Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Philosophy & World Religions Department Newsletter, V3, Fall 2011, University Of Northern Iowa. Department Of Philosophy And World Religions.

Philosophy & World Religions Department Newsletter

Inside this issue:

-- Notes from the Head
-- Faculty Updates: John Burnight
-- Faculty Updates: Grant Goodrich
-- Faculty Spotlight: Reza Lahroodi, Professor of Philosophy
-- Faculty Spotlight: James Robinson, Professor Of Religion
-- Harry Brod's Work with The Center for Violence Prevention
-- Discussion & Lectures by Dr. Russ Shafer-Landau
-- Student Interview: Emily O'Loughlin
-- Student Interview: Kayleigh Massman
-- Philosophy Club
-- Alumni Updates
-- RIPD Seminar
-- Impact of Scholarships
-- Support for Students or Department
-- Alumni Highlight: Tom Hesse
-- Alumni Highlight: Peg O'Rourke
-- Alumni Response Form

Sexualized Violence, Moral Disintegration And Ethical Advocacy, Melissa Mosko

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation develops and defends a conception of sexualized violence that is rooted in philosophical theories of violence, and at the same time helps us understand the way that violence is connected to various kinds of oppression, namely, the oppression of women. It argues that sexualized violence, which is typically theorized through related notions of physical violation and psychological trauma, is best understood in terms of its moral quality. Sexualized violence against women is fundamentally a moral problem insofar as it disrupts victims' ability to grow and develop in relationships with others, to conceive and meet responsibilities to and emerging …

Standing In Livestock's 'Long Shadow': The Ethics Of Eating Meat On A Small Planet, Brian G. Henning

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

A primary contribution of this essay is to provide a survey of the human and environmental impacts of livestock production. We will find that the mass consumption of animals is a primary reason why humans are hungry, fat, or sick and is a leading cause of the depletion and pollution of waterways, the degradation and deforestation of the land, the extinction of species, and the warming of the planet. Recognizing these harms, this essay will consider various solutions being proposed to ““shrink”” livestock's long shadow, including proposed ““technical”” or ““market”” solutions, a transition to ““new agrarian”” methods, and a vegetarian …

Philosophy And Theology: Notes On The Violinist Analogy, Christopher Kaczor

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Why Study The Chinese Classics And How To Go About It?, Sor-Hoon Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This response to Zongjie Wu's "Interpretation, autonomy, and interpretation" focuses on the "battle between East and West" which contextualizes Wu's proposal to counter the current Western domination of Chinese pedagogic discourse with an "authentic language" recovered from the Chinese classics. It points out that it is impossible and undesirable to reject all Western influences. The dualistic opposition between East and West over-simplifies and blinds one to the complexity of China's history and culture, and unnecessarily limits future possibilities. It challenges Wu's conflation of Confucianism and Daoism and his claim that the authentic "language of Tao" recovered from the "Analects" is …

How To Test Cultural Theory: Suggestions For Future Research, Marco Verweij, Shenghua Luan, Mark Nowacki

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This symposium highlighted the relevance of the cultural theory (CT) pioneered by anthropologists Mary Douglas, Steve Rayner, and Michael Thompson and political scientists Aaron Wildavsky and Richard Ellis for explaining political phenomena. In this concluding article, we suggest ways in which CT can be further tested and developed. First, we describe how the theory has been applied thus far and some of the achievements of these applications. Then, we examine some of the challenges revealed by this research. Finally, we discuss ways of applying CT that promise to help meet these challenges. These methods include nesting case studies and combining …

Caring, Journalism, And The Power Of Particularism, Maurice Hamington

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Why do some people donate blood while most eligible individuals do not? Why do many self-identified environmentalists eat meat? Why do numerous people who are concerned with social justice ignore oppressive practices affecting women? These questions have both ethical and psychological dimensions. Ethics, as it is traditionally understood in terms of rules, rights, and consequences, emphasizes rationality but often reason is not enough to compel moral action. One can make compelling rational arguments with empirical evidence to support donating blood, becoming vegan, and advocating education and aid to assist girls and women in developing nations. Yet, cognitive assent is insufficient …

