Philosophy Commons^™

Civil Liability For Civil Disobedience, David Lefkowitz

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In January 2023, climate activists trespassed on the site of the German energy firm RWE’s Garzweiler coal mine to protest against its plans to expand operations there. The police eventually removed the protestors (including Greta Thunberg), many of whom were charged with committing criminal offenses. A few weeks after the occupation, RWE announced plans to seek compensation from the protestors for the injuries they inflicted on the firm, which included damage to vehicles and other equipment.[1] Should the law permit it to do so? More generally, should a liberal-democratic State hold civil disobedients legally liable to compensate the private …

The Gift Of Mourning, Harris B. Bechtol

All Faculty Scholarship (Archived)

Is mourning possible? Or impossible? And if impossible, in what sense impossible? What does this mean, in turn, for what we do as human beings in the face of the normal, natural experience of mourning the death of the other? How can we mourn? How should we mourn? For some, these questions arise on account of the death of a beloved pet, a friend, a child, a spouse, and/or a parent. Perhaps they arise even on account of the death of their own faith in God, others, humanity, and/or the universe. Yet since 2020, these questions have become especially emphatic …

The Use Of Field Philosophy In Conserving The World's Rarest Ape, The Hainan Gibbon (Nomascus Hainanus): A Philosophical Engagement With Researchers And Conservationists, Jocelyn Callahan

All Master's Theses

The Hainan gibbon (Nomascus hainanus) is the world’s rarest ape. Their position on the brink of extinction raises many questions about conservation, existence, and agency. To explore these issues and draw attention to this Critically Endangered primate, I considered the Hainan gibbon from the perspective of field philosophy (i.e., philosophy carried out in the field with non-philosophers). I conducted semi-structured interviews with eight researchers/conservationists and analyzed their creative works. I collected additional information through a systematic literature review. I asked four research questions: (1) Based on their lived experiences, how do researchers and conservationists understand the Hainan gibbon? …

Snail With The Right Heart (2021) By Maria Popova, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Picture Books

When a London scientist found a garden snail whose shell that spiraled left to right—opposite from others of its species—he sent it to the University of Nottingham for study. The snail’s internal organs were also arranged on the opposite side from other snails, including a heart on the right side of its body—a one-in-a-million condition known as situs inversus, which also occurs in humans. In explaining the snail’s story in terms of genetic evolution and biological reproduction, The Snail with the Right Heart also raises philosophical questions about the role of genetics, education, and personal choice in determining who …

Mis Dos Pueblos Fronterizos / My Two Border Towns (2021) By David Bowles, Amy Reed-Sandoval

Picture Books

When children talk about migration and displacement, they generally speak and inquire about people. Why are some people forced to leave their homes—or why was I forced to leave my home? Why won’t other countries let them in—or why won’t other countries let my family and me in? What does it feel like to live in a shelter, or in a refugee camp, or on a bridge between two countries—or why must my family live this way, while others do not? This picture book shows how philosophical questions about migration can be inspired by, and embedded in, communities and characters …

Secondary Traumatic Stress Is An Occupational Hazard For Pet Hospice Support Staff: Psychoeducational Support Groups Provide The Cure, Kari Hayden

DSW Capstone Projects

There are three separate yet interrelated products presented in this final capstone product. The completed product is focused on pet hospice veterinary support staff and the need for an evidence-based social work intervention to combat secondary traumatic stress. This capstone uses the andragogical approach to adult learning theory as the foundation to construct a psychoeducational peer support group specific to this population. Implications for clinical social work in veterinary medicine are presented within this project.

The first scholarly product presented is the Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The SLR utilizes a scoping review process in an attempt to locate prior research …

In Memoriam: James H. Forse, Ginger Smoak, Steven Hrdlicka, Jennifer Mcnabb, Charles Smith, Margaret Harp

Quidditas

This volume is dedicated to Professor James H. Forse who died at the age of 83 on April 24, 2023. He was a longtime member of the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association, and editor of Quidditas from 2003 to 2023.

