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Claremont Colleges

2022

Articles 1 - 24 of 24

Full-Text Articles in Philosophy

Beyond Ethics: Considerations For Centering Equity-Minded Data Science, Nathan Alexander, Carrie Diaz Eaton, Anelise H. Shrout, Belin Tsinnajinnie, Krystal Tsosie Jul 2022

Beyond Ethics: Considerations For Centering Equity-Minded Data Science, Nathan Alexander, Carrie Diaz Eaton, Anelise H. Shrout, Belin Tsinnajinnie, Krystal Tsosie

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

In this paper, we utilize duoethnography - a research method in which practitioners discursively interrogate the relationships between culture, context, and the mechanisms which shape individual autobiographical experiences - to explore what may be beyond ethics in the context of data science. Although ethical frameworks have the ability to reflect cultural priorities, a singular view of ethics, as we explore, often fails to speak to the multiple and diverse priorities held both within and across institutional spaces. To that end, this paper explores multiple perspectives, epistemologies, and worldviews that can collectively push researchers towards considerations of a data science education …


A Case For Ethics In The Mathematics Major Curriculum, Feryal Alayont Jul 2022

A Case For Ethics In The Mathematics Major Curriculum, Feryal Alayont

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

When our students enter the workforce, be it in academia or in business, industry, government, they will be forced to make decisions about various ethical dilemmas. Once in a while, the scandalous stories like that of Enron, the three German auto-makers’ diesel fuel pact, and the Equifax data breach make the headlines. However, employees at every workplace are faced with small to large-scale ethical situations almost daily. In our majors’ future careers, a manager can be using an inappropriate graphic to display data to make the numbers look better, or the data collection processes used in a large public policy …


Foundational Mathematical Beliefs And Ethics In Mathematical Practice And Education, Richard Spindler Jul 2022

Foundational Mathematical Beliefs And Ethics In Mathematical Practice And Education, Richard Spindler

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Foundational philosophical beliefs about mathematics in the mathematical community may have an unappreciated yet profound impact on ethics in mathematical practice and mathematics education, which also affects practice. A philosophical and historical basis of the dominant platonic and formalist views of mathematics are described and evaluated, after which an alternative evidence-based foundation for mathematical thought is outlined. The dualistic nature of the platonic view based on intuition is then compared to parallel historical developments of universalizing ethics in Western thought. These background ideas set the stage for a discussion of the impact of traditional mathematical beliefs on ethics in the …


Ethics And Mathematics – Some Observations Fifty Years Later, Gregor Nickel Jul 2022

Ethics And Mathematics – Some Observations Fifty Years Later, Gregor Nickel

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Almost exactly fifty years ago, Friedrich Kambartel, in his classic essay “Ethics and Mathematics,” did pioneering work in an intellectual environment that almost self-evidently assumed a strict separation of the two fields. In our first section we summarize and discuss that classical paper. The following two sections are devoted to complement and contrast Kambartel’s picture. In particular, the second section is devoted to ethical aspects of the indirect and direct mathematization of modern societies. The final section gives a short categorization of various philosophical positions with respect to the rationality of ethics and the mutual relation between ethics and mathematics.


Book Review: Reckonings: Numerals, Cognition, And History By Stephen Chrisomalis, Milton Rosa, Daniel Clark Orey Jan 2022

Book Review: Reckonings: Numerals, Cognition, And History By Stephen Chrisomalis, Milton Rosa, Daniel Clark Orey

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This review of Reckonings shares our thoughts on the diverse insights presented by Stephen Chrisomalis’s version of the history of numerical notation. Chrisomalis suggests that members of distinct cultural groups write numbers as an active choice in accordance with their own sociocultural contexts, which reflect the influences of historical, cognitive, social, economic, political, environmental, and cultural factors. This book integrates comparative, cognitive, and evolutionary understandings on numerical cognition with historical and linguistic evidence on the use and transformation of numeral systems through the historical advancement of numeracy. Chrisomalis offers an interesting historical perspective on numbers that builds upon three main …


Why Do Rich People Not Retire?, Xiya Li Jan 2022

Why Do Rich People Not Retire?, Xiya Li

Scripps Senior Theses

Work and leisure are central to the human condition. Scholars from many fields have tried to understand why Americans work so much. Many people believe that when they have enough money, they will retire. However, many people are not willing to retire even if they have enough money to do so. Most people who do not have enough money to retire do not even get any amount of leisure from their jobs. If the view that enough money directly leads to retirement is wrong, then it is time to reconsider using this logic to think of the possibility of retiring. …


