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Articles 31 - 39 of 39

Full-Text Articles in Philosophy

The Promise Of A Liberal Arts Education, Daniel R. Denicola Jan 1998

The Promise Of A Liberal Arts Education, Daniel R. Denicola

Philosophy Faculty Publications

It's an age-old concern. Just what is a liberal arts education supposed to be? It's far more than practical skills, argues Provost Dan DeNicola. Judging by the success of Gettysburg alums who majored in one field and now work in another, learning to think clearly and critically is key to the liberal arts.


An Intervening Cause Counterexample To Railton’S Dnp Model Of Explanation, Stuart Gluck, Steven Gimbel Dec 1997

An Intervening Cause Counterexample To Railton’S Dnp Model Of Explanation, Stuart Gluck, Steven Gimbel

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Peter Railton (1978) has introduced the influential deductive-nomological-probabilistic (DNP) model of explanation which is the culmination of a tradition of formal, nonpragmatic accounts of scientific explanation. The other models in this tradition have been shown to be susceptiblet o a class of counterexamplesin volvingi nterveningc auses which speak against their sufficiency. This treatment has never been extended to the DNP model; we contend that the usual form of these counterexamples is ineffective in this case. However, we develop below a new version which overcomes these difficulties. Thus we claim that all of the models in this tradition, DNP included, have …


Bewitched, Bothered, And Bewildered: Reflections On Art, Fundamentalism, And Democracy, Daniel R. Denicola Apr 1996

Bewitched, Bothered, And Bewildered: Reflections On Art, Fundamentalism, And Democracy, Daniel R. Denicola

Philosophy Faculty Publications

This philosophical lecture explores the tension between art and morality, beginning with the opposing viewpoints—aestheticism and moralism—that one should trump the other. As exemplary case studies, several controversial art exhibits—works that fueled the culture wars of the 1980’s are examined to identify the concerns of advocates and critics. This leads to deeper reflections on the artistic assumptions of religious fundamentalism, the role of art in a democracy, and the possibility that artistic exploration can be a form of moral action.


The Emergence Of The New American College, Daniel R. Denicola Jan 1994

The Emergence Of The New American College, Daniel R. Denicola

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The story of the "New American College" is about the development of a new kind of institution embodying a set of ideals which may resonate across all of higher education. It begins, however, with the humble matter of institutional taxonomy. How we classify our schools and colleges may seem an unexciting issue, but our classification systems reveal our assumptions, our expectations, and ultimately our values. Recall that a conceptual revolution, a breakthrough, is often presaged by an accumulation of classification problems, an accretion of anomalies, a proliferation of misfits. [excerpt]


Paradigms And Paraphernalia: On The Relationship Of Theory And Technology In Science, Daniel R. Denicola Jan 1991

Paradigms And Paraphernalia: On The Relationship Of Theory And Technology In Science, Daniel R. Denicola

Philosophy Faculty Publications

What is the connection between theory and technology in science? What is the relationship between the various activities of "doing" science and the instruments that enable these activities? My interest here is to explore these questions in a very broad and elementary way, occasionally citing examples plucked from the history of science. [excerpt]


Virtue And The Need For Heroes, Daniel R. Denicola Jan 1983

Virtue And The Need For Heroes, Daniel R. Denicola

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Ronald Zigler has intended to take us on an educational adventure, a descent into the moral underworld of human biology, in search of "a theory of virtue and how it can be taught." With the shade of John Dewey as guide, intoning the admonition that "all virtues and vibes are habits," Zigler tracks the sources of aggression through the epigenetic land and, lo, approaches even unto the hypothalamus itself. He returns blinking into the daylight of moral education, clutching the truth that training in meditation is a key to the development of virtue, because it can "promote the functional integration …


The Education Of The Emotions, Daniel R. Denicola Jan 1979

The Education Of The Emotions, Daniel R. Denicola

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Human emotion is, to some, an embarrassment. They regard our emotional aspect as not fully human; like some grotesque offspring, it should be hidden away in our psychic cellar or gotten rid of altogether. Our emotions (or "passions" or "affections") are powerful, but they may be kept at bay by our fair child, reason. The enmity seems natural; reason represents the orderly, the proper, the Apollonian; emotion is the disruptive, the capricious, the Dionysian. The accomplishments of cool reason may be consumed in the heat of passion. To give vent to emotion is thus to turn irrational and to reveal …


The Philosopher, The Teacher, And The Quest For Clarity, Daniel R. Denicola Jan 1978

The Philosopher, The Teacher, And The Quest For Clarity, Daniel R. Denicola

Philosophy Faculty Publications

As the weeks have come and gone, my inflated expectations for this address have been punctured. I once hoped to take the presidential torch into some unexplored recess of the philosophical cave, there to illuminate an unsuspected cavern that would sparkle with truth. Cut and polished crystals of new truth would be the yield from my address. But then I remembered Whitehead's dictum that "It is more important that a proposition be interesting than that it be true." Thinking this to be particularly sound advice for one whose role is to close a long day of philosophizing, I decided to …


Biography And The Curriculum, Daniel R. Denicola Jul 1973

Biography And The Curriculum, Daniel R. Denicola

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In recent years many critics have written of the pervasive dehumanization and possible rehumanization of education. Plighting their troth to the autonomy and integrity of the human person, these commentators scour the educational landscape in search of policies and practices that depersonalize. They have often attacked teaching methods and the social and institutional situation in which teaching is undertaken; a few errant knights have even assailed the enterprise of teaching itself. Less often has curriculum content been questioned, and when it has been, the critics were usually concerned about "irrelevance." There is, however, another way in which the curriculum is …