Philosophy Commons^™

Voldemort Tyrannos: Plato’S Tyrant In The Republic And The Wizarding World, Anne Collins Smith, Owen M. Smith

Faculty Publications

In the Harry Potter novel series, by J. K. Rowling, the character of Lord Voldemort is the dictatorial ruler of the Death Eaters and aspiring despot of the entire wizarding community. As such, he serves as an apt subject for the application of Plato’s portrait of the tyrant in Republic IX. The process of applying Plato to Voldemort, however, leads to an apparent anomaly, the resolution of which requires that we move beyond the Republic to the account of beauty presented by Plato in the Symposium. In doing so, we shall find that while Plato can help us to understand …

Ibn Khaldun And The Modern Social Sciences: A Comparative Theoretical Inquiry Into Society, The State, And Revolution, Douglas H. Garrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis represents a link in a long chain of recent Western scholarship that has attempted to bring the work of Ibn Khaldun, the late 14th century Tunisian jurist and historian, into the mainstream of historiographic, political, and sociological learning. Why Ibn Khaldun? What makes his work stand out among the classics of pre-modern and early-modern political and social theory? Why are his ideas still relevant to the study of politics and societies today? My thesis attempts to answer these questions through the lenses of comparative political theory and theoretical reinterpretation.

The study hinges on a thematic comparison of Ibn …

The Intersection Between Science And Computer Science Is Almost Empty, Dick Hamlet

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Traditionally, a science such as physics overlaps with mathematics and engineering in a way that has been astonishingly productive. The math provides precise expression for the science, which in turn supplies the engineering with the information it needs to exploit physical phenomena. Computer science naturally wishes to put itself in the center of the traditional picture as a science. Unfortunately, it won't wash. The `science' of programming is pure and simple mathematics, not science. The distinction is more than linguistic, since science and mathematics have quite distinct goals and methods. By making the wrong choice, computer science research has been …

Review Of The Book "Globalizing Justice: The Ethics Of Poverty And Power," By Richard W. Miller, Joel P. Dittmer

Arts, Languages and Philosophy Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Where Mortals Dwell: A Christian View Of Place For Today (Book Review), Mark Tazelaar

Pro Rege

Reviewed Title: Bartholomew, Craig G. Where Mortals Dwell: A Christian View of Place for Today. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011. 372 pages. ISBN: 9780801036378.

Moral Luck, Patrick A. Beach

Philosophy - Dissertations

The problem of moral luck arises because of an apparent conflict between the luck that humans face, the pervasiveness of moral considerations in our lives, and the idea that moral responsibility requires a level of control that luck robs them of. The claim is that we cannot be governed by luck and be morally responsible. The notions of luck and moral responsibility are developed, and several solutions to the problem of moral luck are discussed and rejected. Finally, a solution is offered that dissolves the problem. In particular, the luck that affects an agent's moral standing comes from the choices …

An Essay On The Ontology Of Reasons, Jeremy Anon Dickinson

Philosophy - Dissertations

I argue that many recent anti-psychologistic accounts of agential reasons are unsatisfactory. I also argue that psychologistic accounts are false. Then I develop and defend an anti-psychologistic, propositionalist theory of reasons whereby agential reasons are propositions. I also develop a corresponding anti-psychologistic account of reason-explanation that is able to help resolve some of the more difficult problems for theories of anti-psychologism. Next, I argue for a Russellian theory of propositionalism. Finally, I argue against teleological theories of reasons.

Complexity Theory And Political Change: Talcott Parsons Occupies Wall Street, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Complexity theory can assist our understanding of social systems and social phenomena. This paper illustrates this assertion by linking Talcott Parsons' model of societal structure to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Parsons' model is used to organize ideas about the underlying causes of the recession that currently afflicts the US. While being too abstract to depict the immediate factors that precipitated this crisis, the model is employed to articulate the argument that vulnerability to this type of event results from flaws in societal structure. This implies that such crises can be avoided only if, in Parsons' terms, structural change occurs …

Complexity Theory And Political Change: Talcott Parsons Occupies Wall Street [Presentation], Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Complexity theory can assist our understanding of social systems and social phenomena. This paper illustrates this assertion by linking Talcott Parsons' model of societal structure to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Parsons' model is used to organize ideas about the underlying causes of the recession that currently afflicts the US. While being too abstract to depict the immediate factors that precipitated this crisis, the model is employed to articulate the argument that vulnerability to this type of event results from flaws in societal structure. This implies that such crises can be avoided only if, in Parsons' terms, structural change occurs …

Connotations Of Worldview, Roger Henderson

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

C.S. Lewis's Lost Arthurian Poem: A Conjectural Essay, Joe R. Christopher

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

C.S. Lewis aficionados know his unfinished "Launcelot," collected in Narrative Poems; but fewer know that he wrote an Arthurian poem intended for his first book, Spirits in Bondage, which was rejected by his publisher. The manuscript has since been lost, but a few things can be known or reasonably conjectured about the poem. This paper will cover the following topics:

(1) Lewis's mention of the poem in his correspondence with Arthur Greeves,

(2) its title,

(3) its date of composition,

(4) its source (quoted),

(5) its probably application for Spirits in Bondage, and

(6) the loss of …

Ethics And Afterlife: The Moral Instruction Of Thomas Aquinas And C.S. Lewis, H. Dennis Fisher

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

C.S. Lewis's view of moral values and life after death flowed from both Scripture and his medieval sensibilities. This paper will compare and contrast medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas' views of ethics and the afterlife with those of C.S. Lewis. Special attention will be given to the controversial doctrine of purgatory. In today's postmodern world, ethical teaching is often relative and subjective. This paper will seek to find commonalities between Aquinas and Lewis to provide a viable basis for moral decision making in the 21st century.

