Philosophy Commons^™

Unselfing Love: An Analytical Account Of Personal Love And Its Compatibility With Other-Regarding Love, Fangyi(Steve) Wang

CMC Senior Theses

There is a wealth of philosophical literature on love. The two main camps of literature are descriptive and analytical. The former aims to best synthesize and describe how people manifest love in real life, while the latter takes the normative position of evaluating how people should be loving, which normally blends love with a hint of ethical or justice related principles.

One hidden theme that underlies many of the debates on love is the relation to the lover’s self. As this paper will gradually unfold, there are many self-interested reasons disguised behind the philosophical definition of love and the reason …

For Richer Or Poorer: The Warren Court's Relationship To Socioeconomic Class, Nicole Jonassen

CMC Senior Theses

The U.S. Constitution does not enshrine socioeconomic rights. Why does this matter? Many argue that socioeconomic rights have value in and of themselves because they secure certain minimum conditions of human dignity, but socioeconomic rights also have instrumental value because abject material deprivation often makes traditional political and civil rights meaningless. In this thesis, I explore the relationship between U.S. constitutional law and socioeconomic rights through an analysis of the Warren Court’s decisions regarding socioeconomic class. In Chapter 1, I present existing literature on socioeconomic rights, socioeconomic rights in the American context, and what many scholars see as the Warren …

Your Anonymous Words Matter: The Harms Of Internet Anonymity And Its Inhibiting Effects On Producing Knowledge, Sena Selby

CMC Senior Theses

In this paper, I will argue against Karen Frost-Arnold’s claim that internet anonymity has more epistemic benefit than epistemic harm for online communities. I will first outline her arguments that anonymity poses epistemic benefits for speakers of marginalized communities, who often rely on anonymity to share their experience and testimony without fear of repercussions, such as testimonial injustice, backlash, and even physical harm. I will then consider objections to Frost-Arnold’s account made by others, including the idea that anonymous testimony is not reliable. I will show how this objection alone is insufficient against Frost-Arnold’s claim. Then, I will offer my …

The Philosophy Behind The Vatican's Approach To Relations With China, John Ogilvie

Theses

The Vatican has always played a significant role in global politics, and it continues to do so in the contemporary World. The Vatican’s relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have drawn considerable attention in recent years, especially following the signing of the 2018 Vatican-China Agreement. Some scholars and commentators suggest that the 2018 Agreement and its terms represent a significant deviation from the norm in Vatican diplomacy. In light of that controversy, the present thesis provides an introductory examination of the philosophy that possibly guides the Vatican’s relations with the PRC and the implications this holds for an …

Ernst Jünger’S Epistemology And Metaphysics, Angus Baird

Theses

Jünger is typically interpreted in the philosophical literature according to a Heideggerian reading to be a metaphysical Nietzschean who took the will to power to be the essence of reality. This is especially so for Jünger's “Gestalt of the worker.” Yet Jünger likened his Gestalt to Goethe’s “Urpflanze,” a phenomenological, not metaphysical, conception. And Jünger's uses of "will to power" and "eternal return" are inconsistent with cosmological readings of Nietzsche.

This thesis will argue that the core of Jünger’s epistemology is an account of “intuitive perceptions.” Through these intuitive perceptions Jünger thought he grasped metaphysical reality. Through this grasping Jünger …

Preservation Through Transformation: An Interpretive Analysis Of Title Vii’S Failure To Secure Remedy For The Wrongs Of Workplace Sexual Harassment, Halle Rudman

CMC Senior Theses

The establishment of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as federal law was a pivotal moment in the pursuit of workplace equality and eradication of discrimination. Unfortunately, the application of Title VII in sexual harassment cases has fallen short of the statute’s noble intentions. In this paper, I argue that the judicial treatment of Title VII has been disloyal to its original purpose, perpetuating systemic inequalities and hindering progress towards gender equality in the workplace. I first establish a framework for the reasonable construction of a statute, drawing on work from various legal theorists to establish three …

