Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons^™

World Spirit And The Apotheosis Of Artificial Superintelligence: A Speculative Design Proposal, Ian Gonsher

Scholarly Research

This essay puts forth a speculative design proposal for a device with affordances for talking to, and receiving responses from, God. We begin with an analysis and critique of the concept of God, framing this concept within an understanding of Hegelian Spirit (Geist) and technological evolution. In this context, Spirit, or World Spirit (Weltgeist), can be characterized as the aggregate consciousness of all people - as human consciousness itself: In the simplest terms, this immanent framing of the “mind of God” is culturally and socially constituted as the communication that people engage in with each other, in all the diverse …

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.

Calendar Reforms In Ukrainian Orthodoxy, Nataliia Ishchuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The study provides a brief retrospective and the current state of the calendar issue in Ukrainian Orthodoxy. To achieve this, the attitude towards the calendar issue of those Orthodox Ukrainians who, in certain historical periods, lived in Ukrainian territories as part of European states and the Russian Empire, is examined. The ideological discourse of the calendar reform during the existence of the Soviet Union is outlined. Special attention is given to the calendar issue in Independent Ukraine. The reasons, main stages, features, and difficulties of the current transition of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the new Julian calendar are systematized. …

Japanese-English Translation: Nishida Kitarō––“Self-Determination Of The Eternal Now” 「永遠の今の自己限定」、西田幾多郎著（昭和六年七月） (July 1931) §1 Of 4; Complete Draft (Supersedes Draft Of 2 Jan 19); Translated By Christopher Southward; Revision And Expansion Underway, Christopher Southward

Comparative Literature Faculty and Student Scholarship

Japanese-English Translation: Nishida Kitarō––“Self-Determination of the Eternal Now” (July 1931) 「永遠の今の自己限定」、西田幾多郎著（昭和六年七月）

§1 of 4; Complete Draft (Supersedes Draft of 2 Jan 2019)

Translated from the Japanese by Christopher Southward; Revision and Expansion Underway, October 2023

Viewing Terrence Malick’S A Hidden Life As Political Theology: Toward Theocinematics, Joel Mayward

Journal of Religion & Film

In this article, I bring Terrence Malick’s 2019 film, A Hidden Life, into conversation with two of philosopher Paul Ricoeur’s concepts: (1) the “social imaginary” as the interplay of ideals, images, ideologies and utopias, and (2) Ricoeur’s description of the genre of “parable” as a narrative-metaphor which provokes a “re-orientation by disorientation” within an audience’s imagination. Drawing from Ricoeur’s thought, I apply a theological film criticism I call “theocinematics” to A Hidden Life in order to call attention to the ways in which the cinematic form itself engenders sociopolitical and theological thought. Through emphasizing film aesthetics in my analysis, …

Eudaimonist Exemplarism And Saints, Brian C. Clark

Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary moral philosophy tends to treat saints as either maximally moral and thus exemplary only for those who share their ideals or as so morally excellent that they are inimitable and “Other.” Thus, the saint is practically useless as a model for plain persons. Moreover, in the case of Christian saints, modern moral theories tend not to account for their religious and theological dimensions. As a remedy, this dissertation argues for thinking about the exemplarity of saints in eudaimonist and theologically naturalist terms. Christian saints exemplify what Christians consider human flourishing, revising natural accounts of human flourishing but preserving the …

Natural Lights & Natural Rights: The Problem Of The New Classical Natural Law Theory, Charles Neville Cacciatore

LSU Master's Theses

The present work examines the natural law jurisprudence of John Finnis. It argues that Finnis’s teaching is a genuinely new natural law theory. Finnis’s jurisprudence is not a re- presentation of the jurisprudence of St. Thomas Aquinas because its central element—a doctrine of natural rights—is a departure from Aquinas’s natural law teaching. In support of these claims, the present work relies upon the scholarship of Ernest L. Fortin, A.A. Following Fr. Fortin, it presents an understanding of the natural law that endorses a clear distinction between natural right and natural rights—between premodern political philosophy and modern political philosophy.

