Philosophy Commons^™

Volume 05, Ian Karamarkovich, Jessica Cox, Kyle Fowlkes, Allison Pawlowski, Kaitlin Major, Carrie Dunham, Kelsey Scheitlin, Kathryn Grayson, Ashley Johnson, Jennifer Nehrt, Kelsey Stolzenbach, Kristin Mcquarrie, Sara Nelson, Melisa Michelle, Jessica Sudlow, Perry Bason, Danielle Dmuchawski, Mariah Asbell, Matthew Sakach, Timothy Smith Jr., Annaliese Troxell, T. Dane Summerell, Sarah Ganrude, Malina Rutherford, Hannah Hopper, John Berry Jr., James Early, Colleen Festa, Chelsea D. Taylor, Michelle Maddox, Kaitlyn Smith, Sarah Schu, Cabell Edmunds, Katherine Grayson, Kayla Tornai

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Introduction from Dean Dr. Charles Ross

The Tallis House as an Extension of Emily Tallis in McEwan's Atonement by Ian Karamarkovich

Graphic Design by Jessica Cox

Graphic Design by Kyle Fowlkes

Graphic Design by Allison Pawlowski

Incorporating Original Research in The Classroom: A Case Study Analyzing the Influence of the Chesapeake Bay on Local Temperatures by Kaitlin Major, Carrie Dunham and Dr. Kelsey Scheitlin

Graphic Design by Kathryn Grayson

Graphic Design by Ashley Johnson

Facing the Music: Environmental Impact Assessment of Building A Concert Hall on North Campus by Jennifer Nehrt, Kelsey Stolzenbach And Dr. Kelsey Scheitlin

Art by Kristin …

Mobile Knowledge, Karma Points, And Digital Peers: The Tacit Epistemology And Linguistic Representation Of Moocs, Lisa Portmess

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Media representations of massive open online courses (MOOCs) such as those offered by Coursera, edX and Udacity reflect tension and ambiguity in their bold promise of democratized education and global knowledge sharing. An approach to MOOCs that emphasizes the tacit epistemology of such representations suggests a richer account of the ambiguities of MOOCs, the unsettled linguistic and visual representations that reflect the strange lifeworld of global online courses and the pressing need for promising innovation that seeks to serve the restless global desire for knowledge. This perspective piece critically appraises the linguistic laboratory of thought such representation reveals and its …

Leadership: Dr. Stephen Coan, Rebecca Coan

Philosophy Student Scholarship

The goal of the Leadership wiki was to collect information and inform others about the qualities of good leadership. Such exemplary leaders are ones who engage in a specific practice, maintain the standards of their practice against personal temptation or institutional pressures to be more efficient, seek excellence in the whole of human life by transforming their personal desires to pursue what is truly good, and finally confront what is wrong with culture. The wiki will explain practice, practical reasoning, and virtue in general. For the Leadership wiki I chose my uncle, Dr. Stephen Coan, as my exemplary leader.

The Problem Of Spite, David M. Florey

Student Publications

Spite is one of the most negative emotions. It ranges from the ruthless, malicious, and enormously destructive, to the trivial and seemingly harmless. Yet all spiteful acts seem to lack rational justification and to be preoccupied solely with the intent to harm—even at the risk of harm to oneself. To rid ourselves of this nasty emotion, I propose a solution which involves the elimination of the deep underlying causes that root spite within us. Drawing upon the emotion theories of Robert Solomon and Max Scheler, this thesis describes spite as an emotion, analyses what is wrong with spite, and proposes …

Reading Dewey’S Political Philosophy Through Addams’S Political Compromises, Marilyn Fischer

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Both John Dewey and Jane Addams believed that the cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy. While their vision of democracy is rightly called radical, the processes through which they proposed to cure the ills of democracy are in large measure conservative, in the classical, Burkean sense of the term. To show this, I first explain how well their political philosophies line up, particularly their proposals for political reconstruction. I then use Addams’s experiences as a delegate to the 1912 Progressive Party Convention as a test case in real time for Dewey’s proposals for political reconstruction. The compromises …

Bringing Back Color, Bringing Back Emotion: Exploring Phenomenological Empathy In The Reclamation Of The Female Nude In Painting, Sophia R. Forman

Scripps Senior Theses

At the nexus of the seemingly disparate art-theoretical topics of color and the female nude is a critical consideration of phenomenology in both one of its most basic senses—as the first-person experience of perceived phenomena—and as a larger philosophical position which, through its abstraction of perception to subject-object relationships, implicates the painted figure. Specifically, this paper conflates the phenomenology of color with the transcendental phenomenology of Edmund Husserl and Maurice Merleau-Ponty in investigating empathy. Structured as a dialectic, it establishes the most prominent views of both color and the female nude—the nude as a symbolic figure, color as perceptual experience—before …

Philosophy & World Religions Department Newsletter, V6, Spring 2013, University Of Northern Iowa. Department Of Philosophy And World Religions.

