Philosophy Commons^™

Philosophical Purification As Liberation And Transformation, Lachanda C. Davis

Dissertations

This study utilizes Plato’s conception of purification as a diagnostic tool to examine contemporary issues of police brutality and political violence. Within this context, I aim to treat the multiple tensions that arise with the question of living a good life. What does it mean to live and what does it mean to live a good life within constraints that magnify fear, anxiety, and despair? I argue that philosophical purification involves ‘aporia’ (perplexity; difficulty; confusion; loss; or puzzlement) in both a literal and generative sense. Moreover, the multiple aporias that arise cannot be reconciled by merely performing a religious rite …

The Quest For Liberation: Philosophy And The Making Of World Culture In China And The West, Chunjie Zhang

Philosophy & Theory

Contemporary debate on cosmopolitanism routinely refers to Immanuel Kant as its intellectual origin. A group of Chinese and German-speaking thinkers in the early twentieth century, however, used classical Chinese philosophy as an alternative intellectual genealogy to reimagine ethics, politics, society, and modernity for the entire world. Their engagement with Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism broadens the scope of global intellectual history to include a non-European origin of concepts and ideas.

Due to the differences in their local crises, the Chinese and the European stories are often narrated in separate national and cultural contexts. Bridging the critical divide between China and the …

Coding Anti-Discrimination Jurisprudence: A Hybrid Computational Model Of The Arlington Heights Test, Kevin S. Jobe

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The aim of this study is to understand the judicial reasoning process of anti-discrimination jurisprudence by utilizing a hybrid computational model. The advancement of hybrid computational legal studies that combine “law-as-code” and “law-as-data” approaches have led to promising techniques for tackling complex legal reasoning tasks as multifactor judicial reasoning standards. Following this hybrid model, this study conducts a statistical and multilayer perceptron (MLP) analysis of the judicial reasoning process of the multifactor Arlington Heights discriminatory purpose test based on an original hand-coded dataset of discrimination cases. The results of the study show that “sequence of events” predominates the other factors …

“Invention” As Mark Of Different Philippine Decolonial Stream, Niccolo Angelo R. Vitug

English Faculty Publications

I would like to explore the possibility that Filipinization, a movement aligned with decolonization, might have more streams and cannot simply be appropriated by a particular political orientation. I will begin my exploration by looking at a textbook titled Invention. Put together by Philippines-based American Jesuit priest, Joseph A. Galdon, Invention was based on the experimental work of fellow American Jesuit Joseph A. Landy, and distinctively featured work by Filipino students. This fact is interesting because of its context: the experimental work which was the basis of Invention was burned during the heated days of the Filipinization of the Jesuit-run …

Merit Transference And The Paradox Of Merit Inflation, Matthew Hammerton

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Many religious traditions and ethical systems hold that individuals accrue merit through their good intentions, acts, and character, and demerit through their bad intentions, acts, and character. This merit and demerit, accumulated by individuals throughout their lives, gives each person a kind of ethical “score” that can determine what they deserve, and influence whether good or bad things happen to them (e.g., divine punishments and rewards, a favourable or unfavourable rebirth, etc.). In some traditions (most notably Buddhism, but also to a limited extent in Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity), “merit transference” is a feature of these merit-based ethical systems. This …

Restorationland: The Lost And Found Objects Of Atlanta's Doll's Head Trail, Thomas Fish

Faculty Articles

The Doll’s Head Trail is a grassroots, low-art installation nestled within a Southeast Atlanta wildlife preserve. Constructed by volunteers and visitors from decades of environmental debris, the trail converts waste into folk art-inspired “junk” displays. The creative upcycling ranges from a miniscule shrine to “Toxic Masculinity” to a stark shoe pile commemorating child gun violence. This article details how queer theory’s “temporal turn” provides insights into material performance as collaborative regeneration. The curious vignettes playfully invert hierarchies, revealing the merits of small-time memorialization. Through these defiantly unofficial grassroot performances, the Doll’s Head Trail both remembers and restores community ruins, demonstrating …

The Spaces Between: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Classical Music Performance Practice, Fifi Zhang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In his theory of duration, the philosopher Henri Bergson (1859-1941) asserts that the present moment is “both a perception of the immediate past and a determination of the immediate future…a joint system of sensations and movements.” In an ideal musical performance, this sensori-motor apparatus guides every one of the performer’s decisions on stage, resulting in an aural experience that is spontaneous, visceral, and deeply personal. In practice, much of today’s classical music performance culture, which relies heavily on visual notation and prioritizes fidelity to the composer’s intent, is antithetical to fundamental artistic values such as creativity, individual self-expression, and direct …