The Carceral Death Machine: Savagery, Contamination And Sacrifice In The Contemporary Prison, Timothy Malone Jan 2022

The Carceral Death Machine: Savagery, Contamination And Sacrifice In The Contemporary Prison, Timothy Malone

CGU Theses & Dissertations

In this dissertation, I develop a convict epistemology that interweaves two elements: 1) a deep engagement with the works of particular philosophers and scholars investigating questions of punishment, violence, biopolitics and political philosophy 2) with some specific, publicly-reported incidents within California prisons in the late 20th and 21st centuries and my own detailed narration of events and the structural and quotidian dynamics of the prison yard as I experienced them as inmate #K73299 from 1997 to 2005. Diverging from Foucauldian theories of disciplinarity, I argue that under neoliberalism, the primary punishments that any inmate is subjected to within the carceral …


How Epistolary Novelists’ Literalizations Of Moral Sense Philosophy Dramatize The Long-Eighteenth Century’S Gender Battles, Melissa Stacey Bishop-Magallanes Jan 2022

How Epistolary Novelists’ Literalizations Of Moral Sense Philosophy Dramatize The Long-Eighteenth Century’S Gender Battles, Melissa Stacey Bishop-Magallanes

CGU Theses & Dissertations

While some might consider epistolary novels of the long-eighteenth century as the sentimental purview of women readers, this research proposes that many of these epistolary novels serve as powerful markers in the gender wars of this era. While an overall sense of optimism pervaded Britain’s long-eighteenth century, people still grappled with foundational moral questions. These questions came to be addressed in increasingly secular ways by moral philosophy. As these philosophers occupied influential government, law, and publishing positions, their ideas and works greatly influenced the public imagination. The publications of moral philosophers—such as John Locke, the third Earl of Shaftesbury, Joseph …


Perceiving The Good: An Agent Relative Account Of Desire, Paul R. Pistone Jan 2022

Perceiving The Good: An Agent Relative Account Of Desire, Paul R. Pistone

CGU Theses & Dissertations

In this project I investigate and develop a theory of desire primarily focused on the metaphysics of desire. Since my theory of desire is an evaluative theory, I address discussions concerning value and goodness, and its relation to the ethics and metaphysics of desire. Defining a desire is a complex endeavor and so is determining how desires fit within our mental economy. To locate my position, I begin with an investigation of various, often opposing, theories of desire. I examine motivational theories, pleasure-based theories, reward/learning accounts, and evaluative models. Ultimately, I argue that none of these theories provides adequate explanation …


Authenticity, Individuality, And Morality: An Existentialist Investigation Into The Possibility Of A Meaningful Existence, Ella Boyd Jan 2022

Authenticity, Individuality, And Morality: An Existentialist Investigation Into The Possibility Of A Meaningful Existence, Ella Boyd

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper addresses the tension between individuality and morality with the goal of maximizing meaning in one’s own life. Drawing from Nietzschean ideas of authenticity and flourishing as they relate to the individual, the Categorical Imperative is then introduced as a way to ensure one’s own moral goodness within society. After accepting Sartre’s theory of existentialism, and, with it, the idea that existence precedes essence, one can begin an investigation into this creation of meaning in their own life. First drawing from Either/Or, Kierkegaard’s three life models are presented and, ultimately, dismissed in favor of Nietzsche’s idea that the key …


A Criticism Of Retributivism: Identifying The Unavoidable And Undesirable Consequences Of Accepting Of Not Accepting “Ought Implies Can”, Samantha Bloomfield Jan 2022

A Criticism Of Retributivism: Identifying The Unavoidable And Undesirable Consequences Of Accepting Of Not Accepting “Ought Implies Can”, Samantha Bloomfield

Scripps Senior Theses

Retributivism makes two claims: the guilty deserve to be punished in proportion to their culpability, and the innocent deserve not to be punished. Through a discussion of our ineliminable susceptibility to luck, our inability to avoid epistemic fallibility, and the implications of either accepting or not accepting Ought Implies Can, I aim to identify retributivism as an inept moral theory.


