Department: College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy ![[clear]](close-x.png "Remove this limiter")
25 matches in the database.
These are records: 1 - 25.
1.
Blum, Elaine M.
Aesthetic Experience and the (Queer) Self.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2012, Kent State University
► The primary study of this thesis is to account for the dynamic…
(more)
▼ The primary study of this thesis is to account for the dynamic construction and understanding of self; this entails considering the queer. That is, my project is to consider how we best understand the self or subjectivity in such a way that accounts for its particularity, peculiarity, and diversity. Within this project, I consider how we account for queer subjects – in the sense that all selves are somehow deviant, non-normative, or peculiar – that nonetheless appeal to some general framework of shared, identifiable meaning. To do this, I adopt Judith Butler’s notion of the performative self and synthesize this framework with pragmatic conceptions of the interdependence between self and society, specifically as present in the writings of John Dewey and George Herbert Mead. These two frameworks of selfhood represent two basic tenets: the self as (i) cohesive and nascent, underway and developing, and (ii) reciprocally reliant on its surrounding society. These frameworks then allow me a further step, to appropriate Dewey’s aesthetics and recognize the pervasive influence of the aesthetic in experiencing and interpreting our world and ourselves. Using these frameworks – Butler’s performative self and Dewey’s aesthetics – I propose a new conceptualization of the self. In order to fully account for the diversity, complexity, and peculiarity of the self – in order to account for the queer – we best understand the self in and through aesthetic experience, through understanding the self as a work of art.
Advisors/Committee Members: Ryan, Frank X.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Aesthetics; Pragmatism; Queer Theory; Gender; Judith Butler; John Dewey
More Like This
2.
Boczek, Macon W.
The Methodology of Phenomenological Realism in The Acting Person by Karol Wojtyla.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2012, Kent State University
► BOCZEK, MACON WEINNIG, M.A. DECEMBER 2012 PHILOSOPHY THE METHODOLOGY OF PHENOMENOLOGICAL REALISM…
(more)
▼ BOCZEK, MACON WEINNIG, M.A. DECEMBER 2012 PHILOSOPHY THE METHODOLOGY OF PHENOMENOLOGICAL REALISM IN THE ACTING PERSON BY KAROL WOJTYLA Director of Thesis: Jeffrey Wattles Karol Wojtyla ‘s methodological approach to the inquiry into the person is a synthesis. It integrates a traditional philosophy of being with the realism afforded by metaphysical analysis with a philosophy of consciousness. He employs the latter, a Husserlian philosophical orientation that enlarges the realm of experience beyond sense experience to include the intentional experiences of thought, to provide meaning to the theoretical explanations of the person in Thomist metaphysics. Wojtyla performs an Husserlian turn to consciousness without however ascribing intentionality to consciousness. His primary indebtedness is to Max Scheler’s depiction of the person as the concrete unity of the being of essentially different acts. Wojtyla employs a two-fold process: first of induction, which is an Aristotelian stablization of the subject. Secondly he uses reduction, which is an interpolation into the experiences of the acts of persons of all that can be articulated about the meaning of personhood revealed in these acts. By this approach Wojtyla elucidates a comprehensive understanding of the person. The readers of this book may bring their own experiential recognition to his study of the person, and a continued reflection on his conclusions that the person is the mode of existence of human nature.
Advisors/Committee Members: Wattles, Jeffrey.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Wojtyla, Karol; Scheler, Max; person; phenomenology; consciousness; acting person; phenomenological realism, philosophies of being and consciousness.
More Like This
3.
Bove, Frank John.
SOCIAL SELF AND RELIGIOUS SELF: AN INQUIRY INTO COMPASSION AND THE SELF-OTHER DIALECTIC.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2007, Kent State University
► Steve Odin examines the parallel development of the concept of the social…
(more)
▼ Steve Odin examines the parallel development of the concept of the social self as a self-other dialectic in both contemporary American and Japanese philosophy. George Mead represents the turn to the social self in American philosophy through his dialectic of I and Me. Nishida Kitaro’s I and Thou dialectic represents the turn in contemporary Japanese philosophy. Odin’s final analysis eliminates Nishida’s religious perspective from the comparison with Mead, truncates the discussion of the social self, and mistakenly views Nishida as a social determinist. Odin’s religious reductionism misses important aspects about the self and society, while Nishida’s religious philosophy illuminates certain truths about the self, namely love and compassion that demand individuality and freedom of choice, thereby preventing Nishida’s social self from falling into the traps of social determinism, as Odin claims.
