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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Biological Teleology In The Modern World, Kathryn Siena
Biological Teleology In The Modern World, Kathryn Siena
Honors Theses
In humans, the heart moves blood through the body. Does the heart therefore have a teleological explanation? Aristotelian teleology (described in Aristotle’s Physics) is the cause-for-the-sake-of-which, or the end towards which something moves. It is evident from current scientific knowledge that there is some sort of orientation of organisms toward an end. This orientation, following Aristotle’s definition of teleology, is conceptually distinct from efficient causation. This orientation is also metaphysically distinct from efficient causation because efficient causal explanations do not properly describe the orientation. However, two common ways of describing teleological explanations imply efficient causation as a metaphysical element. …
Emotional Perspectives On Existential Threat: Evaluating The Rationality Of Climate Anxiety, Rachael Lange
Emotional Perspectives On Existential Threat: Evaluating The Rationality Of Climate Anxiety, Rachael Lange
Honors Theses
This thesis seeks to answer the following question: Is climate anxiety a rational emotion? In order to arrive at an answer, several queries embedded in the main question must be addressed. This paper will outline a theory of emotion in order to define anxiety, assess climate change as a specific emotional object, and compare the rationality of anxiety using two evaluative standards. Climate anxiety is an emerging emotional phenomenon experienced in response to the perceived detrimental effects of a warming climate. Due to the novel identification of this contemporary emotional phenomenon with the established emotion of anxiety, there has thus …
Addressing The Harms Of Pornography, Gillian Allison
Addressing The Harms Of Pornography, Gillian Allison
Honors Theses
Within this paper I look at the existing philosophical work on pornography, from scholars like Catherine MacKinnon, Ronald Dworkin, and Rae Langton to show the current state of the pornography debate that I intend to enter by presenting my own argument about the morality of pornography. I argue that while pornography is harmful, these harms are best resolved through increased sexual education and the popularization and production of more inclusive pornography. The harms pornography causes are so great because pornography is where a lot of people learn about sex. Pornography was never designed to depict an average sexual experience. If …
An Examination Of The Themes Of Invisibility And Hypervisibility In Black Women’S Experiences Within The Prison System, Sarah N. Kuhns
An Examination Of The Themes Of Invisibility And Hypervisibility In Black Women’S Experiences Within The Prison System, Sarah N. Kuhns
Honors Theses
Using Kimberlee Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality, the author argues that how incarcerated Black women are treated because of how others perceive their identities lead to certain traits of theirs being rendered invisible or hyper-visible. Their humanity and needs are rendered invisible while stereotypes of criminality, insanity and hyper-sexuality are hyper-visible. Because their humanity is not fully seen, while their criminality is seen as hyper-visible, state violence is used against them as a tool of control and domination. Due to the fact that incarceration and the state violence that comes with a prison sentence, prison abolition should be considered as a …
Dialectical Reasoning And Developing Responsive Models Toward Political Ecology, Dawson J. Vandervort
Dialectical Reasoning And Developing Responsive Models Toward Political Ecology, Dawson J. Vandervort
Honors Theses
In this thesis, I seek out the modes of thought that we have developed for making sense of the world and elucidate how the logic of domination and reduction of reason to a calculative tool has led to the climate crisis. Throughout my research, I look for models to overcome mechanized thought and find two useful remedies that will require time and effort to implement: critical self-reflection and storytelling skills. Self-reflection involves dialectically thinking or considering alternative approaches to how we understand the world rather than accepting the standard norms for thinking and using them without question. Storytelling involves the …
Avoiding The Basilisk: An Evaluation Of Top-Down, Bottom-Up, And Hybrid Ethical Approaches To Artificial Intelligence, Cole Shardelow
Avoiding The Basilisk: An Evaluation Of Top-Down, Bottom-Up, And Hybrid Ethical Approaches To Artificial Intelligence, Cole Shardelow
Honors Theses
This thesis focuses on three specific approaches to implementing morality into artificial superintelligence (ASI) systems: top-down, bottom-up, and hybrid approaches. Each approach defines both the mechanical and moral functions an AI would attain if implemented. While research on machine ethics is already scarce, even less attention has been directed to which of these three prominent approaches would be most optimal in producing a moral ASI and avoiding a malevolent AI. Thus, this paper argues of the three machine ethics approaches, a hybrid model would best avoid the problems of superintelligent AI because it minimizes the problems of bottom-up and top-down …