Delno C. West Award Winner

Quidditas

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

Recipient of the West Award for 2023

Jane Foster Woodruff

William Jewell College, Emerita

From Heldris De Cornwall’S Le Roman De Silence To Gian Francesco Straparola’S Le Piacevoli Notti. New Insights Into A Significant Reception Process Across Centuries, Languages, And Genres, Albrecht Classen

Quidditas

Although we assume that the thirteenth-century Anglo-Norman romance Roman de Silence by Heldris de Cornwall experienced no reception at all apart from one manuscript containing the text, there is a considerable likelihood that the sixteenth-century Venetian author Gian Francesco Straparola somehow gained access to the medieval text and adapted it for one of the stories contained in his famous collection, Le Piacevoli Notti (1550 and 1553). Even though we cannot yet determine the exact process of reception, the strong similarities between both works go far beyond global archetypal themes. Straparola’s work hence demonstrates that Heldris’s work was known even long …

The Imperative Of Student Integration In Faculty Research Projects: A Pedagogical Case Study In Digital History, Roger L. Martinez-Davila, Fernando Feliu-Moggi, Sean Wybrant, Ian Torres, Spencer Miles

Quidditas

Traditional pedagogical models, at times, are inadequate for equipping students with real-world skills. A shift towards integrating students into faculty-led research is essential, as demonstrated by the Coronado Muster Roll project. In this project, students use virtual reality technologies to create immersive experiences that explore the complex relationships between Spanish and Indigenous communities during Francisco Vázquez de Coronado’s 1540 expedition. A specific assignment within the course tasks students with developing digital narratives. The muster roll itself is revealed to be more than just a list; it serves as a snapshot capturing the depth and complexities often lost in grand narratives. …

An Arbitrary Aesthetic: Cultural Reproduction And Hegemonic Canonical Formations In The Western Theatrical Academy, Sim C. Rivers

Theses and Dissertations

Theatre as an artistic practice has often been celebrated as an art of and for the people, being a modality that in theory the common person has access to learn, explore and experience. In recent years I have become preoccupied with the growing rarification and privileging of this art form, particularly in how it is cognized and taught in the academic world. As such, I set out to investigate the mechanisms at work at levels structural, artistic, and personal that determine how theatre is taught and understood within the western academy.

This thesis seeks to examine and unpack the perceived …

Lived Experiences Of College-Educated African American Males During Police Interactions In Central Kentucky, Lawerence Eric Charles

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Recent high-profile incidents involving police interaction with Black citizens have increased community outrage and racial divisions between police and African Americans. Despite previous research on relations between African Americans and police, little literature has focused on the lived experiences of college-educated African American males when interacting with police. In the study 12 participants were interviewed. The analytical approach was grounded theory, which identified seven themes that most of the men had in common. One shared lived experience expressed the need for collaborative and inclusive policies that prevent bias, police brutality, and wrongful arrest and detention of the African American community. …

American Women's Motivations To Join Overseas Terrorist Groups, Zuri Sushil Birla

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

An increasing number of American women are actively engaging in overseas terrorist organizations and networks. Their motives, though, are little understood by researchers, although familial relationships and other associations, gender roles, and social media propaganda may play a role. The purpose of this qualitative narrative case study was to better understand the motives, decision-making, and behaviors of radicalized American women. The theoretical framework was social behavior theory and the research design, narrative case study based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Motivation. The research question addressed American women’s immersion into terrorism through social media outlets and familial partnerships that emphasize …

The Lived Experiences Of Burnout Among Human Service Professionals Working With Domestic Violence Victims During Covid-19., Michelle J. Clark

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract Job-related aspects of working in the mental health and human service field, such as job demands, workload, excessively long hours, and leadership roles, are known to cause burnout. Feelings of burnout and job-related stress may have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for professionals working with those experiencing domestic violence. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of burnout among human service professionals (HSPs) working with domestic violence victims during COVID-19. Relational cultural and burnout theories provided the conceptual framework for this study. The data collected from the nine participants were obtained …

The Experience Of Compassion Fatigue In School Counselors, Melissa Lynn Manganaro