Re-Envisioning Digital Agency: From Representationalism To Interpretant-Driven Epistemology, Michael C. Lee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines the epistemological and ethical foundations of digital technologies, particularly code and algorithmic systems, by considering their entanglement with representationalism. Arguing that code now functions as a dominant social agent and epistemic subject, through the concept of the Code’s-eye view, I explore how automated datafication reduces human experience to quantifiable inputs, reinforcing epistemic closure and social fragmentation. Drawing on pragmatist philosophy, including Peirce’s semiotics, Dewey’s democratic ethics, and Rorty’s conversational inquiry, I propose an interpretant-driven epistemology grounded in communal inquiry and interpretive openness. This alternative framework resists the binary logic of algorithmic rationality by emphasizing conflict and the …

What Are The Limits To Smart Innovation? The Digital Underground Initiative And New Frontiers Of “Smartness” In Singapore, Prerona Das, Orlando Woods, Lily Kong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper argues that the emergence of new frontiers of smart transformation, such as underground spaces, can pose significant challenges to the implementation of “smart” technological solutions. Exploring the case of Singapore’s Digital Underground initiative, we show that elements such as material complexity, co-ordination between stakeholders, and the availability of appropriate regulatory and administrative frameworks can problematize the implementation of subterranean smart initiatives. By considering multistake-holder perspectives on these “more-than-technological” factors, this paper offers lessons for urban planners, policymakers, and developers in cities around the world that are keen to leverage technology to unlock the potential of underground space.

Love Amid The Rage: Feminist Affect In Women's Life-Writing, Genesis Siverio

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The aim of this thesis is to show the ways women’s emotions or affect, particularly rage and love, are described by women writers in their most intimate stories. I discuss the way emotion has been demeaned, and how feminist scholars have instead viewed the body as a place of insight, reclaiming a knowledge from the senses. In the midst of white supremacy and heteropatriarchy, women give voice to their affectual experiences and cultivate the feelings they have so often been denied. Focusing on the particular ways women’s anger manifests in their lives and in their bodies, I zoom in on …

Moral Worth And Motivational Demands, Spencer Heitman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It has become a philosophical commonplace to distinguish actions that are merely right from actions that possess moral worth. To be right, an action needs only to accord with the demands of morality. To possess moral worth, an action needs not only to be right, but to be non-accidentally so. While this much is uncontroversial, what is involved in this sense of non-accidentality is a matter of ongoing debate. This thesis lies at the heart of that debate. Many parties to this debate agree that actions with moral worth must be properly motivated. Suppose someone speaks respectfully to a colleague …

Subsidiarity In The Shadow Of Sovereignty, Loren King

Political Science Faculty Publications

Subsidiarity frustrates. It admits of clear articulation as an ideal (‘vest authority as close as feasible to those most affected’) but then invites conflicting interpretations and elaborations. As a workable principle, subsidiarity seems to founder exactly when we need it: when we ask what, precisely, that principle regulates. As a regulative moral precept, subsidiarity promises a politics sensitive to diverse needs and responsive to local knowledge, yet in practice any implementation of the ideal pulls us back toward an authoritative center to regulate disputes and coordinate all of this local wisdom. I love subsidiarity for these frustrations and ambiguities. In …

Dari Editor Vol. 15 No. 2 (Agustus) 2025, Rahayu Surtiati Hidayat

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

Dengan gembira kami menerbitkan sepuluh artikel dan dua timbangan buku dalam edisi ini; terbitan rekor untuk jurnal ini. Kami berharap dapat menerbitkan banyak artikel dalam setiap edisi. Isi tulisan yang kami terbitkan juga meningkat mutunya baik dari segi penelitian maupun penyajian. Tiga artikel menarik perhatian dengan menunjukkan berbagai karya yang menjadi lambang kejayaan suatu negara dan keguyuban suatu komunitas (Titik Pudjiastuti, Muhamad Alnoza, Nur Aini Setiawati). Tiga artikel lain membahas kehadiran pendatang yang mengubah sistem dalam negara (Dien Rovita Rovita, Mela Maulina Putri, Rudi Ekasiswanto). Tidak kalah menarik empat artikel bertemakan karya sastra (Asri Pratiwi Wulandari, Raka Darmawan, Haikal Haikal) …

Serat Yusuf: Sastra Islam Populer Di Jawa Timur, Titik Pudjiastuti, Mamlahatun Buduroh, Mu’Jizah Mu’Jizah, Rias Suharjo, Turita Indah Setyani, Dwi Rahmawanto

