Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Roaring Lion Of Berlin: The Life, Thought, And Influence Of Eugen Dühring, Arden Roy

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The life and influence of 19th-century German polymath Eugen Dühring remain but a mere footnote in the history of ideas, being primarily relegated to the status of little more than a theoretical rival to Marxism in the German socialist movement and the occasional object of Freidrich Nietzsche's rhetorical flogging. Despite the current consensus on the subject, Eugen Dühring was a scholar of vast, remarkable learnedness, contributing greatly to philosophy, economics, and the natural sciences. The aim of this talk will be to clear the fog surrounding the life and work of the controversial blind scholar and give an account of …

Murder On The Vr Express: Studying The Impact Of Thought Experiments At A Distance In Virtual Reality, Andrew Kissel, Krzysztof J. Rechowicz, John B. Shull

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Hypothetical thought experiments allow researchers to gain insights into widespread moral intuitions and provide opportunities for individuals to explore their moral commitments. Previous thought experiment studies in virtual reality (VR) required participants to come to an on-site laboratory, which possibly restricted the study population, introduced an observer effect, and made internal reflection on the participants’ part more difficult. These shortcomings are particularly crucial today, as results from such studies are increasingly impacting the development of artificial intelligence systems, self-driving cars, and other technologies. This paper explores the viability of deploying thought experiments in commercially available in-home VR headsets. We conducted …

Improving Student Outcomes In Introductory Formal Logic, Bryce Rosenwald

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Across a variety of educational settings, undergraduate introductory courses in formal logic tend to have high failure rates. In this paper, I explore practical, evidence-based steps that logic instructors can take to improve student outcomes. The topics covered are small class sizes, problem-based learning, clicker questions, group activities, and spaced practice. The effect of small class size is moderated by many variables, including each instructor’s unique characteristics and the pedagogical techniques used in large vs. small classrooms. Problem-based learning and clicker questions are determined to be excellent techniques for introducing content and furthering understanding of content, respectively. Small groups can …

From City State To Medina: The Timeless Wisdom Of Aristotle’S Polis, Spencer Koehl

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Many philosophers and thinkers have considered the idea of community and what makes it strong, beneficial, and enduring. The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle is no exception. Aristotle wrote thoroughly on the nature of the ideal community, which he observed in Greek city-states. Called a “polis”, this ideal community, according to Aristotle, is one that provides for its residents to live a good life above all else. In doing so, it usually is small enough that all its residents share a similar lived experience while being big enough to be self-sufficient. While Aristotle wrote on this subject over 2000 years ago, …

Stoicism And Just War Theory, Leonidas D. Konstantakos

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ancient philosophy of Stoicism, itself one of the foundations for international law, can improve contemporary just war thinking by forming a coherent set of philosophical principles to serve as a foundation for a just war theory. A Stoic approach considers justifications for moral actions to come not from an appeal to human rights, conformity to deontological rules, or from the utility of the actions themselves, but from virtuous character traits and corresponding virtuous actions. As such, a Stoic approach to just war theory is a virtue ethics perspective in which metaethical incentive for moral action is the agent’s own …

Phi 230: American Philosophy Oer Curation, Chealsye Bowley

Curated OER Collections

This OER curation is an annotated bibliography of prospective OER for the GVSU course PHI 230: American Philosophy. At the instructor's request, the OER Curator focused on finding quality replacements for course readings currently assigned from “American Philosophies: An Anthology.”

Global Social Theory, Dora Suarez

Open Educational Resources

This course is designed as an introduction to the key questions and concepts of the Social Sciences. It aims at exposing students to a conceptual repertoire that prepares the ground for them to develop critical responses to pressing global issues. To this end, its itinerary engages with a variety of texts that comprise global social theory. A main focus of the course is to train students to read these texts carefully with an eye toward using them to analyze the world around us. In pursuing this goal, we ask: what does it mean to understand humans as thoroughly social, cultural, …

The Value In Imperfect Endeavors: Exploring Postcapitalist And Prefigurative Practices At East Wind Intentional Community, Olivia Chandler 23

Student Scholarship

From the emergence of modern capitalism, people have searched for alternatives through building communal societies. The 1960s hippie movement in the United States inspired a surge of communal living, centered around non-violence and living in balance with the environment. The East Wind Intentional Community, an income-sharing egalitarian commune in Missouri, was born of this movement and still exists today, as people continuously look for ways to escape the “rat race” of mainstream society, 9-5 jobs, and economic insecurity arising from a globalized and neoliberal economic system. My research, grounded in interviews and participant observation, focuses on East Wind’s relationship with …

Are Delusions Beliefs?, Dorothy Reviss

Publications and Research

A belief is one’s personal attitude regarding an issue in the universe that contains evidence of truth to it. A delusion can be defined as a peculiar belief that contradicts reality, scientific evidence, and rational thinking, and may be attributed to personality disorders. In order to determine where a delusion is a belief, it is important to recognize the circumstances under which certain beliefs are held. While a delusion sounds similar to a false belief, it is an entirely unique phenomenon. In the case of personality disorders like the Capgras delusion, schizophrenia, and Reverse Othello syndrome individuals genuinely believe in …