Auden: Body/Mind, Basil Lloyd-Moffett

CMC Senior Theses

On one hand Auden appears the most cerebral of poets. It is said that when he arrived at school, aged eight, he professed himself excited to study the different psychological types, and the cryptic verse that was to emerge over a decade later bears the scars of his reading, psychological or otherwise, as clearly as the relentlessly analytical Dichtung und Wahrheit and other late works.Absorbing and repurposing philosophical, psychological, religious, and scientific works was an essential part of his artistic strategy, and led to credible accusations of plagiarism on a number of occasions.And just as his collaborators and friends mocked …

Digital Health Care: Time For A New Standard?, Z K. Winkelmann

Clinical Practice in Athletic Training

Introduction: The rapid influx of digitalization in healthcare has presented opportunities for innovative engagement, delivery, and outcomes for patient care. However, it also presents with several barriers and challenges that require teaching and learning opportunities to prepare future athletic trainers for these tasks. Currently, the CAATE curricular content standards integrate digital health care through Standard 64 on health informatics and Standard 87 on biometrics. However, the art and science of digital healthcare are expansive, including various skills such as digital literacy, computer skills, online communication, and privacy and security standards. Methods: The presentation will provide an overview of current digital …

Out Of The Fires (2023) By Carrie Lara, Peter Shea

Middle Grades Books

After a fire destroys his home and neighborhood, a young boy must learn what it means to be resilient. Things may never be "normal" again, but he discovers that he is strong―even when hard things happen. The book, written as a journal, includes drawings, news clippings, and coping strategies to help children cultivate resilience after a natural disaster.

Leak (2021) By Kate Reed Petty, Maughn Rollins Gregory, Megan Jane Laverty

Middle Grades Books

Aspiring 12-year-old journalist Ruth is looking for her next big story when she and her friend Jonathan discover dead fish and strange black slime at the lake near their town. Through a frustrating, risky, and sometimes funny journey, she learns about scientific and journalistic objectivity and the importance of both - and of community support - in environmental activism.

Wolves Of Yellowstone (2022) By Catherine Barr, Samantha Piede

Middle Grades Books

When wolves were eliminated from Yellowstone National Park in the early 20th century, the park's ecosystem began to deteriorate, leading to elk overpopulation, overgrazing, and environmental collapse. The degradation of the park spawned a rewilding project, in which wolves from Canadian packs were reintroduced to the park. The process and effects of this rewilding is captured in Catherine Barr's The Wolves of Yellowstone, which takes on the philosophical complexity of not only ecological interconnection, but the ethical complications involved trying to restore a species that is not universally lauded by locals.

Donald Griffin: A Visionary In Science And Consciousness, Charles Foster

Animal Sentience

Carolyn Ristau’s (2024) timely biography reviews Donald Griffin’s pioneering ideas with depth and historical perspective, describing Griffin’s approach to science, his openness to interdisciplinary insights, and his bold stance on consciousness. Ristau’s work highlights Griffin’s relevance to contemporary debates on consciousness and natural selection.

Don Griffin And The Early Days Of Cognitive Ethology, Gordon M. Burghardt

Animal Sentience

Carolyn Ristau’s trilogy provides a comprehensive account of Donald Griffin’s life and work, with the third volume focusing on cognitive ethology. This commentary focuses primarily on my own interactions with Don, particularly during my sabbatical at Rockefeller University when his campaign for cognitive ethology was gaining momentum. I recount my research on reptile behavior and cognition, my collaboration with Don and others at RU, and my role in advancing his ideas while contextualizing them within 19th-century comparative psychology. I also discuss developments in cognitive ethology, including critical anthropomorphism, the challenges of integrating subjective experience into behavioral science, and Griffin’s lasting …

Other Perspectives On Animals, Their Sentience And Cognition, Joyce M. D'Silva Mrs

Animal Sentience

For those of us who work to achieve legal recognition that animals are sentient beings, and should in many cases be allotted personhood, Donald Griffin is indeed an inspiration and a true game-changer. He put paid to the narrow behaviourist interpretation of animals’ lives promoted by Skinner et al. He became a real heir to Darwin’s belief in animal emotions. He enabled campaigners for animal welfare and indeed animal rights to quote his work as a distinguished scientist to give gravitas to their calls for legal recognition and protection of animals.