Invisible Things: An Inquiry Into The Laws Of Nature, Abigail Tulenko Jan 2022

Invisible Things: An Inquiry Into The Laws Of Nature, Abigail Tulenko

Scripps Senior Theses

What are the laws of nature? Are they abstract entities that govern physical processes? Or are they merely useful summaries that describe patterns in nature? In this thesis, I explore offer arguments for the former view– what is known as inflationism regarding laws of nature. It is my hope that by excavating and evaluating the role epistemological concerns have played in this debate, we may find new avenues to break this long-standing metaphysical stalemate


A Unified Theory Of Musical Meaning, Luis Verdin Jan 2022

A Unified Theory Of Musical Meaning, Luis Verdin

CMC Senior Theses

In this thesis, I present a novel theory of musical meaning. This theory posits a complementary relationship between the theories described in Lerdahl and Jackendoff’s Generative Theory of Tonal Music and Arnie Cox’s Music and Embodied Cognition. Each of these theories explain particular aspects of musical meaning (semantic and grammatical, respectively), though I argue that by unifying these theories into a broader framework, they can explain more about musical meaning than they could individually. This unification is performed via the novel theory I present: the Analogical Argument. This argument suggests that Lerdahl and Jackendoff’s Generative Theory of Tonal Music is …


The Pervert’S Guide To The Museum, Seth Ifor Alt Jan 2022

The Pervert’S Guide To The Museum, Seth Ifor Alt

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation provides a sustained theoretical articulation of core Lacanian psychoanalytic concepts situated within the standing difficulties in the practice and theory of museums. Drawing upon research gathered from site visits, informational interviews, textual analysis, and an extensive engagement with the seminars of Jacques Lacan, I enumerate here a first attempt at what a Lacanian theoretical formation can contribute to museum studies scholarship. Through this research this dissertation shows psychoanalysis to be especially useful for museum studies owing to how the troubles immediately encountered in the everyday material practices of museological work are structurally analogous to the impossibilities experienced on …


The Female Perspective On Self-Worth, Zixuan Wang Jan 2022

The Female Perspective On Self-Worth, Zixuan Wang

CMC Senior Theses

How do we determine the value of ourselves? It is intuitive that our perception of self-worth has an implicit effect on our development as individuals. This thesis explores the process through which women determine their self-worth and why it is problematic.


Speaking Silently: Nagarjuna And The Paradox Of Ultimate Reality, Paris Masiel Jan 2022

Speaking Silently: Nagarjuna And The Paradox Of Ultimate Reality, Paris Masiel

CMC Senior Theses

I will explain the core project of ancient Mahayana Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna’s central work, the Mulamadhyamakakarika, or MMK. The MMK is a dense, spiraling text which has confounded scholars since it was written in the 2nd century. It simultaneously argues for the emptiness of conventional concepts, and for the emptiness of emptiness itself. It at once uses logic to break down concepts we typically take for granted, while also seeming to embrace logical contradictions. By investigating two eminent interpretations of the book and one part of Martin Heidegger’s philosophy, I will show that Nagarjuna purposefully charts paradoxical ground in the …


To Integrate Or To Assimilate: An Epistemic Analysis Of Racial Segregation In Education, Nandini Mittal Jan 2022

To Integrate Or To Assimilate: An Epistemic Analysis Of Racial Segregation In Education, Nandini Mittal

CMC Senior Theses

Color has been the demarcating factor in systematically separating particularly Black and white communities, insofar as barring access to education, housing, transportation, and basic civil rights. In the fight against segregation, and a movement towards integration, the area that this we have notoriously failed in is education. This paper is an opportunity to combine the practical with the epistemological (relating to beliefs about knowledge acquisition and validity) and question the hidden or coded elements that are associated with social integration. Where do we draw the line between the social integration and assimilation? I will be exploring the concept of epistemological …


Altruism In The Good Life: An Archetype Of Virtuous Friendship, Elliott Thornburg Jan 2022

Altruism In The Good Life: An Archetype Of Virtuous Friendship, Elliott Thornburg

CMC Senior Theses

What does it mean to live a good life shared with others? The question fundamentally motivates my inquiry into the ancient ethical theories of Aristotle and the early Stoics. Aristotle’s account of eudaimonia presented in Nicomachean Ethics is selected over the early Stoics for the conception of human nature integral to it honors the importance of partiality in human development and flourishing. The altruism central to an Aristotelian’s perfect friendships by way of goodwill is defended to demonstrate virtuous people have genuine altruistic concern for the sake of their friends as explained by self-referential altruism. Finally, an archetype of kinds …


The Identity Of Properties: How Qualia Solve The Regress Problem In Dispositional Monism, Emma Kresch Jan 2022

