Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Contributions Of Language And Inhibitory Control To False Belief Reasoning Over Time, Jill De Villiers, Peter A. De Villiers

Psychology: Faculty Publications

Introduction: The role of language in false belief reasoning has been much debated for twenty-five years or more, especially the relative contributions of general language development, complement syntax, vocabulary, and executive function. However, the empirical studies so far have fallen short, in that they generally have too few participants for adequate statistical modeling; they do not include control variables; or they are cross-sectional rather than longitudinal, making inferences about causal direction much more tenuous.

Methods: The present study considers the role of these different variables in the development of false belief reasoning over several months of testing, with 258 children …

Raíces De Esperanza: The Omnipresence Of Female Ancestors As Guides Through Nepantla, Fabiola Sanchez Huidobro

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis investigates the intertwined threads of generational rage and grief experienced by a first-generation individual navigating the emotional and spiritual landscape shaped by their ancestry and migration. Furthermore, this work examines how emotional and spiritual inheritances intersect with the author’s cultural subconscious, facilitating a deeper understanding of the complexities of being caught between two worlds: Mexico, the origin of their roots, and the United States, the land of their birth. Through personal stories and cultural reflections, this piece aims to investigate the profound ways in which matrilineal inheritances help guide the author through the transitional space of Nepantla. Nepantla …

The Spiritual Foundations Of An Unbreakable Ukraine During The War, Olena Rohova, Tetiana Lysokolenko, Iryna Karpan

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

An analysis of the spiritual foundations of the ability of Ukrainian society to resist the illegal military aggression of a country whose resources significantly exceed those of Ukraine. Ukraine’s unbreakability is connected to the dominant values and worldview of its representatives, which include spirituality responsible for the resiliency of individuals, the plasticity to perceive challenges of fate, and the responses of radical changes of being. The central idea of resiliency includes the revival of the most important religious, cultural, and historical factors of collective spirituality in Ukrainian society. The religious values introduced into the Ukrainian culture by Christianity as a …

Xi: Dwelling Writing Thinking: Traces Of Being Songs Of Elduvík Hölderlin’S “In Lovely Blue…” Remembrance The Ister, Charles S. Taylor

Wine Journey: Tasting Dwelling Learning at The Kitchen Table

Lieblicher Cousin Holz / Beloved cousin Holz, welcome once again to my Gehäus! 1 2Please make yourself comfortable on this bench beside me. Remembered conversations bring us back here. New questions to share. Neither of us has a guess where we will ramble during the adventure. Thinking about your beloved Ister / Donau / Danube flowing through the Schwarzwald / Black Forest we found our way, unexpectedly, to Kant’s Erhabene / Sublime. Only after making a visit north of Norway to Svalbard. Der Ister, begins with you calling for daylight allowing you to carefully, reverently observe what will present itself …

Introduction, Kevin S. Jobe

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Right Attributions To Rivers: From Bio-Cultural Rights To The Rights Of Future Generations, Danny Marrero

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The research shows how the movement of the rights of rivers has open new spaces for subjugated people in Latin America such as Afro-decendent communities, indigenous communities, or the future generations to inject radically different legal and philosophical traditions. The research explores two pioneer cases of right attributions to rivers: Comunidades Afrodescendientes del Rio Atrato v. Presidencia de la Republica de Colombia (Afro-Colombian Indigenous Communities of the Atrato river v. Presidency of the Republic of Colombia) and Las Generaciones Futuras v. Ministerio del Medio Ambiente y Desarollo Sostenible (Future Generations v. The Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development). These cases …

Male Fantasies: The Search For Female Sexuality In Ancient Greek Thought, Sophie J. Guthrie

SPARK Symposium Presentations

Feminine sexuality has often been viewed through the lens of male desire. There are many paths one may take to analyze this issue. In this essay, I turn to ancient Greek texts to search for the meaning of a feminine sexuality. I will analyze various scientific, philosophical, and poetic ancient Greek works to better understand the prevalent beliefs at the time. I will begin by looking at the ancient Greek medical explanation of women’s bodies, particularly their sexual organs. Then, I will turn to female sexuality through the lens of a male narrative in ancient Greek texts. In the end, …

Embodied Mythology Of Rhetoric: The Dialectic Of The Gender Binary Logos, Isaac A. Lacap

