Philosophy Commons^™

On The Nature Of Artworks: An Argument For Artwork Universals, Emma H.B. Rosenberg

Scripps Senior Theses

What kind of a thing is an artwork? Artworks are an extensive, complex category including all manner of media and content. This makes the project of determining what artworks themselves are a significant challenge. Nevertheless, there are many things we intuitively desire to say about what artworks are like and what value they offer. One underexplored theory which I will here argue successfully accommodates many of these features is that of artworks as universals.

It is not my aim in this thesis to compare this theory with other, rival theories of artworks. Rather, I will argue that the theory supports …

A Discourse On Madina Fāzila, Virtuous State, In Muslim Thought: An Overview Of Jalāl-Al-Dīn Muḥammad Davānī’S Aḵlāq-E-Jalālī, Nazim Aman-Hunzai, Muhammad Nazir, Faizeh Zehra Mirza

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This study focuses on Jālāl-al-Dīn Muḥammad Davānī (1426–1502) as an illustrative figure in Muslim political thought, who offered a comprehensive perspective on the characteristics of an ideal Muslim state. Drawing on Davānī’s magnum opus, Akhlaq-e-Jalālī, the study explores his ethical framework for understanding the interrelationship between the individual, the state, and society. This work remained among the most influential writings on Muslim ethics, particularly in the Indian context, and continued to shape Muslim intellectual discourseand educational curricula well into the late 20th century. Its enduring presence highlights its intellectual relevance and its capacity to inspire ongoing debates on Muslim ethics.This …

Modeling Deductive Inference: A Historico-Philosophical Introduction To First-Order Logic, David J. Buller

Faculty Books & Book Chapters

This book is a companion text for lectures on first-order logic and its elementary metatheory (used in Intermediate Logic at Northern Illinois University). It covers the basic concepts of set theory necessary for a mathematical development of first-order logic; develops a formal language of first-order logic; presents a classical Tarskian semantics for the language and the “semantic” conception of logical consequence; presents a Gentzenian proof system and the “syntactic” conception of logical consequence; develops a partial decision procedure for logical consequence in the language; demonstrates applications of the formal system to modeling deductive inference expressed in natural language; and extends …

6. Mark: Sources And References, Matthew Lipman

Secondary School Curriculum

This sequential bibliography matches the 1980 edition of Mark page by page. It contains both sources—works that influenced Matthew Lipman in writing the novel—and references to philosophical works he and Ann Margaret Sharp recommend to explore the novels’ philosophical themes.

(2025) I'M Trying To Love Garbage (2021) By Bethany Barton, Peter Shea

Collected Papers of Peter Shea

Bethany Barton writes great books for kids about how minds change. In this one, the character’s arc is from thinking about garbage as just smelly icky stuff through empathizing (a little) with the creatures that feed on garbage, to eventually coming to see that all garbage is not equal; some needs special handling or it will clutter life up for a long time. The conclusion: I want to act like someone who thinks more about garbage, about what trash I create and where it ends up.”

Curriculum Vitae Of Philip C. Guin (1931-2007), Philip C. Guin

Collected Papers of Philip C. Guin

No abstract provided.

My Octopus Teacher (2020) Directed By Pippa Ehrlich And James Reed, Peter Shea

Picture Books

My Octopus Teacher combines a carefully structured love story with astonishing information about undersea life, documenting a year of encounters between a photographer and an octopus. It is important as a non-standard love story and as a reflection on the possibility of deep connection with non-human creatures.

(2025) My Octopus Teacher (2020) Directed By Pippa Ehrlich And James Reed, Peter Shea

Collected Papers of Peter Shea

My Octopus Teacher combines a carefully structured love story with astonishing information about undersea life, documenting a year of encounters between a photographer and an octopus. It is important as a non-standard love story and as a reflection on the possibility of deep connection with non-human creatures.

Curriculum Vitae Of Matthew Lipman (2025), Matthew Lipman, Maughn Gregory

Scholarship

This curriculum vitae of Matthew Lipman was prepared by Maughn Rollins Gregory over the course of many years, and completed in November 2025.

