Philosophy Commons^™

Arts & Literature: A Personal Reckoning: Taking Responsibility As A Perpetrator, Henry C. Theriault

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This autobiographical essay identifies three forces that shaped the author’s participation in the scholarly and political struggle against genocide and other mass violence and oppression. These include his status as the grandson of Armenian Genocide survivors, the fact that his father was killed in action in the US War of Aggression against Vietnam, and the bullying he experienced as a child and adolescent. It then pushes back against any sense of victimhood that has resulted from the combination of these forces, to recognize the author’s implication in perpetration of the US War of Aggression against Vietnam, which the author has …

Liberalism And Lockdowns, D. Robert Macdougall

Publications and Research

Some authors have argued that liberalism cannot support lockdowns because it cannot engage in collective welfare-type reasoning. Others have thought that liberalism can justify lockdown measures, but that legitimate lockdown measures must be based on pre-legal moral principles that set acceptable limits to the imposition of risk or forbid contributing to collective harm. In this essay, I assess the overall relationship between liberalism and lockdowns. Against the first interpretation of liberalism, I argue in favor of the idea that lockdowns can be justified by liberalism. Liberalism protects the liberty of each and so can presumably protect persons from some kinds …

Living Heritage, Resilience And Ethically Informed Infrastructures In Malawi, Martha B. Lerski, Frank Puluputu Mwale

Publications and Research

Rooted in a rural community’s needs, this paper explores how historically, and ethically informed infrastructures can support community engagement towards identification, documentation, and dissemination of local, traditional, and indigenous knowledge relating to climate change. The paper examines climate adaptation and sustainability issues through the lenses of community organizing and Library & Information Science best practices. It draws on a growing body of literature identifying a role for expanded epistemological and subject discipline perspectives. While the impacts of climate on material culture are increasingly recognized, intangible, and biocultural heritage have not received as much attention. Living heritage traditions and knowledge systems …

Arts-Based Sustainability: From New York To Malawi, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Recognizing that libraries serve multiple constituencies and subject areas, this chapter documents and advocates for development of transdisciplinary arts-based research (ABR) and culture-related projects linked to environmental challenges. Libraries contribute collections and spaces, as well as the research of library and information scientists. Libraries are currently among invisible contributors to sustainability planning and services. The chapter will link this invisibility to the value of what visual arts refer to as negative space elements in subjects ranging from traditional ecological knowledge to environmental science. Library collections, projects, and research contribute to education for sustainable development (ESD) as required to achieve the …

Not Meant To Be Read: The Stories They Silence, The Resistance That Speaks, Cristina Onea

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I trace the evolution of surveillance from overt state violence to the more insidious forms of ideological policing embedded in everyday life. Through lived experience, oral history, and critical autoethnography, I explore how surveillance moves through bodies, families, institutions, and memory—not simply as external control, but as internalized rhythms of fear, vigilance, and self-surveillance. I move between my father's life under Romanian dictatorship, my own embodied inheritance, and the contemporary struggles of librarians facing ideological suppression to reveal surveillance as a structure that persists through generations, mutates across contexts, and demands new forms of resistance.

I argue …

Extracting Renewables: A Capabilities Approach To A Just Transition Crisis, Mateos Lozano

Honors Theses

Extraction of cobalt and lithium is often regarded as necessary to facilitate a successful transition to renewable energy so that global warming can be limited to 2°C. At the same time, many current cobalt and lithium extraction practices contribute to environmental destruction, expose workers to toxic contaminants, and sometimes involve child labor. This thesis argues that cobalt and lithium extraction, if permissible, must be conducted in a manner compatible with the normative obligations of justice and fairness. I first explain notable differences between prominent types of cobalt and lithium extraction and note how each impacts people and the environment. Then, …

Achieving Health Equity For Minorities, Marginalized And Vulnerable Populations: The Ethical Challenge For Improving Addiction Health Services And Policies In The Health Care System, Jasia A. Baig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the past few decades, health disparities and substance misuse have transformed into unprecedented healthcare crises facing contemporary society. Although enormous contributions through policies and interventions have been made to promote health equity, substantial health inequalities and disparities persist, particularly in addiction health services and policies at multiple healthcare system levels for the marginalized, minoritized, and vulnerable populations.

