Philosophy Commons^™

Embellishing The Past: Fernando Del Pulgar And History At The Court Of The Catholic Monarchs, Bretton Rodriguez

Quidditas

Composed in the late fifteenth century, Fernando del Pulgar’s Crónica de los Reyes Católicos was the official account of – and therefore one of the best sources for – some of the most significant events in late medieval Spanish history. Within his narrative, Pulgar described the marriage of Isabel and Fernando (better known today as the Catholic Monarchs), the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition, and the buildup to the conquest of Granada. Despite the importance of the events that he described, as well as his own role as official historian, Pulgar revealed a radical understanding of history and history writing …

The World Of Miracles: Science, And Healing In Caesarius Of Heisterbach’S Dialogus Miraculorum (Ca.1240) In Competition With Magic, Albrecht Classen

Quidditas

This paper offers a close reading of some of the miracle tales dedicated to the Virgin Mary as contained in Caesarius of Heisterbach’s Dialogus miraculorum (ca. 1240) in order to shed light on the fundamental narrative structures of this genre, the association between the narratives and their material background, and to build a case to argue that medieval miracle narratives actually shared much in common with the discourse on magic. After a critical examination of magic itself and its properties as imagined or realized in the Middle Ages, the analysis highlights the ‘miraculous’ or maybe even ‘magical’ features of Caesarius’s …

Delno C. West Award

Quidditas

The West Award recognizes the most distinguished paper given by a senior scholar at the annual conference.

Recipient of the Delno C. West Award for 2019

Corinne Wieben

Front Matter

Quidditas

No abstract provided.

“We Are Perpetually Moralists:” Samuel Johnson And Renaissance Epistemology, Brandon Schneeberger

Quidditas

This article discusses how new Renaissance epistemological views shaped the important eighteenth-century critic Samuel Johnson. I argue that Johnson emphasizes conversation as an important element of epistemology, pushing against what was an over-emphasize on book learning perpetuated by educators such as Peter Ramus. The rise in print-culture led to a shift in epistemology, in which knowledge could be seen as linear, codified, or fixed. While Johnson works both within and against these new epistemological trends, I argue that his criticism of John Milton’s poetry can be appreciated more fully if Johnson’s own reservations about print culture are kept in mind. …

The Fiscal Policy Of Richard Iii Of England, Alex Brayson

Quidditas

Influenced by the “new” fiscal historiographical agenda of the 1990s, this article pioneers a radical reconstruction of the Yorkist-era royal budget. This demonstrates that the increased role of demesne revenues managed by the royal chamber in financing total expenditures under Edward IV, which was famously applauded by B. P. Wolffe, signally failed to provide for long-term fiscal stability. The removal of Edward’s French pension in 1483 led to a substantial deficit which compelled Richard III to contravene his brother’s pledge to “live of his own”. Richard’s sustained attempts, during 1483-4, to resurrect and revise controversial late Lancastrian attempts to secure …

“Sapere Videre” How A Spreadsheet Helps “Knowing How To See” Royal Power On Display In England’S Counties, 1277 To 1642, James H. Forse

Quidditas

Using a spreadsheet tracking touring in England’s counties by entertainers attached to members of England’s royal families suggests that such activity was wide-spread dating from the time of Edward III, and that those entertainers may have served to “advertise” royal power.

Stricken By Terror: Seeing And Knowing In Late Medieval Criminal Case Records, Corinne Wieben

Quidditas

Medieval legal records frequently feature parties and lawyers willing to stretch the truth and weave tales that fulfill statutory requirements and promote their cases, but what happens when defendants testify against themselves? When Giambono of Matraia, a monk from the monastery of San Ponziano in Lucca, appeared before Lucca’s episcopal court in 1356, he found himself facing charges of adultery, robbery, and murder. After four witnesses testified against him, Giambono confessed. When all seemed lost, Ser Giovanni Folchini, a well-known Lucchese notary, appeared as Giambono’s legal representative and claimed his client’s confession was false, since “he said these things while …

Bergson’S Philosophy Of Self-Overcoming, Messay Kebede

Books and Book Chapters by University of Dayton Faculty

This book proposes a new reading of Bergsonism based on the admission that time, conceived as duration, stretches instead of passes. This swelling time is full and so excludes the negative. Yet, swelling requires some resistance, but such that it is more of a stimulant than a contrariety. The notion of élan vital fulfills this requirement: it states the immanence of life to matter, thereby deriving the swelling from an internal effort and allowing its conceptualization as self-overcoming. With self-overcoming as the inner dynamics of reality, Bergson dismisses all forms of dualism and reductionist monism because both the absence of …

Preparing For The Unthinkable? The Prevention Of Posttraumatic Stress And The Limits Of Positive Psychology, Urlich Koch

Clinical Research and Leadership Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Dworkinian Liberalism, The Right To Pornography, And The Internet, Will Nowell