Advisors/Committee Members: Wattles, Jeffrey.
Keywords: social self; self-other dialectic; pure experience; I-Me; I-Thou; sunyata; kenosis; basho; absolute nothingness; George H. Mead; Nishida Kitaro; Steve Odin
More Like This
4.
Chernikov, Dmitry A.
The Question of Subjective Immortality: A Comparison and Contrast of Process Theism with Classical Theism.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2009, Kent State University
► The question is over whether Process Theism as presented in the works…
(more)
▼ The question is over whether Process Theism as presented in the works of Whitehead and Hartshorne provide intellectually better ways of thinking of God than are found in Classical Theism. This broad question will guide our inquiry into the contested issues of being and becoming, and subjective and objective immortality.
Advisors/Committee Members: Odell-Scott, David.
Subjects: Philosophy; Theology
Keywords: whitehead; hartshorne; thomas aquinas; mises; process theism; immortality
More Like This
5.
Contway, April Lee.
From Science to Human Sacrifice: Frazer, Levi-Strauss and Wittgenstein on Understanding Foreign Ritual Practice.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2010, Kent State University
► This paper explores the issue of cross-cultural understanding from philosophical and anthropological…
(more)
▼ This paper explores the issue of cross-cultural understanding from philosophical and anthropological perspectives. In particular, it concerns the issue of the comprehensibility of ritual practices to the foreign observer by means of looking at the critical scholarship of Frazer, Levi-Strauss and Wittgenstein. The author explicates the historical method employed by Frazer, the structuralist method of Levi-Strauss and the descriptive method used by Wittgenstein in treating the related issues of understanding and meaning as they pertain to foreign ritual practice. After an assessment of how these methodologies can be applied to particular cases of cross-cultural understanding, the author concludes that Wittgenstein's descriptive method is better suited to addressing the concerns central to this issue than are the other two thinkers, since Wittgenstein is both aware of his presuppositions, and also argues that such presuppositions ought to be made an explicit component of any theoretical attempts at resolving cross-cultural understanding.
Advisors/Committee Members: Pendleton, Eugene.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Cross-cultural understanding; Wittgenstein's Remarks on Frazer; ritual practice
More Like This
6.
Cooper, Angel Marie.
Prolegomena to a Sartrean Existential Virtue Ethics.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2012, Kent State University
► In my thesis, I attempt to defend the possibility of an existential…
(more)
▼ In my thesis, I attempt to defend the possibility of an existential virtue ethics. I maintain that existentialism and virtue ethics are not antagonistic theories. Instead, they have some important similarities and can be interconnected in a way to create a viable ethics. In his article, "Towards an Existentialist Virtue Ethics: Kierkegaard and MacIntyre" John. J. Davenport argues that Kierkegaard's notions of freedom, dispositional character, and earnestness can ground a virtue ethics. He maintains that Kierkegaard’s existential notions can rectify problems with Alasdair MacIntyre's theory of virtue ethics. Davenport argues that integrating Kierkegaard’s existential philosophy with MacIntyre’s virtue ethics yields a comprehensible and complete existential ethics. In my thesis, I apply Davenport's claims in this article, and argue that David Detmer’s interpreation of Jean-Paul Sartre's existential notions in Being and Nothingness can also ground an existential virtue ethics. Detmer claims that freedom is the highest value according to Sartre. I use this interpretation to present a Sartrean telos of freedom and the virtues that will follow from this telos. I argue that four examples of virtues that will follow from freedom as the human telos are, (1) benevolence, (2) creativity, (3) integrity, and (4) honesty. Since it is possible to derive a telos from Detmer’s interpretation of Sartre as well as examples of virtues that will follow from that telos, I hold that a Sartrean virtue ethics is possible.
Advisors/Committee Members: Byron, Michael.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Virtue ethics, Sartre, MacIntyre, Davenport, Detmer, Existentialism
More Like This
7.
