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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in History of Philosophy
The Transformation Of Autonomous Faculties: From The Enlightenment Era To Present-Day, Amber Ready
The Transformation Of Autonomous Faculties: From The Enlightenment Era To Present-Day, Amber Ready
Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects
This thesis examines the historical transformation of autonomous faculties from the Enlightenment to the present, arguing that the material and technological conditions necessary for autonomous judgment have been progressively eroded through capitalism. Beginning with Kant’s account of enlightenment as the emergence from a self‑incurred minority, this paper shows that autonomy has always depended on social and economic structures that determine who can exercise independent reasoning. Through Marx and Lukács, the analysis traces how commodity production, alienation, and reification reorganize subjectivity and render social relations increasingly opaque. Adorno’s account of recognition, self‑preservation, and the culture industry further illustrates how individuals are …
“Women And Lockean Theory: John Locke, Rachel Speght, And Egalitarian Personhood, Katherine Gillespie, Bas Van Der Vossen
“Women And Lockean Theory: John Locke, Rachel Speght, And Egalitarian Personhood, Katherine Gillespie, Bas Van Der Vossen
Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research
Liberal political thought affirms the moral equality of all persons. The Lockean tradition within liberalism captures this equality by endowing people with equal natural rights. However, a powerful line of criticism holds that the theory fails to live up to its egalitarian billing by treating men and women differently. This article offers a rational reconstruction of the Lockean position on gender equality, and the rights of women in particular. We propose a novel interpretative method which puts Locke into conversation with a contemporary female author, Rachel Speght. In Speght, we find an interesting argument supporting an egalitarian Lockean view, grounded …
Hegelianism As Anti-Authoritarianism, Tyler Van Wulven
Hegelianism As Anti-Authoritarianism, Tyler Van Wulven
Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy
My dissertation intervenes in two ongoing conversations about the nature of freedom. The first seeks to understand and combat the allure of authoritarianism. The second, rooted in 19th and 20th century philosophy, sheds light on this phenomenon by suggesting that the acknowledgment and endorsement of the social and historical origins of our normative commitments would awaken us to our radical freedom. My dissertation contributes to this conversation by suggesting that authoritarianism is rooted in a failure to comprehend ourselves, and that a proper investigation into human selfhood is needed to understand and actualize our powers of self-determination. Drawing …
The Nature And Role Of Phenomenology In Hegel And Heidegger, Gabriel W. Connor
The Nature And Role Of Phenomenology In Hegel And Heidegger, Gabriel W. Connor
LSU Master's Theses
In this work I compare Hegel and Heidegger’s conception of phenomenology and its role in their thinking. Though these two thinkers are not often examined from this angle, and though there is controversy surrounding just how phenomenological each thinker might actually be, an examination of the two thinkers in this regard serves to identify interesting connections between Hegel and Heidegger while also raising questions about phenomenology in general. In short, I seek to establish that phenomenology in both Hegel and Heidegger is not adequately understood unless it is placed in the context of each thinker’s conception of human freedom along …
Apophatic Community: Yannaras On Relational Being, Fred Dallmayr
Apophatic Community: Yannaras On Relational Being, Fred Dallmayr
Comparative Philosophy
For Martin Heidegger the story of Western philosophy ended basically in egocentrism or the metaphysics of “subjectivity”; however, he acknowledged the possibility of another path in Greece: that of pre-Socratic thinking. Yet, there is a further path he did not acknowledge: the tradition of Orthodox philosophy and theology. The paper focuses on some key works of the prominent contemporary Greek philosopher Christos Yannaras, for a long time professor in Athens. Taking over the notions of “Being” and ontology, Yannaras construes them (with Heidegger) not as ontic “substances” amenable to epistemic knowledge, but as guideposts to “relational” or participatory experience. His …
The Idea Of Absolute Ethical Life: Hegel’S Account Of Freedom And Natural Law In His Early Philosophical Works, Tim Fitzjohn
The Idea Of Absolute Ethical Life: Hegel’S Account Of Freedom And Natural Law In His Early Philosophical Works, Tim Fitzjohn
Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy
This dissertation project focuses on G.W.F. Hegel’s early philosophical writings, though primarily on the Natural Law essay (1802/3), and how, through those writings, Hegel positions himself in relation to other thinkers, such as Fichte. Broadly, the modern period saw with it the rise of accounts of what is called natural law. Philosophers prior to Hegel argued that the proper account of natural law must be rooted in some kind of universal framework: either the basis of law must be the shared empirical facts of human nature (empiricism), or the basis of law must be found in the universal demands on …
Schelling's Ages Of The World: The Beginning Of The Beginning, Andrew Jussaume
Schelling's Ages Of The World: The Beginning Of The Beginning, Andrew Jussaume
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation traces the development of Schelling's philosophy of time as it appears in the Ages of the World, a work which Schelling himself never completed but which he clearly intended as his magnum opus. My project focuses on Schelling's claim that time is the absolute, a claim which grew out of his Naturphilosophie and which later served as the basis for his fruitful interactions with Kierkegaard in Berlin. In the dissertation, I defend the thesis that Schelling's concept of "beginnings" paves the way for an "organic" understanding of time which articulates the latter as a living, breathing entity. In …
Libertas Philosophandi And Freedom Of Mind In Spinoza’S Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, J. Thomas Cook
Libertas Philosophandi And Freedom Of Mind In Spinoza’S Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, J. Thomas Cook
Faculty Publications
Isaiah Berlin famously distinguished between “negative” and “positive” liberty, arguing that in practice the two are often in tension with each other. This paper uses Berlin’s distinction to analyze Spinoza’s discussion of freedom in the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus. Libertas philosophandi is Spinoza’s shorthand for freedom of thought and expression – an important element in traditional liberal (“negative”) freedom. The TTP (as its subtitle announces) is devoted in great part to defending the value and importance of permitting such freedom in the state. But as commentators have often noted, Spinoza is reluctant to extend this liberty to the clerics of his …
Seneca And The Stoic View Of Suicide, Walter Englert
Seneca And The Stoic View Of Suicide, Walter Englert
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
will present a summary of the Stoic doctrine on suicide before Seneca, followed by an analysis of Seneca’s own views. Our sources on Stoic views of suicide before Seneca are meager. But they allow us to construct a coherent Stoic theory of suicide, and in Seneca we see the theory fleshed out. Rist is right to point out that we find a connection between suicide and libertas for the first time in Seneca, but wrong to suppose that it is inconsistent with earlier Stoic teaching, pathological, or based on a hatred of life.8 Seneca’s views are consistent with earlier, orthodox …