a flawed system such as democracy, can undo previous conventions of the ‘normal’ and re-establish less oppressive institutions and an even better and more inclusive democracy. Through an emphasis on the participation of ‘othered’ groups, democracy-- which at a point served as the source of oppression for these groups by ensuring their exclusion from it-- can become a potent tool for change. The participatory democracy approach, …

Technology And Discrimination, D. E. Wittkower

Philosophy Faculty Publications

This chapter develops a full theory of discriminatory technologies grounded in Heideggerian, Latourian, and Ihdean theoretical structures and demonstrates its applicability to a wide and widening range of forms of normativity, exclusion, and discrimination, taking place across intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, trans/cisgender identity, disability, and religious identity. Technologies, technical systems, and artifacts considered are wide-ranging, and include algorithms, adhesive bandages, human resource management policies, calendars, VR systems, carpentry, strollers, photographic film formulation and printing, video game character classes, and stairs.

Nietzsche And The Death Of God, Justin Remhof

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Nietzsche is perhaps most famous for making the striking claim that God is dead. He writes, "God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him!" (GS 125).

What does this mean? Straightforwardly, it seems nonsensical. God is supposed to be eternal, and thus cannot die. Nietzsche’s claim, however, is that "God" is a fiction created by human beings. Thus, God "dies" when there is no good reason to believe that God exists.

This essay will help us understand this claim, his arguments for it, and its potential implications for contemporary religious and ethical thought.