Philosophy Commons^™

The Thousand Mysteries That Bind Us: The Multiverse As Spiritualverse And The Holism Of Mystery, Giovanni Rossini

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

While we exist historically within evolving worldviews, we live amid the paradoxical necessity of mystery; one shared by scientists and non-scientists, theologians and atheists, and artists and philosophers alike. A thousand mysteries bind us with their imperative presence. While pre modern astronomers pondered the mysterious randomness of the night sky, today our sense of cosmological awe is fuelled not only by its randomness, but by a new scientific theory that says multiple skies inhabit the creation. The multiverse — a thesis emerging from cosmological science, wherein parallel worlds are posited to coexist — augments mystery. In this paper, I explore …

From Insect Cognition To Sentience: Exploring The Edge, Catherine Macri, Martin Giurfa

Animal Sentience

What does The Edge of Sentience tell us about insect sentience and consciousness? In this commentary, we reflect on Jonathan Birch’s framework for defining and scientifically investigating sentience in animals. We discuss the methodological challenges of studying subjective experience in evolutionary distant species, and consider trace conditioning, affective states, and neural architectures as potential windows into consciousness in insects. We argue that uncertainty, whether concerning definitions or methodology, should not prevent experimental investigation; rather it should motivate new approaches and experimental designs for exploring the diversity of conscious experience.

Moral Issues In Business, Andre Dobronic Parola

Open Educational Resources

In this course students will initially be introduced to different ethical theories as well as two different theories of justice. Subsequently—following an introduction to basic economical ideas concerning the place of businesses and corporations in modern capitalistic society—various questions specific to business ethics will be taken up. Topics will include: arguments for and against the stakeholder theory of business ethics; corporate social responsibility; the problem of sex-based discrimination in the workplace-setting; business and the environment; globalisation; and lying in business negotiations.

The Varieties Of Precaution: Which Risks, Whose Attitudes?, Tomasz Żuradzki

Animal Sentience

The Edge of Sentience offers an ambitious and timely institutional framework for proportionate precaution under uncertainty about sentience. Its systematic treatment of empirical and theoretical uncertainty across diverse cases is a major contribution. Focusing on the problem of identifying and weighing different risks when designing proportionate precautions, this commentary suggests three areas in which Birch’s framework could be developed further: a more domain-sensitive justification of the priority given to avoiding under-attribution; a clearer distinction among competing forms of risk aversion and their divergent policy implications; and a fuller explanation of how the framework generates different recommendations across cases.

Beyond Better Conditions: Seaweed Farming And The Number Of Sentient Animals In Aquaculture, Shrilaxmi Patil, Matthew Unerman, Wasseem Emam

Animal Sentience

Oldfield & Bonano (2024) (O&B) document how far  fish welfare research lags behind welfare research in other animals. We share O&B’s feelings-based concept of welfare and agree that aquaculture seeded this field; but research volume has not scaled with animal numbers: Welfare attention per farmed fish or decapod remains negligible. Along the lines of preceding commentaries (Maia 2024, Mather 2024), we treat farmed aquatic animals as individuals rather than tonnage. We then raise a point so far absent from the commentary on O&B so far: reducing the number of sentient animals entering intensive systems. Coastal seaweed farming, which cultivates non-sentient …

Exploring Active Shooter Patterns In Schools: Baseline Typologies For Strategic Preparedness Using A Qualitative Lens, Francis Miskelly

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative study investigatesd the temporal patterns of active shooter incidents on elementary and middle school campuses across urban, suburban, and rural areas in the southeastern United States, specifically in North Carolina. It examined how the timing of these incidents varies across school settings and how law enforcement and School Resource Officers (SROs) perceive the impact of timing on the nature and response to such events. While existing literature largely focuses on psychological profiles, sociocultural factors, and immediate response strategies, few studies address how timing affects the occurrence, characteristics, and outcomes of incidents across school levels. Current research often generalizes …

Sovereign Borders: John’S Deuteronomic Framework For Israel And The Nations In The Apokalypsis, Kevin W. Mullen

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation concludes that John’s imagery of Israel and the nations in the Apokalypsis is distinctly shaped by his interpretation and incorporation of Deuteronomic theology. It employs a canonical and intertextual approach to inductively argue that Deuteronomy presents three pillars, or roles, for biblical nationhood: (1) objects of and instruments for divine judgment, (2) custodians to restrain evil, and (3) revelations of God’s sovereignty. These three Deuteronomic pillars establish the foundation for biblical nationhood and are expressed by John throughout his Apokalypsis. Moreover, this dissertation concludes that John’s imagery for the nations is due to his reliance upon the Deuteronomic …

Wille Zum Wald: Nietzsche’S Discovery Of Forest Bathing, Gary Shapiro

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In the fourth part of our “The Forest as a Living Foundation” series, the distinguished American Nietzsche scholar Gary Shapiro investigates new angles on Nietzsche’s bonds to the woods: the philosopher’s personal enthusiasm for what is increasingly called “forest bathing,” the science behind how this practice benefits body, mind, and spirit, and the sheer pleasure of breathing fresh air, in woodland and wherever else we can find it. Shapiro’s essay showcases why this particular Lebensraum matters, not just for our individual well-being, but for the health of the entire planet.