Naturalized Epistemology Considered, Jason D. Gooch

The Hilltop Review

In order for a naturalized account of epistemology to be taken seriously by the philosophic community, it must address questions raised by the skeptic. Since W.V. Quine’s essay in 1969 entitled “Epistemology Naturalized,” the naturalized project has been marked both by bold claims that the traditional project has failed and that the problems a naturalized project potentially faces are not problems of concern. Instead of addressing these potential problems head on, attempts to advance the naturalized project since Quine have largely masked their language, consequently disguising the boldness of their separation. In an essay entitled “Against Naturalized Epistemology,” Laurence BonJour …

Utilitarianism And Replaceability Or Are Animals Expendable?, Stefan Sencerz

Between the Species

In her very interesting paper, “Peter Singer on Expendability,” L. A. Kemmerer re-examines Peter Singer’s utilitarian argument implying that some being are replaceable and the implications of this argument for the issue of treating animals. I attempt to defend Singer, and more generally utilitarianism (including the principle of replaceability), against these objections. I argue that, given a utilitarian outlook, some animals are indeed replaceable. But I also argue that few animals are replaceable in practice.

論牟宗三對康德的《純粹理性批判》之詮釋, Ka Lok Ng

Lingnan Theses

牟宗三在其《智的直覺與中國哲學》中對康德的《純粹理性批判》進行了詳 細的評論與詮釋，有關評論與詮釋乃其後來《現象與物自身》之準備工作。 在《智的直覺與中國哲學》中，牟宗三對康德的「超越的對象=X」、「智的 直覺」、「物自身」等關鍵概念進行了特殊的詮釋，甚至可說是帶有東方色彩 的詮釋；與此同時，由於他的詮釋亦與西方學者的詮釋存在著一定的差異， 遂產生出這樣的問題：牟宗三的康德詮釋（尤其是有關「智的直覺」以及「物 自身」概念之詮釋）之意義，究竟是在於「表示康德最終所應表示者以及促 成東西哲學之應有對話」，抑或僅僅是在於「借用康德之哲學語言來詮釋中 國哲學」？筆者在本文中，將嘗試討論有關問題。在處理牟宗三之康德詮釋 的合法性問題後，我們亦進一步討論牟宗三如何融攝康德哲學而建立其有關 「現象與物自身」之理論，並將此理論應用於儒家哲學的天道思想。

Schrödinger And Nietzsche On Life: The Eternal Recurrence Of The Same, Babette Babich

Working Papers

Schrödinger and Nietzsche on Life: The Eternal Recurrence of the Same

This essay explores Schrödinger’s reflections on measurement, consciousness, and personal identity. Schrödinger’s, What Is Life? is read together with Nietzsche’s own reflections on the same question, in his aphorism What is Life? together with Nietzsche’s teaching of the eternal return of the selfsame. Schrödinger’s own thinking is influenced as is Nietzsche’s by Schopenhauer but Schrödinger also has the Vedic tradition as this influenced Schopenhauer himself in view.

On Public Knowledge, Joanne Lau

The Hilltop Review

In “Elusive Knowledge”, Lewis begins by saying that we know a lot of trite information about the ordinary world. I know what carrots are. I know how to drive a car. I know that when someone greets me and holds out their hand, they expect me to shake it and so on. However, when we talk in philosophical terms about knowledge, we have no reason to say that we really know anything. There seem to be two contexts of knowing something. Regarding the everyday, general type of knowledge, I know a lot. But when I put on my philosopher’s hat, …

The Effects Of The Condemnation Of 1277, Jason Gooch

The Hilltop Review

There are three primary stances regarding the relationship between science and the church in the middle ages. Concerning the condemnation of 1277, Pierre Duhem argues that (A) 1277 marks “the birth of modern science.” Edward Grant and Richard Dales, among others, argue that (B) 1277 led to an “intellectual climate.” Conversely, a wide-ranging group of scholars beginning in the seventeenth century (including Condorcet, and Voltaire) have endorsed a “warfare thesis,” claiming that (C) the church is responsible for the “dismal state of medieval science.” I shall argue that A, B and C all prove to be inadequate. In the tradition …