Book Discussion - Violence And Peace In Sacred Texts: Interreligious Perspectives, Maria Power, Helen Paynter

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Against War: Building A Culture Of Peace, William J. Collinge

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of The Root Of War: Thomas Merton’S Advice To Peacemakers, Jerry Kendall

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

A Century Of Critical Buddhism In Japan, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

This chapter introduces the central arguments of Critical Buddhism as a lens by which to view the course of “modern” Buddhism in Japan, particularly as it relates to politics. It traces philosophical and political precedents for Critical Buddhism in the context of Japanese modernity, by focusing on several progressive Buddhist figures movements from mid-Meiji through early Shōwa, including the New Buddhist Fellowship and the Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism. I argue that previous attempts to centralize criticism as a basic Buddhist precept were unsuccessful in part do to an inability to distinguish the Buddhistic components of their thought and practice, …

Book Review On Sculpting The Self: Islam, Selfhood And Human Flourishing (By Muhammad Faruque), Mohammad Azadpur

Comparative Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Between Choice And Compulsion: An Examination And Critique Of The Evolution Of 'Original Sin', Matthew James Wynn

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

“Why are we the way that we are?” is one of the hardest questions to answer because it requires grasping the origin of human beings. This has left philosophers and theologians in century-long debates on forming a “cosmogony of ontology” (i.e., how the origin of the universe informs the human condition). The concept, “original sin” was developed by a North African theologian named Augustine (354 – 430 CE). Augustine’s reading of Genesis 3, and inaccurate translation of Romans 5:12, taught that a person is born morally culpable for a fault antecedent to their existence. This way of thinking about the …

Hawthorne’S Human Nature And Sin: Criticisms Of Puritanism And Progressivism, Oscar Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

One of America’s greatest authors, Nathaniel Hawthorne lived in a time of rapid scientific, material, and intellectual advancement. However, unlike many of his peers who went all-in on utopian reform movements, Hawthorne took a cautious and reserved approach to progress even though he supported the idea abstractly. Using six tales written acrossHawthorne’s career, this work will examine what each has to say about Hawthorne’s belief in human nature and why he takes such a skeptical position against movements aiming to fundamentally reshape people and society. The tales from the 1830s, “The Gentle Boy,” “Young Goodman Brown,” and “The Minister’s Black …

Life In The Multiverse: Bringing Chaos Out Of Order?, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This paper was given as the opening keynote address at the International Conference on Religion and Film at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on June 8, 2022, and is here presented in that form.

My thanks go to those who organized the conference for Vrije Universiteit, notably Professor Johan Roeland and Miranda van Holland.

The Storytelling Cure: Medicine And Narrative From Galen To Shahrazad And Rousseau, Ryan A. Milov-Cordoba

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Are stories healing? This dissertation introduces and explores an idea that I call “the storytelling cure.” With this term I capture a set of related notions about the healing power of stories that span literary studies, intellectual history, philosophy, and medical practice. Through a comparative study I make the case for “the storytelling cure” as a cross-cultural, multiconfessional, and multilingual phenomenon of great age, complexity, and power, worthy of the most sustained attention by the contemporary field of Comparative Literature. Concretely, this dissertation presents three extended case studies of “storytelling cures” from three different kinds of texts (case history, frame …

Buddhist Socialism In China, 1900–1930: A History And Appraisal, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

Although it is only in recent decades that scholars have begun to reconsider and problematize Buddhist conceptions of “freedom” and “agency,” the various thought traditions of Asian Buddhism have for some centuries struggled with questions related to the issue of “liberation,” along with its fundamental ontological, epistemological and ethical—if not economic and political—implications. With the development of Marxist thought in the mid to late nineteenth century, a new paradigm for thinking about freedom in relation to economics, history, identity and socio-political transformation found its way to Asia, where it soon confronted traditional religious interpretations of freedom as well as competing …

