Philosophy Commons^™

Virtue, Richard Dagger

Political Science Faculty Publications

In political theory, the word virtue usually refers to the disposition or character traits appropriate to a citizen. Someone who takes the responsibilities of citizenship seriously, to the point of putting the common good ahead of his or her personal interests, is thus said to display civic virtue. Political theorists have frequently warned that such virtue cannot be taken for granted, however, and many of them have urged that steps be taken to promote or foster civic virtue. This concern for the fragility of civic virtue is a clear theme in ancient (or classical) political thought, but it has …

Das Subjekt Als Moralische Person. Zu Husserls Späten Reflexionen Bezüglich Des Personenbegriffs, Sebastian Luft

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

In this essay, I will attempt a systematic reconstruction of the general shape of Husserl's late philosophy, insofar as it centers on the concept of personhood. The systematic concatenation of this and other themes in Husserl's late work - the method of epoché and reduction, ethics, personhood, and teleology - has only recently begun to be explored in Husserl scholarship, and this article is a modest contribution to the further e1ucidation of their mutual relationship. One of the most striking results of this reconstructive analysis is Husserl's final concept of "person", which goes beyond the traditional distinctions, such as "heart" …

Toward An Understanding Of Sculpture As Public Art (Chinese Version), Curtis Carter

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Fictionalia As Modal Artifacts, Jeffrey C. Goodman

Faculty Scholarship

There is much controversy surrounding the nature of the relation between fictional individuals and possible individuals.  Some have argued that no fictional individual is a possible individual; others have argued that (some) fictional individuals just are (merely) possible individuals.  In this paper, I offer further grounds for believing the theory of fictional individuals defended by Amie Thomasson, viz., Artifactualism, by arguing that her view best allows one to make sense of this puzzling relation.  More specifically, when we realize that the view allows for an identification of merely possible individuals with fictional individuals, we see that the utility, and hence …

Corporations As Group Agents / Responsible Collectives In Theory And In Practice, Kathryn Real King

Dissertations

The goals of this dissertation are to examine the existing philosophical literature on group agency and collective responsibility and to demonstrate that this literature fails to sufficiently address the hierarchical organization of corporations, thereby severely limiting the applicability of this literature to real-world business situations. Where references to corporate hierarchy are made in the group agency and collective responsibility literature, they are incidental and descriptive only. This is in contrast to general business literature, business ethics literature, and organizational theory literature, which each highlight the importance of corporate hierarchy from their respective points of view. In this dissertation, the concept …

Naturalized Epistemology, Curtis Brown, Steven Luper

Philosophy Faculty Research

An explanation of the theory of naturalized epistemology, the theory of knowledge, what it is, how we can or should achieve it, and how much, if anything, we can know.

Antigone's Nature, William Robert

Religion - All Scholarship

Antigone fascinates G.W.F. Hegel and Luce Irigaray, both of whom turn to her in their explorations and articulations of ethics. Hegel and Irigaray make these re-turns to Antigone through the double and related lenses of nature and sexual difference. This essay investigates these figures of Antigone and the accompanying ethical accounts of nature and sexual difference as a way of examining Irigaray's complex relation to and creative uses of Hegel's thought.

Themistius On Concept Acquisition And Knowledge Of Essences, Myrna Gabbe

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Themistius's (ca. 317-ca. 388 C.E.) paraphrase of the De Anima is an influential and important work; however, it is not now regarded as profound or original and thereby sutTers from neglect. I argue that Themistius is misunderstood on the matter of Aristotle's productive and potential intellects. It is commonly held that Themistius gives to the productive intellect the role of illuminating images in order to produce universal thoughts In the potential intellect with epistemic certainty. I argue that Themistius's productive intellect does not transform images to reveal the forms contained therein, but gives to the potential intellect the ability, first, …

Feminism, Cultural Violence Of, Danielle Poe

Philosophy Faculty Publications

For most, if not all, self-defined feminists, feminism means support for equality between women and men. The difficulty with this definition, though, is determining what one means by "equality," by "women and men," and by "sex" and "gender." For some feminists, equality requires that differences between women and men be acknowledged and valued. For other feminists, equality means that the category "human" encompasses women and men and that the differences within a sex are greater than differences between the sexes.

Feminists also differ on what they mean by "women" and "men"; these terms can be defined biologically, genetically, culturally, religiously, …

Antinuclear Power Protests In The United States, Danielle Poe

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The history of nuclear power in the United States began with the top-secret Manhattan Project (1942-1946), in which the first atomic bomb was produced and used in 1945 against Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. According to the American Nuclear Society, a nuclear power industry association, the first U.S. city to use nuclear power for electricity was Arco, Idaho, in 1955. As of 2007, the United States had 104 operational nuclear power reactors, one nuclear power reactor under construction, and twenty-eight closed nuclear power reactors.

