Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Correspondence Theory Of Truth: The Root Cause Of Fundamentalism In America, Peyton Mclain Tune

Philosophy & Humanities Theses - Archive

Christian fundamentalism in America is alive and well and serves as an impediment to the progress of a democratic society because of its tendency to seek universal subordination of all truth to "Biblical truth". In this paper I argue the source of strength for the resilience of this religious movement comes from their implicit adherence to the correspondence theory of truth as they apply it to their interpretation of the Bible. Furthermore, I will argue Richard Rorty's attack on the correspondence theory of truth provides a challenge to fundamentalism and reveals an alternative to fundamentalists who might join him in …

“Languages Of The Peoples Of Kazakhstan And Their Interaction” By Bakhytzhan Khassanov, And “Languages Of The Peoples Of Kazakhstan” By Eleonora Suleimenova, Nursulu Shaimerdenova, Dana Akanova, Aidyn Aldaberdikyzy

Russian Language Journal

A rich vein of articles and books has recently addressed some critical issues in the field of sociolinguistics in Kazakhstan, both in terms of theoretical perspectives and of their implications in the context of education and policy. A wide range of theoretical and practical questions of Kazakhstani sociolinguistics are addressed, including:

• Defining de jure and de facto status of languages;

• Content and stages of status and corpus language planning;

• Ethnic and linguistic identification of individuals, ethnic groups and the population altogether;

• Ethnic and linguistic consciousness and self-consciousness;

• Possibility and prevention of language conflicts;

• Defining …

The ‘Perks’ Of Controversial Texts In Curricula: The Benefit Of Young Adult Literature On Adolescents In The Classroom, Carly Hurst

3690: A Journal of First-Year Student Research Writing

Overview: Have you ever heard a song on the radio with a terrible beat or a screechy singer but had eloquent lyrics? Like a diamond in the rough, the true beauty is buried underneath layers of dirt. This premise can be seen in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a young adult novel surrounded by controversy. Due to its somewhat risqué themes, the book is undoubtedly ribald, thus causing quite a flurry by parents about its use in curricula. However, this novel should not be censored because it not only integrates modern young adult literature into classrooms, relating better …

When Apostles Become Philosophers, Rubén R. Dupertuis

Religion Faculty Research

No other death in the ancient world was as well known as that of Socrates. By the early Roman imperial period, Socrates have become the pre-eminent martyr, the prototype of the philosopher unjustly accused, tried, and executed. His prominence is due, in part, to being the subject in some of the writings of his students, Plato and Xenophon, which became standards of the Greek educational curriculum. In the literature of the late Hellenistic and early Roman periods, Socrates' death became a widely imitated model of how to die nobly. Given the importance of Socrates as a cultural model at the …

Bold Speech, Opposition, And Philosophical Imagery In The Acts Of The Apostles, Rubén R. Dupertuis

Religion Faculty Research

This chapter focuses on three related aspects of the function of the term parrēsia in the characterization of the philosopher that stand out and will be useful for the subsequent assessment of the function of the term in Acts; they are: (a) the association of parrēsia and conflict with ruling authorities; (b) divine commission as the source of parrēsia; and (c) the significance of Socrates as the model for later philosophers.

Adaptation, Steven Luper

Philosophy Faculty Research

Some ways of dealing with a threatened evil will be self-defeating, in the sense that the response is no better for us, or even worse, than the evil it prevents. A way of adapting to death might be self-defeating in precisely the same way. Perhaps, however, we can adapt to death by suitably modifying our interests, and do so in a way that is not self-defeating. I will call this claim the adaptation thesis. Elsewhere, I have argued against it. In this chapter, I reinforce that conclusion.

The Chica Rara As Observer In Concha Alós’S Los Cien Pájaros, Debra J. Ochoa

Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research

The article focuses on how the protagonist of the book "Los cien pájaros," by Concha Alós can be understood through the concept of chica rara or strange girl given by author Carmen Martín Gaite. Topics discussed include the use of the term chica rara by Martín Gaite in the novel "Nada," by Carmen Laforet, the issues involving prostitution and sexuality in the "Los cienpájaros," and the portrayal of independent woman in the book.

David Foster Wallace And Lovelessness, David P. Rando

English Faculty Research

The article focuses on the American writer David Foster Wallace and his way of expressing emotions in his works. Topics discussed include Wallace using irony in his fictions to express genuine emotions, critics of his work reproducing Wallace's own thoughts to criticize him, and his books "Oblivion," and "Infinite Jest," and the unfinished novel "The Pale King." It also refers to the book "Mrs. Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf in comparison to deaths in Wallace's works.