Dargaj, Matthew Richard.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Jean-Luc Nancy: A Shared Concern about Retrospection at the Art Museum.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2011, Kent State University
► In the essay, "Indirect Language and the Voices of Silence," Maurice Merleau-Ponty…
(more)
▼ In the essay, "Indirect Language and the Voices of Silence," Maurice Merleau-Ponty explains a problem and a desired solution with regard to visitors, particularly non-artists, viewing art works at the museum. While Merleau-Ponty admits that artists may visit the museum in the sober joy of work, he is concerned that non-artists view art with a "somewhat spurious reverence," as though every work were destined to end up there. He wants non-artists to view art in the sober joy of work as well. Although Merleau-Ponty explains a problem and a desired solution, he does not offer a way for non-artists to view art in the sober joy of work. I believe Jean-Luc Nancy's notion of art as a vestige or passage helps to alleviate the problem by suggesting that we experience works of art in the way artists do.
Advisors/Committee Members: Zavota, Gina.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Maurice Merleau-Ponty; Jean-Luc Nancy; art museum; retrospection; aesthetics; vestige of art; indirect language and the voices of silence
More Like This
8.
Elsey, Timothy Alan.
Deliberation and the Role of the Practical Syllogism.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2011, Kent State University
► My thesis began as a desire to understand how Aristotle defines the…
(more)
▼ My thesis began as a desire to understand how Aristotle defines the process of deliberation. Therefore, I performed an exegesis of the appropriate Aristotelian texts before turning my attention to contemporary interpretations of said texts: John M. Cooper, Fred D. Miller, and Paula Gottlieb. By providing an analysis of all relevant material, I hoped to understand the debate that exists between Cooper and Miller with regard to the role of deliberation in the practical syllogism and offer my own position on the matter. Cooper finds deliberation integral in the construction of the practical syllogism, but it does not extend beyond the major premise. Miller finds that deliberation occurs until the point of taking action, and Gottlieb describes a necessary, self-reflective process that occurs in the minor premise. Thus both theorists extend deliberation further than Cooper. My thesis finds deliberation to be a process that continues until the point of action
Advisors/Committee Members: Zavota, Gina.
Subjects: Ethics; Philosophy
Keywords: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, ethics, deliberation, practical syllogism
More Like This
9.
Guzman, Dahlia.
The “Permanent Hegelian Deposit” in John Dewey’s Theory.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2010, Kent State University
► In John Dewey’s essay “From Absolutism to Experimentalism,” he claims the…
(more)
▼ In John Dewey’s essay “From Absolutism to Experimentalism,” he claims the source of his “Hegelianism” was fueled by his need for unification between all manner of human institutions and endeavors. Dewey was also greatly influenced by the notion that “science...should be a regulative method of an organized social life.” These influences are seen in Dewey’s philosophical theory. And even as Dewey admits to “drifting away from Hegelianism,” yet “that acquaintance with Hegel …left a permanent deposit in my thinking.” This “permanent deposit” he refers to is more tangibly expressed as a Hegelian approach to the relation of subject and object that is consistently affirmed in both theory and practice. I hope to show in this thesis is that Hegel’s influence can be seen in their similar answer to the objectivity problem: that a foundational and dynamic unity of subject and world provides the conditions under which knowledge occurs. Specifically, I argue that there are several elements of their respective circuits that are analogous to one another in terms of their function within each system. I draw out the theoretical similarities, the structural similarities of Hegelian sublation and Dewey’s instrumentalism, as well as the repetitive, interactive activity of a subject with the world in which knowledge unfolds. Hegel emphasizes the development of a self that is the basis for any possibility for knowledge. Dewey’s method emphasizes experience as the basis for knowledge. Emphasis on method stresses an approach to knowledge by which objects, and how they come to be known, are constantly modified and interpreted by and within experience. The method is informed by the subject matter and experience, but does not imply a fully developed system or a specific template by which to guide inquiry. Expanded in Dewey’s theory, experience is redefined that moves it out of the subjective. Experience is how the quest for knowledge begins as well as how we test and affirm claims. In the effort to illuminate the similarities, connections are drawn between Dewey’s and Hegel’s approaches and theories that I believe are found in their attempt to tackle the problem of objectivity that Kant sought to resolve. By acknowledging the part Kant’s project plays both in Hegel’s and Dewey’s thought supports the comparison between Hegel and Dewey.