The Identity Of Properties: How Qualia Solve The Regress Problem In Dispositional Monism, Emma Kresch

CMC Senior Theses

This paper argues for the existence of certain instances of categorical properties in non-physical qualia. There are two types of properties: dispositional properties and categorical properties. Dispositional properties are such that they derive their identity from their relationships to other dispositional properties. Conversely, categorical properties have an identity that exists outside of their relationship to other properties and do not depend on the existence of other properties to derive their identity. The dispositional monist theory claims that all properties are dispositional. In this paper, I present the dispositional monist theory by explaining an account given by Alexander Bird in his …


The Wrongness Of Belief: An Analysis Of Rima Basu’S Work On Doxastic Wronging, Sophie Gitlin Jan 2022

The Wrongness Of Belief: An Analysis Of Rima Basu’S Work On Doxastic Wronging, Sophie Gitlin

CMC Senior Theses

It is undisputed that our actions have the power to wrong others; every decision we make that turns into action can directly or indirectly affect people. This sentiment is less obvious and less accepted when it comes to beliefs. This thesis explores doxastic wronging, or the idea that we can wrong others based on what we believe about them. Through several case studies, I attempt to modify Rima Basu’s criteria of what constitutes a doxastic wrong and develop a modified interpretation of the view that says in order to wrong others by belief the agent must (1) be a participating …


A Marxist Re-Imagining Of Capitalism, Alejandro Villegas Jan 2022

A Marxist Re-Imagining Of Capitalism, Alejandro Villegas

CMC Senior Theses

This paper explores the reasons that Hegel and Smith were optimistic about the promise of capitalism. I identify the virtues and characteristics that capitalism would provide in theory which focused on the potential benefits it would have for average person. I then examine capitalism in practice and identify the ways that Hegel and Smith were wrong. I use Henry Hansmann model of the firm and his account of cost, which fits well with the problems I hope to address. With the help of Henry Hansmann’s account of ownership and cost, I offer potential methods to address the failures of the …


The Power Of The Influencer: Old Gods, Rejected Elites, And Secular Idols, Laura Brenalvirez Jan 2022

The Power Of The Influencer: Old Gods, Rejected Elites, And Secular Idols, Laura Brenalvirez

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis explores the phenomena of influencers in America, and what makes their power distinct from institutional forms of authority. As we are disillusioned by the establishment, we turn to influencers, since we have greater exercise of autonomy and agency in our deference. Our parasocial relationships demonstrate an anti-elitist desire to feel truly represented by our authorities. I aim to open scholarship about celebrities through a more charitable lens than many condescending takes.


Parallels Of Quantum Mechanics And Mahāyāna Buddhist Philosophy: An Argument For Relational Quantum Mechanics, Axel I. Palapa Jan 2022

Parallels Of Quantum Mechanics And Mahāyāna Buddhist Philosophy: An Argument For Relational Quantum Mechanics, Axel I. Palapa

CMC Senior Theses

Western orthodoxy philosophy is based on the principle of noncontradiction and thus, the philosophy of science is as well. The most prominent interpretations of quantum mechanics, since its inception, have followed this principle. In this paper, two quantum phenomena, the Observer Problem (measurement problem) and quantum entanglement will be analyzed from a Mahayana Buddhism ontological perspective. I will analyze the mathematical and philosophical arguments proposed by Graham Priest and Jay Garfield, based on dialethism, pertaining to Nagarjuna and the Net of Indra. Demonstrating the parallels and adaptability of the arguments to further the philosophical groundwork for Carlo Reveille’s Relational Quantum …


Mental Disorders, The Positivity Effect, And Questions Of Identity And Responsibility, Liam Jones Jan 2022

Mental Disorders, The Positivity Effect, And Questions Of Identity And Responsibility, Liam Jones

Pitzer Senior Theses

In order to judge how behavior caused by the positivity effect should be considered, comparisons were made between the positivity effect and two mental disorders. These disorders, Tourette’s syndrome and psychopathy, were selected due to their extreme differences in what Strawsonian attitudes they inspire and how they are perceived relative to disordered patients’ will. Disorder-affected behavior of Tourette’s patients inspires the objective attitude and is seen as a condition affecting an individual’s will, while disorder-affected behavior of psychopaths inspires the interpersonal attitude and is seen as a character trait. Relevant distinctions between psychopathy and Tourette’s syndrome were found to include …