Sustainability Trajectory And Possibility,
2012
Case Western Reserve University
Sustainability Trajectory And Possibility, Roger Saillant, Jeremy Bendik-Keymer
Faculty Scholarship
There was a time in our prehistorical past when we as a species were subject to the forces of nature in much the same ways as all other living beings of the time. Our technology was only moderately protective. We human beings were a blend of instincts and common sense. Although communities among us could overshoot our resources, we managed to live within the biosphere relatively well. We were no noble savages—consider our genocide of the Neanderthals and our contribution to the North American mega fauna extinctions—but neither were we capable of affecting the entire global system of life as …
Following The Trail Of Ants: An Examination Of The Work Of E.O. Wilson,
2012
Sacred Heart University
Following The Trail Of Ants: An Examination Of The Work Of E.O. Wilson, Samantha Kee
Writing Across the Curriculum
No abstract provided.
Introduction To The Intellectual Standard,
2012
Illinois Wesleyan University
Introduction To The Intellectual Standard, Jaret Kanarek
The Intellectual Standard
It is with great pleasure that I introduce The Intellectual Standard to Illinois Wesleyan University. The Intellectual Standard is an interdisciplinary' student-run academic journal. With philosophy as its fundamental base, it covers a myriad of topics, including the social sciences, the natural sciences, current events, culture, and art. Its goal is to bring intellectual thought into the mainstream environment of Illinois Wesleyan University, and thereby set an intellectual standard for students, professors, and publications alike.
Philosophy And Nascar,
2012
Illinois Wesleyan University
Philosophy And Nascar, Jake K. Bates
The Intellectual Standard
Philosophy is typically considered a thought-provoking science appropriately reserved for discussion between "intellectuals;' and NASCAR contrarily carries a stigma of uneducated masses of fans supporting a racer of their choice with a frequently drunken passion. Thus, the marriage of these two topics may seem entirely inappropriate. Despite their conflicting stereotypes, philosophy and NASCAR must not necessarily be separated. Philosophy-at least the right philosophy-exalts the use of the mind in furthering man's capabilities and simultaneously seeks to understand the limitations imposed by nature. It is the science presented and, ideally, answering questions such as "Where am I?;' "How can I discover …
The Learning Process: Inspiration For Computer Scientists,
2012
Illinois Wesleyan University
The Learning Process: Inspiration For Computer Scientists, Nick A. Nichols
The Intellectual Standard
The human brain is capable of tasks with which the most complex computers have trouble. Comprehending language, a task that children can begin to develop by their second or third birthday, has only just reached a consistently usable level. Even with years of research, IBM's Watson, which competed against two all-time Jeopardy! contestants, was unable to detect many of the nuances of human communication. Puns, context clues, and more are critical parts of communication, but given several of Watson's "confused" answers, they were clearly misinterpreted.1 From this, an important question becomes apparent, "What makes a human able to understand this …
Faulty Phrases: "Good Things Come To Those Who Wait",
2012
Illinois Wesleyan University
Faulty Phrases: "Good Things Come To Those Who Wait", Jake K. Bates
The Intellectual Standard
"Good things come to those who wait" has become such a staple of English -speaking culture that it has been used in Guinness and Heinz ad campaigns. Just as Heinz encouraged ketchup consumers to endure the bottle's slow trickle, people use the words in a variety of contexts to encourage patience. A friend or parent may console a student anxious to receive essay results by declaring "good things come to those who waif' In honestly analyzing each of the words and the possible meanings interpreted from their interaction, without endowing any white-washed meaning, it should be easily observed that "good …
Making Human Rights Really Real,
2012
Illinois Wesleyan University
Making Human Rights Really Real, Jake K. Bates
The Intellectual Standard
In lieu of Illinois Wesleyan's "Making Human Rights Real" endeavors this school year, questions arise concerning the meaning of human rights and how we can effectively apply such a concept in the world around us. The discussion of human rights has long been one of the most contested among political philosophers and ordinary citizens alike. And rightfully so, because its conclusions hold drastic implications for individuals everywhere at all times. In order to avoid a muddled debate on the subject, it is critical to concretely define human rights. Thus, the concept of a "human;' the concept of a "right:' and …
Judgment, Justice, And Art Criticism,
2012
University of Melbourne
Judgment, Justice, And Art Criticism, Jolanta Nowak
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
The purpose of this article is to expose a gap in the current academic discussion of visual art criticism: the lack of serious attention to the role of ethical judgment. Critics tend either to avoid discussing the judgment of art or they dismiss it as a contemporary impossibility. However, ethical criticism is nonetheless practiced, albeit only occasionally and in an under-theorized manner. This paper calls for a reconceptualization of ethical judgment in art criticism, a reconceptualization that brings art into explicit relation with ethics.
