Philosophy Commons^™

The Concept Of Monism In Navajo Thought, Viola F. Cordova

Philosophy ETDs

The concept of Wind as an underlying and unitary force in a Navajo conceptual scheme, as presented primarily in the work of James R. McNeley (Holy Wind in Navajo Philosophy), is used as a means of exploring the possibility that the philosophical theory of monism may serve to explain basic Navajo cultural perspectives.

The study shows how philosophical method--analysis of conceptual notions and their implications--may enhance understanding of the many works on the Navajo presently offered through anthropological and ethnological research.

The idea that Native Americans share a view of the universe as "one thing" has been mentioned …

A Critique Of "The Mormon Concept Of God, A Philosophical Analysis", Kyle Robson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The nature of deity through out the history of philosophy has always been a subject of debate, from some of the earliest writings, philosophers and theologians have given arguments for and against the existence and nature of God. Beckwith and Parrish, in "The Mormon Concept Of God, A Philosophical Analysis," add another page to this on-going debate with their attack of the "Mormon concept of God." In the introduction Beckwith and Parrish explain that it is their aim to show

(1) that the Mormon concept of God differs radically from the classical concept of God,

(2) that the Mormon concept …

Nietzsche And Heraclitus, Virginia Lyle Jennings Howard

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Nietzshe's philosophical ideas are closely based upon his early studies of Greek thought. Unless his philosophy is approached from the standpoint of its foundation in the ancient Greeks, Heraclitus in particular, then it can be difficult to gain a coherent picture of Nietzsche's thought. In Heraclitus he found an affirmation of precisely what he loved about the ancient Greek way of life, its most fundamental concept: the contest. The Greeks embrace their apparently terrible characteristics and control them with a rule-governed contest. In the same way Heraclitus's universe consists of opposites which strive for dominion, not through wars of annihilation, …

New Directions : Dewey, Aesthetics, And Psychology, David Clark

Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether psychological information is relevant to solving aesthetic problems. Along the way I will point out that there are disparate senses of the word "psychology" and I will show how John Dewey can be perceived historically as an early contributor to what we now call "cultural psychology", which I believe is a viable alternative to experimental aesthetics.

On Descartes' Presuppositionless Philosophy, W. Tyler Johnson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The history of human thought seems to be a quest for truth. Each looking for some evidence of a higher law, the biologist looks at living tissue, the chemist looks in the molecule, and the physicist looks inside the atom while the mathematician looks beyond matter and the theist looks toward God. Uncertainty and ignorance have traditionally been despised and rejected in favor of Knowledge and Rigor by all such scientists. Rene Descartes is commonly understood to be the father of this modernism as he was the first to replace the Church and its authoritarianism with a belief in the …

Heidegger And Levinas And The Crisis Of Phenomenology: Thinking The Propriety And A-Propriety Of Time, Travis Tenney Anderson

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Question Of Death In The "Work" Of Nietzsche, Heidegger, Levinas And Blanchot, Dennis King Keenan

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Chaotic Approach To Free Will And Determinism, Gregory J. Till

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

This paper approaches this ancient problem by incorporating the new science of chaos. Chaos is the name given to the discovery that even "simple deterministic systems with only a few elements can generate random behavior" {Crutchfield et al., 46). Chaos shows that deterministic systems can act in ways which are not predictable while at the same time showing that many seemingly random phenomena are more explainable than once thought. By doing so, chaos alters the laws of causation upon which much of this debate rests and indicates that perhaps not all theory is against freedom of the will, despite Dr. …

A Cross-Cultural Study Of The Collectivism-Individualism Paradigm: The Influence Of Confucian Values On The Conflict-Handling Behavior Of Male Graduate Business Students In Hong Kong And The United States, Randy Ki-Kwan Chiu

Dissertations

Problem. The Collectivism-Individualism literature argues that there is a difference in the way that Americans and the Chinese handle conflict based on differences in culture. It is also speculated that these differences have been influenced by Confucian values. However, these positions have not been conclusively supported by empirical findings.

Method. Both the Chinese Value Survey and Thomas and Kilmann's Management-of-Differences Exercise were administered to 124 U.S. White American graduate business students and 142 Hong Kong Chinese graduate business students. Three null hypotheses were formulated. These hypotheses stated that there is no linear combination of Integration, Human-heartedness, Confucian work dynamism, and …

Aristotle And Sophocles On The Elements Of Moral Virtue, Lloyd W. J. Aultman-Moore

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Thinking Gelassenheit Through Heidegger: The Encounter With The Possible Impossible, Shahriar Mohammad Reza Shafaghi

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Towards The Development Of A Kantian Environmental Ethic, Sally Nelson Wiedmann

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This thesis is a response to Aldo Leopold's 1949 call for a new, wholistic environmental ethic. Leopold's call stemmed from his concern over the increasing degradation of the environment as a result of a utilitarian approach which judges nature as good only insofar as it is good for human economic and recreational benefit. This thesis is aimed at the development of a wholistic, non-utilitarian environmental ethic grounded in the philosophy. of Immanuel Kant. The thesis begins with a brief review of the utilitarian environmental ethic which Leopold opposed and some of the consequences it has wrought in the natural world. …