Philosophy Commons^™

[Introduction To] The Philosophy Of Taylor Swift, Lindsay Brainard, Ryan W. Davis, Jess Flanigan

Bookshelf

Edited by Lindsay Brainard, Ryan W. Davis, and Jessica Flanigan

• Offers the first book-length philosophical analysis focused exclusively on Taylor Swift's songwriting
• Demonstrates innovative methodologies for treating popular music as a site of rigorous philosophical inquiry
• Features essays by a diverse group of leading philosophers across multiple subfields
• Reveals new interpretive insights for both scholars and Swifties, deepening understanding of themes such as love, morality, and meaning

Love, Liability, And Lyrics, Jess Flanigan

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Moralistic responses to Swift’s honest songwriting are misguided. Swift’s songwriting is morally similar to poetry and literary autofiction. As long as the artist’s work is honest and not defamatory, the artist’s interest in self-understanding and entitlement to self-expression is a sufficient defense for the art. The argument has three parts. The first part establishes that honest songwriting about someone is an act of love, even when it’s unflattering to the person who is mentioned in the song. Like many acts of love, honest songwriting might cause suffering. That doesn’t mean it isn’t an act of love. The second part establishes …

Boss Up/Bake Bread, Jess Flanigan

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Taylor Swift’s “Wi$h Li$t” describes people who “want it all.” There, she declares that, in contrast to those who want it all, she dreams about living a quiet life with a driveway and a basketball hoop. This chapter argues that dreaming about a driveway with a basketball hoop while staying married to the hustle is still a form of wanting it all. Like Swift, and me, many other women today enjoy a degree of autonomy and material abundance that our grandmothers could only dream about. We’re free to boss up or settle down. But still, we have to make trade-offs. …

The Urysohn Lemma: Munkres Variation, Irida Altman

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

There is a tradition of Mathematics contributing to the understanding of Music. This article sets out to contribute in the other direction. It uses musical sensibilities to feel its way through a piece of mathematics called the Urysohn Lemma, suggesting the presence of rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic elements within standard proving practices of contemporary Western mathematics. This article employs a literary-philosophical technique of viewing a text in one discipline (mathematics) through the conceptual lens of another (music). As such, this article reports on no experiments—reading the article is the experiment. Each reader performs it for themselves.

The Case For The Exclusion Of Exclusion: Intellectual Property, Masculine Legal Reason, And The Ethics Of Care, Ragya Shoukry

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that current legal ideals of objectivity and neutrality are historically gendered and inseparable from the development of capitalist property relations and imperial expansion. It traces origins that begin with early modern witch hunts and Francis Bacon’s empiricism, where a new “scientific rationality” emerges alongside intensified patriarchal violence. The thesis then examines John Locke’s labour-based justification of property and the figure of the rational individual, showing how this framework legitimizes enclosure, dispossession and colonial appropriation under the guise of improvement and development. Building on this foundation, the analysis turns to moral psychology and how its allegedly universal stage …

Agriculture, Politics, And Knowledge: The Dissemination And Evolution Of The Pictures Of Tilling And Weaving From The Southern Song Dynasty To The Qing Dynasty, Kaiyi Zhu, Ting Chen

Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia

Gengzhitu 耕織圖 (Pictures of Tilling and Weaving) functions as a cultural artifact representative of agrarian civilization and dynastic governance, fulfilling dual roles as a vessel for agricultural knowledge and a motivational tool for farming practices. Over the course of its transmission from the Southern Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, a fascinating relationship emerged between the practical knowledge imparted by the Pictures of Tilling and Weaving and its role as a motivational tool for agricultural practices, creating a dynamic interaction akin to a seesaw effect. The fluctuation between the “form” and the “knowledge” of the Pictures of Tilling and Weaving …

The Other Within: Stigmatization And Marginalization Of Hui Muslims In The Novel Musilin De Zangli (Muslim Funeral), Flávio Fraga Da Silva

Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia

This article offers a case study of the protagonist of the novel Musilin de Zangli by Huo Da, as a representation of the stigmatization and marginalization of the Hui Muslim community in Beijing in the early 1960s. Drawing on this portrayal, the novel’s subliminal and allegorical dimensions, and an examination of the mechanisms of “domestic othering” operative in Maoist China, the study discusses how the text advances a veiled critique of the abuses and excesses experienced by this community in the period leading up to, and including, the Cultural Revolution. By situating the text within its broader sociocultural and historical …

我記得你微揚的長髮 I Remember You With Wind In Your Hair: Betty Jiu Solo Exhibition, Nicole M. Nepomuceno

Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia

No abstract provided.