Witnessing The Web: The Rhetoric Of American E-Vangelism And Persuasion Online, Amber M. Stamper

Theses and Dissertations--English

From the distribution of religious tracts at Ellis Island and Billy Sunday’s radio messages to televised recordings of the Billy Graham Crusade and Pat Robertson’s 700 Club, American evangelicals have long made a practice of utilizing mass media to spread the Gospel. Most recently, these Christian evangelists have gone online. As a contribution to scholarship in religious rhetoric and media studies, this dissertation offers evangelistic websites as a case study into the ways persuasion is carried out on the Internet. Through an analysis of digital texts—including several evangelical home pages, a chat room, discussion forums, and a virtual church—I investigate …

A New Way Of Living: Bioeconomic Models In Post-Apocalyptic Dystopias, Margaret A. Wells

Theses and Dissertations--English

The objective of this thesis is to explore the relationship between moralities and bioeconomies in post-apocalyptic dystopias from the Victorian era to contemporary Young Adult Fiction. In defining the terms bioeconomy and biopolitics, this works examines the ways in which literature uses food and energy systems to explore morality and immorality in social orders and systems, including capitalism and our modern techno-industrial landscapes. This work examines science fiction portrayals of apocalypses and dystopias, including After London: Or, Wild England and The Hunger Games, as well as their medieval and contextual influences. These works are analyzed in light of genre …

Randomness, Uncertainty, And Economic Behavior: The Life Of Money In Eighteenth-Century Fiction, Devjani Roy

Theses and Dissertations--English

My dissertation argues that fiction produced in England during the frequent financial crises and political volatility experienced between 1770 and 1820 both reflected and shaped the cultural anxiety occasioned by a seemingly random and increasingly uncertain world. The project begins within the historical framework of the multiple financial crises that occurred in the late eighteenth century: seven crises took place between 1760 and 1797 alone, appearing seemingly out of nowhere and creating a climate of financial meltdown. But how did the awareness of economic turbulence filter into the creative consciousness? Through an interdisciplinary focus on cultural studies and behavioral economics, …

Audience Response To The Nature/Society Binary In Kurosawa’S Dersu Uzala: An Observational Online Ethnography, Laura L. Sharp

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Geographers researching cinema have predominantly been interested in how geographic meaning is constructed and negotiated within film, but have been less productive in accounting for how these constructs are received by viewers. Using the method of observational online ethnography, I therefore investigate how fans in online reviews have interpreted the nature/society binary in the film Dersu Uzala. Working from a social constructionist view of nature I begin by deconstructing the binary as it appears in Dersu Uzala before proceeding to illustrate the way this constitutive absence is made up for by the visuality of the film’s landscapes and techniques of …

The United States And The Congo, 1960-1965: Containment, Minerals And Strategic Location, Erik M. Davis

Theses and Dissertations--History

The Congo Crisis of the early 1960s served as a satellite conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Scholars have argued about U.S. motivations and interests involved in the Congo Crisis. The major division between scholars is between those who contend the United States acted for national security reasons and those scholars who argue the United States desired to establish a neocolonial regime to protect economic interests pertaining to vast Congolese mineral wealth. The argument of this thesis is that the United States policy in the Congo between 1960 and 1965 focused on installing …

A Dispute In Dispute: Forgery, Heresy, And Sainthood In Seventh-Century Byzantium, Ryan W. Strickler

Theses and Dissertations--History

The Disputatio cum Pyrrho purports to be a transcript of the 645 debate that took place in North Africa. The text initially addresses Monotheletism, the theology of the Constantinopolitan church that held that the Christ had a single will, then Monoenergism, which held that Christ possessed a single operation and which had in the 620’s and 630’s been the official position of the Constantinopolitan church, but which by 645 had been rejected and replaced by Monotheletism. Pyrrhus, the exiled, former Patriarch of Constantinople, represents the Monothelete and Monoenergist positions and Maximus the Confessor opposes them. Throughout the dialogue, Maximus repeatedly …

Instruments Of Righteousness: The Intersections Of Black Power And Anti-Vietnam War Activism In The United States, 1964-1972, Amanda L. Higgins

Theses and Dissertations--History

Instruments of Righteousness investigates the class-, race-, and gender-based identities and intersections of women and men in the Black Power movement and their various organizing activities to gain certain and defined concessions from federal, state, and local governments. It argues that the intersections of Black Power and anti-Vietnam War activism created changing definitions of black masculinity and femininity, expressed through anti-draft and anti-war work. Black Power and anti-war activism cannot and should not be investigated separate from one another. The experiences of Black Power soldiers, antiwar members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Black Panther Party, and the …

Sacred, Suspect, Forbidden: The Use Of Space In Early Modern Venice, Julie D. Fox