Advisors/Committee Members: Ryan, Frank X.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Epistemology; Dewey; Hegel; dialectic; circuit of inquiry
More Like This
10.
Hudia, Jeremy.
BEYOND TRUTH AND FALSITY: AN ANALYSIS OF PART ONE OF NIETZSCHE’S BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2009, Kent State University
► This thesis is a close textual analysis of Freidrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good…
(more)
▼ This thesis is a close textual analysis of Freidrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil. The thesis critiques the analyses of Beyond Good and Evil provided by Douglas Burnham and Laurence Lampert. The critique of their work serves to refine and distinguish the particular nuances of this thesis.The thesis closely analyzes each section of Part One of Beyond Good and Evil. The analysis of each section helps clarify each of those sections, but at the same time it shows how themes are developed throughout Part One.
Advisors/Committee Members: Williams, Linda.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Nietzsche; Kant; Lampert; Burnham; TRUTH
More Like This
11.
Johnson, Ryan J.
The Throw: An Introduction to Diagrammatics.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2008, Kent State University
► Diagrammatics is a rigorous four-part process for instigating dramatic social change through…
(more)
▼ Diagrammatics is a rigorous four-part process for instigating dramatic social change through minor shifts in the structuration of social formations of knowledge, power, and intensity. By intensively reading only four pages in the fifth plateau of A Thousand Plateaus, and tying together a new constellation of concepts from throughout the writings and lectures of Foucault, Deleuze, and Guattari, I develop a loose methodology for reading the social strata and finding a way to shift things around, so that old social formations can be thrown to the sky, the aleatory peak of a Nietzschean dice throw, and then return to the table of the earth so that new patterns of behavior can be produced and actualized.
Advisors/Committee Members: Zavota, Gina.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: diagrammatics; cartography; tracing; program; Deleuze; Foucault
More Like This
12.
Leib, Robert Samuel.
Being in Place: On Unity and Body in Aristotle.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2009, Kent State University
► This thesis focuses on the notions of place, body, and unity in…
(more)
▼ This thesis focuses on the notions of place, body, and unity in Aristotle’s thought. It consists of four chapters. Chapter one contains an overview of Aristotle’s Physics, its subject matter, and its method. It introduces and discusses several key terms from Aristotle’s thought, including nature, change, actuality, and potentiality before moving into a brief sketch of Physics IV.1-5, which is the extent of Aristotle’s explicit discussion of place. After giving the definition of place as it appears in Physics IV.4, I introduce what I call the ‘boat puzzle,’ which provides the guiding example of the inquiry. Chapter one closes with questions about place and change of place that result from the boat puzzle, which are answered at the close of chapter four. Chapters two and three can be thought of as a unit in virtue the fact that both are framed in terms of a response to Benjamin’s Morison’s interpretation of Aristotelian place from his recent book, On Location, but each criticizes a particular aspect of Morison’s account. Chapter two focuses on Morison’s motivation to show Aristotle’s concept of place as a theory of location, a position I criticize for its Newtonian undertones. Chapter three criticizes the concept Morison has developed for attempting to locate bodies in an Aristotelian universe: the ‘maximal surrounder.’ First, I show that the maximal surrounder, which Morison describes as a body, cannot be understood as unified in the sense that would be required for it to be a body. Second, I argue that, even if we were to grant that such a maximally surrounding body exists, it would, in fact, render unintelligible the concepts of body and place as Aristotle most often uses them (i.e. to refer to mesoscopic things). Chapter four serves as my positive account of place and its ontological significance for that of which it is the place. This includes, first, a discussion of the way in which place is most intimately connected with the elements. The elements, in turn, as the fundamental basis of all physical things, hold bodies accountable to this relationship with place, even in mixture with one another. Second, I attempt to draw out the connection between the matter of a body and its form, thereby allowing us to see place, in the final analysis, as not just a limit between two physicalities, but as the limit at which complementary forms achieve their highest states of actuality.
Advisors/Committee Members: Zavota, Gina.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Aristotle; ancient physics; place; unity; Benjamin Morison
More Like This
13.
Magrath, Andrew Whiteley.
