Philosophy Commons^™

A Qualitative Phenomenological Study Of Employee Perceptions Of The Impact Of Layoffs, Linda Carrington

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Millions of Americans were terminated from their employment in massive layoffs in 2013, which not only created outrage among employees. but also opened the door for retaliatory lawsuits. However, profitable companies are still engaged in restructuring and layoffs, which have a negative effect on employees, managers, and survivors. Such actions create mistrust in management and continue to plague the workforce and the economy. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the impacts that layoffs and downsizing have on employees' trust, work performance, behavior, and health. Informed by Sarker's theory on management and employee trust, the research questions explored …

The Aesthetic Experience, Flow, And Smart Technology: Viewing Art In A Virtual Environment, Carol Ikard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Smart technology can support art educators and museum professionals in mediating the aesthetic experience. It can also increase museum attendance, enrich the viewer's delight and engagement with artworks and art collections, and provide an avenue for extending art on a global level. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which a mobile art app with text-based narrative influences scores on an aesthetic experience questionnaire. This quantitative research measured the difference in pretest and posttest human-computer interaction scores on the Aesthetic Experience Questionnaire Form after participants used two versions of a mobile art app. Csikszentmihalyi's flow was …

Autonomy And Distributive Justice At The End Of Life, Corinna Fukushima

Scripps Senior Theses

Discussions of autonomy at the end of life in health care contexts is no new phenomenon. However, what seems to have changed in issues of autonomy is cases where patients want to refuse a treatment to cases where patients are demanding more treatment when medical professionals may not agree or be able to provide them with the medical treatment. Some key competing interests impacting patient autonomy include beneficence-doing what is in the best interests of the health or well-being of the patient- and resource limitations. Here, I will explore distributive justice theories that impact the end of life and how …

The Philosophy Of Mathematics: A Study Of Indispensability And Inconsistency, Hannah C. Thornhill

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines possible philosophies to account for the practice of mathematics, exploring the metaphysical, ontological, and epistemological outcomes of each possible theory. Through a study of the two most probable ideas, mathematical platonism and fictionalism, I focus on the compelling argument for platonism given by an appeal to the sciences. The Indispensability Argument establishes the power of explanation seen in the relationship between mathematics and empirical science. Cases of this explanatory power illustrate how we might have reason to believe in the existence of mathematical entities present within our best scientific theories. The second half of this discussion surveys …

Foucault Against Ethics: Subjectivity And Critique After Humanism, Patrick Gamez

Arts, Languages and Philosophy Faculty Research & Creative Works

This dissertation is in the first place an interpretation of the thought of Michel Foucault. Beyond interpretation, it also makes provides a qualified defense of his views on the significance of ethical theory, particularly in its “critical” forms, the shape of the space of reasons, and the role of subjectivity within it.

I take as my starting point an orthodox view of Foucault’s work, namely, that it can divided in terms of its content into three distinct periods. First, an “archaeological” phase spanning most of the 1960s. Second, a “genealogical” devoted to unearthing power-relations beneath purportedly progressive institutions. Finally, an …

Acceptance Of Uncertainty: Uncertainty As A Heuristic Tool Applied To The Issue Of Medical Errors, Angelika Potempa

Philosophy Faculty Publications

This is an exploration of uncertain certainties and certain uncertainties with reference to, mainly, systemic approaches to medical errors.

Diversity And Felicity: Hobbes's Science Of Human Flourishing, Ericka L. Tucker

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Review Of Aristotle As Teacher: His Introduction To A Philosophical Science By Christopher Bruell, Owen Goldin

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Spiritual Violence, Gender, And Sexuality: Implications For Seeking And Dwelling Among Some Catholic Women And Lgbt Catholics, Theresa W. Tobin

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Seekers And Dwellers: Some Critical Reflections On Charles Taylor’S Account Of Identity, James B. South

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Absolute Pitch And Tone Identification, Gilead Bar-Elli

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Absolute pitch (AP), besides the psychological and neurological interests it has, raises some conceptual difficulties that can teach us about the richness of our notion of musical tone and various aspects of its identification. It is argued that when AP is conceived under a slim notion of identifying the pitch of a crude sound, it is hardly meaningful and has no significance in music comprehension. The rich notion, which is the meaningful and important one, involves knowing the position of a tone in a tone-space and its relations. This is presented as experiential: hearing and identifying tones under concepts and …

The Importance Of The Artist's Intent, Daniel Conrad

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Does considering artists' aesthetic intentions enrich our experience of art and enhance art’s aggregate value for human culture? By examining non-aesthetic intent, working motivations, biographical/historical context, and cases in which an announced intent drives aesthetic transformation, I argue that, while its specific value varies from case to case, aesthetic intent is a key part of our cumulative experience of art, correlates with specific neuroanatomical loci, and raises interesting and compelling questions specific to this age of automatized thinking.