Honors Theses

In a 1981 journal article, “Is There A Right to Pornography?,” Ronald Dworkin argues that we have a right to ethical independence that includes the right to consume pornography. The purpose of this thesis is to inquire as to whether Dworkinian liberalism does entail a right to specifically internet pornography. This research is primarily focused on Ronald Dworkin’s writings in Justice for Hedgehogs, Sovereign Virtue: The Theory and Practice of Equality, and Taking Rights Seriously to describe the principles and character of Dworkinian liberalism and its philosophical relationship to the question of the right to pornography. This thesis considers contemporary …

Homelessness Status Among Female Veterans: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, And Hopelessness, Shorrelle Sheri Kennedy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Homelessness among female veterans is a problem that is likely to increase as growing numbers of women in the United States military reestablish themselves into their communities as veterans. The purpose of this quantitavie quasi-experimental study was to determine whether there are differences in posttraumatic stress (PTSD), depression, and hopelessness in homeless versus nonhomeless female veterans who have experienced at least 1 U.S. military deployment. Four theories served as the basis for this research: the cognitive theory of depression, conditioning theory, ecological theory, and the hopelessness of depression theory. The data were collected from 88 female veterans who were deployed …

Notices, Editorial Office

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Intersectionality: Engaging The Epistemology Of Leadership Theory, Carolyn J. Morales

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation investigates the potential of linking intersectionality and leadership theories utilizing a theoretical bricolage research strategy. In order to explore a theoretical merger between these two disparate disciples warrants a preliminary understanding of how the production of knowledge has constructed a long-standing epistemic bias against marginalized perspectives. This analysis will seek to illustrate how androcentrism pervades the corpus of intellectual thought and the resulting impact which extends beyond the traditional canon of epistemology to the field of leadership. Intrinsic to this analysis will be an exploration of social identity and how it interacts with larger social environmental factors such …

Collective Responsibility By Agreement, David Atenasio

Dissertations

It is often challenging to fairly distribute responsibility for harms that result from collective wrongdoing. Few object to blaming an agent for making a contribution to wrongdoing, but it is far more controversial to attribute fault to one agent for the contributions made by other participants in collective wrongdoing. I argue that we ought to distribute co-responsibility for collective wrongdoing only to those who authorize the offending actions, whether expressly or tacitly. By authorizing another to carry out wrongdoing on one's behalf, one becomes to blame for the unjustified harm caused by one's agent or agents. In this dissertation, I …

Review Of The Oxford Handbook Of Philosophy And Race, Julie Ward

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

The Hidden Power Of The New Economic Sanctions, Joy Gordon

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

At The Intersection Of Due Process And Equal Protection: Expanding The Range Of Protected Interests, Vincent J. Samar

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Are the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses interconnected? Justice Kennedy in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court case holding the fundamental right to marry includes the right to a same-sex marriage, stated that they are profoundly connected in that each clause “may be instructive as to the meaning and reach of the other.” But exactly what instruction each doctrine might afford the other, Justice Kennedy did not say. An earlier Supreme Court decision, Plyler v. Doe, also suggested a connection, when the Court held unconstitutional a Texas statute baring funding for the education of undocumented children. But …

Contesting The Public Sphere: Within And Against Critical Theory, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This chapter examines how European thinkers working from within and without the Frankfurt School of critical theory have understood the public sphere as a distinctive political category. First-generation members of the school rejected institutional democracy and mass politics as ideologies that mask domination. The succeeding generation, whose most important representative is Jürgen Habermas, rejected that diagnosis. Habermas’s more optimistic assessment of the emancipatory potential of the public sphere as a medium of rational learning sought a middle ground between critics and defenders of liberal democracy. This ambivalence provoked strong counter-reactions from systems theorists, such as Niklas Luhmann, and from adherents …

Applying Gadamer: An Evaluation Of Interpretations Of The Confucian Analects By Different Schools Under The Light Of Gadamerian Hermeneutics, Yifeng Xu

Senior Independent Study Theses

This thesis attempts to analyse and evaluate several interpretations of the Confucian Analects under the light of Gadamerian hermeneutics. In chapter 1, I explicate Gadamerian hermeneutics and analyse Gadamer’s hermeneutical view. In chapter 2, I introduce a challenge to Gadamer’s theory regarding the problem of objectivity, give Gadamer a limited defence, and then reconstruct Gadamerian hermeneutics in order to answer the challenge. Chapter 3 deals with some further concerns about the application of Gadamerian hermeneutics in terms of evaluating interpretations. Chapter 4 and 5 are spent on analysing two groups of interpretations of the Confucian Analects as well as the …

Tying Truth's Shoes: The Value Of A Realist Notion Of Truth Within Democratic Discourse, Emma Arvedon

Senior Independent Study Theses

This thesis attempts to answer the question; what is the value of a realist notion of truth in democratic discourse? It is divided into 4 main chapters, along with an introduction and some short concluding remarks.