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

School counselors play a crucial role in U.S. education. In recent years, their student caseloads have increased as more students are diagnosed with a mental health disorder. With additional stressors from providing social/emotional counseling, school counselors are vulnerable to secondary traumatic stress, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue; however, research was limited on counselors' experiences of these conditions. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain understanding of school counselors' experiences of compassion fatigue and strategies for coping. Ten school counselors from public schools in Arizona, who had scored in the moderate- to high-risk range on the Compassion Fatigue Self-Test, …

Perceptions Of 9-1-1 Telecommunicators High-Stress Emergency Calls, Danielle Holland

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many research studies have been conducted on the effects of high-stress emergency calls on emergency personnel, such as police officers and firefighters. However, research was lacking on the effects of high stress calls on 9-1-1 telecommunicators. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to determine how 9-1-1 telecommunicators perceived and responded to high-stress emergency calls. The theoretical framework was based on Bandura’s self-efficacy theory and social cognitive theory. The study was guided by three research questions that focused on (a) the short- and long-term effects of stress experienced by 9-1-1 dispatchers, (b) the aspects of calls that telecommunicators perceived …

The Impact Of Gender On Relationship Satisfaction In Law Enforcement, Carole Ann Presson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Relationships have been identified as a critical component of mental wellness. Law enforcement has been recognized as a profession with high divorce rates and relationship failure, contributing to reduced mental health in law enforcement. By addressing and identifying relationship concerns, issues of suicide, use of force, productivity, and reduced tenure can be addressed. This quantitative study aimed to identify areas of stress contributing to relationship dissatisfaction. The study’s initial focus was to identify if gender impacted satisfaction outcomes. Male and female officers participated equally in completing surveys to identify organizational and operational police stress, romantic partner conflict, and relationship assessment. …

Impact Of Minority Incarceration On The Family Unit, Huey S. Ratcliff

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The economic impact of incarceration on minority family units has both secondary and third-order effects on the minority family unit when a family member is incarcerated, which is exacerbated when the incarcerated family member was both the primary breadwinner and a parent. The purpose of this study was to identify the social and economic effects incarceration has on minority families. The study addressed how minority families adjust to changes in organic composition and how the minority family copes with increased debt and loss of earning potential. Further, the study sought to answer how minority families overcome economic hardship when the …

Impact Of Minority Incarceration On The Family Unit, Huey S. Ratcliff

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The economic impact of incarceration on minority family units has both secondary and third-order effects on the minority family unit when a family member is incarcerated, which is exacerbated when the incarcerated family member was both the primary breadwinner and a parent. The purpose of this study was to identify the social and economic effects incarceration has on minority families. The study addressed how minority families adjust to changes in organic composition and how the minority family copes with increased debt and loss of earning potential. Further, the study sought to answer how minority families overcome economic hardship when the …

Lived Experiences Of College-Educated African American Males During Police Interactions In Central Kentucky, Lawerence Eric Charles

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Recent high-profile incidents involving police interaction with Black citizens have increased community outrage and racial divisions between police and African Americans. Despite previous research on relations between African Americans and police, little literature has focused on the lived experiences of college-educated African American males when interacting with police. In the study 12 participants were interviewed. The analytical approach was grounded theory, which identified seven themes that most of the men had in common. One shared lived experience expressed the need for collaborative and inclusive policies that prevent bias, police brutality, and wrongful arrest and detention of the African American community. …

The American Founding Documents And Democratic Social Change: A Constructivist Grounded Theory, A I. Forde

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Existing social disparities in the United States are inconsistent with the promise of democracy; therefore, there was a need for critical conceptualization of the first principles that undergird American democracy and the genesis of democratic social change in America. This constructivist grounded theory study aimed to construct a grounded theory that provides an understanding of the process of American democratic social change as it emerged from the nation’s founding documents. A post hoc polytheoretical framework including Foucault’s, Bourdieu’s, and Marx and Engels’s theories of power was used to understand power dynamics. The research question focused on understanding the process of …

Notices, Editorial Office

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Symposium On Taste: A Philosophy Of Food By Sarah Worth, Editorial Office

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

The commentaries collected in this symposium were first developed at the “Author Meets Critics” session on Sarah Worth’s Taste: A Philosophy of Food at The American Society for Aesthetics Eastern Division Meeting in Philadelphia, April, 2022. We thank Deborah Knight for proposing this symposium to be published in Contemporary Aesthetics and all the authors for their contributions.

