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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

A Philosophy Primer, Anthony Cunningham Jan 2024

A Philosophy Primer, Anthony Cunningham

Philosophy Faculty Publications

This philosophy primer serves as an introduction to the general pursuit of philosophy and the practice of sound reasoning. The primer identifies and explains seven important guiding ideals for conducting any intellectual inquiry, along with highlighting eight “good moves” to cultivate and eighteen “bad moves” to avoid.


Bioethics And A Theology Of Vulnerability, Carrie Oneil-Smith Jan 2024

Bioethics And A Theology Of Vulnerability, Carrie Oneil-Smith

Obsculta

This essay looks at how a theology of vulnerability can contribute to ethical decision-making in an increasingly secular society. Relationality, power dynamics and scriptural justifications are considered, as well as early contributions made to this nascent field of Christian thought. This essay was written for a class on Health Care Ethics taught by Dr. Mary Ann Kish.


Friendship, Mysticism, And Resistance: Review Of Kindred Spirits: Friendship And Resistance At The Edges Of Modern Catholicism, William J. Collinge Aug 2023

Friendship, Mysticism, And Resistance: Review Of Kindred Spirits: Friendship And Resistance At The Edges Of Modern Catholicism, William J. Collinge

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.


The Life Of An American Catholic Radical: Review Of Christian Anarchist, Ammon Hennacy, A Life On The Catholic Left, William L. Portier Aug 2023

The Life Of An American Catholic Radical: Review Of Christian Anarchist, Ammon Hennacy, A Life On The Catholic Left, William L. Portier

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.


Just Peace Framework: A Brief Primer, Eli S. Mccarthy Aug 2023

Just Peace Framework: A Brief Primer, Eli S. Mccarthy

The Journal of Social Encounters

This short primer will describe the basic components of a just peace framework. Then I will describe the recent trajectory of Catholic and Christian discourse on just peace, as well as engage a related discourse at the United Nations on sustaining peace.


The Implications Of Solidarity For Food Ethics, John Sniegocki Aug 2023

The Implications Of Solidarity For Food Ethics, John Sniegocki

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay examines numerous ways in which commitments to solidarity have relevance in the area of food ethics. Among the topics explored are food insecurity and hunger, workers’ rights, ecology, and the treatment of animals. Particular attention is paid to the impacts of the production and consumption of animal products. These issues are examined through the lens of the developing understanding of solidarity present in the tradition of Catholic social teaching (CST). The ethical framework provided by CST, it is suggested, could be further enhanced by insights drawn from the growing tradition of “Black veganism” and its holistic, intersectional understanding …


Dangerous Religious Ideas As Threats To Solidarity: Review Of Dangerous Religious Ideas: The Deep Roots Of Self-Critical Faith In Judaism, Christianity, And Islam, John C. Merkle Aug 2023

Dangerous Religious Ideas As Threats To Solidarity: Review Of Dangerous Religious Ideas: The Deep Roots Of Self-Critical Faith In Judaism, Christianity, And Islam, John C. Merkle

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.


Religion And Global Solidarity: Review Of Toward A Global Civilization? The Contribution Of Religions, James Malarkey Aug 2023

Religion And Global Solidarity: Review Of Toward A Global Civilization? The Contribution Of Religions, James Malarkey

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.


How To Talk About God: Origen And Gregory Of Nazianzus On Divine Transcendence And Theological Language, Coleman S. Kimbrough May 2023

How To Talk About God: Origen And Gregory Of Nazianzus On Divine Transcendence And Theological Language, Coleman S. Kimbrough

Obsculta

This article discusses the doctrine of God of the early Church Fathers Origen and Gregory of Nazianzus. According to these two theologians, the tension between God's transcendence and God's immanence conditions the language we use to name and describe God. Such "God-talk" is necessarily limited by the ontological divide between the human and the divine. Using Origen and Gregory as reference points, I examine how the precise and careful use of apophatic, cataphatic, and analogical language is necessary to properly account for both God's eternal nature and God's work in the material world.


The Fall And Natural Suffering, Andrew Banacos May 2023

The Fall And Natural Suffering, Andrew Banacos

Obsculta

Evolutionary theory poses several questions for Christian notions of origins: 1) common ancestry of all creatures rather than monogenesis; 2) the violent history of evolution as a challenge to the notion of a fall from paradise into sin, death, and suffering; and 3) the relationship between suffering and evil in light of evolutionary process. This paper seeks to address the concept of the fall in the context of dialogue between evolution and the Christian faith.


Book Discussion - Violence And Peace In Sacred Texts: Interreligious Perspectives, Maria Power, Helen Paynter Mar 2023

Book Discussion - Violence And Peace In Sacred Texts: Interreligious Perspectives, Maria Power, Helen Paynter

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.