Philosophy & World Religions Department Newsletter

Inside this issue:

-- Notes from the Head
-- On Art and Censorship
-- On Freedom and Equality
-- The Most Important Book I Ever Read
-- Faculty Spotlight: Jerome Soneson, Professor of Religion
-- End of the Year Luncheon
-- Graduates 2012-2013
-- Final thoughts from graduating senior Emily O'Loughlin
-- Student Interview: Stef McGraw, Philosophy
-- Student Interview, Yu Sasaki, Study of Religion
-- Biannual Book Sale
-- Dr. Massimo Pigliucci: "Revisiting the Demarcation Problem"
-- Alumni Spotlight: Alison Suen, Philosophy
-- Alumni Spotlight: Amy Hoyer, Study of Religion
-- Alumni Response Form

Social Media And The Transformation Of The Humanitarian Narrative: A Comparative Analysis Of Humanitarian Discourse In Libya 2011 And Bosnia 1994, Ellen Noble

Political Science Honors Projects

Within humanitarian discourse, there is a prevailing narrative: the powerful liberal heroes are saving the helpless, weak victims. However, the beginning of the 21^st century marks the expansion of the digital revolution throughout lesser-developed states. Growing access to the Internet has enabled aid recipients to communicate with the outside world, giving them an unprecedented opportunity to reshape discourses surrounding humanitarianism. Through a comparative discourse analysis of Libyan Tweets, 1994 newspaper reports on Bosnia, and 2011 newspaper reports on Libya, this paper analyzes whether aid recipient discourse can resist the dominant humanitarian narrative and if that resistance can influence dominant …

Philosophy And Theology: Reproductive Rights, Christopher Kaczor

Philosophy Faculty Works

The article discusses the philosophy and theology regarding reproductive rights and reproductive duties. It is stated that the term "reproductive rights" is a common euphemism for the ability to access abortion and contraception. It is noted that the ambiguity in speaking about reproductive rights comes from the multiple meanings of the term "rights."

Ethical Ambivalence In Local Television Weathercasting: A Rossian Analysis, Vernon Keith Thompson

Masters Theses

Today’s television weathercasters are being called upon increasingly to go beyond benign weather prognostications to become the “newsroom experts” for science topics. The expectation to act as both scientists and journalists can cause ethical ambivalence (EA), a sociological condition in which, faced with conflicting norms, the subject feels that he/she is being pulled psychologically in two different directions (Jansen & Von Glinow, 1985). This thesis presents a Rossian analysis of climate change in weathercasting, a topic that captures the most important ethical tensions arising from conflicting duties within the weathercaster role, specifically: a) how might the duties of the television …

Epistemology In "Stalker", Travis Wheeler

Cinesthesia

No abstract provided.

The Justification Of Authority : A Response To Raz, Reilly Wilson

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

A Critique Of The Free Will Defense, A Comprehensive Look At Alvin Plantinga’S Solution To The Problem Of Evil., Justin Ykema

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Stories Of Environmental Ethicists In Word And Image, Camille Robins

Scripps Senior Theses

The Stories of Environmental Ethicists in Word and Image captures the spirit of three local people: John B. Cobb, Jr., Rosemary Radford Ruether, and Dean Freudenberger. As teachers, writers, activists, and members of the progressive retirement community Pilgrim Place, they’ve had a significant influence on the global environmental movement. The photographs and small essays in this project highlight who they are and what they’ve done, and how they continue to shape contemporary intellectual discourse. An analysis of how portrait photographers use images to tell stories and how they incorporate text in their photographic collections to create fuller, more robust pictures …

Between Locke’S Two Tracts And The Essay On Toleration: Religious Toleration And The Power Of The Magistrate, Kevin W. Vansylyvong

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Uniqueness And Symmetry In Bargaining Theories Of Justice, John Thrasher

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

For contractarians, justice is the result of a rational bargain. The goal is to show that the rules of justice are consistent with rationality. The two most important bargaining theories of justice are David Gauthier’s and those that use the Nash’s bargaining solution. I argue that both of these approaches are fatally undermined by their reliance on a symmetry condition. Symmetry is a substantive constraint, not an implication of rationality. I argue that using symmetry to generate uniqueness undermines the goal of bargaining theories of justice.

Ideal And Ordinary Language In Plato's Cratylus, Franco Trivigno

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Interpreters of Plato’s Cratylus are faced with a puzzle. If Socrates’ etymologies (397a-421c) are intended to be parodies, as many have thought,^[1] what is the status of the imitation theory of letters (421c-427d), which provides the theoretical foundation for etymology and, as some have thought, indicates Plato’s ambition to construct an ideal language?[2] In this paper, I focus on three questions: [1] whether Plato thought that imitation provided a suitable basis for an ideal language; [2] whether Plato thought that the development of an ideal language would be philosophical possible or desirable; [3] whether he thought that ordinary …

From Ecological Creativity To An Ecology Of Well-Being: ‘Flows & Catchments’ As A Case Study Of Nvivo, Dr Brad Warren, Dr Patrick West