Honors College Theses

Gender is often described as a social construct. This description usually contrasts social construction with other unchanging, unambiguous concepts. Through Chiara Bottici's analysis, I argue the concept of myth breaks us from this dichotomy. By understanding myth as the persistent creation of significance through narratives, we no longer leave myth to the ambit of untruth and unreality. Instead, we see myths as a way to direct people’s actions by giving them a way to see the world. By integrating Bottici with Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology, I argue the significance of myth occurs through embodiment by organizing gestures. These gestures form a system …

The Theory Of Evolution, Alois Nicholas Wurst

Bachelors’ Theses

What is perhaps one of the most fascinating questions in the scientific and philosophical world today is the theory on the Decent of Man. We hear much concerning Evolution. New theories on the subject appear almost daily. Most of these seem to be hoaxes on the part of publicity hungry scientists. If a man would have his name in newspapers the world over, he must only say that he produced a living organism out of inanimate matter. Of course such a statement produces a sensation. But this sensation is short lived. Investigation usually exposes prevarication on the part of the …

Business Ethics: What Everyone Should Know, W. Michael Hoffman Center For Business Ethics

Ethics Publication

One of the most valuable things that the Hoffman Center brings to the Bentley community is the wisdom of its Business Advisory Board. Most members are current or former ethics and compliance officers with years of experience. In the hope of better preparing Bentley students for the workplace, the Center recently asked the group for clear, direct, practical, and specific answers to the question, “What has your experience told you about what students should learn about ethics before they start their first job? Here’s a compilation and summary of what we received.

Art As Asset: The Rise Of The Financialized Art Market And The Abstraction Of Value, Kenneth Knothe

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the financialization of art through the expanding use of art-backed loans and institutional involvement. It focuses on how artworks—once primarily valued for their aesthetic or cultural significance—are now routinely treated as financial assets within the art market. The paper uses case studies from Sotheby’s Financial Services and Mitchell F. Chan’s blockchain-based reinterpretation of Yves Klein’s Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility. Drawing on the work of Walter Benjamin, Pierre Bourdieu, and Wendy Brown, it argues that this shift undermines museums’ roles as cultural stewards and redefines the meaning of value in the art world to something more quantifiable. …

Hope For A New Us/Earth Via E-Co-Aectivity And Jeong (정 情), Jea Sophia Oh

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In E-Co-Affectivity, Marjolein Oele explores the deep connectivity and relational entanglements of plants, animals, humans, and the soil as elemental components of a co-affective community. Her deconstructive reading of the Aristotelian conception of degrees of three souls, with such hierarchy of humans-animals-vegetables via what she calls categorical contamination,” is a brilliant example of how re-reading the western canon can cast important interpretive light upon contemporary ethico-political questions. Oele’s work shows how it is crucial to foreground (eco)feminist re-interpretations of the writings of major figures in the western philosophical traditions. It is reconstruction and construction of feminist hermeneutics so that it …

Against Acceptance Theories Of Social Norms, John Lawless

Faculty Publications - Philosophy

According to some theories, a rule counts as a social norm within a community only if the members of the community generally accept the rule. This is a conceptual claim: proponents of these theories do not deny that a rule can structure people's interactions and relationships even though few people accept it; they simply deny that such a rule should count as a social norm. I argue that this approach draws arbitrary boundaries that cut through explanatorily significant categories with no theoretical payoff. We typically invoke social norms either to explain empirical phenomena (e.g. what people do) or moral …

The Ethical Imperative Of Leadership In Dentistry, Mike Graham, Toni M. Roucka Rn, Dds, Ma, Facd

Journal of the American College of Dentists

Leadership is one of the four pillars of the American College of Dentists, taking its place alongside excellence, ethics, and professionalism. Leadership in dentistry carries an inherent ethical responsibility to uphold the trust and well-being of those who depend on us—our patients, our teams, and the community. When leaders in our field exercise their influence, they wield significant power over patient outcomes, industry standards, and public health policy. With this influence comes an imperative to act ethically, to ensure that decisions are guided by a commitment to care, integrity, and the best interests of those we serve. At the heart …

Ideals And Idealization: Responding To Rawls And His Critics, Clayton J. Houdeshell

Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy

In A Theory of Justice, John Rawls argues that any participant taking on the role as impartial spectator in his original position thought experiment would select “justice as fairness” as the most reasonable theory of justice to reorganize a basic structure’s system of institutions and public rules. In this dissertation it is my aim to outline seven criticisms of the Rawlsian account related to his method of ideal theory, the rationality and values of the impartial spectator, the instilment of a particular conception of the good and an aversion to non-liberal theories, and argue that each of them fail to …

Hannah Arendt As Hermeneutic Phenomenologist: Natality And The Miracle Of Philosophy, Andrew H. Marquis

Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy

I argue that Hannah Arendt practiced hermeneutic phenomenology in the canonical mode of her mentor, Martin Heidegger. Hermeneutic phenomenology is not a philosophical school defined by methods, results, or topics. It is a practice of transformative thinking by which we work through the burdens of who and how we have been towards the possibilities of who and how we could be. Heidegger, burdened by the scientism of his philosophical milieu, articulated this practice not by rejecting scientistic philosophies outright but by interpretively recovering their most promising tendencies.