Carnap Visits Canberra: Updating the Logical Positivist Criteria of Cognitive Significance.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2012, Kent State University
► In "The Elimination of Metaphysics Through Logical Analysis of Language" Rudolf Carnap…
(more)
▼ In "The Elimination of Metaphysics Through Logical Analysis of Language" Rudolf Carnap asserts that for a term, 'a', to be meaningful it must meet four criteria of cognitive significance: (C1) The empirical criteria for 'a' are known. (C2) It has been stipulated from what protocol sentences 'S(a)' is deducible. (C3) The truth-conditions for 'S(a)' are fixed. (C4) The method of verification of 'S(a)' is known. I will demonstrate that C2 and C4 are problematic to Carnap's project. Yet, Carnap's criteria of cognitive significance are not without theoretical and practical merit; I assert that C1 and C3 remain on firm philosophical ground. In order to update the criteria and solve the problems that C2 and C4 create, I propose introducing aspects of the Canberra Plan into Carnap's original criteria of cognitive significance. I propose that step-one of the Canberra Plan (gathering of platitudes and conceptual analysis) can replace Carnap's original C2, and step-two of the Canberra Plan (location) can replace Carnap's original C4. As a corollary, I demonstrate that this Canberra Plan inspired criteria of cognitive significance is able to solve Braddon-Mitchell's theoretical-real disposition critique of the Canberra Plan. I assert that the combination of Carnap's original project and the Canberra Plan creates a new theory of cognitive significance that preserves many of the strengths of Carnap's original project, but also avoids the pitfalls.
Advisors/Committee Members: Smith, Deborah.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Canberra Plan; Logical Positivism; Logical Empiricism; Cognitive Significance; Theory of Meaning; Rudolf Carnap; David Lewis; Frank Jackson; David Braddon-Mitchell; Frank Ramsey; Ramsification
More Like This
14.
Marunich, James R.
Process Metaphysics in the Far West: American Indian Ontologies.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2011, Kent State University
► This work argues that, perhaps, the best way to understand and approach…
(more)
▼ This work argues that, perhaps, the best way to understand and approach American Indian metaphysics, specifically ontology, is through the orientation of process ontology. The first chapter articulates process ontology by contrasting it with what it most readily opposes: substance ontology. The next chapter explores process-ontological commitments and implications in American Indian languages, "ecology", story, logic, and epistemology. In sum, we see much of American Indian metaphysics and philosophy committed to tenets of process thought.
Advisors/Committee Members: Norton-Smith, Thomas M.
Subjects: American Studies; Environmental Philosophy; Native Americans; Native American Studies; Native Studies; Philosophy; Religion; Sociology
Keywords: American Indian process ontology; Native American process ontology; American Indian metaphysics; Native american metaphysics; process metaphysics; process ontology; substance ontology in the west; shawnee ontology; ojibwa ontology; lakota ontology
More Like This
15.
Moore, Gaylen Leslie.
From Chaos to Qualia: An Analysis of Phenomenal Character in Light of Process Philosophy and Self-Organizing Systems.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2010, Kent State University
► Recent advances in our understanding of complex dynamical systems may be of…
(more)
▼ Recent advances in our understanding of complex dynamical systems may be of interest to philosophers seeking the best metaphysical grounds for understanding the qualitative character of subjective experience (qualia). In this thesis I will propose that qualia are not specifically brain processes, but are instead best thought of as world processes that can be characterized as distributed self-organizing networks of Whiteheadian actual entities. On this Whiteheadian model, different aspects of a quale that a subject experiences as a specific shade of blue, might be contributed by entities that are, contemporaneously, also contributing other aspects of other qualia to other subjects widely distributed throughout time and space. Cellular automata and network models will be used to help clarify this proposal.
Advisors/Committee Members: Odell-Scott, David.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: qualia; Whitehead; self-organizing system; chaos; chaotic systems; dynamical systems; subjective experience; actual entity; actual occasion; eternal objects; god; phenomenal stance; process philosophy; hard problem; consciousness; cellular automata
More Like This
16.
Peshek, Brian.