Foreword To Martin Kovan, A Buddhist Theory Of Killing: A Philosophical Exposition, James Mark Shields, Dan Cozort

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

James Madison, American Liberalism, And The Problem Of The “Gordian Knot”, Nicholas Marr

Compass: An Undergraduate Journal of American Political Ideas

Federal jurisdiction is virtually unlimited today and the strength and survivability of liberalism, our nation’s animating political philosophy, is hotly debated. These issues are connected and James Madison’s thinking provides some insight into exactly how that might be.

Researcher-Participant Privilege: Confidentiality And Qualitative Criminology, Eric Michael

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Research institutions have the responsibility to comply with laws that govern the oversight of all research including research with human subjects. Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) review research protocols and approve research based on the rights and safety of research subjects. When conducting qualitative criminological research, researchers must weigh ethical considerations around their methods. These methodological considerations are coupled with guiding ethical principles that are fundamental to human subject research. One major consideration regards breaking confidentiality which can bring about great risk to participants. The following thesis focuses on the ethics of researcher-participant privilege and issues that qualitative researchers have in …

A Humanist's Account: Manetti On Humanism's Impact On Morality In 15th Century Italy., Connor Kurtz, Beau Kilpatrick

Undergraduate Research Events

Abstract

Religion, art, and politics were at their peak during the Italian Renaissance. However, because of the generously allocated talent of the Italian sphere at this time it is easy to overlook the contributions of those who broke away from the Catholic concentration and kick started this humanistic era. Giannozzo Manetti, an Italian politician who in 1452 wrote De Ignate er Excellencia Hominis, a challenge to Pope Innocent III’s philosophy. The text has been translated to “On Human Worth and Excellence” and describes a deep-rooted foundation of humanism in religion. He concludes a functionality of society and religion in …

"For You There Are No Strangers": Albert Schweitzer And The Ethics Of Necessity In Pandemic America, Joel (J.T.) Young

Faculty Scholarship

Claiming millions of lives and affecting millions more, the Covid-19 pandemic has thrust humanity into a period of intense reflection on the fragility of life. However, in this time when people have been encouraged to care for their fellow human beings by taking the precautions necessary to protect one another, many have asked the same question as one of Jesus’ antagonistic opponents in the Gospel of Luke: “and who is my neighbor?” In addition to the virus, though, the United States has been plagued by another adversary: non-necessity toward the other. By claiming no responsibility for the well-being and care …

Love And The Winter: C.S. Lewis, Nigel Biggar, And Marc Livecche On Enemy Love, Jason Lepojärvi

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Abstract: In this paper I tackle two difficult questions about enemy love, with C. S. Lewis as my guide. First, how do we forgive a person who has deeply injured us? Second, can the Christian command to “love thy enemy” be reconciled with the military task of killing one’s opponent in war? After defining “love”, “enemy”, and “enemy love”, I discuss these two questions in light of the things that most endanger enemy love: resentment and violence. According to Lewis, the virtue of forgiveness and the religious habit of prayer play a crucial role in overcoming resentment. As for violence, …

Creolizing Modern Buddhism: A Reply To Yarran Hominh & A. Minh Nguyen, Evan Thompson

Comparative Philosophy

In reply to Hominh and Nguyen, I argue that “creolizing” methods in the study and practice of Buddhism should not be opposed to historicist and contextualist modes of investigation and understanding. Rather, historicism and contextualism can and should inform creolizing approaches.