Flesh As Communication -- Body Art And Body Theory,
2012
Aalborg University, Denmark
Flesh As Communication -- Body Art And Body Theory, Falk Heinrich
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
On the last pages of The Visible and the Invisible, Merleau-Ponty investigates “the bond between flesh and idea, and the internal armature which [it] manifests and which it conceals.” Flesh and idea are intertwined in that the body reflects on itself in the act of perception and, one could add, action. A correlative bond lies in communication theory as the operational difference between ego and alter-ego. This article investigates the non-semiotic intertwinement of ‘flesh’ in art perception and theory based on communication theory in performance art (body art). The thesis is that ‘flesh’ in performance art is presented as absolute …
G. W. F. Hegel (1770-1831),
2012
Swarthmore College
G. W. F. Hegel (1770-1831), Richard Thomas Eldridge
Philosophy Faculty Works
No abstract provided.
Review Of "Assuming A Body: Transgender And Rhetorics Of Materiality" By G. Salamon,
2012
Swarthmore College
Review Of "Assuming A Body: Transgender And Rhetorics Of Materiality" By G. Salamon, Tamsin E. Lorraine
Philosophy Faculty Works
No abstract provided.
(2012) Economic Crises And Education: Some Philosophical Reflections,
2012
Education University of Hong Kong
(2012) Economic Crises And Education: Some Philosophical Reflections, Laurance J. Splitter
Collected Papers of Laurance J. Splitter
The ongoing series of global financial crises offers some important philosophical lessons and insights for educators. The epistemological lesson is stark: we should beware of certainty and all claims to it. Were the disposition of generic skepticism in place at all levels of schooling, then the intellectual rigidity that has characterized economics as a “discipline” would be balanced by demands to consider possible alternatives. The ethical lessons to be learned include ensuring that ethics, as a form of rigorous but openended inquiry into key questions about the kind of world in which we want to live, be included in every …
(2012) "I Must Change My Life": A Review Of Mathew Lipman’S A Life Teaching Thinking,
2012
Montclair State University
(2012) "I Must Change My Life": A Review Of Mathew Lipman’S A Life Teaching Thinking, David K. Kennedy
Collected Papers of David Kennedy
Born in 1923 and recently deceased after a long struggle with Parkinson’s Disease, Matthew Lipman wrote this brief but detailed autobiography just before his illness made it impossible to write any more. It begins with memories of earliest childhood and his preoccupation with the possibility of being able to fly, moves through the years in which his family struggled with the effects of the Great Depression, through his service in the military during World War II, his discovery of the joy and beauty of philosophy, his quick academic rise at Columbia University, his sojourn in Paris, and his early and …
(2012) My Name Is Myshkin: A Philosophical Novel For Children,
2012
Montclair State University
(2012) My Name Is Myshkin: A Philosophical Novel For Children, David K. Kennedy
Collected Papers of David Kennedy
My Name is Myshkin is a philosophical novel written with children ages approximately 10-14 in mind. The book offers a fantasy adventure plot line interweaving narrative themes of ecology, mythology, psychology, spirituality and social justice, which interplay with its more purely philosophical material. Myshkin, the ten-year old narrator of the story, engages in numerous conversations with three school friends. A few of the many questions they take up are: whether one “is” one’s body, how we can tell what is real, animals and humans, youth and age, what is alive, the origins of evil, superstition and belief, whether there is …
Reforming Public Theology: Two Kingdoms, Or Two Cities?,
2012
Calvin College
Reforming Public Theology: Two Kingdoms, Or Two Cities?, James K.A. Smith
University Faculty Publications and Creative Works
No abstract provided.