Zen Masters at Play and on Play: A Take on Koans and Koan Practice.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2009, Kent State University
► The most celebrated dialogues of Zen teachers are collected in koans. When…
(more)
▼ The most celebrated dialogues of Zen teachers are collected in koans. When encountering these teachings, one may be compelled to ask, “Why do these masters play these games?” If these gentlemen are bearers of truth, then why do they behave so, when dealing with those who come to them in earnest to be taught and thereby saved? To answer this question is the ultimate goal of this paper. The question is based on the supposition that they are in fact playing. But, what is play? Rather than construct a concept of play, I limit myself to looking into the construction that we already have, such that the analysis does not contradict our shared experience of the word and of the phenomena to which we apply it. “Play” is a term that has a very diverse range of phenomena to which it is applied. In the attempt to extend its application to the subject matter, no claim regarding its essence (if it has one), nor the necessary and sufficient conditions for the application, is made. Nevertheless, implications from various established senses of “play” are unpacked in an attempt to find commonalities and semantic centers of gravity. Next, I clarify the meaning of “koan” and ways in which koans are used, focusing on those of the Blue Cliff Record. Then I answer the question, “Is koan practice a species of play?” I attempt to construe these events in terms of the characteristics of play, rendering the application of the term to the Zen practice, and the guiding question, reasonable. After introducing some of the relevant Zen Doctrine, I explain why Zen allows for, or perhaps even encourages, such playful behavior. Throughout, rather than being taken up as issues in themselves, Zen beliefs are granted as valid within Zen. The attempt is limited to the demonstration of consistency between beliefs and practices.
Advisors/Committee Members: Wattles, Jeffrey.
Subjects: Philosophy; Religion; Religious history
Keywords: Zen; Chan; Ch'an; Play; Koan; gongan; kung-an; kōan; Blue Cliff Record; Biyanlu; Pi yan lu; Hekiganroku; Wumenguan; Wu-men kuan; Mumonkan; Xuedou Qiongxian; Hsüeh-tou Ch’ung-hsien; Setchō Jūken; Yuanwu Keqin
More Like This
17.
Purdue, Zachary James.
Albert Camus and the Phenomenon of Solidarity.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2011, Kent State University
► In an interview, Albert Camus once said, “I am not a philosopher.…
(more)
▼ In an interview, Albert Camus once said, “I am not a philosopher. I don’t believe enough in reason to believe in a system. What interests me is knowing how one ought to conduct oneself. And more precisely, how to conduct oneself when one believes neither in God nor in reason.” Can we cull a traditional ethic from Camus’ corpus? Despite a seeming admonition in the previous quote, some authors have answered this question positively. Focusing on works from Camus’ self-described “Rebellion Series,” such as The Plague, The Rebel and State of Siege, I answer the question negatively. While nominally on the issue of whether Camus left behind something resembling a well-formed ethic of the traditional variety, this thesis is in large part a response to the work done on the topic by David Sherman in his 2009 book entitled Camus. In this book, Sherman claims that Camus has an ethic, which starts at virtue ethics, moves toward “phenomenological ethics,” and ends up back at a virtue ethics “of sorts.” In this thesis, I summarize and evaluate Sherman’s claims in Camus. I disagree with Sherman's position regarding Camus’ ethic and argue that one cannot extract a traditional ethic from Camus' work.
Advisors/Committee Members: Williams, Linda.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Albert Camus; Rebellion; Solidarity; Ethics; Virtue Ethics; Phenomenological Ethics; David Sherman
More Like This
18.
Radcliffe, Nathan W.
Nietzsche’s Naturalism as a Critique of Morality and Freedom.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2012, Kent State University
► This thesis reveals that Nietzsche is primarily a biological determinist, and although…
(more)
▼ This thesis reveals that Nietzsche is primarily a biological determinist, and although Nietzsche uses “freedom” terminology throughout his corpus, Nietzsche’s revisionary conception of “freedom” not only accommodates his determinism, it requires it. The thesis begins by detailing Nietzsche’s unique naturalistic approach — his “Hermeneutics of Suspicion” — which states that all conscious phenomena (i.e. actions, beliefs, morality) are derivatives of underlying physiological forces that we are neither aware of nor able to control. Next, it outlines how Nietzsche’s hermeneutical approach undercuts the three descriptive components that are necessary for traditional notions of morality to exist — namely: free will, a stable/transparent “self,” and an essentially similar human “nature.” In doing so, the thesis demonstrates that traditional notions of “freedom” are illusory and turns its attention to the revisionary type of “freedom” Nietzsche actually affirms. Ironically, Nietzsche’s notion of “freedom” actually rests upon his biological determinism because, according to Nietzsche, freedom is an ascent to fate — amor fati! Freedom is possible only for the rare higher types who are capable of overcoming the constraints and guilt imposed on them by traditional morality to fully express their unique biological and psychological dispositions. As such, Nietzsche’s life task is to alert the nascent higher types to the real genealogy of values in order to free them from the impositions of morality, thereby clearing a path for their ascent to greatness.