Though seldom recognized as a hermeneutic phenomenologist, Arendt’s philosophical response to Nazism reveals …

Internalism, Externalism, And The Phenomenology Of Epistemic Justification, Steven Winterfeldt

Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy

This dissertation applies a phenomenological method of analysis to the dispute between analytic internalists and externalists regarding epistemic justification. Traditionally, the justification condition on knowledge has been interpreted as an internal condition, but the growing popularity of the externalist antithesis has placed internalism on the defensive. Ultimately, however, the dispute appears to have fallen into an impasse. I identify a set of four arguments or cases that, when taken together, prompt us to adopt a set of contradictory conclusions about the necessary and sufficient conditions for justified belief. Moreover, none of the analytic views of justification surveyed seem to be …

Unlocking The Power Of Logic: Thinking Smarter Every Day A Beginner's Guide To Logical Thinking, Jesus Diaz

A with Honors Projects

Power Point presented to an 11th and 12th grade high school audience, introducing them to the concept of logic.

Without Microphysical Causation, Not Just Anything Can Begin To Exist Just Anywhere, Daniel Linford

Philosophy Faculty Publications

According to the Causal Principle, anything that begins to exist has a cause. In turn, various authors – including Thomas Hobbes, Jonathan Edwards, and Arthur Prior – have defended the thesis that, had the Causal Principle been false, there would be no good explanation for why entities do not begin at arbitrary times, in arbitrary spatial locations, in arbitrary number, or of arbitrary kind. I call this the Hobbes-Edwards-Prior Principle (HEPP). However, according to a view popular among both philosophers of physics and naturalistic metaphysicians – Neo-Russellianism – causation is absent from fundamental physics. I argue that objections based on …

Confronting Indecision, Lane Allison Murray

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

This course aims to increase students' understanding of indecision and how to confront it. The class provides insight into how the fear of the unknown holds people back from making decisions and about understanding one's values as a means to combat indecision. Students and teachers alike explore instances of indecision and evaluate their own impulses & thought processes by reflecting on the deeper reasons for their choices. Students will increase their comfort level of asking themselves and their peers questions about the values that guide them and, in doing so, strengthen their relationships with themselves and others.

Mathematics And Determinism: Chaos, Quantum Mechanics, And The Limits Of Predictive Structure, Jackson T. Salumbides

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the relationship between mathematics and determinism by analyzing how chaos theory, quantum mechanics, and formal mathematical limits challenge traditional conceptions of predictability and causal structure. Chaos theory shows that deterministic systems can exhibit practical unpredictability due to sensitivity to initial conditions. Quantum mechanics introduces probabilistic outcomes that complicate deterministic interpretation, though alternative frameworks such as Bohmian mechanics and superdeterminism attempt to restore determinism at conceptual cost. Additionally, results from mathematical logic, including Gödel’s incompleteness theorems and Turing’s undecidability, demonstrate intrinsic limitations on what can be deduced or computed, even in fully deterministic systems. By synthesizing these areas, …

Sir Fig Newton And The Science Of Persistence (2023) By Sonja Thomas, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Middle Grades Books

When twelve-year-old Mira Williams’s companion and confidant, the cat Sir Fig Newton, contracts diabetes, her parents say she may have to give him to someone who can afford his treatment. The resources Mira will need to save Fig and keep him close include ingenuity, family ties, friendships, and the kind of faith she finds can be compatible with science. Thomas’ novel shows a teenager’s sophisticated engagement with complex questions of race, faith, science, and relationships.

Wildful (2024) By Kengo Kurimoto, Maughn Gregory

Middle Grades Books

Kengo Kurimoto’s graphic novel Wildful explores the transformative power of nature and deep attention. Poppy is struggling with her mother’s depression after her grandmother’s passing. Initially absorbed in digital distractions, Poppy is drawn into the wilderness when her dog, Pepper, chases a fox. She meets Rob, a boy who teaches her to observe nature with curiosity and respect—tracking animals, noticing patterns, and sitting in silence. Poppy learns that being in nature can assuage generational grief through a renewed sense of wonder and connection.