Between 1945, when the world became aware of the destructive power of atomic energy, and today, …

Dispositions, Propensities And The Change Of Conditions, Alejandra Olivas-Davila

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is to draw a clear line that allows us to thoroughly differentiate dispositions from propensities as well as the big problem that clouds both views. I will attempt to offer an account of the main issues that this properties face. I start by offering a general account of dispositions. In this account I offer a brief analysis of what it is to be a disposition. The distinction between categorical and dispositional property is explored. I move on to explain the evolution of the conditional analysis, as well as the problems it faces. The next point …

The Internet As A Social Contract, Kenneth Wayne Sayles

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Internet is a complex network, with both physical and virtual aspects, and is composed of a vast community of individuals at various levels. This complexity makes exploring ethical issues on the Internet difficult because the many relationships that occur among the individual Internet entities make Internet governance difficult and varied. But the social contract theories of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau can provide a practical way of understanding Internet governance by investigating these relationships that have formed among the individuals of the Internet through their interactions. Previous research investigated using social contract theory for Internet governance, but …

Causation And Circularity In Dispositionalism, Daniel Jacob Flores

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

I wish to present a narrow discussion of Bird's and Mumford's basic positions on their versions of dispositionalism. I think that they are correct to point to the threat of circularity and regress but I do not believe that they have successfully argued away the problem. I begin by offering a very brief account of dispositions and three general criticisms. The goal is to show that causation is central to a satisfactory account of dispositionalism. Next, I outline Mumford's and then Bird's general positions on dispositions. What this will show is the importance of the regress/circularity objection. Both philosophers understand …

Embodied Cognition As Refutation To Langer's "Illusory Powers": "I Move, Therefore, I Know", Ruby Amanda Montana

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Thesis Objective: To refute Susanne Langer's notion within her philosophy of dance which holds that emotional forces in dance are solely "virtual" and thus illusory. I plan to do so by means of the growing research in the branch of cognitive science known as Embodied Cognition.

In Brief: Susanne Langer, one of the most prominent philosophers of Aesthetics, contends that dance is able to express emotions as an external force, while creating what she calls a "primary illusion". Langer attributes gesture as the basic abstraction whereby the dance illusion is made and organized. Furthermore, she contends that dance is not …

On Collective Self-Determination And A Palestinian State, Jackson Brown Wyrick

CMC Senior Theses

Do the Palestinians deserve a state? To answer this question, one must first provide an account of collective self-determination (CSD) and when a group is entitled to it. This starts with looking at the origins of CSD, both to see if it truly is a right and, if so, what its nature is. I will argue that there is such a thing as a right to CSD, but due to its nature, it is not a universal right of all groups. Whether a group has a right to CSD depends on the conditions in which the group lives, and in …

Food Crises And Global Warming: Critical Realism And The Need To Re-Institutionalize Science, Hugh Lacey, M. I. Lacey

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Is The Notion Of Mathematical Object An Historical Notion?, Marco Panza

MPP Published Research

"Both historians and philosophers of mathematics frequently speak of mathematical objects. Are they speaking of the same or of similar things? Better: are they appealing to the same notion or to similar notions?"

Learning To Talk To An Other: Stories And Thoughts On Community Organizing In A Divided Nation, Greg James Capillo

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Unlike other fields of philosophy, we cannot simply agree to disagree about morality as practiced in politics. At some point, our moral values become policies that those who may not share those values must follow. The way we construct these disagreements and agreements then are vital to the continued functionality of our nation. In this essay, I will examine how John Rawls, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Jeffrey Stout construct the concept of justice and apply their thoughts to the dispute surrounding mountain top removal coal mining in Eastern Kentucky. John Rawls believes in a universally applicable, rationally generated form of justice. …

Aristotle And The Importance Of Virtue In The Context Of The Politics And The Nicomachean Ethics And Its Relation To Today, Kyle Brandon Anthony

Honors Theses

While much of Aristotle's works are preserved in various volumes, two of his famous works are the Nichmachean Ethics and the Politics, both of which contain a rich compilation of ethical and political thought. In the Ethics, Aristotle describes a thorough understanding of ethical and intellectual virtue. By pursuing these virtues, Aristotle argues that a person can achieve a life of fulfilling happiness. The ideal polis as described in the Politics serves as a place where the virtuous life is attained in the best manner.Citizens who pursue virtue make the polis better, and the rulers that guide the polis ensure …

[Introduction To] When Souls Had Wings: Pre-Mortal Existence In Western Thought, Terryl Givens

Bookshelf

The idea of the pre-existence of the soul has been extremely important, widespread, and persistent throughout Western history--from even before the philosophy of Plato to the poetry of Robert Frost. When Souls Had Wings offers the first systematic history of this little explored feature of Western culture.

Terryl Givens describes the tradition of pre-existence as "pre-heaven"--the place where unborn souls wait until they descend to earth to be born. And typically it is seen as a descent--a falling away from a happier and untroubled state into the turbulent and sinful world we know. The title of the book refers to …