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

Serat Yusup is one of the popular Islamic literary works in Java, especially in East Java. This literary work is a handwritten ancient manuscript written in the form of tembang macapat, in Javanese language, and using Pegon or Javanese script. Serat Yusup which create by the students (santri) is inspired by Surah Yusuf, the 12th Surah of the Quran. As a literary work, its story differs significantly from its inspirational text, and there are so many of it. In relation to this, the question arises: what are the reasons behind the creation of Serat Yusup and why is it …

Keidiomatisan Kompositum Berleksikon Hati Dalam Bahasa Indonesia, Dien Rovita, Sonya Puspasari Suganda, Untung Yuwono

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

A compound (kompositum) is a construction formed through word formation by combining two or more elements to create a new meaning. In Indonesian, compounds can be formed by combining several elements, one of which may be a nominal lexeme referring to a body part. Compound words can be distinguished from other word combinations—particularly syntactic phrases—based on grammatical and semantic criteria. Semantically, compounds can be analyzed according to the degree of idiomaticity in their meanings. Based on this premise, the present study aims to explain the idiomaticity of compounds in Indonesian that are formed by combining multiple elements, one of which …

Myth Of Happiness From The Consumerism Perspective In Simone De Beauvoir’S Les Belles Images, Joesana Tjahjani, Sekar Dewantari

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

France's post-World War II, thirty years of glory, resulted in the growth of purchasing power among the French, which triggered growth in consumerism, notably among the bourgeois— France's upper-middle-class society. People believed in a myth that objects are not solely useful for fulfilling needs but also served as a sign of social status, dignity, andcomfort. They equally believed that if the objects are consumed and the associated social standards fulfilled, they maybecome a way to obtain greater happiness. This article aims to examine the myth that happiness can be attained byconsumption and social standard fulfillment in a French consumer society …

Virtual Teams Across Cultures: Create Successful Teams Around The World (Theresa Sigillito Hollema 2020), Rifdah Adiibah

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

No abstract provided.

Piyagĕm Cikĕruh (1631 M): Simbol Relasi Kuasa Kerajaan Mataram Islam Di Priangan, Muhamad Alnoza

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

After the collapse of the Sunda Kingdom in the 16th century, most of its territory was controlled by the Islamic Mataram Kingdom. The occupation of Islamic Mataram in the ethnic Sundanese area in fact left behind several metal inscriptions known as piyagĕm. This study specifically examines the oldest piyagĕm found in the Priangan area, namely Piyagĕm Cikĕruh from Garut Regency. Based on the assumption that every inscription that is king is a symbol of power, this study focuses on science which is a symbol of power relations in Piyagĕm Cikĕruh. This study was conducted with the aim of finding the …

Transformasi Syair Dodaidi: Dari Tradisi Lisan Ke Komersialisasi Digital Dalam Sejarah Masyarakat Aceh, Haikal Haikal, Anifa Nurhayati

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

Syair Dodaidi, as a form of Acehnese oral tradition, has played a significant role in the social and cultural life of the Acehnese people for centuries. It originally developed as a lullaby sung by mothers to their children, with lyrics containing prayers and praise to Allah SWT. This study aims to examine the transformation of Syair Dodaidi in the context of contemporary Acehnese society. The research methodology uses a historical approach with the stages of heuristics, source criticism, interpretation, and historiography. The results show that although Syair Dodaidi is still practiced as part of cultural heritage, there have been a …

Collectives In Cases Of Human-Machine Interaction: A Pragmatic Defense Of Human-Machine Collectives, Niel H. Conradie, Hendrik Kempt, Nils Freyer, Saskia K. Nagel

Human-Machine Communication

Humanity’s future will include greater integration with different kinds of increasingly autonomous and interactive technological systems. Doing so is likely to confront us with reasons to adapt some of our currently accepted concepts and practices. We contend that among these is included a persuasive pragmatic reason to undertake just such an adaptation in our concept of collective responsibility and the practices attendant to it. The core of this pragmatic reason lies in how it allows us to respond to the issue of possible techno-responsibility gaps, which have been at the center of much of the attention and debate surrounding autonomous …

Notifying The Public In Crisis Situations, Deborah Jean Link

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The messages that are provided to the public when there is an imminent or ongoing crisis are of extreme value to individuals, primarily to have information by which to base decisions upon. The sense of urgency during imminent or ongoing crisis is the factor that differentiates the need for information about the crisis from the need for information for other types of events. There is messaging during other, less critical types of incidents, but often there is little to no messaging to the public at a time when it is most needed and sought after, during a crisis. Erik J. …

Elementary Seeds Of The Creation-Order Theodicy In The Early Christian Apologists, Lori A. Peters