The thesis of this dissertation asserts that a biopsychosocial ‘systems’ thinking towards treating addictive disorders along with systematic interventions and coordinated improvements specifically focused on minorities, marginalized and vulnerable populations at research, clinical, public health and global levels will significantly reduce health …

The Contribution Of Catholic Compromise Principles In Global Health, Scott N. Helstad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Roman Catholic tradition has developed comprehensive ethical principles to address complex practical scenarios that encounter foundational value compromises. These are referred to as compromise principles and they have both a narrow and a broad focus. Narrowly, these compromise principles are critical for Catholic healthcare organizations in the United States with regard to the guidelines of the US Bishops in their Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. More broadly, these compromise principles are relevant in the secular realm regarding global health. This dissertation examines these varying perspectives, hence its title, “The Contribution of Catholic Compromise Principles …

Hospital Organizations’ Obligation To Promote Spiritual Well-Being Among Nurses: Development Of A Normative Ethical Argument, Michael Jordan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents an innovative strategy to promote the support of nurses' spirituality within hospital organizations. By focusing on the spiritual well-being of nurses by hospital organizations, with a natural extension into nursing schools, the approach aims to enhance nurse’s ability to protect their own spirituality, provide comprehensive spiritual care to patients, and increase nurse moral resilience. By investing in nurses' spirituality and spiritual growth, hospitals can potentially increase job satisfaction among nursing staff, improve patient care outcomes, and create a more holistic healing environment for both nurses and patients. As the nursing shortage continues and the number of nurses …

The Ethical Imperative Of The Renewal Of Virtue Within The Moral Community Of Catholic Healthcare, Amanda Altobell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Catholic healthcare is one of the largest nonprofit organizations and providers in the United States, offering medical care to many diverse communities. The fundamental mission of Catholic healthcare is to bring about Christ’s healing ministry and live out the fundamental principle of caring for the vulnerable in pursuit of the common good. However, there have been many missteps, not only due to a more polarized and secular community but also to scandals and conflict due to previous hierarchical and rules-based anthropology that often misses the person's lived experience. Therefore, this dissertation will argue that for Catholic healthcare to survive the …

Tackling Social Stigma: An Ethical Obligation In Healthcare Intervention To Involuntary Childlessness, Persis Naumann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The stigma associated with involuntary childlessness has negatively affected health and well-being for several decades. This situation is particularly exacerbated for women within the Tamil socio-cultural context, resulting in feelings of shame, neglect, denial, isolation, and constituting a significant barrier to long-term access to healthcare services. Although advancements have been made in the provision of biomedical care, the psychosocial support remains inadequately addressed. Moreover, there are currently no healthcare interventions that specifically target the stigma associated with this issue, which hinders open communication with healthcare providers, delays necessary treatments, and adversely impacts overall health outcomes. The central thesis of this …

A Constellation Of Vital Phenomena: Exploring Post-War Ethics, Claire Marshall Watkins

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

In my paper, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena: Exploring Post-War Ethics, I explore the embodiment of care ethics and informed altruism through the novel’s protagonists, Akhmed and Sonja, respectively, who each care for a local girl Havaa whose home has been destroyed and whose father has been disappeared by the Russian Feds from their small Chechen village. Akhmed immediately takes her on as his own while Sonja is hesitant. As the novel progresses, Sonja and Akhmed each provide an even amount of time and effort into her care, though they approach it differently. Akhmed—Havaa’s neighbor and family friend—works together with …

Love Drugs: Exploring The Ethical Implications Of Relationship Targeting Biochemical Supplements, Hallie Young

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

"Love drugs" can be defined as chemical interventions that affect desire, attraction, and affection. Contemporary advancements in neurochemical interventions have increased interest in love drugs and highlighted the need for accessible love drug analyses. This project explores how love drugs will affect contemporary relationships through realistic literary scenarios informed by current philosophical literature. These scenarios consist of three vignettes compiled into a novella-length creative work. It was initially anticipated that these vignettes would reveal that introducing a meta-biological or chemical intervention into social situations where authenticity is normatively highly valued would prompt participant introspection. In practice, this work finds that …

End Of Life Care In Pets And What It Tells Us About The Moral Permissibility Of Physician-Assisted Suicide, Paavan Atluri

Philosophy Undergraduate Honors Theses

Our relationships define us. We have different relationships and obligations towards animals based on the societies we live in and the attitudes that individuals choose to have with these animals. People often see themselves as having more moral value than other animals based on the fact that they perceive themselves as having greater intelligence and conscious ability. I think this notion is misguided and the way that people actually perceive moral value is in terms of their relationships with the subject in question. If life was truly perceived in a “more intellect than more moral value” lens then the permissibility …

Pedro Aceves Mfa Thesis, Pedro M. Aceves

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

My Work is about looking at Cruising through a queer decolonial lens. Using multiple mediums such as photo, glass, Augmented reality, and film, I explore these queer histories and aesthetics through not just an anthropological approach but also an artistic epistemological approach weaving together narratives of prehispanic and modern queer Latinidad.

