Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Bloody Rationality: The Dialectic Of Modern Reason And Sacrifice In Hegel, Adorno, And Horkheimer, Cara S. Greene

Philosophy ETDs

In my dissertation, I argue that Hegel, Adorno, and Horkheimer develop theories of modern sacrifice grounded in their critiques of modern reason—what Hegel calls “the Understanding” and Adorno and Horkheimer call “instrumental reason.” I contend that these thinkers recognize the process of rational cognition, which abstracts conceptual data from empirical reality and establishes the dominance of the universal over particular phenomena, as a sacrificial process—a view supported by their routine description of this process using the language of violence and death. However, this sacrificial conception of modern reason isn’t metaphorical: when read alongside their analyses of discursive cunning, an instrumental …

Paradigms And Logical Morphology In Wittgenstein’S Philosophy, Idris Robinson

Philosophy ETDs

This dissertation investigates the notion of a paradigm and its related morphological method through the lens of the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951). At once exegetical and philosophical, it is a project that aims to trace the progression of Wittgenstein’s thought, from his early to his mature phase, in order to arrive at a twofold conclusion regarding the ontological status of paradigms and a closely related approach to logic grounded in morphology.

Of A Different Mind: The Early Schelling And Problems In The Philosophy Of Mind, Marcel Lebow

Philosophy ETDs

This dissertation concerns the intersection between the early thinking of the 19^th century German idealist F.W.J. Schelling and some of the problems within the contemporary philosophy of mind. I aim to show that a study of Schelling’s work illuminates research paths still left open to us today when confronting the problems surrounding the mind’s place in the world. I provide an overview of the trajectory of Schelling’s early thought. I argue that while Schelling’s philosophy changes during the course of his career, each of his positions is concerned with establishing a foundationalist monism. I criticize versions of his view …

Vulnerability, Invulnerability, And The Mechanism Of Disavowal, Mariah C. Partida

Philosophy ETDs

In this dissertation, I defend the view that, contrary to popular opinion, vulnerability is not merely susceptibility to harm but also openness to unanticipated change and transformation. Drawing on the work of Simone de Beauvoir, Judith Butler, Erinn Gilson, Gilles Deleuze, and Benedict Spinoza, I also aim to show that vulnerability is not a static property of some individuals but rather a relational process that is both universal and differently distributed. My original contribution to vulnerability studies is to trace the mechanism of disavowal across 20^th and 21^st century figures in philosophy: from Heidegger’s account of disavowing our …

Towards A More Formal Understanding Of Anyāpoha, David P. Kasza

Philosophy ETDs

The aim of this thesis is to investigate if Digṇāga’s commitment that non-observation (adarśanam) of the reason (adarśanam)and property to be proven (sādya) in the dissimilar example (vyatireka dṛṣṭānta) is alone sufficient to ground the exclusion of other referents (anyāpoha), as a valid inference for oneself (svārthānumāna) and proof for others (parārthānumāna). To answer this question, four formal accounts of Digṇāga’s view of the three characteristics (Trairūpya) of inference by Hayes, Katsura, Tillemans, and Oetke were consulted. I argue a formal logical account of …

Forms Of Life And Comprehension Analysis And Application Of Concepts From The Philosophical Investigations, Vincent Graziano

Philosophy ETDs

In this paper I have examined the notion of ‘forms of life’ against the concept of ‘comprehension’. Particular attention was given to Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations. I first defend my view that comprehension is made possible by forms of life; or, that forms of life condition our comprehension. A comprehension-event is one which will always occur in a language-game, and is structured by grammar. After I defend my position, I apply this view to three canonical philosophical issues: conceptual universals or how we see one when there are many, the mind-body gap or the difficulty of unifying our ideas about the …

Heidegger And The Second Nature Of Entities: Sense, Ontology, And Normativity, Graham C. Bounds

Philosophy ETDs

This dissertation is concerned with the meaning or content of empirical thought and its relationship to the natural world. More specifically, I seek to develop a response to a problem influentially posed by John McDowell in Mind and World, and elaborated in various forms throughout his work, according to which our understanding of such content is positioned between two competing demands about how it is determined: by the way the world is, and by the trappings of a human form of life, in particular, language.