Reading Exercise (You Are The Hero): Dedicated To The Providence River Under The Mall, 02.17.2026, Deborah Fischer

Masters Theses

This play uses the performative potential of guilt, forgiveness, and self-help techniques as a catalyst for a new dynamic, one in which the pursuit of a false narrative, along with the structures it generates, becomes more real than reality itself. It employs “bad acting” and the practice of cold reading to stage a series of acts that function as an entry point into one’s own psyche, leveraging the peripheral space around familiar actions to allow chance, free will, and the experience of “real time” to temporarily come into effect. PLAYER 1: The bad actor is the most utopian one. CLOWN: …

Domestic Travelers: Transparent Machines, Hollow Bodies, Hanyi Wang

Masters Theses

Digitization is not a modern invention. Derived from the concept of fingers, this mindset of packing information into quantifiable, interchangeable units sounds mechanical, yet eerily physical. Try to imagine: a ghostly hand with millions of fingers with the same length, likeness, and function. Under the worldview of Digital Narrative, we live in a digital simulation: everything is representable with quantifiable units, fluid across media. Yet under this spectacle of convenient abundance, something is missing. The Unknowables are replaced with arbitrary symbols, while the Uncategorizables are omitted. This is a framework that cannot accommodate human subtleties and complexities. One needs to …

Tuning The Neighborhood: Purifying People, Places, And Environments In Suburban Kolkata, Sourav Saha

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

In modern science, disciplines such as physics, mechanical and civil engineering, seismology, and acoustics have conceptualized vibration as a quantifiable mechanical phenomenon, measured through the metrics of frequency, amplitude, and resonance. In contrast, scholarship in anthropology, musicology, and sound studies has approached vibration as a socio-historical, cultural, and political phenomenon. This article examines how vibration (spandan) operates as a metaphysical, sensory, and ethico-affective force that mediates relations among people, places, and environments. Focusing on the practice of satsang adhibesan (devotional congregation), the article demonstrates how members of the Deoghar-Satsang community participate in sonic rituals of prayer, silent chanting, meditation, sacred …

The Message Of Resilience And Harmony: From War Camps To Modern Calls For Peace, Linlin Uta

Dissertations, 2020-current

Music has a unique power to either foster harmony and peace or contribute to discord and suffering, depending on how it is used. The role of music in three different wartime camps—the Bando Prisoner-of-War Camp in Japan during World War I, Nazi concentration camps during World War II, and Japanese American internment camps during World War II—illustrates both the dangers and the transformative potential of music. While these examples highlight the misuse of music as a warning, they also reveal how music, when used in a positive way, can offer valuable lessons for promoting global peace.

Moreover, in an environment …

From Sacred Harp To Byzantine Chant: Inculturation And Formation Of Orthodox Communion In Alaska, Ava Ortwein

Honors Theses

This thesis will explore how Eastern Orthodoxy has been embraced by some native Appalachians, which has led to a convergence of musical trends as a regional phenomenon. It argues that parts of Appalachia are embracing Orthodoxy, especially as noted through converging musical structures. Through an examination of countries which have accepted Orthodoxy, I emphasize inhabitants’ agency and free acceptance of the Eastern Church, especially through convergence of musical traditions. I also analyze lived experience in Sacred Music within this Appalachian Orthodox Context rather than formal music theory. The research incorporates a diverse range of scholars including ethnomusicologists, historians, Orthodox theologians, …

Volume 17, Christian O’Neill, Kyara Greene, Savva Sidorov, Laura Bisaillon, Luke Clemmer, Hannah Gordon, Kitt Benson, Taylor Blount, Rachel Danzitz, Nicholas Duellman, Chase Gionis, Hima Fernando, Seth Franzyshen, Onyx Gonzalez, Bryan Lin, Samantha Start, Ysabel Wells, Maggie Duncan

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Introduction Dr. Amorette Barber, Director, Office of Student Research