Humeaneyes (“One Particular Shade Of Blue”), Angela Coventry, Emilio Mazza

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Grey-blue eyes and a fixed look: Is he a philosopher or a dumb ox? Hume’s eyes and face are trifle which can lead us into some curiosities connected with his life and writings. Looking through Hume’s eyes, we can outline the scholars’ propensity to describe the (painted) face of their favourite philosopher and spread upon it their reading of his work. We can ask questions about portraits and resemblance as a standard of beauty. We can survey the eighteenth-century sentiments on physiognomy, and the paradox of the “fat philosopher”, at once, both clumsy and refined. We can inquire into Hume’s …

Introduction, Stefan Deines, Mario Wenning

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Cinempathy: Phenomenology, Cognitivism, And Moving Images, Robert Sinnerbrink

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Some of the most innovative philosophical engagement with cinema and ethics in recent years has come from phenomenological and cognitivist perspectives. This trend reflects a welcome re-engagement with cinema as a medium with the potential for ethical transformation, that is, with the idea of cinema as a medium of ethical experience. This paper explores the phenomenological turn in film theory, emphasizing the ethical implications of phenomenological approaches to affect and empathy, emotion, and evaluation. I argue that the oft-criticized subjectivism of phenomenological theories can be supplemented by cognitivist approaches that highlight the complex forms of affective response, emotional engagement, and …

New Grand Narratives—The Metaphysical Worldview Of Avatar And Cloud Atlas, Josef Früchtl

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Referring to the films Avatar (2009) and Cloud Atlas (2012), the author will demonstrate that a new era of metaphysical holism follows Postmodernism. These films celebrate a resurrection of the flesh with 3-D technology and a reincarnation of souls with the aesthetic technique of morphing. However apocalyptic their visions of the future might be, and however much they might seem to worship technical megalomania, they are also and again conveying a resounding ethical message and a taste of Utopia.

Ontology And The Aesthetics Of Cinematographic Bodies, Jean-Yves Heurtebise

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

If it is true, as Bergson claimed, that the universe is the sum of images (less than “objective” things but more than “subjective” representations), and if it is correct, as Deleuze said, that this hypothesis bears direct consequences for our understanding of the cinematographic art, then the analysis of cinematographic images and, especially, of the cinematographic images of the body (this living part of matter, this incarnated form of consciousness) can provide not only interesting aesthetic comments about specific directors and films, but also a philosophical understanding of the diverse modes of the sensible incarnation of human bodies. Interestingly enough, …

Edward Yang's Confusion, Law Nga-Chun, Lo Chun-Cheong

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Edward Yang (in Chinese 楊德昌, 1947-2007) is one of the most renowned Taiwanese directors, whose works raise criticisms of modernity. Since the New Culture Movement in the 1910s and 1920s, Chinese literati have queried the place of traditional Chinese culture, especially Confucianism, on the road to modernization. This paper gives an account of Yang’s understanding of modernization and the Confucian tradition as illustrated in his work, A Confucian Confusion (1994). We argue that, though he despised politically endorsed Confucianism as ideology, without sufficient justification Yang nonetheless reserves the possibility of taking Confucianism as a supplement to modernity.

"Can The Audience Want?" On The Artistic Status Of Contemporary Tv-Series, Angela Keppler

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

This paper takes up a question that Theodor W. Adorno posed in 1963 relating to television. The aim is to situate the new TV series, which are part of so-called Quality TV, against the backdrop of the tradition, and to analyze the forms in which the medium is being used. An inspection of pertinent sequences leads to the conclusion that the enjoyment we experience when watching these series stems from the very type of active-passive involvement that Adorno described as being essential only for objects of high culture.

Notices, Editorial Office

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.