That response is worked out primarily by appeal to the early work of Martin …

From Deconstruction To Rehabilitation: Heidegger, Gadamer, And Modernity, David Liakos

Philosophy ETDs

This dissertation is a study of the problem of modernity, formulated as the following multivalent question: How should we understand the scope, character, and limitations of our historical age? The study approaches this question from the point of view of Martin Heidegger and Hans-Georg Gadamer. We will, first, clarify how Heidegger and Gadamer think about modernity, thereby shedding light on their widely misunderstood intellectual relationship; and, next, uncover and defend a distinctively Gadamerian response to modernity as a viable argument, and as potentially more coherent and hopeful than Heidegger’s answer to the problem of the modern age.

In the first …

Narrating The Collapse: The Use And Limits Of A Phenomenology Of Depression, James Bodington

Philosophy ETDs

This project is an attempt to apply certain of the insights of phenomenological philosophy to the analysis of the lived experience of depression. I argue that the centering of experience in phenomenology can, and should, motivate its use in the context of the philosophical analysis of mental health, and may contribute to therapeutic aims as well. While this has been remarked upon in recent and current literature, this project motivates, engages with, augments, and challenges existing philosophical approaches to mental health and depression. I begin by surveying the existing literature, and bringing the critiques of classical phenomenology suggested by Guenther’s …

Body And Time: The Temporality Of Human Embodiment, Daniel Harland Briggs Jr.

Philosophy ETDs

In this dissertation I hope to shed further light on Heidegger’s thought-provoking claim that “We do not “have” a body; rather, we “are” bodily.” After discussing the problem of the body in the context of Being and Time in chapters one and two, I move to Heidegger’s later lectures and seminars in chapter three to articulate a specifically Heideggerian account of the bodying of the body. I hope to show that Heidegger’s understanding of the ontological difference can effectively help us to understand bodily difference in its corporeal, lived, and existential dimensions. From a Heideggerian standpoint, the existential dimensions of …

Epistemological Disjunctivism: An Analysis And A Critique, Krupa Patel

Philosophy ETDs

In this dissertation, I focus on the epistemological concerns regarding a disjunctivist theory of perception. More specifically, I focus on a critique of epistemological disjunctivism, a thesis about how our beliefs about the world are supported by perception. In order to explain the possibility of perceptual knowledge, an epistemological disjunctivist argues that one’s epistemic support in a good case, seeing that p (e.g., seeing that there is a lemon on the table), is different in kind from one’s epistemic support in a bad case, seeming to see that p (e.g., seeming to see that there is a lemon on the …

Theories Of Reflection In Indian Philosophy And Jacques Lacan, Dimitry Shevchenko

Philosophy ETDs

In this dissertation I study the analogy of reflection in a mirror as a device used frequently in Indian philosophical traditions to solve the problem of the interaction between consciousness and matter. This problem, discussed both in Indian and Western philosophy, concerns the nature of the interaction between the seemingly incompatible dimensions of subjective experience and objective matter. In Indian philosophy, the essential idea is that, just as a face and its properties are reflected in a mirror and appear to belong to it, so are consciousness and its properties, such as the sense of self, subjectivity, and the experience …

Thinking With Images, Ed Sarkis

Philosophy ETDs

This thesis argues that images are necessary for thinking. If this is true then the nature of images needs to be understood. The problem with many accounts of perception is assuming that representing what we see is a matter of accurate depiction. The problem is solved by attending to the skills of visual discernment rather than judgments about those perceptions. My approach is both historical and analytic. Aristotle, Hume, and Wittgenstein give accounts of perception which are critically discussed. The notion that an image is a copy is rejected by showing how complicated and indeterminate that relation is. Images have …

Liberal Cynicism, Its Dangers, And A Cure, William H. Barnes

Philosophy ETDs

Extreme Liberal Cynicism is a product of mourning, guilt, and the experience of powerlessness stemming from the trauma of holding liberal investments in a world in which they rarely flourish, in which they are perceived to have failed, and in which they are vulnerable to ideology critique. Consequently, the cynic is torn between liberal ideals and the obstacles to their success. This can compel the Liberal Cynic to extremes, fantasizing invulnerability through disavowing the efficacy of its constitutive ideals. This is achieved via a reified hopelessness which eclipses trauma, guilt, and disempowerment. Despite serving an immediately ameliorative purpose this leaves …

Thinking Differently, Feeling Differently: Nietzsche On Nihilism And Radical Openness, Kaitlyn N. Creasy

Philosophy ETDs

This dissertation seeks to offer a comprehensive account of the problem of nihilism in Friedrich Nietzsche, both as a cognitive phenomenon involving a set of beliefs about one’s world (as “European nihilism”) and as a feeling-based phenomenon (as affective nihilism). After introducing these two varieties of nihilism, I look to potential resources in Nietzsche’s thought for overcoming them. First, I argue that the European nihilist can think truth, purpose, and value in new and life-affirming ways by coming to understand Nietzsche’s account of the drives — as wills to power with affective, and therefore evaluative, orientations — and by applying …