Cosmopolitanism, Creolization, And Non-Exceptionalist Buddhist Modernisms: On Evan Thompson’S Why I Am Not A Buddhist, Yarran Hominh, A. Minh Nguyen

Comparative Philosophy

In his recent book, Why I Am Not a Buddhist, Evan Thompson argues that inter-tradition or cross-cultural philosophical dialogue ought to be governed by cosmopolitan conversational norms that do not subsume any one tradition’s deep commitments under those of any other tradition, but rather bring those commitments into the discussion so that they can be challenged and defended. He argues on this basis for the application of a deeply contextualist and historicist interpretive methodology to Buddhist texts, concepts, and theories in dialogue with philosophy and contemporary cognitive sciences. Buddhist modernism, in eschewing that deeply contextualist and historicist methodology, falls …

Justifying Advocacy Of Patients’ Belief Diversity W/ Support From William James’ Lectures On Pragmatism: A New Name For Some Old Ways Of Thinking, The Variety Of Religious Experiences & The Will To Believe, Sterling Courtney

The Hilltop Review

Abstract:

Predating monastic healthcare in the Middle Ages (Siraisi, 2019), spirituality and/or religion have been unified with healing, caring for the sick and consoling the dying, as documented by historical writings as early as c.3000 BCE-c.500 BCE in Mesopotamia and followed by coinciding accounts from c.750 BCE-c.280 BCE Greece and Rome (Mann, 2014). Via philosophy and science, a movement towards secularization has been perceived (as the Renaissance faded and the scientific revolution led into the Age of Enlightenment), therefore creating a dichotomy between treating the physical body separate from the metaphysical soul. In the early 1900’s, Abraham Flexner discredited any …

Three Buddhist Distinctions Of Great Consequence For Cross-Cultural Philosophy Of Personal Identity, Antoine Panaïoti

Comparative Philosophy

This paper seeks to lay down the theoretical groundwork for the emergence of holistic cross-cultural philosophical investigations of personal identity ¾ investigations that approach the theoretical, phenomenological, psychological, and practical-ethical dimensions of selfhood as indissociable. My strategy is to discuss three closely connected conceptual distinctions that the Buddhist approach to personal identity urges us to draw, and a lucid understanding of which is essential for the emergence of appropriately comprehensive and thus genuinely cosmopolitan discussions at the cross-road between Western and Buddhist philosophical traditions. The first, primary distinction is that between the “visceral sense of self” (VSS) and the “substance …

In Search Of Buddhist Virtue: A Case For A Pluralist-Gradualist Moral Philosophy, Oren Hanner

Comparative Philosophy

Classical presentations of the Buddhist path prescribe the cultivation of various good qualities that are necessary for spiritual progress, from mindfulness (sati) and loving-kindness (metta) to faith (saddhā) and wisdom (paññā). Examining the way in which such qualities are described and classified in early Buddhism—with special reference to their treatment in the Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification) by the fifth-century Buddhist thinker Buddhaghosa—the present article employs a comparative method in order to identify the Buddhist catalog of virtues. The first part sketches the characteristics of virtue as analyzed by neo-Aristotelian theories. …

On Human Rights And Structural Justice, Robert Howard

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The rights literature is full of accounts of rights, and each captures important aspects of the nature and function of rights. But none of the leading theories offers a comprehensive account of the nature and function of rights that both stands up under the pressure of counterexamples and can buck accusations of internal inconsistency.

In this paper I embrace much of Nicholas Wolterstorff's work on justice and the relation of human rights to worth, and I propose changes to his account in order to strengthen it. I evoke the works of Johan Galtung, Richard Rubenstein, and Elizabeth Anderson in order …

Civil Disobedience From A Biblical Perspective, Gabriel Reed

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

To say that civil disobedience is a complicated topic is to severely understate the topic. It is a subject matter that has derived many different and disparate opinions, points of view, and public policies. Specifically, within America today, we observe calls for civil disobedience from both sides of the political spectrum, over several divergent political ideals. These issues are, primarily, driven from both sides’ desire to provide protection and provision for the oppressed and those who cannot necessarily speak for themselves. The definition of who is necessarily oppressed and whom their oppressors are varies from person to person, regardless of …