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Nathifa Greene, Assistant Professor Of Philosophy, Musselman Library, Nathifa Greene

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In this latest Next Page column, Assistant Professor of Philosophy Nathifa Greene ’03 shares her longtime love of Toni Morrison, Zadie Smith, and George Eliot, as well as a newfound appreciation for speculative fiction.

W. E. B. Du Bois’S “Conservation Of Races”: A Metaphilosophical Text, Kimberly Ann Harris

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

Nothing was more important for W. E. B. Du Bois than to promote the upward mobility of African Americans. This essay revisits his “Conversation of Races” to demonstrate its general philosophical importance. Ultimately, Du Bois’s three motivations for giving the address reveal his view of the nature of philosophical inquiry: to critique earlier phenotypic conceptions of race, to show the essentiality of history, and to promote a reflexive practice. Commentators have been unduly invested in the hermeneutic readings and as a result have misunderstood its philosophical dimensions. Du Bois did more than introduce the concept of race into the purview …

'Our Faith Is Good, But Strict': The Transformation Of The Apostolic Christian Church-Nazarene In North America, Aleksandra Djurić-Milovanović

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

The number of religious minorities from Central and Eastern Europe prone to migration to the English-speaking world increased considerably during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Among them were the Evangelical Baptists, or Neutäufer, founded by a former Reformed minister, Samuel Fröhlich, around 1830 in Switzerland. Reviving some of the old Mennonite principles, this newly emerging religious community was emphasizing nonresistance, a refusal of taking oaths, the rejection of infant baptism, and separation from the world. Their expansion to Southeastern Europe in the late nineteenth century attracted new members from various ethnic groups. Because of state oppression and religious persecution, the …

Depaul Digest

DePaul Magazine

DePaulia Fantasy Football League; Democratizing Medicine; Campus/Alumni Calendar of Events; Regional Chapters; Musings: DePaul FEST; Milestones; Student Profile: Gabby Henderson; Master Class: The Perniciousness of "Ethical Decision-Making"

"Hell Is Other People.”, Philosophical Discussion Group

The Philosopher's Stone

"Hell is other people.”

Girl, Timothy Eves

Between the Species

“Girl” is a short story about the relationship a family has with their dog. Over the course of the dog’s life, the family grapples with a series of moral issues, including abuse of companion animals, euthanasia of companion animals, and the ethics of diet.

Dewey And Our Present Purposes. A Review Of Dewey And Education, Eli Orner Kramer

Democracy & Education

In this review essay of Walter Feinberg's new book, Dewey and Education, the reconstruction of philosophers for our present purposes is explored, as well as Feinberg’s criticisms of Deweyan “optimism” in context of his own social imaginary.

Review Of "The Imagination In German Idealism And Romanticism" Edited By G. Gentry And K. Pollok, Richard Thomas Eldridge

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Review Of Lori Gruen's Critical Terms For Animal Studies, Angus Taylor

Between the Species

Review of Critical Terms for Animal Studies, edited by Lori Gruen

Firing Queer Teachers From Catholic Schools: Ethical And Theological Considerations, Ish Ruiz

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Since 2007, there have been over 90 cases of queer employees fired from Catholic institutions – many of which include dismissals of queer educators from Catholic schools. As religious institutions, Catholic schools are constitutionally protected by a ministerial exception that offers legal immunity to Catholic educational institutions that fire queer employees (which are sometimes considered “ministers” by the courts). The ministerial exception is an extension of the institution’s right to religious freedom to promote its doctrine though its schools. Although this right to discriminate is legally protected, from a moral standpoint, one may argue that the exercise of one human …

Facing Human Rights: Theorizing Out Of The Experience Of Suffering, Patrick Ahern

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In contending that “the freedom of philosophy is nothing but the capacity to lend a voice to unfreedom,” Adorno recognized that the role of philosophy is to illuminate the deformity of that which is deformed in the structures of power and the institutions that preserve the status quo. A critical treatment of those concepts that obfuscate the realization of emancipation led Adorno, along with Horkheimer, to claim that, “the purpose of human rights was to promise happiness even where power is lacking.” In other words, the language of human rights served to stifle the experiences of the oppressed classes under …

Welcoming Finitude: Toward A Phenomenology Of Orthodox Liturgy [Table Of Contents], Christina M. Gschwandtner

Philosophy & Theory

What does it mean to experience and engage in religious ritual? How does liturgy structure time and space? How do our bodies move within liturgy, and what impact does it have on our senses? How does the experience of ritual affect us and shape our emotions or dispositions? How is liturgy experienced as a communal event, and how does it form the identity of those who participate in it? Welcoming Finitude explores these broader questions about religious experience by focusing on the manifestation of liturgical experience in the Eastern Christian tradition. Drawing on the methodological tools of contemporary phenomenology and …