Review Of Against War: Building A Culture Of Peace, William J. Collinge Mar 2023

Review Of Against War: Building A Culture Of Peace, William J. Collinge

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.


Review Of The Root Of War: Thomas Merton’S Advice To Peacemakers, Jerry Kendall Mar 2023

Review Of The Root Of War: Thomas Merton’S Advice To Peacemakers, Jerry Kendall

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.


Resisting Nazism Within Hitler’S Germany, Patricia M. Mische Mar 2023

Resisting Nazism Within Hitler’S Germany, Patricia M. Mische

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.


Review Of Social Defense, Eli Mccarthy Mar 2023

Review Of Social Defense, Eli Mccarthy

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.


Harmony & Cancellation Culture, Erica Stonestreet Feb 2022

Harmony & Cancellation Culture, Erica Stonestreet

Philosophy Faculty Publications

“Cancelling” people cuts off relationships in the name of taking back power from those who abuse it. But using the ancient—but still current—concept of harmony, I ask whether this is the best way to go about fixing our problems.


Can Lethal Autonomous Weapons Be Just?, Noreen L. Herzfeld, Robert H. Latiff Jan 2022

Can Lethal Autonomous Weapons Be Just?, Noreen L. Herzfeld, Robert H. Latiff

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In 2018 the United States Department of Defense (DoD) created a new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center to study the adoption of AI by the military. Their strategy, outlined in a document entitled, “Harnessing AI to Advance Our Security and Prosperity,” proposes to accelerate the adoption of AI in the military by fostering a culture of experimentation and calculated risk taking, noting that AI will change the character of the future battlefield and, even more, the pace of battle. Is there any way to ensure that this future battlefield will be just? Can the age-old precepts of just warfare help guide …


Rereading Albert Camus’ The Plague During A Pandemic: An African’S Review, Stephen O. Owino Aug 2020

Rereading Albert Camus’ The Plague During A Pandemic: An African’S Review, Stephen O. Owino

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.


Rereading Albert Camus’ The Plague During A Pandemic: Of Plagues And Nazis: Camus’ Journey From Moral Nihilism, Stephen I. Wagner Aug 2020

Rereading Albert Camus’ The Plague During A Pandemic: Of Plagues And Nazis: Camus’ Journey From Moral Nihilism, Stephen I. Wagner

The Journal of Social Encounters

During our current pandemic, Albert Camus’ novel, The Plague, can serve readers well by illustrating and perhaps helping us resolve the feelings, options and decisions we are now facing. Indeed, Camus can help us learn much from our current situation.


Why Darwin Remains A Problem For Theism, John Houston Feb 2020

Why Darwin Remains A Problem For Theism, John Houston

Forum Lectures

Several recent works in theology have argued that evolutionary theory is compatible with theism. This, of course, is true: theism and evolutionary theory are indeed logically and metaphysically compatible. However, little is being demonstrated on behalf of theism when this conclusion is established. For, the logical and metaphysical compatibility of conceptual frameworks or narratives is a very low bar for attempting to analyze the world and its fundamental nature, and such compatibility tells us little about how the world really is. In this paper I focus on why Darwinian evolutionary theory, though logically and metaphysically compatible with theism, continues to …


Implementation Considerations For Mitigating Bias In Supervised Machine Learning, Bardia Bijani Aval Jan 2020

Implementation Considerations For Mitigating Bias In Supervised Machine Learning, Bardia Bijani Aval

CSB and SJU Distinguished Thesis

Machine Learning (ML) is an important component of computer science and a mainstream way of making sense of large amounts of data. Although the technology is establishing new possibilities in different fields, there are also problems to consider, one of which is bias. Due to the inductive reasoning of ML algorithms in creating mathematical models, the predictions and trends found by the models will never necessarily be true – just more or less probable. Knowing this, it is unreasonable for us to expect the applied deductive reasoning of these models to ever be fully unbiased. Therefore, it is important that …


Social Esteem As Moral Recognition, Erica Stonestreet Jan 2019

Social Esteem As Moral Recognition, Erica Stonestreet

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Some strands of feminist and social philosophy suggest that the basis for personhood is having an identity—where identity is not defined entirely in individualistic terms of reason and autonomy and is in fact quite relational. When personhood is conceived in these terms, morality becomes a matter of recognizing persons for who they are, which includes recognizing them as members of social groups. In this paper I explore the notion of esteem as a species of recognition for these layers of identity, claiming that esteem deserves to stand on equal footing with respect as a moral attitude.