[Introduction To] The Philosophy Of Taylor Swift, Lindsay Brainard, Ryan W. Davis, Jess Flanigan

Bookshelf

Edited by Lindsay Brainard, Ryan W. Davis, and Jessica Flanigan

• Offers the first book-length philosophical analysis focused exclusively on Taylor Swift's songwriting
• Demonstrates innovative methodologies for treating popular music as a site of rigorous philosophical inquiry
• Features essays by a diverse group of leading philosophers across multiple subfields
• Reveals new interpretive insights for both scholars and Swifties, deepening understanding of themes such as love, morality, and meaning

Love, Liability, And Lyrics, Jess Flanigan

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Moralistic responses to Swift’s honest songwriting are misguided. Swift’s songwriting is morally similar to poetry and literary autofiction. As long as the artist’s work is honest and not defamatory, the artist’s interest in self-understanding and entitlement to self-expression is a sufficient defense for the art. The argument has three parts. The first part establishes that honest songwriting about someone is an act of love, even when it’s unflattering to the person who is mentioned in the song. Like many acts of love, honest songwriting might cause suffering. That doesn’t mean it isn’t an act of love. The second part establishes …

Boss Up/Bake Bread, Jess Flanigan

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Taylor Swift’s “Wi$h Li$t” describes people who “want it all.” There, she declares that, in contrast to those who want it all, she dreams about living a quiet life with a driveway and a basketball hoop. This chapter argues that dreaming about a driveway with a basketball hoop while staying married to the hustle is still a form of wanting it all. Like Swift, and me, many other women today enjoy a degree of autonomy and material abundance that our grandmothers could only dream about. We’re free to boss up or settle down. But still, we have to make trade-offs. …

Winnie's Feminism: A Tribute To Mama Dr. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela As A Radical Feminist From 1986-2018, Anna Lefatshe Moagi

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

Growing up in South Africa and having read several “tell-all” biographies by influential women have made this researcher aware of the struggles of women to be recognised and valued within their social environments. The many names that come to mind, when speaking of women’s voices that challenged their position in our society, belong to those of struggle veterans such as Adelaide Tambo, Ruth First, Lilian Ngoyi, Albertina Sisulu, Thandi Modise, Baleka Mbethe, Leymah Gbowee, Ruth Mompati, Charlotte Maxeke, Joice Majuru, Thuli Madontsela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Their as women leaders roles remain undervalued (Shekhawat 2015). These phenomenal influential women and many …

The Existential Ambiguity Of Authentic Love In Alice Diop's Saint Omer, Kelli Fuery

CCI Articles and Research

Using Simone de Beauvoir's and Frantz Fanon's existentialist phenomenology, this article examines an existentialist ethics of recognition as an act of authentic love in Alice Diop's Saint Omer (2022). Loosely based on a true story, Saint Omer tells a story of filicide: Laurence Coly leaves her baby on a beach to die and we follow the subsequent courtroom drama as it unfolds. The film also follows Rama, a literature professor intending to write up the case as a contemporary version of the Medea myth. I suggest Saint Omer presents an ethics of recognition in its avoidance of the superficial question …

Theology Of The People As Modernity’S Alternative: A Review Essay, William J. Collinge

The Journal of Social Encounters

In Modernity’s Alternative, Rocco Buttiglione presents the Argentinian theology of the people as an alternative to modernity as it has developed in Europe and North America. After an introduction, the first main part of this review essay discusses Buttiglione’s account of the development of the theology of the people and the major figures in it and how the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe marks the beginning of an alternative modernity. The second section considers Buttiglione’s parallel between Christian Platonists’ inculturation of Christian faith into Greek culture and Guadalupe’s inculturation of Christian faith into Mesoamerican culture. The third section …

Syllabus: Political Philosophy (Philo 24600 / Polsc 20401), Georgie Malone

Open Educational Resources

This syllabus was created for Political Philosophy (PHILO 24600) (POLSC 20401) at Hunter College. It is an intermediate/advanced introduction to key texts in the history of political philosophy. Course description: In this course, we will journey through the major contributions of those thinkers that have shaped the field we call political philosophy. We will begin with Plato and Aristotle, followed by the social contract theorists of the early modern period—Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau—before turning to the critical perspectives of Fanon and Marx. We will then turn to the vastly influential work of 20th century liberal philosopher John Rawls and …