Theses and Dissertations--History

This dissertation argues that Venetian space in the sixteenth century was embedded with various boundaries that individuals challenged and that communities and Venetian secular and ecclesiastical authorities reinforced. The development of Venetian urban space played an essential role in the formation of Venetian civic identity, which in turn was predicated upon the myth of Venice. The time period examined includes the re-establishment of the Roman Inquisition, and the early period of the Inquisition in Venice, which were concomitant with a time of religious and social disruption. Documents of the Venetian government and contemporary diarists offer contextual evidence; however, trials before …

Indiana's Southern Senator: Jesse Bright And The Hoosier Democracy, John J. Wickre

Theses and Dissertations--History

Without northern doughface Democrats, and northern states like Indiana, the South could not have held dominance in American politics during the sectional crisis. Anchoring the extreme end of the doughface North was Indiana’s slaveholding senator Jesse Bright (his holdings were in Kentucky). Yet, he was no flailing radical pushed to the margins of northern politics. Bright was the chief party boss who by the mid to late 1850s controlled the state of Indiana. He was one of the most influential leaders getting James Buchanan into the presidency. He did this, in part, because Indiana was a conservative state that disliked …

Telling The Story Of Mexican Migration: Chronicle, Literature, And Film From The Post-Gatekeeper Period, Ruth Brown

Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies

This study examines how the social process of undocumented Mexican migration is interpreted in the chronicle, literature, and film of the post-Gatekeeper period, which is defined here at 1994-2008. Bounded on one side by the Mexican economic crisis of 1994, and increased border security measures begun in that same year, and on the other by the advent of the global economic crisis of 2008, the post-Gatkeeper period represents a time in which undocumented migration through the southern U.S. border reached unprecedented levels. The dramatic, tragic, and compelling stories that emerged from this period have been retold and interpreted from a …

Honor, Reputation, And Conflict: George Of Trebizond And Humanist Acts Of Self-Presentation, Karl R. Alexander

Theses and Dissertations--History

The present study investigates the verbal strategies of self-presentation that humanist scholars employed in contests of honor during the early fifteenth century. The focus of this study is George of Trebizond (1395-1472/3), a Cretan scholar who emigrated to Italy in 1416, taught in Venice, Vicenza, and elsewhere, served as an apostolic secretary in Rome, and composed the first major humanist treatise on rhetoric, his Rhetoricorum libri quinque, in 1433/34. Trebizond feuded with many prominent humanists during his career, including Guarino of Verona (1374-1460) and Poggio Bracciolini (1380-1459). His quarrels with both men illustrate how humanist conflicts were the sites upon …

More Than An "Immoderate Superstition": Christian Identity In The First Three Centuries, Edward Mason

Theses and Dissertations--History

Only recently have scholars given particular attention to the development of the racial discourse present in early Christian apologetics. This study is aimed at understanding the Latin and Greek literary antecedents to the development of a Christian discourse on race and identity and examining in detail the apex of this discourse in the work of third century apologist Origen of Alexandria. Origen’s work represented the apex of an evolving discourse that, while continuing to use traditional vocabulary, became increasingly universalizing with the growth of the Roman Empire. By understanding how Christians in the first three centuries shaped their attitudes on …

Letters As Self-Portraits: Epistolary Fictions By Women Writers In Spain (1986-2002), Lynn Y. Celdran

Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies

My study seeks to explore the interest that Spanish women authors such as Josefina Aldecoa, Carme Riera, Nuria Amat, Esther Tusquets, Marina Mayoral, Carmen Martín Gaite, and Olga Guirao have taken in the revival of epistolary fiction in recent decades. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century epistolary fiction in Spain was conditioned by social practices and by literary conventions that typically confined its heroines to an amorous plot and women authors to anonymity. I contend that if modern tradition of epistolary practices and other male-discriminatory practices kept women writers silenced or invisible in the Spanish literary world, contemporary women writers sketch themselves back …

Beyond The Battle: Religion And American Troops In World War Ii, Kevin L. Walters

Theses and Dissertations--History

This dissertation examines the ways in which military personnel interacted with religion during World War II. It argues that the challenges of wartime service provided the impetus and the opportunity to improvise religious practices, refine religious beliefs amid new challenges, and broaden religious understanding through interaction with those from other traditions. Methodologically, this dissertation moves beyond existing analyses that focus primarily on institutions and their representatives such as military chaplains. Instead, it explores first-person accounts left by men and women who were not part of the chaplain corps and analyzes ways in which non-chaplains engaged religion. The exigencies of war …

Whiteness In Africa: Americo-Liberians And The Transformative Geographies Of Race, Robert P. Murray