Love And Respect As Moral Attitudes And Practices Of Recognition, Erica Stonestreet Jan 2019

Love And Respect As Moral Attitudes And Practices Of Recognition, Erica Stonestreet

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Beginning from the premise that moral deliberation and action have their roots in the recognition of persons, this paper argues that love deserves to stand on equal footing with respect as a mode of moral recognition. I argue first that as attitudes, respect and love are modes of moral recognition responding to specific others. They thus have similar epistemologies, but are distinguished by their positions along a concrete-abstract axis. In particular, I claim, respect is an attitude that recognizes another as a person, whereas love is an attitude that recognizes another as the person they are. Both attitudes check the …


Beyond Respect: Complexities Of Identity, Personhood, And Recognition, Erica Stonestreet Jan 2019

Beyond Respect: Complexities Of Identity, Personhood, And Recognition, Erica Stonestreet

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Mainstream analytic philosophy has long focused on a rationalistic conception of persons as the beings that matter morally. This has led to a heavy concentration on respect as a, if not the, core moral attitude. This paper aims to complicate the picture by arguing that personhood is more complex than this, because the identities in virtue of which persons matter are more complex. Persons matter not only as (abstract) persons, but as specific individuals and members of groups. As a result, they should be recognized in corresponding ways that go beyond respect, including love and esteem. Doing so expands …


Preserving Dignity In The Long Term Care Of Actively Dying Residents, Libby-Rose Cronican May 2017

Preserving Dignity In The Long Term Care Of Actively Dying Residents, Libby-Rose Cronican

All College Thesis Program, 2016-2019

As one goes through the process of aging and approaches death, they experience a series of losses: from the loss of physical or mental ability to the ultimate loss of life. These losses make the individual vulnerable to harms that can come from a variety of sources. One source is found within the everyday interactions of long-term care nurses and aides with their elderly, dying residents. Creating this harm stems from a poor nursing practice where the nurse or aide fails to recognize and promote the resident’s dignity and autonomy. The normal notion of dignity and autonomy does not encompass …


Mismeasuring Humanity: Dangers Of "The Contemporary Orthodoxy", Vincent M. Smiles Feb 2017

Mismeasuring Humanity: Dangers Of "The Contemporary Orthodoxy", Vincent M. Smiles

Headwaters

The various unjust discriminations (racism, sexism, xenophobia, etc.) that plague society are tied to the larger question of how human lives and minds are regarded in society as a whole. Humans have always had a problem of mismeasuring the “other,” but this problem is compounded by promotion, from powerful voices, of the view that humans are just so much physics and chemistry, that the mind is the brain, and that humans are deluded about the power of consciousness and freedom. Daniel Dennett refers to the latter as “the contemporary orthodoxy,” as though it is the view of humanity that all …


Globalization And The Sex Trafficking Industry: Examination Of Effects On Regional Value Chain Operations, Mary R. Gilbertson Apr 2015

Globalization And The Sex Trafficking Industry: Examination Of Effects On Regional Value Chain Operations, Mary R. Gilbertson

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

The purpose of this paper is to examine sex trafficking as a profitable, international, and illegal industry. One goal of this paper is to explain what sex trafficking is and how it differs from other industries. Sex trafficking is an underground activity and its growth worldwide since the 1980s has had a destructive impact on global societies and economies. Beyond this, the study wants to show that, aside from moral and socio-cultural implications, that sex trafficking is indeed an industry, with a structure not so different from other industries. Understanding sex trafficking as an industry is critical to understanding how …


Reviewed Work: Why We Argue (And How We Should): A Guide To Political Disagreement, By Scott Aikin And Robert Talisse, Emily Esch Dec 2014

Reviewed Work: Why We Argue (And How We Should): A Guide To Political Disagreement, By Scott Aikin And Robert Talisse, Emily Esch

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Love As A Regulative Ideal In Surrogate Decision Making, Erica Stonestreet Oct 2014

Love As A Regulative Ideal In Surrogate Decision Making, Erica Stonestreet

Philosophy Faculty Publications

This discussion aims to give a normative theoretical basis for a “best judgment” model of surrogate decision making rooted in a regulative ideal of love. Currently, there are two basic models of surrogate decision making for incompetent patients: the “substituted judgment” model and the “best interests” model. The former draws on the value of autonomy and responds with respect; the latter draws on the value of welfare and responds with beneficence. It can be difficult to determine which of these two models is more appropriate for a given patient, and both approaches may seem inadequate for a surrogate who loves …


Consideration Of The Church's Identity And Mission, Predicated On The Church Be-Ing 'Ligamen' (Bond), C. A. Chase Jun 2014

Consideration Of The Church's Identity And Mission, Predicated On The Church Be-Ing 'Ligamen' (Bond), C. A. Chase

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

In 1965, the Roman Catholic Church, in Gaudium et spes, declared to the world: this community realizes that it is truly linked with mankind and its history by the deepest of bonds (GS 1). Shifting her identity from being one in opposition to the modern world, she announced the possibility of becoming the very bond (ligamen) binding diverse human communities and nations of the world, whilst existing as a function, a light, an energy (GS 42). Framed against the classical understanding of ecclesia as a perfect society, and the fact that this was no longer realistic in …