Review Of Of Rule And Office: Plato’S Ideas Of The Political, By Melissa Lane., Brennan Mcdavid

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

A review of Of Rule and Office: Plato’s Ideas of the Political, by Melissa Lane.

Journal For The Philosophical Study Of Education, Allan Johnston, Guillemette C. Johnston

Research Resources

J P S E Journal for the Philosophical Study of Education

Vol. 5 (2025)

Editors:

Allan Johnston, Columbia College Chicago

Guillemette Johnston, DePaul University

Special Symposium Editor:

Sabrina Bacher, Universität Innsbruck

Outside Readers:

Marina Bacher, Universität Innsbruck

Sabrina Bacher, Universität Innsbruck

Erica Hagström. Luléa University of Technology

Christian Kraler, Universität Innsbruck

Elias Schwieler, Stockholm University

The Society for the Philosophical Study of Education

An Exploratory Study On The Usability Of Distance Learning Technology In The U.S. Army Recruiting And Retention Command, Rony Arizandieta Rodas

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

This exploratory study investigates how integrating distance learning technologies within the U.S. Army impacts enlisted soldiers in terms of implementation, usability, and long-term career mobility. With internet-based education, active-duty enlisted personnel can pursue academic degrees from accredited military-affiliated institutions while simultaneously fulfilling operational duties, deployments, and daily training. The U.S. Army Recruiting Command has capitalized on this advancement by framing online education and digital accessibility as core components of its enlistment strategy. This approach is particularly relevant given that a significant proportion of new recruits originate from rural and economically disadvantaged areas, where access to higher education is often limited, …

Not Exactly "Perfect," But Pretty Darn Good: A Review Of Michael Schur's Book- How To Be Perfect: The Correct Answer To Every Moral Question, Justin Pepe

Management Faculty Publications

How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question provides a quick-start guide to addressing ethical challenges by using humor to make complex philosophical concepts accessible. Based on the premise that traditional ethics pedagogy is often stodgy, esoteric, and depressing, the book appeals to students and professionals who find conventional texts unapproachable. By blending humor with moral philosophy, it offers a fresh way to develop ethical reasoning in students and employees. This book can help address the urgent need for managers and professionals to build the ethical capabilities necessary to tackle grand challenges.

Finding Meaning In Modern Crisis: Hypermodernity And The Vita Activa, Jacob B. Tease

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Hannah Arendt’s 1958 book The Human Condition describes modernity through the lens of the vita activa. While useful in understanding human experience with modernity, the way the world has advanced makes the vita activa insufficient for describing our present world. I argue that the world is now in a state of hypermodernity, and use the vita activa to describe how powerlessness develops in the face of large-scale hypermodern crisis. The concern of hypermodernity is that humans experience an inability to perform true action, and this results in powerlessness. Hypermodern powerlessness translates into an inability to meaningfully affect …

Eros And The Sublime: Tools For Reaching Toward An Altered Ecological Consciousness, Aineka Carlson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis explores connections between the Kantian sublime and Anne Carson’s ideas regarding “eros.” Since Kant’s Critique of Judgement was published in 1790, the Kantian sublime has grown in popularity and been utilized by theorists and creative writers alike. While the Kantian sublime is often associated with nature in popular culture, there are certain egocentric and phallocentric elements of this mode of thinking that might inhibit a biocentric mindset. Through a character study of Oryx from Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake, this thesis draws relations between the subjugation of women, nature, and the ways in which the popularized …

Grieving In Doorways: A Critical Autoethnographic Exploration Of Embodied Knowledge Amid Shifting Reality And Radical Possibility, Holly Rae

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This thesis is a critical autoethnographic exploration of embodied knowledge amid shifting reality and radical possibility. Beginning and ending with my own body, I explore how grief, as an embodied companion, offers wisdom and power in moments of profound change. Rooted in a methodology of slowness, rest, walking, and active listening, this work resists the extractive pace of modernity and instead invites building a relationship with grief and discomfort. This research is an experiment in co-creating knowledge with bodies and their intersectionality within systems that would keep us separate from knowing our embodied knowledge. As a location of research for …