Rethinking Constitutional Interpretation To Affirm Human Rights And Dignity, Vincent Samar

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Something To Do With A Girl Named Marla: Eros And Gender In David Fincher’S Fight Club, Vernon W. Cisney

Interdisciplinary Studies Faculty Publications

David Fincher’s 1999 film, Fight Club, has been characterized in many ways: as a romantic comedy, an exploration of white, middle-class male angst, an existentialist search for meaning amidst the moral ruins of late capitalism, an anarchist manifesto, and so on. But common to nearly every reading of the film, critical and laudatory alike, is the assumption that Fight Club is indisputably a celebration of misogynistic, masculinist virility and violence. On its face, this assumption appears so overwhelmingly obvious as to render superfluous any argumentation in support thereof, and absurd any opposing argumentation. Consider the ubiquitous homoerotic adulation of the …

The Next Page Of Yoga Anatomy: An Anatomical Lens On Selected Yoga Asanas, Viana Chau

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Yoga has become a widely-recognized form of physical activity as well as an effective therapeutic intervention. It is a self-discipling way of life, taking advantage of the powerful effects from the combination of breathing exercises (pranayama), physical postures (asanas), and meditation on calming the nervous system and balancing the mind, body, and spirit. However, over time, the contemporary definition of yoga, especially in the United States, has decreased the emphasis on the religious spirituality component and increased the emphasis on physical activity. Although one may argue that this is not the traditional yoga, this change not only breaks down the …

V.1 Fall 2019, Center For Arts & Language, Students Of Risd, Risd Archives

All Student Newspapers

v.1 is a publishing platform for the ongoing work, ideas, discussions, debates, and aspirations of students at the Rhode Island School of Design. The Fall 2019 issue has a theme of mobility and contains articles on Providence's Superman Building, Quechua textiles and the Mexican Revolution, Asian queer identities, and the best albums of the 2010s, along with personal essays, creative writing, and other student work.

The Making And Silencing Of “Axé-Ocracy” In Brazil: Black Women Writers’ Spiritual, Political And Literary Movement In São Paulo, Sarah S. Ohmer

Publications and Research

In this article, I will focus on two influential writers from the south of Brazil, Cristiane Sobral who currently lives in Brasília, from Rio de Janeiro, and Conceição Evaristo who currently lives in Rio de Janeiro state, from Minas Gerais. I got to know them in São Paulo in 2015 at a public event: the “Afroétnica Flink! Sampa Festival of Black Thought, Literature and Culture.” I will include references to some of their younger contemporaries such as Raquel Almeida, Jenyffer Nascimento, and Elizandra Souza, all of whom reside in São Paulo, in order to illustrate the Black Brazilian women writers’ …

Making Sense Of The City: Public Spaces In The Philippines, Remmon E. Barbaza

Philosophy Department Faculty Publications

Making sense of the City is a collection of essays from scholars in the humanities and the social sciences examining the city within the Philippine context. With Metro Manila bursting at the seams, as tensions continue to intensify and more intractable problems arise than those that are being solved, it becomes a matter of survival for all stakeholders to come together and shape the future of the city.

The City As Illusion And Promise, Remmon E. Barbaza

Philosophy Department Faculty Publications

In The City as Illusion and Promise, the author examines the claim (by Henri Lefebvre, and later David Harvey) that the city no longer exists, at least as we know it. What we have instead is merely an illusion, something that Martin Heidegger also implies in some of his later writings, notably his seminal work on the essence of technology. In confronting such an extreme proposition, the author first raises a conceptual problem: Is the city a city insofar as it is not a province? And vice versa? But the conceptual problematic of course is also manifested in actual material …

Aristotle And Habituation: Is Virtue Really Attainable Without God's Help, Roy Michael Mattson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

We are by nature moral beings who desire virtue. This fact is borne out by innumerable studies. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Eudemian Ethics remain among the most influential works on ethics and human moral psychology. Aristotle claims that human beings can develop good character traits and achieve virtue with the appropriate upbringing (what Aristotle called habituation). Much of what Aristotle says about character traits, virtue, and habituation is accepted today and inspires character education. Yet recent results in experimental psychology challenge the notion of character traits and virtue as understood by Aristotle. The challenge is the abundance of evidence showing …