Tele-Visioning Terror, Caroline Zekri

Re-visioning Terrorism

This paper is devoted to the relationship between terrorism and media, with a special focus on the theoretical notions of “icon”, “mass” and “distance”. It aims to show how the phenomenon of modern terrorism calls into question the essence of modern democracies and their systems of information, based on the distance between vision and event.

Symbolic Violence As Subtle Virulence: The Philosophy Of Terrorism, Jonathan Beever

Re-visioning Terrorism

Jean Baudrillard’s semiotic analysis of violence leads us to understand the form of violence as three-fold: aggressive, historical, and semiotically virulent. Violence of the third form is the violence endemic to terrorism. If violence has been typically understood as of the first two types, terrorism should be understood as the virulence of simulacra. The conflation of these types of violence explains the failure of militaristic responses to terrorism. This paper will explore Baudrillard’s conception of symbolic violence as the virulence of signs and help us come to terms with the semiotic foundation of terrorism.

Negotiating The Anthropological Limit. Derrida, Stiegler, And The Question Of The Animal, Nathan Van Camp

Between the Species

Although much has been written about the so-called political, ethical and religious turns in the thinking of Jacques Derrida, few have noticed that his late writings were marked by what we could tentatively call a “zoological turn.” This is surprising given that in The Animal That Therefore I Am Derrida clearly stated that the question as to what distinguishes the human from the animal has for him always been the most important question of philosophy. This essay will attempt to offer a preliminary exploration of this still largely uncharted aspect of Derrida’s thought. Starting from a brief overview of Derrida’s …

Smashing The Mirror Of Yamato: Sakaguchi Ango, Decadence & A Postmetaphysical Buddhist Critique Of Culture, James Mark Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

This article focuses on several key philosophical themes in the criticism of Sakaguchi Ango (1906–1955), one of postwar Japan’s most influential and controversial writers. Associated with the underground Kasutori culture as well as the Burai-ha of Tamura Taijirō (1911–1983), Oda Sakunosuke (1913–1947) and Dazai Osamu (1909–1948), Ango gained fame for two provocative essays on the theme of daraku or “decadence”—Darakuron and Zoku darakuron—pubished in 1946, in the wake of Japan’s traumatic defeat and the beginnings of the Allied Occupation. Less well-known is the fact that Ango spent his student years studying classical Buddhist texts in Sanskrit, Pali and …

Is The Climate Any Warmer For Women In Philosophy?, Peggy Desautels

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Is the climate any warmer for women in philosophy? Unfortunately, there is no way to answer this question with much confidence. There are no systematic measures of even the numbers of women in philosophy let alone systematic measures of the overall climate. When we add in that the climate for women varies significantly from department to department and subfield to subfield, assessing the climate for women in philosophy becomes even more difficult. I take climate to include overt instances of sex discrimination and sexual harassment as well as cumulative instances of subtle bias against women. Both overt and subtle contributors …

Three Views Of The One True World And What They Make Of Mere Worldviews: A Husserlian Approach To Weltanschauung, Kenneth Knies

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

The problem of worldview is crucial to Husserl’s conception of phenomenology as an immanent critique of modern scientific rationality. According to Husserl, our scientific traditions tend to frame the distinction between mere worldviews and the one true world in a way inimical to the aims of science itself. It is thus an important task for the phenomenological critique of reason to rehabilitate this distinction. This paper outlines three ways to do it. The first two define world-directed sciences in the customary sense (objective and critical-historical sciences, respectively); the third defines phenomenology and opens up the phenomenological view of the world.

Review Of "The Ancient Quarrel Between Philosophy And Poetry" By R. Barfield, Richard Thomas Eldridge

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Reactive Oxygen Species Modulation Of The Mu-Opioid Receptor, Erik F. Langsdorf

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

.