Review: Alle Thyng Hath Tyme: Time And Medieval Life, Kaitlyn Garrett

Quidditas

In a topical addition to the Medieval Lives series, Adler and Strohm's Alie Thyng Hath Tyme: Time and Medieval Life provides an overview of the average medieval person's keeping of, value of, and relationship to time. Gillian Adler, Assistant Professor of Literature and Esther Raushenbush Chair in Humanities at Sarah Lawrence College, and Paul Strohm, professor emeritus at Columbia University, combine literary backgrounds to delve into both technical forms of timekeeping and abstract interpretations of time, including "timescapes" and philosophies of passing time and human aging. Alle Thyng Hath Tyme educates readers on technical forms of timekeeping as well as …

Allen D. Breck Award Winner

Quidditas

The Breck Award recognizes the most distinguished paper given by a junior scholar at the annual conference.

Recipient of the Breck Award 2025

Kierra E. Burns

Review: The Catholicism Of Literature In The Age Of The Book Of Common Prayer: Poetry, Plays, Works, 1558-1689, Brandon Schneeberger

Quidditas

Anyone who has observed the worship trends of the younger generation of Christians in the last ten to twenty years will have noticed a renewed interest in traditional, liturgically conservative forms of worship. Whether it is interest in liturgy itself, or in the materials of liturgy - ornate vestments, incense, candles, bells, chanting, etc. - young people today display a keen interest in forms of worship and reverence that seem to have been lost in the cultural upheaval of the late twentieth century, a revolution that affected both Protestant and Catholic forms of worship. However effective the late twentieth-century iconoclasm …

Dante And The Nine Worthies: Glory Or Fame?, Thomas L. Cooksey

Quidditas

In Paradiso 18, Dante is introduced by Cacciaguida, to eight martial heroes: Joshua, Judas Maccabaeus, Roland, Charlemagne, William of Orange, Renouard, Godfrey of Bouillon, and Robert Guiscard. Joined by Cacciaguida they form a group of nine, suggesting that Dante is playing with the topos of the Nine Worthies, popular in chivalric literature. While there are various prototypes, the canonical version of the Nine was codified by Jacques de Longuyon in his romance Voeux du paon (The Vow of the Peacock), appearing around 1312, a date tantalizingly close to the composition of the Paradiso. A comparison is instructive both …

The Danger Of Deepfakes: Information Pollution And Epistemic Insecurity, Camille Doherty

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the dangers of deepfakes to democratic stability, emphasizing their capacity to pollute our information ecosystem and undermine trust in media. Beyond the immediate political harms from deepfake incidents, deepfakes are troubling for their impact on our collective relationship to media, truth, and one another. As exposure to deepfakes becomes more common, discerning fact from fiction will become increasingly difficult. Over time, this could foster widespread skepticism of all media and, worse, apathy toward truth itself. With eroded trust and shared truths, democracies risk losing epistemic security – the foundation for informed deliberation, decision-making, and accountability in democratic …

In Praise Of Dust, Hasler Gomez-Perez

Theses and Dissertations

A desire path is a physical manifestation of where a system has failed, but also where it has been refused, where a new path has been made. The wake exists in the post, it is not a singular, untethered event, but a subtle double entendre that lives in the post-death, but also in the pre-life—not a liminal limbo, but a superposition of dying and waking.

This collection was assembled and composed over the course of two years as I navigated my practice, myself, and others. Present here are my thoughts, my experiences, and in many ways my beliefs. IN PRAISE …

The Tender Flesh: Dwelling In Soft Wounds And Visceral Bodies, Madelyn Irene Turner-Havens

Theses and Dissertations

Within my painting process, I explore bodily interiority and exteriority in relation to the surface of painting, evoking a discomforting sense of corporeal (dis)embodiment, where haunted flesh becomes palpable. Indexing conversations with the body into the painting is a way to understand my body and create an experience of what happens when language fails to capture the complexity of sensation. Painting becomes a mediation with the canvas, a constant discovery of what can give shape to the intangible: how it feels when my skin folds into itself, bodily urges, and the soft texture of fatty tissue.