Kath' Hauta Predicates And The 'Commensurate Universals', Owen Goldin

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

What lies behind Aristotle’s declarations that an attribute or feature that is demonstrated to belong to a scientific subject is proper to that subject? The answer is found in APo. 2.8-10, if we understand these chapters as bearing not only on Aristotle theory of definition but also as clarifying the logical structure of demonstration in general. If we identify the basic subjects with what has no different cause, and demonstrable attributes (the kath’ hauta sumbebēkota) with what do have ‘a different cause’, the definitions of demonstrable attributes necessarily have the minor terms of the appropriate demonstrations in their …

Introduction: Cities As Ways Of World Making, Curtis Carter

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Art And The Ecology Of Leisure, Curtis Carter

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

Philosophers, scientists, and artists alike are prone to explore important questions concerning ecology as it relates to the impact of human actions for the future of nature and human civilizations. The main focus in this essay is to consider ecological implications of art understood as a form of leisure. Art is of course more than leisure for the artists and other arts professionals, but its personal and societal roles also serve as leisure activities. Both the production of art and its consumption have important ecological implications. Select philosophical (Hegel) and scientific (Escobar) concerning art and nature provide a context for …

Breaking The Epistemic Pornography Habit: Cognitive Biases, Digital Discourse Environments, And Moral Exemplars, Andrew D. Spear

Articles, Book Chapters, Essays

Purpose: This paper analyzes some of the epistemically pernicious effects of use of the Internet and social media. In light of this analysis, it introduces the concept of epistemic pornography and argues that epistemic agents both can and should avoid consuming and sharing epistemic pornography.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper draws on research on epistemic virtue, cognitive biases, social media use and its epistemic consequences, Fake News, paternalistic nudging, pornography, moral philosophy, moral elevation, and moral exemplar theory to analyze the epistemically pernicious effects of the Internet and social media.

Findings: There is a growing consensus that Internet and social media activate …

Non-Empirical Modelling And Theorizing: Scientific Progress In Particle Physics, Cristin Cain Chall

Theses and Dissertations

Particle physics (and other fundamental physics research, including searches for a theory of quantum gravity) faces a problem when it comes to acquiring experimental evidence. Many theories and models make predictions that cannot be tested with current, or even prospective technology. Yet these fields continue to develop, with new models and theories regularly being introduced, scrutinized, changed, and discarded. My project aims at examining the way theories and models are constructed, adapted, and assessed in fields that lack the empirical evidence that usually grounds such tasks. I will focus on two prominent examples: string theory and attempts to explain electroweak …

The Fantastic Structure Of Freedom: Sartre, Freud, And Lacan, Gregory A. Trotter

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation reassesses the complex philosophical relationship between Sartre and psychoanalysis. Most scholarship on this topic focuses on Sartre’s criticisms of the unconscious as anathema both to his conception of the human psyche as devoid of any hidden depths or mental compartments and, correlatively, his account of human freedom. Many philosophers conclude that there is little common ground between Sartrean existentialism and psychoanalytic theory. I argue, on the contrary, that by shifting the emphasis from concerns about the nature of the unconscious to questions about the role of imagination in psychical life, we can see that Sartre and Freudian-Lacanian psychoanalytic …

A Role For Empathy In Decolonizing Aesthetics: Unlikely Lessons From Roger Fry, Ivan Gaskell

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Artist and art historian Roger Fry used Paul Gauguin’s 1896 painting, Poèmes barbares, to advertise his 1910 exhibition, Manet and the Post-Impressionists. In Vision and Design (1920), Fry promoted the so-called “primitive” art of Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa as depending on unmediated perception that he associated with the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. Although Fry’s assumption of an “ultra-primitive directness of vision” on the part of African makers ignores their own mediating conventions, his reliance on the Vischers’ notion of empathetic connection enhances the possibility of regarding the cultural products of peoples foreign to the percipient with what Paul C. …

Saints, Mediation, And Miracle-Talk: The Señor De Los Milagros In Lima, Peru, Kristin Norget, Margarita Zires Roldán

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.

Competing Sovereignties: Indigeneity And The Visual Culture Of Catholic Colonization At The 1925 Pontifical Missionary Exhibition, Gloria Bell

Journal of Global Catholicism

Through an analysis of Catholic colonial cum missionary imagery, First Nations artwork, missionary accounts and archival fragments, this article examines the competing sovereignties of Indigeneity and Papal visual culture through the case study of the 1925 Pontifical Missionary Exhibition at the Vatican.

Introduction: Mediating Catholicisms: Studies In Aesthetics, Authority, And Identity, Eric Hoenes Del Pinal, Marc Roscoe Loustau, Kristin Norget

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.