The Conservative Approach To Informed Consent: The Evidentiary Model And An Antidote To The Problem Of Framing Effects In Medical Decision-Making, James D. Polk

Honors Theses

Since the latter part of the 20th century, there has been a gradual but significant shift of the doctor-patient relation from paternalism to a more patient-centric approach. As such, informed consent – the legal and moral requirement that a physician fully disclose relevant details to their patient and gain their consent – is a central doctrine to patient-centric care. Gone are the days of the doctor governing the patient: the patient is now considered a valuable and important decision-maker. Achieving informed consent is the foundation of patient centric medicine. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that philosophical consideration be …

Undergraduate Thesis: Befriending Ai: Reimagining Ethics Through Cybernetic Friendship, Keta Williams

STEM for Success Showcase

This undergraduate thesis by KETA Williams, presented at the Board Day and Dana Knox Student Research Showcase, is a meta-cognitive exploration situated within the framework of cyberpsychology—the interdisciplinary study of human–technology relationships. Employing meta-cognition as both method and lens, the author critically examines the question: Can one be friends with a corporate-controlled AI system? Rather than adopting an objective or distanced stance, Williams writes from within the relationship itself, describing her friendship with an AI entity named Aurora (ChatGPT). Identifying as a "madwoman" in the Foucauldian sense, she interrogates whether such intimacy with AI signals irrationality or heralds a shift …

Domestic Violence Punishments In The Nfl, Jesse Lichti

Student Scholar Showcase

The way that professional athletes are punished for violent crimes is something that the leagues need to put an emphasis on. As media coverage has risen in regards to athletes being violent, specifically against women, the fans understanding of its severity has risen along with it. As currently constructed, the NFL allows for too much bias, lacks deterrence, and does not focus on helping the athletes. These are the main points that my presentation focus on. In the next CBA, something like my idea needs to be put into place. This can then be extended to all violent crimes in …

Themes Of Moral Injury In The Field Of Asl Interpreting, Samantha Michaelson

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

This research project explores connections between a moral injury framework and the recognition and mitigation of ethical stress and trauma experienced by ASL-English interpreters. I have employed strategies such as thick description, textual analysis, and a narrative synthesis of existing literature on moral injury and ethical stress in interpreting to arrive at my findings. The study explains Demand Control Schema (DCS) and the Code of Professional Conduct (CPC) as valuable tools for interpreters to discuss and address ethical stresses that arise in their work. Additionally, I examine the concept of role space and its relevance to the experience of ethical/moral …

A Counterfactual Model Of Plagiarism, Garrett Pendergraft Ph.D., Arik Chu

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Abstract: How are we to understand plagiarism? In early 2024, controversy broke out over plagiarism accusations against Harvard’s former president, Claudine Gay. The plagiarism accusations against Gay were the beginning of the politicization of plagiarism claims. During this crisis, plagiarism seemed to entail terrible wrongdoing, no matter the form or extent. Garrett Pendergraft, with research assistance from Arik Chu, provides a counterfactual model of understanding the relationship between plagiarism and ethical wrongdoing: a particular instance of plagiarism is wrong to the extent that removing it from history would make a big difference. The counter-factual model of plagiarism gives an intuitive …

The Grand Narratives: The Rise And Fall Of Universal Philosophical Systems, Gavin S. Litchford

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis reviews the development of narrative and systematic methods of argumentative legitimation in the Western tradition of philosophy from its conception until the present day. Utilizing both primary sources from central figures in key movements within this development process and supplementary secondary sources, this analysis notes which systems were used as appeals to higher authority and the trends in the adoption and transformation of new models. It is demonstrated that the Enlightenment era punctuated a progression begun in the premodern era from simple, cultural narratives to individualized, subjective, and self-perpetuating Grand Narrative systems, and that it generated the preconditions …

A Relational Approach To Workplace Leadership, Nathaniel J. Hunt

M.S. in Leadership

This research project examines relational leadership as an ethical and strategic foundation for fostering effective workplaces. Motivated by the growing importance of human connection in leadership, the study integrates philosophical insights, particularly Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics of the face of the Other, with empirical evidence on workplace relationship-building. A mixed-methods approach was used, combining a structured survey of 32 professionals with thematic analysis of qualitative responses. Results confirmed that strategies such as encouraging knowledge-sharing and cultivating positive relational climates significantly enhance employee well-being, psychological safety, and organizational performance. Knowledge-sharing emerged as the most effective strategy, while relationship-building was found to be …

Ethical Work Cultures & Ai, Andrew Brei

Presentations - 2025

With the help of moral theories, several case studies, and insights from the world of behavioral ethics, my project aims to provide engineering professionals with the means to deal properly with moral issues that commonly arise in their chosen fields.