Sagp/Ssips 2011 Program, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Metaphors: Universal, Specific, And Public, Deli Nirmala

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

Metaphors in written discourse, such as letters using bahasa Indonesia, can be derived from the metaphorical expressions used by writers to editors, showing conceptualization based on what they experience, feel, and think in their lives. This paper aims to find out the universality of the concepts shown by the metaphors and the users employing them. Using nonparticipant observation with a note-taking technique, the data are collected and selected purposively. Through distributional, referential, reflective introspective, and abductive inferential methods, the data are analyzed. The results indicate that metaphors can be grouped into universal, specific, and public types based on the universality …

All Too Human: "Animal Wisdom" In Nietzsche's Account Of The Good Life, Jonathan D. Singer

Between the Species

In this paper I argue that a certain understanding of “animality” – or that a certain problematization of the traditional human-animal hierarchy and divide – is central to Nietzsche’s account of the good life. Nietzsche’s philosophical project is primarily directed against those “metaphysical oppositions of values” that traditionally structure how we think, feel and live, and in this paper I submit that, for Nietzsche, the classical opposition between the human and the animal is the most basic and the most pernicious, for it undergirds the oppositional hierarchy between rationality and irrationality that has turned human life against itself. I draw …

Review Of Philosophy & Animal Life, Leif A. Devaney

Between the Species

No abstract provided.

Courageous Peace, Ann Abdoo

Citizens for Peace

Is peace a sign of courage or weakness? This essay addresses the issue. It was published in the Michigan Department of Peace Campaign, Political Action Guide 2009-2010.

The Political Action Guide is published by Citizens for Peace, a grassroots organization from Michigan's 11th Congressional District. The Guide inclues information on the Department of Peace Legislation, historical and current as well as information on ways to become politically active.

Within the Guide, there is also a directory of many Michigan organizations working for a more peaceful world and the websites of national organizations.

To acquire a current edition, contact Colleen …

Formation, Grace, And Pneumatology: Or, Where's The Spirit In Gregory's Augustine?, James K.A. Smith

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Eric Gregory's Politics and the Order of Love takes up an audacious project: enlisting Saint Augustine in order to “help imagine a better liberalism.” This article first provides a summary of Gregory's argument, focusing on his emphasis on love as a “motivation” for neighborly care, and hence democratic participation. This involves tracing the theme of motivation in the book, which is tied to his articulation of liberal perfectionism and an emphasis on civic virtue. In conclusion I raise the question of whether his project has ignored a key aspect of Augustine's account of love, namely, the role of the Holy …

Teacher Self-Efficacy Beliefs Related To Chronic Disruptive Behavior, Kalinda R. Jones

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the current study, elementary teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs regarding working with students displaying chronic disruptive behavior (CDB) were explored. CDB was defined as persistent observable actions that have a negative impact on academic or social functioning. To address the infrequently researched construct of self-efficacy beliefs specific to teaching students exhibiting CDB, a modified version of the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (short form) was used. Factor analysis results indicated the three self-efficacy factors of instructional strategies self-efficacy, classroom management self-efficacy, and student engagement self-efficacy. No significant relationships were found between each of the three types of teacher self-efficacy beliefs and …

Examining Variables Related To Help-Seeking And Victimization Differences After Coercive Intercourse, Ginger Faulkner

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The issue of sexual violence against women has been an area of interest to psychological researchers because of its importance and prevalence in America. A problem that has been attracting more attention recently is sexual coercion against women, especially on college campuses. Researchers have consistently found that over half of college women have been victim to coercive sexual encounters (Struckman-Johnson, Struckman-Johnson, & Anderson, 2003) making this a serious problem in need of greater understanding. Researchers have also found that sexual coercion can cause a variety of problems, yet victims typically do not seek help after these experiences (Fisher, Daigle, Cullen, …

The Third Covenant: People, Animals, And Land In The Jewish And Christian Scriptures, David Dillard-Wright

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.