Experiences Of Resilience During Divorce For Black Women Who Attend Church, Tracey Ann Grant

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Across the globe, divorce is a challenging situation that affects family relationships and disrupts social networks. Divorced women often experience a decline in their health and well-being immediately postdivorce. The problem addressed in this study is that divorcing women tend to experience more negative or undesirable impacts on their mental health (e.g., depression) postdivorce than men and often find involvement in church to be a source of support or added stress. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to investigate how recently divorced Black women describe how their involvement in church may have supported their mental health and resilience …

Keeping The Problem Alive: Curriculum, Problematisation And The Eyfs, Claire Walsh

Plymouth Interdisciplinary Education Open Journal

This paper explores how problems are understood in debates about England’s Early Years Foundation Stage (Department for Education [DfE], 2025). Discussions of the EYFS often focus on identifying what is wrong with it and proposing ways to improve or replace it, including both critical perspectives and alternative approaches to early childhood education. While these positions appear different, the paper argues that they share a common tendency: they treat problems as things to be solved. The paper introduces the concept of solution-binding to describe this habit.

Rather than offering another critique or alternative, the paper asks what happens if problems are …

Grieving And Attentiveness: Perception As Flourishing In Ocean Vuong And Mary Oliver, Madison Smith

Papers

The paper argues that poets Ocean Vuong and Mary Oliver treat grief as something formative to one's life and character rather than purely destructive; through their suffering, the subject has the opportunity to cultivate a sense of attentiveness that transforms perceptions of the self, others, history, and the natural world.

This project was an output for The Belmont Formation Scholars Cohort for Character Research and Writing, which received generous support funding from The Kern Family Foundation.

I gratefully acknowledge peer review feedback on this project, and I am accountable for writing of this product without generative AI and in alignment …

From Theory To Practice: Locating Moral Exemplars In Aristotelian Virtue Ethics, Joseph A. Murray

McNair Summer Research Program

Abstract

This research examines mentorship within Aristotelian virtue ethics. Aristotle holds that moral excellence develops through habituation, guided practice that forms stable dispositions, rather than through knowledge or rules alone. Central to this process are virtuous mentors who model good character and cultivate practical wisdom (phronesis). Although Aristotle stresses the necessity of such examples, he offers little practical guidance on who they are or how they may be identified. This omission raises a practical challenge: if virtue depends on guidance from the genuinely virtuous, identifying those individuals is essential to the theory’s implementation.  My research investigates whether society provides accessible …

What, Exactly, Is Surveillance Pricing?, Kaylina Stroud

McNair Summer Research Program

Surveillance pricing is a method of price discrimination in which firms use personal data to set individualized prices. While this practice is often criticized on grounds of privacy, unfairness, or exploitation, these objections do not fully explain what is morally objectionable about surveillance pricing. This paper examines surveillance pricing through the lenses of price discrimination, market competition, efficiency, exploitation, and deception. I argue that surveillance pricing is not inherently unethical merely because it results in different consumers paying different prices for the same product. Nor is it necessarily objectionable when it promotes mutually beneficial exchanges and efficient market outcomes. The …

The Person As Foundation Of Responsibility: The Insufficiency Of Rights-Based Human Development Approaches, Jaclyn Berg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Building on the plethora of research that demonstrates the way rights language has been more useful for those with wealth and power to further expand capitalist markets, this text extends that criticism to human development programs and institutions. While they claim to be directed towards addressing global issues of poverty and hunger as well as climate crises, they continue to treat the symptoms without accurately diagnosing the disease. Approaches to development that rely on rights without questioning the way rights have been influenced by neoliberal capitalists or without questioning the capitalist global economic system will never be able to achieve …

Dialogic Communication Ethics As A Hopeful Response To Artificial Intelligence, Kristen Haldeman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Within the past five years, a new technology has dominated modern culture: artificial intelligence. With a multiplicity of ways to respond to this new environment, this dissertation situates a response to artificial intelligence by combining the media ecology and communication ethics perspectives. Media ecology explores historical roots and biases of technology to learn about their influence of humanity. A dialogic communication ethics seeks to find an opening for hope to emerge. Hope, grounded in the works of Jacques Ellul and the Christian tradition, offers a new rhetorical perspective by shifting focus away from technology and to our neighbor.

