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Philosophy

Western Kentucky University

1988

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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

The Vorpel Blade: A Philosophical Adventure In Meaning, Patrick Cely Jun 1988

The Vorpel Blade: A Philosophical Adventure In Meaning, Patrick Cely

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Fol.r major accounts of linguistic meaning are considered. A referential theory of meaning as developed by Bertrand Russell is considered and rejected on the grounds of some critical observations made by P. F. Strawson. An instrumentalistic theory of meaning as adopted by Ludwig Wittgenstein is next considered and found after an evaluation by C. S. Chihara and J. A. Fodor to be inconclusive. A behavioristic theory of meaning as advocated by Charles W. Morris is considered next. Based on questions posed by L. O. Kattsoff this theory of meaning is found to be, at best, incomplete. Finally, an ideational account …


Kierkegaard & Natural Religion, William Stewart May 1988

Kierkegaard & Natural Religion, William Stewart

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

According to Kierkegaard, the knowledge of God begins with the recognition of various truths about oneself. Every individual, just by virtue of being human, has the capacity to develop an intuitive awareness of God. In this thesis, I explore the nature of this knowledge. In chapter one, I introduce a number of ideas important for understanding Kierkegaard's phenomenology of religious belief, including his distinction between objective and subjective reflection, his method (indirect communication), and his psychology. The first chapter concludes with a description of the range or domain of "natural religion." In the next chapter, I analyze the structural or …