In my introduction I attempt to give some preliminary reasons I became interested in this question in the first place. I also clarify some terms that I will use for the rest of the paper.

The first chapter is devoted to delineating a realist notion of truth. I focus on defining features of the theory, consider other competing theories of truth, defend a realist …

Editorial, Editorial Office

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Recent Publications, Editorial Office

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Servant Leadership Characteristics And Empathic Care: Developing A Culture Of Empathy In The Healthcare Setting, Mark Anthony Martin

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study was to assess the degree to which servant leadership characteristics are exhibited in medical group practices, and the degree to which servant leadership characteristics correlated with measures of empathic care. This study featured an explanatory mixed methods research design embedded in appreciative inquiry. A total of 189 mid-level practitioners consisting of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and practice mangers responded to a 32-item scale survey that featured a six-point Likert scale to measure servant leadership items and a 10-point continuous scale to assess measures of empathic care. The servant leadership items were based on the seven …

Descriptive Phenomenological Analysis Of Influences To Death Anxiety, Michelle M. Ehle

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

There are two certainties in life: we are born, and we will die. Everything in between birth and death is our life. This truth leads many individuals to existential questions: What is the meaning of life? How do we become satisfied with life, knowing that death is impending? Does awareness of death motivate how we live? Death anxiety is a well-studied subject; well over 500 studies provide information on who is the most fearful of death among a variety of groups (women versus men, religious verses secular, youth verses elderly, et cetera). These studies also use presuppositions to explain fear …

Towards An Aristotelian Theory Of Care: A Comparison Of Neo-Aristotelian Virtue Ethics With Feminist Ethics Of Care, And The Fundaments Of A Virtue Ethical Theory Of Care, Steven Steyl

Theses

The intersection between virtue and care ethics is underexplored in contemporary moral philosophy. This thesis approaches care ethics from a neo-Aristotelian virtue ethical perspective, comparing the two frameworks and drawing on recent work on care to develop a theory thereof. It is split into seven substantive chapters serving three major argumentative purposes, namely the establishment of significant intertheoretical agreement, the compilation and analysis of extant and new distinctions between the two theories, and the synthesis of care ethical insights with neo-Aristotelianism to generate a virtue ethical theory of care. In the first two chapters, I outline virtue ethics and care …

A Feminist Epistemological Framework: Preventing Knowledge Distortions In Scientific Inquiry, Karina Bucciarelli

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores how scientific knowledge claims can become distorted due to socially constructed conceptions of gender. Further, it delves into the key components of an epistemological framework that will minimize these distortions.

To set up the analysis, I first explore how ‘traditional’ scientific explanations of human fertilization map stereotypes of the passive female and the active male onto the scientific participation of the egg and the sperm in human reproduction, thus rendering this knowledge claim problematic. We then turn to arguments presented by prominent feminist epistemologists. I argue that in order to produce knowledge claims free of distortions due …

Higher-Order Thought And Borderline Cases Of Consciousness: An Objection To Hot, Francesca Karin Beach

Scripps Senior Theses

David Rosenthal, in his Higher-Order Thought (HOT) theory of consciousness, argues that it is a higher-order thought to the effect that the subject is in a conscious state that makes one conscious of his or her own mental states. In this paper, I argue that since phenomenal consciousness can be vague and Rosenthal’s HOT cannot, HOT is not a necessary condition of phenomenal consciousness. I use primarily Ned Blocks’ refrigerator hum case and Sartre’s example of non-positional awareness to argue that the threshold which determines the degree of first-person awareness necessary for a mental state to be conscious is vague …

Traversing States: A Reflection On Digital Technology And Simondon's Critique Of Hylomorphism, Michael O'Hara

Articles

In this article, I examine Simondon's concept of the technical object reflecting on its analogous relationship to digital technology. Intrinsic to such an analysis is Simondon's distinction between the abstract and concrete and his specific critique of the hylomorphic model. In a deeply rich example, Simondon, contra Aristotle, mobilises the process of mould-making as an exemplar of the modulated ensemble of forces that prefigure any formations of matter through form. I analyse Simondon's paradigmatic criticism while at the same time carving out the potential intersections that emerge through the kinaesthetic awareness of the body. By doing so I highlight the …

How Evangelical Ministries Create Social Identity On College Campuses: An Analysis Of The Salt Company, Hannah Gregor

Honors Program Theses

My initial interest in researching college evangelical ministries spurred from my own experience with a ministry on my campus, The Salt Company. As I dug into their media presence, I became fascinated with how The Salt Company creates and performs their social identity as a larger community. The current research over evangelical ministries on college campuses focuses primarily on students involved within the ministry, but there has been little to no research of how these evangelical ministries and their social power affect students who are not members of the ministries. I used media from The Salt Company’s website to do …