Advisors/Committee Members: Pendleton, Gene.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Nietzsche, hermeneutics of suspicion, freedom, fate, fatalism, amor fati, morality, determinism, free will, consciousness, persuasive definition, naturalism, genealogy, morals
More Like This
19.
Read, Jessica Gentry.
An Exploration of the Three Major Schools of Taxonomy Using Science Fiction Examples.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2009, Kent State University
► Biological taxonomy is a key part of communication among the different fields…
(more)
▼ Biological taxonomy is a key part of communication among the different fields of biological study. While biologists and philosophers agree on the importance of taxonomy, there is persistent disagreement on what the roles of taxonomy are and how these roles should be fulfilled. The debate is among proponents of three major schools: 1) evolutionary taxonomy, which classifies on evidence of common descent and degree of change, 2) cladism, which focuses on evidence of common descent alone and 3) pheneticism, which classifies by evaluating overall similarity and dissimilarity. This thesis examines each school of taxonomy and advantages and disadvantages for each. The first chapter explains key terms and concepts required for a discussion of taxonomy. The next three chapters explore the basic tenets of each respective school. In the last chapter marginal members of Homo sapiens are borrowed from science fiction to test the boundaries of each school. By providing novel and challenging examples, these potential humans from science fiction illustrate what a school requires to make a classification and how it copes with unusual specimen. These examples will show how a school can respond to various problems and how these responses help or hinder the role of taxonomy in biology.
Advisors/Committee Members: Barnbaum, Deborah.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: taxonomy; science fiction; classification
More Like This
20.
Riley, Mary K.
THE EMERGENT SELF: RESONATING THEMES IN CONFUCIAN AND MEADEAN CONCEPTS OF SELF.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2011, Kent State University
► In this work I illuminate resonating themes in the Confucian and Meadean…
(more)
▼ In this work I illuminate resonating themes in the Confucian and Meadean senses of self on the basis of their rejection of two fundamental assumptions found in some western models of self; namely, 1) that entities are independent and autonomous, and 2) that such entities are organized according to an overarching transcendent principles. Instead of thinking of subject and object as distinct and autonomous realms, George Herbert Mead demonstrates how the two interact and come together in the self: The self takes into account the objective by internalizing community attitudes and remains subjective insofar as it acts spontaneously. This interplay of community and individual maps well onto the Confucian sense of self, where community attitudes are embodied in traditionally prescribed ritual actions and novel or spontaneous action is required to address unique situations. For Mead, the self takes on the community attitude via the Me - similarly, the Confucian self takes on community attitudes in the form of li. The traditionally prescribed ritual actions, like Mead’s Me, set the stage for the spontaneous expression of yi, which corresponds to Mead’s I. Both the I and yi introduce novel attitudes of responding to situations into the community and thus alter the community, in the form of the Me or li, respectively. The Meadean and Confucian notions of self are similar in their use of the idea of extension and bidirectional authorship of individual and community. These similarities manifest a tendency in each author toward the use of intrinsic relations and self- organizing particulars – ideas which entail the rejection of the two underlying assumption of some western models of self.
Advisors/Committee Members: Kim, Jung-Yeup.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Pragmatism; Confucianism; David Hall; Roger Ames
More Like This
21.
Sandwisch, Matthew.
Overcoming the Demonic: Faith, Sin, and Redemption in Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2011, Kent State University
► This thesis explores the importance of sin to Kierkegaard’s conception of faith…
(more)
▼ This thesis explores the importance of sin to Kierkegaard’s conception of faith in Fear and Trembling. A common difficulty raised against Kierkegaard's work is that it seems to justify the religious zealot's heinous deeds. However, if sin is given its proper role in the book, the objection loses force. Kierkegaard does not seek to define faith, or give criteria for identifying it in other people. Instead he wishes to lead the reader to self-examination. Such self-examination leads to the consciousness of sin and the need for redemption.