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

This paper’s research question concerns how the ecological creativity of the Volcanic Plains region of Western Victoria may be transformed into an ecology of well-being of benefit to the local community. Drawing on the philosophies of Spinoza and Gilles Deleuze, we argue that community well-being results from the richness of connections and relationships made within a place. The case study for our investigation is ‘Flows & Catchments’, which is an ongoing, collaborative, creative-arts research project auspiced by Deakin University. Its modus operandi is Practice-Based Research (PBR), and its aim is to promote community well-being in Western Victoria. However, while the …

Racism In A Black White Binary: On The Reaction To Trayvon Martin’S Death, Peter Westmoreland

Center for the Study of Race & Race Relations: Lectures and Events

Some philosophers have contended that racism necessarily involves a binary structure. In the United States, the binary is coded in terms of Blacks and Whites and functions in part in this way: it describes violence as racist only if committed by whites against blacks and prescribes that all such violence is potentially racist. This concept operated during the immediate aftermath of Trayvon Martin’s death in both allegations of racism without strong evidence and assertions against George Zimmerman’s being white that were intended to protect him. While perhaps no racism was involved in Martin’s death, we do well to remember that …

Reconciliation Or Reconstruction? Further Thoughts On Political Forgiveness, Jean Axelrad Cahan

Department of Philosophy: Faculty Publications

Over the past decade a substantial literature has emerged on the concept of political forgiveness and the process of restorative justice. This article argues that importing an idea of forgiveness into political affairs is a mistake. It is not necessary for the promotion of peace and security, and it is has been construed in a way that leans heavily toward Christian conceptions of forgiveness, as is evident in the influence of Desmond Tutu. The article also examines the influence of Hegelian recognition theory in current discussions of the political benefits of forgiveness, and reviews the case of postwar German-Jewish relations, …

Sheltering Xenophobia, Ronald Sundstrom

Philosophy

What is xenophobia? Why is xenophobia immoral? How is xenophobia’s conceptual and moral meaning diminished? Investigations of these questions would invigorate xenophobia as a topic in public morality and discourage the public’s acquiesc- ing to xenophobia’s new prominence. This paper focuses on the third question, the diminishment of xenophobia. In the first sec- tion, I outline a general conception of xenophobia. In the second, I explain how theories of membership in liberal democratic soci- eties relegate xenophobia to a minor moral concern. And, in the third, that the conflation of xenophobia with racism disadvantages the former. How liberal Democratic nations …

Assembly Required: Christ's Presence In The Pews, William L. Portier

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

When I attempt to articulate what I "get out of" going to church, I find myself increasingly emphasizing the real presence of Christ in the assembly. It has been almost 50 years since Vatican II, so it is well to recall what the council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy said in 1963 about that presence. It taught that in order to accomplish the work of salvation for which the Father sent him, Christ is always present in the church, especially in the church's liturgical celebrations.

Philosophy Colloquium, Mallika Kavadi

News and Events (Discontinued Series)

No abstract provided.

Infanticide And The Anxious Silence Of “Language As Such”, Kevin Godbout

Modern Languages and Literatures Annual Graduate Conference

No abstract provided.

Pasolini's Laugh: Joyful Ignorance In The Decameron, Andrea Privitera

Modern Languages and Literatures Annual Graduate Conference

In this paper, I discuss Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron and its 1971 film adaptation by Pier Paolo Pasolini. To be more precise, I focus on the fifth novella of the sixth day, the one about Giotto and Forese, and its audiovisual re-elaboration, which can be seen as a very brief and at the same time very vivid example of Pasolini’s ideas on society, language and communication.

‘[Os Mentis] Mouth To Mouth’ With Nicola Masciandaro, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire, Edia Connole, Patrick Zaidan, Scott Wilson

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Pornography, Ethics, And Video Games, Stephanie Patridge

Religion & Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

In a recent and provocative essay, Christopher Bartel attempts to resolve the gamer's dilemma. The dilemma, formulated by Morgan Luck, goes as follows: there is no principled distinction between virtual murder and virtual pedophilia. So, we'll have to give up either our intuition that virtual murder is morally permissible-seemingly leaving us over-moralizing our gameplay-or our intuition that acts of virtual pedophilia are morally troubling-seemingly leaving us under-moralizing our game play. Bartel's attempted resolution relies on establishing the following three theses: (1) virtual pedophilia is child pornography, (2) the consumption of child pornography is morally wrong, and (3) virtual murder is …

Journey Of A Peace Journalist, Robert Koehler

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Presented October 15, 2012. 2012 Winnie Veenstra Peace Lecture.

Science And Religion Take Practice: Engaging Science As Culture, James K.A. Smith

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

This article argues that current paradigms in the theology/science conversation effectively treat “science” as if it were equivalent to “nature”—with detrimental effects for the encounter between Christian theology and the natural sciences. In contrast, I suggest that recognizing science as culture has important implications for reconfiguring the theology/science dialogue.

David Foster Wallace To The Rescue, James K.A. Smith

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

No abstract provided.