Safiyyah’ S War (2023) By Hiba Noor Khan & The Grand Mosque Of Paris (2009) By Karen Gray Ruelle & Deborah Durland Desaix, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Middle Grades Books

Suppose that somebody takes over your city and begins harming your friends and neighbors. How do you respond? When is it your responsibility to act, and what kinds of risks should you take? How do these new moral demands change your relations to your neighbors, people in authority, and even your family? How do you stay sane and resolved when your safety is under constant threat? Telling the story of how the Muslim community in Paris risked their lives to save hundreds of Jews when Germany invaded France in World War II, this middle-grades novel and picture book also tell …

Donald Griffin, Cognitive Ethology, And Animal Life Histories, Walter Veit

Animal Sentience

Carolyn Ristau offers a stellar investigative biography of Donald Redfield Griffin and his influence on the science and philosophy of animal minds. This commentary focuses on his aim to study animal minds through an ethological lens—that is, by examining the evolved, adaptive functions of mental capacities and consciousness in natural environments, rather than confining research to controlled laboratory settings. I argue that, far from being romantic, this approach can be firmly grounded in modern life history theory.

(2025) On The Meaning Of Education Holding Hands With Philosophy: A Conversation Along A Walk To Pão De Açúcar, Maughn Rollins Gregory, Walter Omar Kohan

Collected Papers of Maughn Rollins Gregory

This text presents a conversation between two long time philosophical and educational friends reflecting on the field of philosophical education and childhood. The discussion began as a part of a shared experience of an intensive teacher education workshop held at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It covers themes including teacher education; philosophy as inquiry and a way of life; methodological issues on philosophical inquiry with children; educational and philosophical time; philosophy for children; questioning, reasonableness; colonisation and counter-colonisation. The conversation affirms the philosophical and educational force of beginning. The conversation ends with a coda after the two …

A Phenomenological Approach To Addiction, Zollie Foss

Honors Theses

This paper proposes a phenomenological investigation of addiction, with the goal of describing how it is experienced from within, as an embodied and existential phenomenon. I begin by establishing a conceptual framework—drawn from the works of existential phenomenologists Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty—outlining the key structures of everyday experience such as being-in-the-world, freedom, embodiment, bad faith, and sedimentation. I then turn to a description of the lived experience of addiction by drawing on various first-person addiction memoirs, showing how the aforementioned existential structures are experienced in active addiction and how pathways to sobriety reflect and are experienced as targeting these structures. …

Reading Nietzsche As A Tool For Feminist Politics, Juliana I. Fedorko

Honors Theses

My Honors Thesis in Political Science builds upon the scholarly tradition of reading beyond Friedrich Nietzsche’s explicit discussions of women, which are oftentimes blatantly misogynistic. As a philosopher typically included in the Western existentialist canon, Nietzsche’s ethics of self-transcendence is relevant to one of the vital feminist objectives: individual autonomy. His commentary in Beyond Good and Evil, The Gay Science, On the Genealogy of Morals, and The Use and Abuse of History for Life prescribe ways of being that disrupt traditional moral systems and their accompanying social conditioning. If we examine patriarchy as one of these value …

A Phenomenological Approach To Addiction, Zollie Foss

Honors Theses

This paper proposes a phenomenological investigation of addiction, with the goal of describing how it is experienced from within, as an embodied and existential phenomenon. I begin by establishing a conceptual framework—drawn from the works of existential phenomenologists Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty—outlining the key structures of everyday experience such as being-in-the-world, freedom, embodiment, bad faith, and sedimentation. I then turn to a description of the lived experience of addiction by drawing on various first-person addiction memoirs, showing how the aforementioned existential structures are experienced in active addiction and how pathways to sobriety reflect and are experienced as targeting these structures. …

When Surveillance Silences: Contextual Integrity And The Erosion Of Protest Rights, Jacob Detrinidad

CMC Senior Theses

Government intrusion into our private lives is a standard part of modern democratic life, but how much intrusion should we accept? In the tension between government surveillance and security, many believe security to be a more important value and thus justify greater surveillance at the expense of informational privacy. However, at what point is this intrusion indefensible. This thesis explores the tensions between privacy and security through John Rawls’s theory of justice and Helen Nissenbaum’s theory of privacy as contextual integrity and applies them to issues of public surveillance and the suppression of political protest. I argue that in the …