I let the parts …

Identifying Intangible And Biocultural Heritage Elements Toward Environmental Understanding: Engaging Stakeholders Through Art, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Grounded in a case study in Barbuda in the Caribbean, this research examines sustainability from the perspective of what arts and heritage can contribute to community engagement and local and broader understandings about the environment. This article documents a growing body of literature recognizing the role of arts and culture, including local knowledge and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), in climate change endeavors. Art and TEK present expansive world views. Contextual information situates research done on the island of Barbuda pre- and post-Hurricane Irma. Visual arts workshops engaged community members in mixed methods research. Results documented cultural elements, particularly intangible and …

Multiplicity, Belonging, And Free Speech In Us Higher Education: Thriving Through Current Crises, Naomi Zack

Publications and Research

New realities in U.S. higher education present a multifaceted crisis for students, faculty, administrators, and society at large. This book provides incisive diagnoses of pressing problems and prescriptions to reinstate and support U.S. higher education as an intellectually and ethically valuable institution.

Sojourner Truth’S Vision: A Life Dedicated To Ending Injustice, Nyla R. Stokes

Emerging Writers

This essay explores the profound legacy of Sojourner Truth, a pivotal figure in the fight against injustice. Through a personal narrative interwoven with historical analysis, the author reflects on their initial ignorance of Truth's significance and how a school project transformed their understanding. The paper delves into Truth's life, including her experiences as a formerly enslaved woman, her impactful speeches and her collaboration with other notable activists. It examines the complexities of her identity as a Black woman in the 19th century, the societal perceptions of femininity, and the challenges she faced within the feminist movement. The author also draws …

Manila As Sophie’S World: Mapping Sites Of Wonder In 19th C. Intramuros And Environs, Jovino G. Miroy

Philosophy Department Faculty Publications

This paper draws a philosophical heritage map of Intramuros

and environs. The map includes several religious sites in

Intramuros and two monuments of heroes outside the walls. The

paper explains the reason for drawing such a map by, firstly,

discussing the theory of place-based learning. Secondly, it will

discuss the philosophical walk as a dialogue with the

environment (nature and the city). A philosophical heritage

map is also understood not only as a tour of sites associated with

philosophers and the history of ideas but a movement along sites

of wonder, rumination, contemplation, and critical thinking. As

such, walking as …

Learning To Teach For Inclusion: A Professional Learning Community Of Elementary And Middle School Educators Collaborate For Inclusion, Laurie Summer

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This qualitative research study examines how eighteen elementary and middle school educators within a feminist professional learning community, grounded in a book study, developed inclusive understandings, practices, and actions. My first research question was: How do elementary and middle school educators, working within a feminist PLC, make sense of and enact inclusive teaching practices?, and the sub question was: How did using a shared text act as a catalyst for exploring inclusive practices? My second research question was: How do I enact feminist pedagogy in my facilitation of a professional learning community for inclusive teaching? I constructed and collected data …

Curriculum Vitae Of Mark L. Weinstein, Mark Weinstein

Collected Papers of Mark Weinstein

No abstract provided.

The Paradox Of Pleasure: How Sex-Positive Feminism Constrains Female Freedom, Katherine S. Lanzalotto

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis critiques popular sex-positive narratives that espouse sex as the path to female liberation and empowerment despite ideological and material constraints that tailor female sexual expression to male desires. It interrogates sex-positive feminism's evolution and impact on female freedom. Despite its progressive intentions, mainstream sex-positive discourse has paradoxically constrained female freedom. This thesis analyzes how sex positivity inhibited female freedom, developing a nuanced framework of negative, positive, and republican freedom. This framework elucidates new constraints introduced by pro-sex thinking, such as compulsory female sexuality, the commodification of women under capitalism, and intersectional oversights in sex-positive thinking that particularly affect …