An Individuals-Oriented Approach To Conservation, Kristy M. Ferraro

Animal Sentience

Individual cognitive and emotional differences in personality among animals, along with differences in their behavioral traits, are increasingly important in conservation efforts. It is not only more effective but more ethical to take both collective and individual perspectives into account in both research and practice.

Wildlife Conservation And Adaptation To Humans, Valeria Mazza Phd, Claudio Carere

Animal Sentience

For many animal species, the ability to adapt to coexistence with the human species and to the environmental changes that humans cause is a biological imperative. This adaptive capacity varies not only between species, but within species. Studying individual differences in animals’ behavioral, cognitive and physiological adaptability is important for integrating ethology and conservation. Findings about animal cognitive capacities, including learning, need to be applied in conservation—but humans need to be educated about ethology, coexistence and conservation too.

Feminist Environmental Ethics: A Modern, Intersectional Approach, Suzanne E. Scharff

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Fichte’S 1804 Wissenschaftslehre: A Possible Reply To Schelling’S Bruno, Michael Vater

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Sense Make Before Book, Bradley Sinanan

Theses and Dissertations

“Sense Make Before Book” is an Indo-Caribbean turn of phrase which refers to common sense being more important than book smarts. My sister sent me a post the other day on Instagram of an Trinidadian woman using this phrase, saying it was one of Indo-Caribbean origin. I was interested and asked my mom about it. My mom says that when she was younger my grandpa said it often around their house in Princes Town, Trinidad and Tobago. This adage feels charged thinking about the history of indenture and its effects on the Indo-Caribbean diaspora.

The written word of archival history …

Exposing The Camera: The Pedagogical Possibilities Of Critical Camera-Based Arts Curriculum, Oscar Keyes

Theses and Dissertations

Cameras are a ubiquitous part of our everyday lives, especially in schools, found in students’ smartphones and state-of-the-art surveillance systems. This research project emerged from an iterative redesign process of a Photography for Art Education course, structured around the camera’s dual nature as a tool for creative expression and social control. While cameras have long been used to address social issues through documentary techniques; this critical eye can be turned onto the apparatus itself. This study drew heavily upon the historical work of Allan Sekula (1986), who observed how easier access to cameras resulted in both democratization (for the People) …

Exploring The Experiences Of Refugee Youth In Public Schools: An Ethical Phenomenological Inquiry, Hilary T. Stim

Theses and Dissertations

The study outlined in this dissertation focuses on the intersection between refugee youth between the ages of 13-18 and the United States public school, specifically the manner in which refugee youth experience institutionalized education. It utilizes ethical phenomenology as a means to amplify the voices of refugee students and to centralize the students' experiences, thoughts, and ideas related to education The study was framed by one research question that is addressed to the participants: “What is it like being a student in a public school?” Seven students took part in the study. Collaborative dialogues took place with the participants across …

(2024) Justus Buchler And The Community Of Query., Maughn Rollins Gregory

Collected Papers of Maughn Rollins Gregory

Before he originated the field of philosophy for children, Matthew Lipman spent nearly twenty years teaching at Columbia University and its affiliated colleges under the tutelage of the American philosopher Justus Buchler. In those years Lipman’s scholarship focused on Buchler’s naturalist metaphysics, which was informed by Buchler’s scholarship on the philosophy of Charles Peirce. In this essay I relate Lipman’s relationship with Buchler, summarise Buchler’s theory of human judgement, and indicate key parts of that theory that influenced Lipman’s own theory of judgement and multidimensional thinking. I then discuss the pedagogical turn Buchler made with his theory, including his conception …

Unveiling The Unseen: A Feminist Exploration Of Consciousness And Empowerment Among Homeless Women Through Consciousness-Raising, Scarlett Liu