From the Editor Dr. Hannah Dudley-Shotwell

Cover Artist’s Statement Maggie Duncan

On Mentoring Dr. Yulia Uryadova

Ukrainian Resistance in the Face of Russification: Nestor Makhno and Anarchism

by Christian O’Neill

Life Vest by Kyara Greene

Isolation and 16S rRNA Identification of Bacteria from Fire Department Connection Pipe by Savva Sidorov

The Effectiveness of Planned Exercise in Reducing ADHD Symptoms in Children by Laura Bisaillon & Luke Clemmer

Linguistic Analysis on Confidence and Communication Strategies with Disparities Between Sign Fluency and Hearing Impairment by Hannah Gordon

Freedmen in Indian Territory by Kitt …

Patriotism, Philia, And Stereotyping During World War Ii: Correspondence Between Black Composers, Selise Phillips, Joi Carr

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

The 20th century was a monumental time for Black composers, especially for those in the UK. Rudolph Dunbar was the first black musician to perform at Royal Albert Hall in London, England. During this time, correspondence between him and William Grant Still, a famous black composer based in America, exists. Still’s rhetorical choices in these letters demonstrate the attitudes of these composers, specifically Still, and how these choices reflect the success of Dunbar’s career. Still, whose compositions started gaining traction in the 1930s, often praised Dunbar for his achievements. These letters all take place during World War II and during …

Contributors To Issue 7

Music & Musical Performance: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Aesthetics Of Pop Music, By Diedrich Diederichsen. Hoboken: Polity Press, 2023 [Review]., Michael Mario Albrecht

Music & Musical Performance: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Humanity Is Evolving Its Consciousness: The Role Of Archetypal Energies As Guides During An Unfolding Weeding Out And Alignment Process, Carroy U. Ferguson

Psychology Faculty Publication Series

Humanity is evolving its consciousness at individual and collective levels.  Given these seemingly tumultuous times, as of this writing (January 2026), to make such a statement may sound like a strange thing to say.  However, I suggest that if you are alive today and if you are reading these words, these are the very times for which you were born—to assist Humanity as it evolves its consciousness with your unique gifts, whatever they may be.  That is, this period of our individual and collective human being-ness may be characterized as an unfolding period of weeding out and alignment with the …

“My Voice Is Trauma, My Voice Is Healing:” A Feminist, Trauma-Informed Embodied Study On The Impact Of Gender-Based Violence In Classical Music Communities, Sarah Pearson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This Social Work doctoral dissertation explores the impact of gender-based violence (GBV) in classical music communities on survivor-artists. This is an intersectional feminist, trauma-informed, embodied study that draws on these three theoretical concepts to conceive of classical music as an institution of both colonial patriarchal power and a site of spirituality and meaning-making. The issue of systemic GBV in the performing arts has been a focus of headline news and sensational celebrity stories in the last decade following the MeToo hashtag and is slowly gaining some attention in academic research.

For this qualitative study, the sample consisted of 14 participants …

Passive Listening: Exploring Interpassivity In Ambient Music, David Chechelashvili, Alan Brown

Staff Scholarship - New Zealand

The landscape of ambient music presents unique challenges for critique and classification due to its wide range of subgenres, functions and goals. Often defined by its atmospheric and immersive qualities, ambient music is traditionally seen as providing a backdrop for relaxation or as a means to block out the harsh reality of the outside world. This dominant theory, while valuable in certain contexts, tends to oversimplify the multifaceted nature of ambient music and ignores the potential for more nuanced listening experiences. The proposed alternative theory of interpassivity challenges existing understandings of ambient music production and consumption modes. Drawing on psychoanalytic …

Timbre — A Transcendent Paradox?, Eugenia Siegel Conte

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Timbre, as ethnomusicologist Cornelia Fales writes, is “paradoxical” precisely because it is one of the most exacting processes in which the human body may sense and comprehend the source of a sound even as that comprehended sound is impossible to describe outside of metaphor or comparison. As one of the more recognizable qualities of sound but the most difficult to describe, timbre allows us to consider physical/emotional (affective) experiences of sound as a key aspect of faith and meditation. In this article, I examine physical-affective intersections of faith and meditation that often are key to praxes of worship, and show …