Theses and Dissertations--History

This dissertation examines the constructed racial identities of African American settlers in colonial Liberia as they traversed the Atlantic between the United States and West Africa during the first half of the nineteenth century. In one of the great testaments that race is a social construction, the West African neighbors and inhabitants of Liberia, who conceived of themselves as “black,” recognized the significant cultural differences between themselves and these newly-arrived Americans and racially categorized the newcomers as “white.” This project examines the ramifications for these African American settlers of becoming simultaneously white and black through their Atlantic mobility. This is …

Aurora Bertrana: Una Trayectoria Literaria Marcada Por La Perspectiva De Género, Sílvia Roig

Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies

My dissertation explores the narrative of Aurora Bertrana (1892-1974), an unknown writer today, but a successful and recognized female author in Catalonia and Spain during the mid 20^th century. The written work of Aurora Bertrana is almost never mentioned in manuals of literature. Relegated almost to absolute oblivion, her rich, intellectual writting has not received the attention it deserves. I have studied seventeen of Bertrana’s novels –practically her entire oeuvre– written in Catalan and Spanish, including the following excellent books that have escaped critical attention: Ariatea (1960), “El pomell de les violes” (mn.), L’inefable Philip (mn.), La aldea sin …

Assessing Self-Efficacy Of Cultural Competence With Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Clients: A Comparison Of Training Methods With Graduate Social Work Students, Steven D. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations--Social Work

Graduate social work students are mandated to be cultural competent to work with lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients. This exploratory study examined how best to teach graduate social work students to be culturally competent in working with LGB clients by assessing their perceived competence of attitudes, knowledge and skills as well as their demonstrated competence through case vignettes.

The study compared a current pedagogical method of infusing LGB material across the curricula with two types of brief trainings (didactic lecture and experiential) . This mixed methods study utilized a pretest/posttest design to examine the effects of the trainings as …

Addressing Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Bullying: A Mindfulness-Based Intervention Manual, Melanie L. Ernould

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The following dissertation offers an intervention to combat the negative effects that bullying has
on lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth in high school. The literature review demonstrates the need for such an intervention through examples of the damaging effects that such bullying has on LGB youth. These incidents of bullying are far too common in American schools, and the effects far reaching, as the media has been saturated with stories of “gay teen suicides” in recent years. While affirmative interventions are currently the status quo for work with LGB populations, it can be argued that these are limited. In …

'Abdolkarim Soroush, Sayeh Meisami

Philosophy Faculty Publications

‘Abdolkarim Soroush is the penname for Hossein Haj Faraj Dabbᾱgh (1945–). He is one of the most controversial figures in the religious and political polemics of postrevolutionary Iran. This is owing to his early adherence to the Islamic revolutionary values, his polemics against Marxism, later departure from the conservative Islam toward a reformist stand based on the philosophy of science and modern hermeneutics, and his current role as an uncompromising and outspoken opposition voice, as well as a fervent supporter of the Green Movement. Soroush’s ideas should be categorized under religious reformism in general, which goes beyond Iranian politics. Due …

The Ethiopian Conception Of Time And Modernity, Messay Kebede

Philosophy Faculty Publications

If there is one thing that philosophers agree upon, it is that the meaning of time is a central philosophical question. If we take the Western world as an example, there is no famous philosopher who has not investigated time. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger, to indicate the centrality of time, writes: “all ontology is rooted in the phenomenon of time correctly viewed and correctly explained.”

Likewise, according to the French philosopher Henri Bergson, the main reason that philosophical questions are difficult is because “we do not think about real time.” The fact that the question of time is very …

The Ethiopian Conception Of Time And Modernity: Amharic Version, Messay Kebede

Philosophy Faculty Publications

If there is one thing that philosophers agree upon, it is that the meaning of time is a central philosophical question. If we take the Western world as an example, there is no famous philosopher who has not investigated time. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger, to indicate the centrality of time, writes: “all ontology is rooted in the phenomenon of time correctly viewed and correctly explained.”

Likewise, according to the French philosopher Henri Bergson, the main reason that philosophical questions are difficult is because “we do not think about real time.” The fact that the question of time is very …

Mothering Against Norms: Diane Wilson And Environmental Activism, Danielle Poe

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Diane Wilson is a mother and an environmental activist, two roles that challenge:

• Common perceptions about what a mother is and what her obligations to her children are.
• Common stereotypes about environmental activists and the focus of their acts.

Her story reveals the ways in which mothering is always practiced in a context, and sometimes in order to work toward a society in which her children can thrive, a mother may have to challenge the context itself and take time away from her children.

When Wilson engages in questioning, challenging, and changing the world, she faces pressure from local and …