Disclosing Virtue, Michael Zahorec
Disclosing Virtue, Michael Zahorec
Honors Theses
This project is about the shape of our moral understanding and discourse. Herein, I describe the moral discourse and understanding afforded through narrative. I understand narrative as both a medium of discourse (i.e. storytelling) and a mode of understanding (i.e. a way to understand oneself, others, and the world(s) in which we find ourselves). In order to describe the ethical understanding and discourse constructed through narrative, I use the meta-ethical framework of Aristotelian virtue theory. The language of virtue theory constitutes the framework upon which I construct my argument regarding the irreplaceable and efficacious nature of narrative. The preface tells …
The Stigma Of Homelessness As An Identity: Homelessness As A Gendered Condition, Jamie Vieson
The Stigma Of Homelessness As An Identity: Homelessness As A Gendered Condition, Jamie Vieson
Honors Theses
The main goal of my thesis is to articulate the problem of homelessness. In order to do this, I examine philosopher Eva Kittay’s work on disability and equality. Throughout her work, Kittay uses the terms human interconnectedness, oppression and citizenship. These three terms serve as the major concepts I explore. Human interconnectedness highlights the links that humans share with one another as interdependent beings. Oppression is the term used to describe how certain individuals or groups in society are treated unequally or are rejected from society. Finally, exploration of citizenship shows the importance of identities in society and how they …
Trauma, Oppression, And Identity: A Philosophical Approach To Justice In Catholic Communities, Dominic Sanfilippo
Trauma, Oppression, And Identity: A Philosophical Approach To Justice In Catholic Communities, Dominic Sanfilippo
Honors Theses
Many disciplines have contributed to the evolving understanding of trauma and oppression. The discipline of philosophy offers us the opportunity to ask the question: what should we be doing to create conditions of justice in communities where people have experienced trauma or oppression in relation to their identity? In this thesis, I will use philosophy to propose ways that we can ameliorate injustice in social and religious settings, particularly Catholicism. By examining historical and contemporary questions around identity and the self, I hope to begin to articulate both a specific problem in the Church and identify possible paths toward creating …
The Seal Of Solomon: An Exploration Of Storytelling, Ryan M. Krisby
The Seal Of Solomon: An Exploration Of Storytelling, Ryan M. Krisby
Honors Theses
The Seal of Solomon is a work of fantasy with steampunk, flintlock-fantasy elements exploring Joseph Campbell’s monomyth, also known as the hero’s journey. The hero’s journey is both a physical and personal journey in which the hero ventures from their common world and into a realm of supernatural wonder where they encounter challenges, until they enter the “belly of the whale,” undergo an apotheosis and achieve the ultimate boon. They return to their common world changed, enlightened from their experiences and with a freedom over their life that they did not have before. I explore the tropes and elements of …
The Dayton Food System: Current Access To Food In Dayton And Future Possibilities, Katherine A. Liutkus
The Dayton Food System: Current Access To Food In Dayton And Future Possibilities, Katherine A. Liutkus
Honors Theses
Downtown Dayton and its surrounding areas are considered to be a food desert by the USDA, which means there is limited access to healthy foods within a .5 mile radius. The implications of this include driving further for groceries or turning to convenience stores for highly processed foods. This has created health concerns for the residents of Dayton, including obesity and diabetes. The purpose of this study was to understand the food system issues, their complexity and implications, and to understand what groups are currently doing to support the food system, and what is necessary to push the issues forward …
Opposites Attract: The Fusion Of Confucianism And The Qin Dynasty’S Legalism In The People’S Republic Of China Today, Elyse Tompkins
Opposites Attract: The Fusion Of Confucianism And The Qin Dynasty’S Legalism In The People’S Republic Of China Today, Elyse Tompkins
Honors Theses
The aim of this research is to examine the seemingly opposite Legalist outlook of the Qin dynasty against the philosophy of Confucianism, and determine the extent to which they have impacted the government and society of the People’s Republic of China today. It is common in Eastern cultures to blend two seemingly opposite ideas, which is partially how this mixture of Legalism and Confucianism works in the current government. The Qin dynasty employed the legalist governmental philosophy, which allowed one ruler to effectively control all of China. This set up the principle of a concentrated government over the vast Chinese …