Hegel On Indian Philosophy: Spinozism, Romanticism, Eurocentrism, Gino Signoracci

Philosophy ETDs

This study examines nineteenth-century German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel’s appraisal of philosophies of India. In Hegel’s time, classical Indian texts such as the Vedas, Upaniṣads, and Bhagavadgītā had only recently been translated into European languages, and were generating tremendous controversy. Hegel carved out a unique and hugely influential position by devotedly reading fledgling translations of source texts alongside European interpretations, attempting to comprehend the philosophical significance of Indian thought. Hegel’s legacy proved deeply problematic, however, both because his views were not entirely consistent or unambiguous over time, and because his evident relegation of Indian ideas to pre- or unphilosophical status …

Finding The Self In Tension: The Importance Of Play For Embodied Consciousness In Post-Kantian Philosophical Anthropology And Psychology, Jaime Thomas Denison

Philosophy ETDs

My dissertation looks at how four figures in the German philosophical tradition employ a similar concept of play in their models of the Ich', often translated as 'Self', as they explore the complexities of establishing a unity within embodied consciousness. These four figures are: Friedrich Schiller, F.W.J. Schelling, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud. I situate this concept of play within the contemporary debate of the interdisciplinary field of play studies, showing that what emerges is a theory of play that avoids marginalizing it to children and leisure, but rather recognizes it as a state of consciousness that provides a semblance …

Transcendence And Transformation: Charles Taylor And The Promise Of Inclusive Humanism In A Secular Age., Phillip Williamson Schoenberg

Philosophy ETDs

This is a study in the religious philosophy of the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor. I focus in particular on the role of transcendence in his later writing on religion and secularity with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of his overall vision of the way out of the malaise of modernity, namely, his adumbration of a pluralistic solution, which I call "inclusive humanism" in contrast to both a narrow religious humanism on the one hand, and a narrow "exclusive" secular humanism on the other. Transcendence as transformation is the centerpiece of Taylor's hope for the moral and spiritual …

Demandingness, Self-Interest And Benevolence In Śāntideva’S Introduction To The Practice Of Awakening (Bodhicaryāvatāra), Stephen E. Harris

Philosophy ETDs

This dissertation explores how benevolence and self-interest converge, thereby lessening moral demandingness, in the writing of the eighth century Indian Buddhist monk, Śāntideva. In the opening chapter, I argue that Śāntideva appears vulnerable to the overdemandingness objection, the claim that a moral system asks too much of its followers. This is because he endorses an extremely demanding process of virtue development during which an individual commits to becoming a bodhisattva, the Buddhist saint who voluntarily takes countless rebirths, often in painful situations, in order to attain full Buddhahood and liberate all beings from suffering. In the dissertation, I show that …

Truth For The Rest Of Us: Conventional Truth In The Work Of Dharmakīrti, Laura Guerrero

Philosophy ETDs

It is common in Buddhist philosophical literature to differentiate between two different types of truth: ultimate truth and conventional truth. For the philosophers of the Mahāyāna tradition of Buddhism, it is difficult to give an account of conventional truth that is both consistent with their anti-realist metaphysics (their ultimate position) and also robust enough to support truth as a normative concept. This dissertation addresses this problem by offering a deflationary interpretation of truth in Mahāyāna that is supported by a pragmatic account of intentionality and meaning. This account of meaning is developed from the work of the 7th Century Buddhist …

Business Training Considerations For American Indian Artists, Lan Stewart Farley

Philosophy ETDs

The study looked at the meaning of business for a group of American Indian artists of the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos. Specifically, the research sought to identify the social, economic, and cultural imperatives that impact upon their business activities. It also sought to determine if there was a need for training and, if so, what form it should take. Ten artists participate in the study.

The Concept Of Monism In Navajo Thought, Viola F. Cordova

Philosophy ETDs

The concept of Wind as an underlying and unitary force in a Navajo conceptual scheme, as presented primarily in the work of James R. McNeley (Holy Wind in Navajo Philosophy), is used as a means of exploring the possibility that the philosophical theory of monism may serve to explain basic Navajo cultural perspectives.

The study shows how philosophical method--analysis of conceptual notions and their implications--may enhance understanding of the many works on the Navajo presently offered through anthropological and ethnological research.