Virginia's Criminal Justice System's Current Treatment For People With Mental Illnesses: Some Recommendations Based On What Has Worked (And What Has Not), Anokhi Manchanda '22, Tomas Alvarez-Perez '22

Student Scholarship

In this research we critically review information on Virginia’s criminal justice system’s response to people with mental illness. We first investigate issues that persons with mental illnesses experience as they navigate three stages of Virginia’s criminal justice system. The stages are: first, when people with mental illness are apprehended by the police, second, when they must stand trial, and third, when they are incarcerated. At the apprehension stage, the main issues we identify are that most officers do not have proper crisis intervention training, and that there are not sufficient options for diversion from jail for people with mental illnesses. …

Does The Anthropocene Require Us To Be Saints?, Bennett B. Gilbert

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation is one of several salients for thinking through the place of moral life and thought in human temporality and historicity, including that of future history, such as the Anthropocene, and in particular questions about personhood in a milieu in which non-human species might have moral claims upon us. I hope to launch your further consideration of these matters in your work on the Anthropocene and anti-anthropocentrism.

Bloomsbury Philosophy Library, Rob Tench

Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

The article reviews the Web site Bloomsbury Philosophy Library, located at bloomsburyphilosophylibrary.com, from publisher Bloomsbury.

Country Report: The Teaching Of Philosophy In Singapore Schools, Steven Burik, Matthew Hammerton, Sovan Patra

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Singapore’s education system is widely regarded as one of the best in the world. In this report, we will focus on education at the primary, secondary, and junior college levels, and will not discuss the education offered in polytechnics (vocational colleges) and universities. We will also focus exclusively on Singapore’s public school system, which Singapore citizens are required to attend unless they are granted a special exemption. In addition to public schools, there are also international schools, which cater to the relatively large expatriate population in Singapore and typically offer a curriculum leading to the IB diploma. All public schools …

Beyond Dissociation And Appropriation: Evaluating The Politics Of U.S. Psychology Via Hermeneutic Interpretation Of Culturally Embedded Presentations Of Yoga, Genelle N. Benker

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Psychology in the United States (U.S.) is partially constituted by a cultural history of intellectual imperialism that undermines its altruistic intent and prevents disciplinary reflexivity. The scholarship and clinical application of Yoga exemplifies the way U.S. psychology continues to give lived authority to imperialism as part of the neoliberal agenda. Through a hermeneutic literature analysis of two source Yogic texts and peer-reviewed articles that exemplify the dominant discourse on Yoga in U.S. psychology, this dissertation identified themes that describe culturally embedded presentations of Yoga and their sociopolitical implications. Through interpretation, Yoga was conceptualized as: (a) a 5,000 year-old tradition that …

Perception: Exploring Cognition And Consciousness Through Visual Art, Summer Shepherd

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The concept of consciousness has perplexed humankind for thousands of years. Countless scientists, philosophers, and artists have devoted their lifetimes to solving humanity’s questions about our relationship with the world we live within. The creative arts, such as music, theater, and visual art, can facilitate critical thinking and meaningful interpersonal communication. This paper explores the visual artwork of the author, Sunny Shepherd, through examination of historical and contemporary artistic influences on the work, as well as the psychological and philosophical concepts that fuel it. Months of research, planning, and creating went into the manifestation of the final exhibition, Metamorphosis , …

Post Colonial Studies, Nashieli Marcano, Kyle Brooks

Research Guides & Subject Bibliographies

No abstract provided.

Aristotle On Democracy And Democracies, Kevin M. Cherry

Political Science Faculty Publications

It is a commonplace that Aristotle, like his teacher Plato, was a critic of democracy. This is, to a certain extent, true: Plato and Aristotle both saw democracy, at least as practiced in Athens, as prone to tumultuousness and imprudence. The failed Sicilian expedition, the execution of Socrates, the failure to heed Demosthenes's warnings about Philip of Macedon and Aristotle's own reported flight from Athens all highlighted the weaknesses of Athenian democratic institutions. Yet Aristotle's understanding of political science requires him to consider not only what the simply best regime might be, as Socrates purports to do in the Republic, …

Philosophy Bakes No Bread, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

Philosophy Bakes No Bread

Far from baking bread, far from practical applicability, philosophy traditionally sought to explain the world, ideally so. Thus, when Marx argued that it was high time philosophy “change the world,” his was a revolutionary challenge. Today, philosophy is an analytic affair and analytic philosophers seek less to explain the world than to squirrel out arguments or, more descriptively, to resolve the minutiae of this or that name problem. Faced with diminishing student demand, analytic philosophers have taken to urging that everyone from primary school students to scientists be required to study (analytic) philosophy. Just so, applied …

The Inevitability And Ubiquity Of Cycling In All Feasible Legal Regimes: A Formal Proof, Leo Katz, Alvaro Sandroni

All Faculty Scholarship

Intransitive choices, or cycling, are generally held to be the mark of irrationality. When a set of rules engenders such choices, it is usually held to be irrational and in need of reform. In this article, we prove a series of theorems, demonstrating that all feasible legal regimes are going to be rife with cycling. Our first result, the legal cycling theorem, shows that unless a legal system meets some extremely restrictive conditions, it will lead to cycling. The discussion that follows, along with our second result, the combination theorem, shows exactly why these conditions are almost impossible to meet. …

Whose Motivation? Which Good?, James K.A. Smith

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Review of Christian Smith's To Flourish or Destruct

Modern Politics And The Passions, David Bradshaw

Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise Working Papers

Why is our society today so sharply divided—politically, socially and morally?