C.S. Lewis As Transformational Leader, Crystal Hurd

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

The term "leadership" usually evokes images of great warriors, politicians, or social figures that saturate the pages of a history textbook. However, these are pre-conceived notions of the term. Leaders are those who exercise influence, be they soldiers, politicians, or even artists such as writers and musicians. One such leader is author and apologist C.S. Lewis. Lewis spoke to his generation (and many subsequent ones) in his texts. Through Lewis, many have achieved a greater understanding of literature, spirituality, and human nature. His words have, in essence, transformed the minds of readers.

Transformational leadership is desired because it performs what …

"A Wild Hope": Resurrection Bodies And Lewis's The Last Battle, Michael P. Muth

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

In the last chapters of The Last Battle, Lewis gives his readers a vision of the heavenly Narnia, or really of ever more real Narnias embedded within one another, people by the characters that readers have come to know through all seven books of the Chronicles, described as existing in physical bodies, though possessing abilities beyond those known in the Narnia outside the stable door (or even our own world). In this paper I will explore Lewis' representation of these "resurrection bodies" and what his representation of them means for his views on the body and the integrity …

The Development Of J.R.R. Tolkien's Ideas On Fairy-Stories, Paul E. Michelson

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

The paper is an analysis of how Tolkien's thought on "fairy-stories" evolved between his 1939 St. Andrews Andrew Lang Lecture "Fairy Stories," through his contribution "On Fairy-Stories" to the 1947 Essays Presented to Charles Williams, and concluding with his 1967 essay on the nature of "Faërie." Time permitting, the paper will also include a discussion on how Tolkien's "Smith of Wooton Major" illustrates his concepts.

The Wise Woman As An Agent Of Identity In George Macdonald's Story The Wise Woman, Rachel Johnson

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

In this paper I investigate the Wise Woman as an agent of identity in terms of Aristotelian and modern philosophies of identity primarily drawing upon the work of Alistair McIntyre. I address the question 'how much choice does Rosamond have in the transformation process' and examine the part played by increasing self-knoweldge and personal will, given the strength of influence employed by the Wise Woman in shaping Rosamond's perception of herself.

The parallel journey of Agnes, a shepherd's daughter, is briefly mapped against Rosamond's progress in order to demonstrate choice. I conclude that Rosamond's choice is made within chosen limitations.

The Logic Of Purgatory In C.S. Lewis: Why Spiritual Formation Makes Less Sense Without It, Robert Moore-Jumonville

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

Purgatory figures significantly as a theme in the writing of C.S. Lewis. The Great Divorce represents the major fictional piece treating the subject, but theological allusions and references surface in Till We Have Faces, Narnia, and other fictional works, as well as in many of the essays.

This paper presents two main points: first, Lewis's logic of purgatory. Such an argument, though not stated explicitly anywhere by Lewis, might run like this: God is holy and human beings cannot remain in God's presence (comfortably or for long) without becoming holy themselves. Lewis consistently maintained a robust theology of sanctification. Next, …

Father Knows Best: The Narrator's Oral Performance As Paternal Protector In The Hobbit, Anderson Rearick Iii

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

In Tolkien lore, the narrator of The Hobbit is the only human connection to the world of Middle Earth. He is not, as some have suggested, a hobbit himself. In spite of his humanness, however, he apparently has a great amount of information about the time in the world "when there was less noise and more green." He is also a narrator with opinions. In fact it is clear that for the narrator the whole telling of The Hobbit is a teaching tool; however much adults may enjoy Bilbo's adventure, the teller is talking to children. Being a creation of …

Through The Lens Of The Four Loves: The Idea Of Love In Till We Have Faces, Paulette Sauders

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

It is my contention that when C.S. Lewis wrote his non-fiction book The Four Loves and published it in 1960, he had not been thinking about love in all of its manifestations for just a short time before it was written. All of the fictional works he wrote over the years, beginning in at least 1938, reflect his definitions and descriptions of the various kinds of love and their perversions that he systematically describes so well in The Four Loves. He does this in his fiction through his various characters and their actions.

Specifically, in Out of the Silent …

Chaplain Stella Aldwinckle: A Biographical Sketch Of The Spiritual Foundation Of The Oxford University Socratic Club, Jim Stockton

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

Although the Oxford University Socratic Club is most often identified with its first faculty advisor and president, C.S. Lewis, the club's inception began when several young women of Somerville College asked their newly arrived chaplain, Stella Aldwinckle, to assist them in establishing a speaker's club that would extend an open invitation to all parties who were "interested in a philosophical approach to religion . . ." The Socratic Club was an instantaneous and long-lived success, and would not have been possible without Chaplain Aldwinckle's passion, dedication, and evangelical conviction.