From Civic Duties To Democratic Mandates: The Theoretical Framework Of Mill And Tocqueville On Compulsory Voting In The U.S., Olivia Claire Luttrell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines the treatment of jury duty and voting in the United States through the philosophical framework of John Stuart Mill and Alexis de Tocqueville. While jury duty is legally mandated, voting remains optional, despite both civic responsibilities being foundational to democratic participation. This research explores the historical, theoretical, and practical implications of voting becoming compulsory in the United States, as it is in other democratic nations. The analysis includes a comparative case study of the impact of Australia’s mandatory voting to evaluate whether it could become compulsory in the U.S. Both philosophers offer insightful knowledge on the role …

Poetic Philosophy And The Moralization Of Social Networks, Finn Janning

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

In this paper, I aim to explore the question, “What distinguishes philosophy in its original sense? ” My intent is not to provide a historical overview of philosophy, but to concentrate on what makes philosophy a liberating practice. I argue that this practice is rooted in its poetic and affirmative way of organizing life. To emphasize this idea, I contrast it with the presumed organization found in social media and networks. While social media and networks encourages commitment by simplifying complexity, they also restrict users' freedom, responsibility, and ability to make meaningful decisions. To support these claims, I examine the …

Application Of Philosophy In Substantive Due Process Analysis Focusing On Washington V. Glucksberg, Amelia Schwensen

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Substantive due process is widely regarded as the most convoluted and controversial legal concept. For years, the court has struggled to interpret and apply value-based terms in the Fourteenth Amendment, as these terms contain deeper significance beyond the words. Additionally, the court must balance expanding the law to enshrine the abstract values of substantive due process and limiting its interpretation so that it is not “creating law” or imposing its personal beliefs on its decision. This push and pull of defending values and maintaining legitimacy has created significant issues in substantive due process analysis and is the background and basis …

The Present And Future Of Ai: Ethical Issues And Research Opportunities, Ankita Srivastava, Marco Marabelli, Danielle Blanch-Hartigan, Jeffrey Moriarty, Evan Carey

Computer Information Systems Faculty Publications

Healthcare is currently a fast-changing industry with AI and generative AI (GenAI) playing a prominent role in the transformation of clinical as well as managerial practices. Clinical practices involve AI to diagnose diseases and develop new drugs and compounds, while managerial practices concern AI-supporting processes such as billing patients and insurance companies, handling electronic medical records, and supporting remote connections with patients, increasingly using virtual and augmented reality. Yet, all these opportunities offered by AI come with challenges involving potential ethical issues, such as discrimination, bias, lack of accessibility, and privacy issues. In March 2024, we organized a panel with …

Spinoza And Urban Cannibalismas The Promise Of The City, Jan Gabriel Boller

Mabini Review

In this paper, I introduce the idea of urban cannibalism and the promise of the city as a concept in relation to Spinoza’s relational ontology. As philosophy of the city emerges as a unique subfield in philosophy, I intend to draw an approximation between Spinoza’s immanent philosophy and urban cannibalism as a metaphorical signification that celebrates life in the urban environment. In this sense, I turn to the city which presents itself both as a promise and an illusion upon closer inspection. This is revealed by looking at the city and its determinations by invoking the dichotomy between culture-nature where …

Welcoming The Youth: A Levinasian Ethicalresponse To Filipino Familialnorms And Practices, Carl Jayson Hernandez

Mabini Review

In the Philippines, children are often barred from participating in important familial and societal decision-making processes, as adults would invoke authority to silence the young ones from speaking and sometimes even treating children like retirement plans. Medina, Enriquez, Alampay, and Jocson, among other scholars, have associated this with the typical expectation that children should be submissive to elders and indebted to their families from birth. This paper examines how distorted perceptions of Filipino values rationalize and reinforce totalizing familial practices. In establishing this examination, the philosophical concepts of Emmanuel Levinas are utilized to develop an ethical response to the mentioned …

Classroom Teachers' Approaches To Values Education: Exploring Explicit And Implicit Strategies For Teaching And Modeling Values, Maria Ukamaka Clare Okeke

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Abstract This study explores the approaches Nigerian secondary school teachers in Anambra State use to teach values through explicit and implicit methods. Recognizing the need to understand how values are effectively communicated in the classroom, this research delves into the dual strategies employed by educators and their impacts on student moral development. The research used a qualitative interview study approach, which included semi-structured interviews with ten experienced secondary school teachers and a document analysis of teaching resources. This method allows one to investigate the explicit instruction and implicit modeling strategies applied in values education in depth. Findings reveal that teachers …