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The problem of evil and suffering is a significant obstacle for people to consider the truth of Christianity. One way to eliminate this barrier is to provide a theologically sound and biblically accurate theodicy. The Creation-Order Theodicy is one such attempt. The purpose of this paper is to examine if the elements of the Creation-Order Theodicy have their roots in the early teachings of the church through the writings of the early Christian apologists through AD 250. Chapter 1 includes the nature of the problem, a review of existing literature, and the research methodology. Chapter 2 will summarize various modern …

The Efficacy Of Mindfulness, Breathwork, And Neurofeedback: A Holistic Approach To Healing, Cheryl Moore-Whidby

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to explore the holistic impact of mindfulness, breathwork, and neurofeedback on individuals experiencing a range of emotional and physical health conditions, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, cardiovascular symptoms, and other chronic illnesses. This investigation is grounded in multiple theoretical frameworks, including the Polyvagal Theory (Porges, 2009), Cognitive Theory (Beck, 1963), Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow et al., 1943), Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (Kabat-Zinn, 1990), and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (Linehan, 1993). A total of 28 participants, approved through IRB review, engaged in 24 sessions across 30 days, divided between in-person and virtual formats. Breathwork …

Poetic Lines And Social Thought, Adam Neikirk

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

This article draws connections between formal poetry and the capacity to imagine not just the actual world, but any possible world as essentially peopled and peopled with others: both human and nonhuman intelligences. Beginning with an anecdote from the fringes of science, the author goes on to identify the presence of social thought in Romantic literary worlds, citing canonical poems that rely on the recursion of metrical lines such as “Mont Blanc” (Percy Bysshe Shelley) and “Kubla Khan” (Samuel Taylor Coleridge). A theory of poetic lines is then proffered in which poetic invention is related strongly to the idea of …

In Defense Of Metaphysics: A Defense Of The Value And Methodological Soundness Of Metaphysics Understood As Structural Modeling, Sean Nalty

Dissertations - ALL

The aim of this dissertation is to provide a defense of the value and methodological soundness of contemporary analytic metaphysics against a variety of recent anti-metaphysical and scientistic critiques. In Chapter 1, I attempt to answer (at least provisionally) a surprisingly difficult question: what is metaphysics, anyway? I suggest seven adequacy constraints on an answer to this question, and then test five historically and contemporarily influential candidate characterizations of metaphysics against these constraints. Finding each candidate lacking, I close by proposing an ecumenical conception of metaphysics — what I call the structural modeling conception — according to which metaphysics aims …

Context And Form In Garden Classification, David Fenner

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Correctly classifying a garden is important because it allows us to appreciate a garden for what it is, create maintenance agendas for gardens, compare gardens to others in appropriate ways, and meaningfully evaluate gardens. We may correctly classify a garden by first deciding on an appropriate taxonomic approach and, second, by fitting gardens into their appropriate taxa. The first is achieved through justifying the organizing schema by ensuring that it significantly meets the goals mentioned above, results in meaningful and satisfying garden appreciation, and is comprehensive in scope—the creation of this taxonomic approach necessarily includes reference to a garden’s context. …

Athanor: Faivre-Based Comparative Interface For Empirical Esoteric Study; Applied Analysis Of Dusty White’S Astrology, Thomas Nali Iii

Summer Research Showcase

Athanor is a research interface that turns Faivre’s six features into structured analysis cards, prompting explicit decisions for each category. Two tab groups organize the work: Currents (a prepopulated survey of major esoteric streams, with dated notes and sources) and Sources (primary or contemporary materials under review). The survey layer lowers entry costs and provides a consistent factual baseline for future comparative work. Shared glossary, biography, and bibliography banks—presented as sortable tables—reduce duplication and keep references transparent. As a demonstration, I apply Athanor to Dusty White’s The Easiest Way to Learn Astrology, Ever!, analyzing the text through the rubric’s four …

Tradition, Critque, And The Modern Moral Lingua Franca: A Lutheran Articulation Of Human Rights Language, Christian B. Dollar

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

The language of subjective, individual rights has become the primary way of speaking about the rights and wrongs of human life together. Since the end of World War II, one subset of this language—that of human rights—has achieved a global influence. The various Christian traditions of the west have, in large part, adopted this language of human rights to articulate and supplement their assorted social teachings. Yet, the adoption of human rights language has been contested by a dedicated cadre of Roman Catholic and Protestant theologians concerned about the potentially anti-Christian implications inherent in the grammar of rights. Christian rights …

Book Review On The Worlds Of Classical Chinese Aesthetics (By Paul R. Goldin), Lin Wang

Comparative Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Book Review On Epistemology Of Modality And Philosophical Methodology (Edited By Anand Jayprakash Vaidya And Duško Prelević), Kumar Rajan

Comparative Philosophy

No abstract provided.