Theoretical Orientation Beliefs Among Adventure Therapy Professionals, Edward Spaulding

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Adventure therapy as a therapeutic model for the treatment of mental health has been a growing area of psychology for more than 50 years. This quantitative study was conducted to explore the theoretical orientation beliefs to clarify the theoretical framework of this therapeutic approach using Coleman’s theoretical evaluation self-test (TEST) to gather data on self-identified adventure therapy practitioners’ theoretical beliefs. Data were collected from 150 participants recruited through their membership or affiliation with adventure therapy professional organizations or social media groups. Data were analyzed using a paired t-test to determine if adventure therapy professionals have higher scores on the cognitive, …

Cultural Humility As A Predictor Of Intention To Leave Moderated By Authentic Leadership, Dennis Whitfield

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem addressed in this research was the inappropriate treatment of multicultural individuals by their immediate supervisors and the need for a thorough examination of cultural humility in organizational settings. This quantitative study used linear regression and moderation analyses to examine the relationship between cultural humility and intention to leave moderated by authentic leadership to determine how the participants’ perception of cultural humility in their immediate supervisor predicted their intention to leave. Another purpose was to examine whether authentic leadership moderated the relationship with intention to leave. The theoretical framework for this study included cultural humility, authentic leadership, and intention …

Play On; Give Me Excess Of It: Intercorporeality And Musical Definitions, Abram Basil Soucy Capone

Dissertations

Philosophy of music, especially in the 20th and 21st centuries, presides over a relatively narrow range of field-specific ontological and metaphysical questions. I claim that a focus on classical music and a reliance on analogies to the plastic arts constitutes an unhelpful (but pervasive) methodology in philosophy of music, one that stands in tension with its purported aim of accurately accounting for “the ways we talk, think, and act” in relation to music and musical works (Rohrbaugh 2003, 179). While philosophers of music explicitly aim to describe praxis, a significant gap exists between existing theory and ordinary musical experiences. To …

A Social Ontological Account Of Alienation And Its Place In The History Of Alienation Theory, Philip William Bauchan

Dissertations

Alienation is a sociological term that has found itself severely out of favor as an analytical concept due to what are perceived as inextricable theoretical shortcomings despite having once enjoyed a time when it was taken to be essential for a robust and critical analysis of society. This dissertation looks to contribute to a revitalization of alienation theory by offering an understanding of alienation that is grounded in the framework of social ontology as forwarded in the works of John Searle. This social ontological account conceives of alienation as a fallout fact that arises when there is a performative contradiction …

Identities Of Women In Indian Art And History, Nalini Rao

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The stereotypical image of Indian women portrayed in the art of stone sculpture is often interpreted as images of beauty that are sensuous, religious as well depict social life. There are historical reasons for depicting her as such. This paper inquires into the changing depiction and social forces that influenced feminine imagery. This paper examines the portrayal of beauty through idealization of female body which has evolved over the centuries in India. It also aims to understand their changing status and explores issues of feminine identity, status, and empowerment largely in ancient and medieval India. It also provides a brief …

Murder On The Vr Express: Studying The Impact Of Thought Experiments At A Distance In Virtual Reality, Andrew Kissel, Krzysztof J. Rechowicz, John B. Shull

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Hypothetical thought experiments allow researchers to gain insights into widespread moral intuitions and provide opportunities for individuals to explore their moral commitments. Previous thought experiment studies in virtual reality (VR) required participants to come to an on-site laboratory, which possibly restricted the study population, introduced an observer effect, and made internal reflection on the participants’ part more difficult. These shortcomings are particularly crucial today, as results from such studies are increasingly impacting the development of artificial intelligence systems, self-driving cars, and other technologies. This paper explores the viability of deploying thought experiments in commercially available in-home VR headsets. We conducted …

Editorial, Yuriko Saito

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.