A Philosophy Of Communication Response To Bullying In Corporate America, Chris A. Phillips Dr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This philosophy of communication response to bullying in corporate America follows the structure of posing research questions, synthesizing relevant literature, and offering advice to practitioners. It invites the reader to have hope in continuing the conversation through a constructive hermeneutic approach to the problem. By building on literature in oppression, silencing, bullying, incivility, and communication ethics, this dissertation reveals how (rhetoric) and why (philosophy) the problem occurs in corporate America today. This dissertation offers a new angle to an old problem, or, a rhetoric and philosophy of bullying. It responds to the following questions:

RQ 1: As a destructive communication …

Why Do We Need To Prove That Pigs Feel?, Aranza Vera-Espinoza, Nancy Harlet Esquivel-Marín

Animal Sentience

Birch's framework manages uncertainty but overlooks the likelihood that citizen panels have speciesist biases that reduce precaution to mere harm-management even in species that undoubtedly feel.

Self-Maintenance And The Evidence For Artificial Sentience, Mads J. Hansen, Christoffer Lundbak Olesen

Animal Sentience

Birch aims to remain neutral about whether life is necessary for sentience. We argue that life can be given a role while maintaining neutrality. Markers of sentience have been identified in living systems, where some contribute to the system's self-maintenance. When such a marker is reproduced in an artificial system that is not self-maintaining it is not clear that it is as reliable as in living systems.

Radical Republican Citizenship For A Mobile World, Alex Sager

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Migrants invariably and unavoidably experience domination under the nation-state centered concepts, categories, and institutions that structure our political thinking. In response, we need to build new forms of citizenship, including local, regional, transnational, and supranational forms of belonging, accompanied by meaningful, democratic, political power. In this paper, I examine historical and present-day alternative models of political organization as possible viable alternatives to state-centric liberal democracy. It begins the task of assessing these models using radical republican theory that grounds non-domination in the active and equal participation of people subject to power. I have three broad aims. First, we need to …

Decentring Philosophical Education In African Tertiary Education: Integrating Global Perspectives In The Classroom, Isaac Mutelo

Comparative Philosophy

The philosophical discourse has been dominated by Western perspectives, an approach that continues to influence curriculum design and delivery in higher education. The historical dominance of the Western philosophical canon in university curricula has contributed to the marginalisation of other equally significant philosophical traditions from Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Indigenous cultures. This approach has contributed significantly to the narrow and limited scope and relevance of philosophy as an academic field globally. Rather than advocating for the dominance and superiority of the Western-centred curriculum, this paper acknowledges the centrality of integrating global philosophical perspectives in the philosophy curriculum and discourse …

Engaging Intercultural Philosophy In The Classroom: A Methodological Proposal, Gloria Luque Moya

Comparative Philosophy

The exclusion of non-Western philosophies from university curricula has been a persistent feature of academic philosophy, both in the United States and Europe. This marginalization reflects an enduring assumption that philosophy is a uniquely Western enterprise, originating in ancient Greece and developed exclusively within European traditions. This article challenges that assumption by arguing that the teaching of intercultural philosophy is not merely a pedagogical issue, but an urgent necessity in the context of globalization and cross-cultural exchange. Focusing on the limited presence of non-Western philosophical traditions in Spanish university programs, the article first analyzes the structural asymmetry in the historiography …

Teaching China Beyond Eurocentrism: Intercultural Pedagogy And The Case Of The República Del Reino De La China By Jerónimo Román Zamora, Miriam Diaz Belizon

Comparative Philosophy

Interdisciplinary approaches to teaching China in Western academic contexts often reproduce Eurocentric frameworks that reduce Chinese philosophical and cultural traditions to subordinate objects of analysis. This article proposes an alternative model grounded in intercultural philosophy and the Filosofías del Sur, arguing that China should be approached not as a distant object of representation, but as an epistemic interlocutor capable of transforming philosophical education. The article develops this argument through the recovery of the República del Reino de la China, included in the 1595 edition of Repúblicas del Mundo, as a key example of early intercultural mediation from the European South. …

Tracing The Philosophy Of Toleration Through An Intercultural Lens: Theory, Challenges, And Educational Implications, Xianzhe Hui

Comparative Philosophy

Toleration is usually defined as a permissive attitude toward disagreement or dislike concerning diverse beliefs and practices. In philosophical education, toleration is emphasized both theoretically and in the way teachers and students practice it. Scholars and philosophers are familiar with the connotations and justifications of toleration attributed to Enlightenment philosophers. Toleration has often been regarded as a uniquely Western idea or virtue, rooted in the European Enlightenment values of individual rights and freedom of thought. Recently, however, this viewpoint has been challenged by scholars, who argue that the approaches to diversity in non-Western intellectual traditions should be taken into consideration. …