CMC Senior Theses

Homeless women have been forgotten subject matter in the study and practice of feminist consciousness and consciousness-raising efforts. However, they grapple with the compounded challenges of both gender and homelessness within an oppressive societal structure. This thesis therefore seeks to conceptualize the consciousness of women, and particularly homeless women, in a feminist lens. Specifically, this thesis explores the Othering of women’s consciousness through the intellectual lineage of Simone de Beauvoir and Hegel, and emphasizes the role of material circumstances in shaping consciousness-raising efforts. Then, this thesis examines two unique struggles faced by homeless women – survival sex and homeless motherhood. …

Taylor, Genealogy, History, Peter Hawes

Honors Theses

In this paper I compare two different genealogies of the idea of the ‘self’: Charles Taylor’s and Michel Foucault’s. I begin by arguing that Taylor’s focus on combating what he calls “subtraction stories” places him in the genealogical tradition with Foucault. I then engage with Foucault's genealogy of the self, which illuminates how the notion of the ‘self’ was constructed as a means of control, which leads him to say we should do away with trying to understand it outside of relations of power. This call for the rejection of the self, I suggest, presents a problem for us, who …

State Politics And Stress Amongst Lgbtq+ Students At Florida’S Private Colleges: A Psychological And Normative Analysis, Alise Fortune

Honors Program Theses

The recent wave of anti-LGBTQ+ politics and policies in Florida pose potential risks to the mental health and well-being of Florida’s LGBTQ+ students. The present study surveyed LGBTQ+ students attending private colleges in Florida to measure their self-reported stress levels in comparison to non-LGBTQ+ students, the level at which they believed specific sources of stress contributed to their stress levels, their level of distress upon experiencing discrimination, their sense of sexual identity distress, and their awareness of and involvement in advocacy against Florida’s anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Survey results suggested that anti-LGBTQ+ politics in Florida and the personal lives (social and family …

Readings In Western Philosophy For Louisiana Learners, Jeff Mclaughlin, Marco Altamarino (Editor), Ryland Johnson (Editor), Peter Klubek (Editor), Michael Martin (Editor)

Open Educational Resources

It is important for students not only to get an appreciation and understanding of philosophy but also to be exposed to the very words and ideas of those who have shaped our thinking over the centuries. Accordingly, the title of this collection hints at the facts that these readings are from the original sources and that these philosophers were the originators of many of the issues we still discuss today.

Major areas of philosophy covered here are Ethics, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, Ethics, Sociopolitical Philosophy, and finally, Aesthetics.

Does Earth Feel? (2021) By Marc Majewski, Alaina Gostomski

Picture Books

With spare prose and evocative paintings, author-illustrator Marc Majewski asks fourteen critical questions -- including Does Earth feel calm? Does Earth feel curious? Does Earth feel hurt? Does Earth feel heard? -- to encourage active thinking and discussion about our planet.

Encyclopedia Of Gardening For Colored Children (2024) By Jamaica Kincaid, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Picture Books

In relating the origins, biological features, and uses of several familiar and unfamiliar plants, this Encyclopedia simultaneously offers a primer on colonialism, slavery, and genocide. Adults sharing this book with children should be led by children’s curiosity, but should also help them cultivate a vocabulary and historical understanding of oppression.

Gibberish (2022) By Young Vo, Peter Shea

Picture Books

Everyone sometimes doesn’t understand what is going on, can’t find a way in, and everyone in that situation has impulses to retreat and to growl. Gibberish takes the point of view of the newcomer, the non-native speaker. One of the virtues of this presentation is that many people will say: yes, that’s what it was like – when I started school; the first day of my new job; when I first opened the chemistry book; when I landed in Vienna; as the first person in my family to go to college; when I started playing violin. And that common topic …

Cat Way (2024) By Sara Lundberg, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Picture Books

When a human gives her cat a turn to lead the way on their daily walk, they encounter the unexpected. The philosophical quandaries this story raises – When do routines become too confining? How do domestic habits prevent us from experiencing the natural world? Can humans and pets have genuinely inter-species relationships? – can be discussed and experimented with by people of most ages.