A Commentary On Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's Discourse On Metaphysics #19,
2012
University of South Florida
A Commentary On Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's Discourse On Metaphysics #19, Richard Lamborn Samuel Lamborn
USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations
This commentary on article #19 of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's Discourse on Metaphysics is for the purpose of promoting the understanding of Leibniz on the role of teleology in physics. Understanding Leibniz on final causes is crucial to understanding his overall natural philosophy. If one approaches Leibniz with a bias regarding either final causes or protestant Christian theology, such that they ignore these aspects of Leibniz, such a person is in danger of completly misunderstanding this philosopher. Leibniz is a mix of natural philosophy, mechanical physics, and protestant Christian theology. The rationale behind this study is to cause the student of …
Sellars In Context: An Analysis Of Wilfrid Sellars's Early Works,
2012
University of South Florida
Sellars In Context: An Analysis Of Wilfrid Sellars's Early Works, Peter Jackson Olen
USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Although Wilfrid Sellars's work holds a prominent place in recent analytic philosophy, little work has been done to situate his early approaches to normativity and the philosophy of language in their proper context. What little work has been done tends to emphasize Sellars's connection to a then dominant logical empiricism at the expense of marginalizing other American philosophical schools. On top of this historical issue, most scholars attempting to explain Sellars's systematic philosophy tend to ignore a developmental picture of Sellars's positions and focus on explicating the systematic character of his thought. My dissertation attempts to correct both of these …
The New Materialism: Althusser, Badiou, And Zizek,
2012
University of South Florida
The New Materialism: Althusser, Badiou, And Zizek, Geoffrey Dennis Pfeifer
USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation traces the post-Marxist and materialist positions of two leading contemporary European thinkers: Slavoj Zizek and Alain Badiou. These thinkers, I argue, collectively offer a way between the traditional Hegelian Marxist's overarching meta-narrative of a necessary evolution from worse to better, and the post-modern pessimism of a lack of possibility for such a social evolution. It is this middle path, offered by these two thinkers, that this dissertation seeks to explore and further explain. The focal point of this dissertation is the type of philosophical materialism that is collectively offered by Badiou and Zizek, what I call the "New …
Moral Friction, Moral Phenomenology, And The Improviser,
2012
University of South Florida
Moral Friction, Moral Phenomenology, And The Improviser, Benjamin Scott Young
USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation offers a phenomenology of that mode of self-interpretation in which it becomes possible for an interpreter to intentionally participate in the production of moral norms to which the interpreter himself or herself feels bound. Part One draws on Richard Rorty's notion of the "ironist" in order to thematize the phenomenon I call "moral friction"; a condition in which an interpreter becomes explicitly aware of the historical and cultural contingencies of their own moral vocabularies, practices, and concerns and as a result find themselves incapable of feeling the normative weight implicit in these. Part Two draws on Heidegger's existential …
The Implications Of Migration Theory For Distributive Justice,
2012
Portland State University
The Implications Of Migration Theory For Distributive Justice, Alexander Sager
Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations
This paper explores the implications of empirical theories of migration for normative accounts of migration and distributive justice. It examines neo-classical economics, world-systems theory, dual labor market theory, and feminist approaches to migration and contends that neo-classical economic theory in isolation provides an inadequate understanding of migration. Other theories provide a fuller account of how national and global economic, political, and social institutions cause and shape migration flows by actively affecting people's opportunity sets in source countries and by admitting people according to social categories such as class and gender. These empirical theories reveal the causal impact of institutions regulating …