The Spaces Between: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Classical Music Performance Practice, Fifi Zhang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In his theory of duration, the philosopher Henri Bergson (1859-1941) asserts that the present moment is “both a perception of the immediate past and a determination of the immediate future…a joint system of sensations and movements.” In an ideal musical performance, this sensori-motor apparatus guides every one of the performer’s decisions on stage, resulting in an aural experience that is spontaneous, visceral, and deeply personal. In practice, much of today’s classical music performance culture, which relies heavily on visual notation and prioritizes fidelity to the composer’s intent, is antithetical to fundamental artistic values such as creativity, individual self-expression, and direct …

"Inspiring Empathy": A Descriptive Review Of A Musical Composition, Garo Saraydarian

Educational Studies Dissertations

This study explored the experiences of college professors using an assessment approach, descriptive review, to assess undergraduate music compositions. College professors, and educators in general, often debate best practices around assessing student work. A literature review showed a debate amongst music educators over approaches to assessing student compositions, with rubrics being especially controversial. Descriptive review uses collective discussion and a series of non-judgmental exercises that aim for participants to become more intimate with a student and their work. As an assessment technique that had been used to look at student artwork, albeit at the elementary grade level, descriptive review has …

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 …

How To Walk On Water: Living Through The Absurd, Esther Du

Masters Theses

Set in a speculative world submerged by water, this thesis constructs a fragmented, nonlinear narrative that reflects on survival, memory, and displacement in the aftermath of catastrophe. Through three interwoven chapters—The Outcast, The Researcher, and The World—the project explores the emotional and psychological landscapes of individuals navigating a post-apocalyptic existence where the past is irretrievable and the future uncertain. Using an interdisciplinary form of visual storytelling, writing, and sound, the work draws from personal experience and collective trauma to examine how people reconstruct identity and meaning after loss. Rather than offering a definitive answer to existential …

Voice As Dual Striving: Spiritual Resonance And Psychological Negotiation In South Indian Musical Practices, Ramya Thiyagarajan

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the intricate dynamics of voice within South Indian musical traditions, examining it as both a spiritual medium resonating with the divine concept of Nāda-Brahman and a psychological instrument navigating modernity, identity, and cultural hybridity. Employing the Self-Rasa-Chakra framework, derived from Upanishadic and tantric philosophies, alongside autoethnographic narratives and case studies, it investigates how the voice serves as a site of striving. Through an interdisciplinary lens combining ethnomusicology, psychoanalysis, and sound studies, this research delves into the paradox of voice: its role in sacred surrender within Carnatic music, juxtaposed against its individualistic expression in contemporary independent music. Case …

V.1 Spring 2025, 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 Spring 2025 issue has the theme "Take It as a Sign" and features pieces on baby fever, spreadsheets and recording information, aura and technology, a trip to Horseshoe Bend, the new Art and Computation department at RISD, home and belonging, Illustration student projects related to sensitive experiences, red brick architecture in Providence, and technology and the English language, along with interviews of students in their studios, poetry, and other creative writing.

The Ballad Of The Wheel, John Kosch

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

The Ballad of the Wheel is a piece for voice, percussion, and electronics that examines the cyclical nature of humanity. It draws texts from existential literature that spans almost all of recorded history, from antiquity to present day. In this work, a single narrator poses the same concerns about the nature of existence in different texts, revealing that questions about the meaning of life transcend boundaries of time and space. The prevalence of the theme of reincarnation also suggests that each movement of the piece presents a different manifestation of a single being. The Ballad of the Wheel implies a …

Antimelody, Field Recording, Gerakan Musik Eksperimental, Dan Hantu Baru Yang Menolak Hantu Lama Hauntology, Aris Setyawan

Multikultura

This article challenges the traditional definition of music, limited to seven fixed elements: melody, harmony, rhythm, pitch, tempo, dynamics, and texture. The author suggests that all sound can be considered 'sound art,' blurring lines between music and other auditory experiences. In Mark Fisher’s hauntology, modern music is depicted as stagnant, trapped in a neoliberal pastiche that cancels the future by repeating past styles without innovation. However, this article highlights alternatives through experimental music, such as the album ANTIMELODY (2024), which uses field recording to present raw environmental sounds, challenging conventional musical structures. Movements like Jogja Noise Bombing and experimental music …