The idea that Native Americans share a view of the universe as "one thing" has been mentioned …

Conceptual Frameworks As A Source Of Cultural Distinctions, Viola F. Cordova

Philosophy ETDs

The purpose of this paper is to identify the conceptual frameworks of two distinct and unrelated peoples in order to show that the source of their particular views is a result of incommensurable conceptual frameworks. The peoples that I have chosen are the Native American, primarily the Athabascan (Apache, Navajo) with whom I am most familiar, and the group that the Native American calls the "European" -- those peoples that have the roots of their ancestry in the various nations of Europe.

Collingwood's Idea Of Re-Enactment: The Possibility Of A Differentiation Between History And Philosophy, Glenn William Malone

Philosophy ETDs

The "Prologue" to Speculum Mentis introduces a present disorder experienced by many Europeans in the life of culture. It formulates the problem and leaves the solution to the very special characters involved in the drama. These special characters are depicted as five definite forms of human experience. Each is essential to the problem; each contributes to the solution. In short, the coming to terms with the problem lies within each of them. The solution does not arise outside their action. The drama ends exhibiting a new "principle of unity." Philosophy, the self-conscious form of experience, solves the present anarchy experienced …

Marx's Category Of Praxis, Lawrence Kennedy Schmidt

Philosophy ETDs

This thesis is an exploration of the category of praxis in Marx’s philosophy. By means of this it is suggested that the category of praxis is the central category of Marx's philosophy and that it provides a means by which the development and unity of Marx’s work may be analyzed. The method of exposition is to discuss the definition and subdivisions of this category as found in Marx’s work. In the first chapter it is demonstrated that the category of praxis results from Marx's synthesis of Hegel's idealism and French materialism. Praxis is defined as sensuous human activity. In the …

A Philosophical Analysis Of Grimms' Marchen, James C. Moss

Philosophy ETDs

Grimms' Marchen are not only a delight to encounter, but they contain material of substantial philosophical value. This is a philosophical analysis of Grimms' tales, intended to introduce folklore to the realm of philosophy. Two major areas are investigated. They are the value of Marchen to a theory of knowledge and the existential value of these tales in influencing living, thinking, and acting. The major areas analyzed are the epistemology or world view, horror, humor, and ethics of these tales. The epistemology section discusses the hybrid nature of these Marchen as a synthesis of mythic consciousness and scientific or discursive …

James's Pragmatism: The Possibility For Meaning, Virginia Bergin Cravens

Philosophy ETDs

The problem of this study was to determine if William James‘s philosophy of Pragmatism offers the possibility for discovering meaning in life for the person who unexplainably suffers depression and melancholia, and a religious explana­tion for the evolutionary scientific person who suffers a religious-scientific crisis.

The methods used were to examine William James’s lectures, letters, and books, and research the literature for his interpretation of Pragmatism as a philosophy. The procedure analyzed the possibilities James offered for finding meaning in life, with or without religion, by using the Pragmatic Theory of truth. This involved a consideration of James's belief that …

Ethical Themes In African Thought., Elwood Joseph Mcdowell

Philosophy ETDs

Having long believed that my own African cultural heritage was worthless, it is especially problematical to me to establish that African peoples have much to offer philosophically. The central problem posed in this thesis is to bring to light African thinking as regards certain ethical questions such as the "individual vs. the community," "the highest good," and "the overall moral progress of mankind." Because of the newness of this subject matter, my resources were limited. I hope, nonetheless, that through examining the works of some few authors who have drawn their conclusions from innumerable proverbs and the structure of various …

C.G. Jung And The Renaissance Of The Mysteries., John Thomas Brady

Philosophy ETDs

The history of Western Philosophy was precipitated by the individualization of human experiencing. The Greek classical era, which produced the West's first 'philosophers,' was the cultural progeny of the first humans in our histor­ical record to perceive a world from the perspective of a consciousing aware of itself as a distinct entity. Prior to classical times, perception was a corporate phenomenon: in the Homeric world, the group, not the individual, was the matrix of thought and experience.

Plato did not want poets in his ideal polis-not because of what they had to say, but because of the way they said …

The Religious Views Of John Stuart Mill, Wilford N. Paul

Philosophy ETDs

The main problem I undertake to solve is the proper interpretation of what Mill's religious views were. A large number of conflicting and contradictory interpretations has appeared since the publication of Mill's Three Essays on Religion in 1874. And the many publications attending the recent revival of interest in Mill have contained little substantial help respecting this problem. My procedure is first to delineate the dominant modes of thought that influenced Mill during the first thirty years or so of his life. Turning next to Mill's writings specifically on the subject of religion, I discuss his conception of the general …