Philosophy Commons^™

The Harm Of Neglecting Embodiment: How Biomedical Ethics’ Neglect Of Bodies And Context Hurts Women And Minorities, Nancy L. Dumler

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation argues that mainstream bioethics has failed to adequately acknowledge bodies and embodiment in practice and theory. While philosophers have generally not held “substance dualism” as such for some time, this practice of overlooking the body is probably grounded in what I label evaluative dualism, which is still ingrained in our culture. This dualism maintains a dichotomy and ranking of mind over body in addition to dichotomizing and rating other constructed pairs such as culture and nature and male and female. Such a ranking leads to, or supports discrimination against those who are most commonly associated with the body …

The Ethical Implications Of Telemedicine And The Internet For Home Healthcare, Keith Alan Bauer

Doctoral Dissertations

Information and communication technologies, such as the Internet, are transforming our business, education, and leisure practices. The healthcare industry is no exception to this trend and the burgeoning field of home-based telemedicine is evidence of this. As with many technological innovations in healthcare, assessments of homebased telemedicine and correlative policies are being driven by economic and technological criteria that emphasize cost reduction and technologic efficiency. These are important considerations, but these assessments neither identify the ethical values involved in home-based telemedicine nor address its possible ethical implications. Since the economic and technologic viability of home-based telemedicine is not identical with …

Technology And Tradition: Jewish Bioethics In The Age Of Genetics, Toby Lee Fey

Doctoral Dissertations

The thesis that I defend in this project is that utilizing a care ethic is helpful in understanding the decisions reached by the observant Jewish community regarding medical care and the influence of genetics on those decisions. Previous analyses, as forms of “traditional” Jewish bioethics, have focused exclusively on the religious laws and principles that determine right action for this group. But it seems to me that identifying other patterns and core elements specific to this group will further illuminate and clarify the decision-making process. Specifically, the importance of relationships, especially family, is a pattern that must be addressed when …

Relationships Among Registered Nurses' Moral Judgment And Their Perception And Judgment Of Pain And Selected Nurse Factors, David S. Gerstle

Doctoral Dissertations

Under-treatment of pain by nurses continues to be a prevalent problem today. Many times pain management situations prove to be ethical in nature for nurses. Nurses are ethically obligated to alleviate pain as part of the profession's responsibilities to patients. The American Nurses' Association Code for Nurses, Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations pain management standards, the American Pain Society, and other pain management standards express this commitment. Therefore, nurses must possess adequate moral judgment to effectively deal with moral dilemmas and provide adequate pain management. To date, no studies have been conducted to examine the relationship of nurses' …

A Conditional Reasoning Approach To Measuring Relative Achievement Motivation: Validation Results From An Applied Setting, Darren H. F. Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

This study presents the first attempt to validate a new approach to measuring an individual's relative achievement motivation in an applied setting. The new measurement approach which utilizes conditional reasoning differs from other self-report measures in that it capitalizes on the respondent's subjective processes of interpreting and framing information and developing a causal model to explain the information they are presented with in order to arrive at a logical conclusion. In this study, relative achievement motivation as measured by the Conditional Reasoning Test was not found to be related to individual patrol officer activities. However, a number of patrol officer …

The Gothic Tradition In Southern Local Color Fiction, Lucia Ann Stretcher Sigmar

Doctoral Dissertations

The American local color movement, roughly spanning the end of the Civil War to the turn of the century, attempted to preserve traditional regional lifestyles which were in danger of disappearing entirely in a rapidly expanding, increasingly hegemonic society. Historically, local color fiction has been dismissed as too narrowly focused, too nostalgically charged, too stylistically detailed, too lacking in "literary" merit, too quaint, too insignificant to warrant serious, critical investigation. Critics have typically regarded the movement as a subdivision of regionalism, and have privileged the fiction's characteristic adherence to realistic detail (dialect, folklore, character types, and regional setting) above all …

A Procedure For Initiating Process Control, Kim Ingrid Melton

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to develop a procedure to initiate process control. Traditional methods of process control do not allow testing until an initial group of samples (usually 20 or more) is drawn. In addition, the testing for control worth respect to the process average is dependent on evidence that the variability in the process is stable.

The procedures developed and studied here allow immediate testing on the process average without assuming that the process is in control with respect to variability. Through the use of a sequential testing procedure, data from a current sample is tested to …

A Theoretical Framework For A Combined Social-Ethical Analysis, Michael Macdonald Burgess

Doctoral Dissertations

Current normative analyses and recommendations in medical ethics do not sufficiently analyze the social context of concrete ethical problems. This results in impractical or ineffective policy recommendations or case responses which reinforce the social context which created the ethical problem. A social analysis is possible which displays how the social context directs the communication and action of physicians and patients, and in turn reinforces and further establishes these influential social factors. Such a social analysis provides a means of integrating short-term case-responses with long-term institutional policy and structural change. The latter, on this analysis, is the more ethically "complete", and …

A Critical Examination Of The Ethical Philosophy Of Ayn Rand, Virginia Jean Osborn

Masters Theses

The central purpose of this paper is to critically examine and to render consistent three major areas of Ayn Rand's ethical philosophy "Objectivism." The three areas under consideration will be the intrinsic good and the basic extrinsic goods of Objectivism, the Objectivist theory of obligation, and the Objectivist position concerning happiness.

The task of analyzing these three areas of Objectivism will involve, first, a description of the position under consideration, second, an analysis of the meaning of the position, and third, an analysis of the internal consistency and/or truth of the position under consideration. This analysis shall be used in …

A Critique Of Robert S. Hartman's 'Four Axiological Proofs Of The Infinite Value Of Man', Raymond M. Pruitt

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to examine Professor Robert S. Hartman's notion that the individual human person is of infinite value. In a recent paper he attempts to establish his concept by arguments which are founded upon four axiological definitions of man: epistemological, logical, ontological, and teleological.

The thesis is concerned with the validity of the arguments, their applicability to the existing human person, and whether or not Professor Hartman has made unwarranted assumptions.

I conclude that his arguments tend to be circular, and there are too many assumptions. I believe he has made a good case for the …

The Methodological Basis Of Dewey's Philosophy Of Education, Richard Leroy Parker

Masters Theses

The purpose of this investigation was to show the methodological basis of John Dewey's Philosophy of Education, to state his explanation of the method best suited to education, and to establish a relationship, if any, between his philosophy and attitudes in contemporary education.

A search was made covering most of Dewey's written work, including a bound edition of his lecture notes. A thorough study of Joseph Ratner's commentary on Dewey's Philosophy of Education and of Dewey's exposition on logic, or inquiry, was undertaken. It was mainly from these sources that Dewey's Philosophy of Education was determined. The experiences and comments …