Advisors/Committee Members: Pendleton, Gene.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Kierkegaard; Fear and Trembling; Demonic; Faith; Sin
More Like This
22.
Smith, Clancy Nathaniel.
The Organic Circuit: Investigations into John Dewey's Cycles of Naturalism and Instrumentalism.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2008, Kent State University
► My thesis attempts to articulate the methodologies of naturalism and instrumentalism in…
(more)
▼ My thesis attempts to articulate the methodologies of naturalism and instrumentalism in the work of John Dewey, placing them in the greater context of his mature philosophy, specifically, his rejection of all dualistic, representational epistemological theories. I conclude with two chapters on normative applications of these methodologies including a study of the relationship between non-reflective and conscious experience as well as an inquiry into pragmatic applications of Dewey's cyclical methodologies in the study of scripture.
Advisors/Committee Members: Ryan, Frank.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Dewey; Peirce; James; Shook; non-reflective; experience; naturalism; instrumentalism
More Like This
23.
Snyder, Jacob T.
Reading Plato with Heidegger: A Study of the Allegory of the Cave.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2012, Kent State University
► Martin Heidegger's interpretation of Plato, in particular his analysis of the Allegory…
(more)
▼ Martin Heidegger's interpretation of Plato, in particular his analysis of the Allegory of the Cave, has enlivened interest in and debate about the thought of one of the West's most looming figures. After eight decades of criticism, what does Heidegger's interpretation offer us yet today? I hold that even with his misappropriations and misunderstandings, and at times because of them, Heidegger's work on Plato has in many ways renewed the thought of this looming figure. I will explore the occasions where Heidegger's work on the Allegory of the Cave illuminates aspects of Plato's thought in important ways, such as in his discussion of aletheia, and where his misguided efforts can lead us to more honest readings of Plato's texts, such as in his disappointing portrayal of the dialogue format.
Advisors/Committee Members: Odell-Scott, David.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Heidegger; Plato; Hermeneutics; Theory of the Forms; Aletheia
More Like This
24.
Spalletta, Paul Henry.
Developing Conscience and Empathy from Being and Nothingness.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2012, Kent State University
► The goal of this work is to propose a potential groundwork for…
(more)
▼ The goal of this work is to propose a potential groundwork for a Sartrean, existential ethics by exploring the possibility of a latent theory of conscience and empathy in Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness. I first note what appears to be a considerable hole in Sartre’s description of human beings’ interaction with others and how such interactions relate to moral values. It seems as though Sartre’s description leaves us with no means of making moral judgments about ourselves that are not directly from the other people that we encounter, and leaves us with no means of making moral judgments about our actions as we are doing them or interrupting those actions without direct intervention from another person. I attempt to fix this hole with a theory of conscience and empathy—and to simultaneously show that these theories do not fundamentally clash with the rest of the ontology. The secondary goal of this work to show that this may point us in the direction of an ethics that, perhaps, might avoid the pitfalls of having to argue that freedom is the highest value and must be willed universally.
Advisors/Committee Members: Williams, Linda.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Sartre, Existentialism, Ethics, Conscience, Empathy
More Like This
25.
Swekoski, Don G.
Rhetorical Revolutions: Heidegger and Aristotle.
Degree: MA, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy, 2012, Kent State University
► In an overarching sense, this work explores Martin Heidegger’s conception of Aristotle's…
(more)
▼ In an overarching sense, this work explores Martin Heidegger’s conception of Aristotle's Rhetoric. Specifically, I analyze Heidegger’s characterization of Aristotle’s Rhetoric as a hermeneutic of everydayness. Further, because rhetoric lays bare the conceptual structures underlying inauthentic modes of disclosure, I argue it may then act as an antidote to monolithic metaphysics.
Advisors/Committee Members: Pendleton, Gene.
Subjects: Philosophy; Philosophy of Science; Rhetoric
Keywords: Heidegger; Aristotle; Rhetorical Hermeneutics
More Like This