Professor Bradshaw argues that the answer can be found in two of the foundational philosophers of the modern era, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Although they are sharply opposed in many ways, they share some common features that set the pattern for modern politics.

18th And 19th Century European Philosophy And The Justification Of Colonial And Economic Exploits, Danielle Platt, Ian Nell

Honors Papers and Posters

The theories and philosophies that have evolved over the course of human history have each influenced and affected the politics and the behaviors of the societies where they are popularized. We wish to study the sorts of relationships that may exist between popular European philosophies of the 18th and 19th centuries, and the political ideologies of the time, and why they still bear relevance in global politics today’s globalized international community.

A Racism Without Race: A Moroccan Case Study Of Race Denial, Leila Chreiteh

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This article aims to articulate the ways in which race and race relations are conceptualized in Morocco. Using the concept of racialized discourse as the preconceptual theoretical field for race and racist expressions, the author analyzes the different converging factors which influence the performance of “Moroccan-ness” and how subjectivity can be influenced by a State-driven communal linguistic episteme. Through its insistent hyper-nationalist campaigns, the Moroccan State has deployed racist expressions as a means of face-keeping and sociopolitical management, which have become naturalized through its reproduction in individual subjectivity and interpellation. However, from the independent research conducted by the author, the …

Books And Our Human Stories, Paul H. Benson

Philosophy Faculty Publications

An essay on the impact of the works in the Imprints and Impressions: Milestones in Human Progress, an exhibition of rare books from the collection of Stuart Rose. Exhibition was held Sept. 29-Nov. 9, 2014, at the University of Dayton.

Rare Books And Social Science, Donald J. Polzella

Psychology Faculty Publications

An essay on the impact of the works in the Imprints and Impressions: Milestones in Human Progress, an exhibition of rare books from the collection of Stuart Rose. Exhibition was held Sept. 29-Nov. 9, 2014, at the University of Dayton.

Digital Disruptions: An Interview With D. E. Wittkower, D. E. Wittkower, The Editors Of Interstitial Journal

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

An Exploration Of The Impact That Postmodernism Has On Competition In Sport, Shara Crow

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact that postmodernism has on competition in sport. Previous studies compartmentalized social thought and competition in sport. This study appreciates that the two are connected, and it is through this connectedness that the impact emerges. By describing, finding, and analyzing relationships through text as well as notating text iteratively, it was found through a postmodernist critical awareness to meta-narratives that sport is expressed in two main themes: (a) identity (b) and hierarchy/authority. Moreover, both of these themes are interrelated to social interaction. These findings indicate that social interpretation impacts the complex …

The State Of Nature X: Why Leave? A Preface On The State Of Nature Theory, Zachary S. Stirparo

Senior Honors Theses

Great minds have addressed the issue of forming a polity, dating back to Plato. Yet, most of these great minds, such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, argue for the need to escape the state of nature into a civil form of government. However, after taking the three essential elements of man that these philosophers all comment on, self-preservation, reason, and will, a new state of nature model is created that is stronger. It is stronger because of its definition of man and the analytic inferences that flow from that definition. Therefore, the state of nature theory does …

A Grammatical Paradigm, Alexia Polacheck

Spring 2013, Kuhn's Philosophy of Science

Avram Noam Chomsky is known for his work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for his political pursuits, and most importantly, for his theories in the discipline of linguistics. Chomsky linguistic pursuits aimed to answer the following linguistic studies: how a person learns and develops a language, how a person structures and understands a sentence, and what the purpose of linguistics is as a whole. His theories dramatically changed the linguistic paradigm. Due to this change, this paper also attempts to illustrate the correlation between scientific philosopher Thomas Kuhn’s belief in ‘paradigm shifts’ and the subsequent change in linguistic thought spurred …

Museums As Sites Of "Being In Conversation": A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study, Randy C. Roberts

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In times of great change, institutions must be able to adapt while not losing their essence, those qualities that are central, enduring, and distinctive. While it is understood and acknowledged that museums must change their approach to be relevant and sustainable in a world in which there have been monumental shifts in the ways that people communicate, access information, and experience connection, the essential qualities of museums are not well-defined or agreed upon. More than a decade into the new century and in spite of much discussion, contemplation, and experimentation, the 21st century museum model remains unsettled. To explore the …