Department: Philosophy ![[clear]](close-x.png "Remove this limiter")
14 matches in the database.
These are records: 1 - 14.
1.
Bower, Matthew Scott.
Ecological Reconstruction: Pragmatism and the More-Than-Human Community.
Degree: MA, Philosophy, 2010, University of Toledo
► Ecological reconstruction challenges the historical chasm between culture and nature by using…
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▼ Ecological reconstruction challenges the historical chasm between culture and nature by using the normative implications of ecology to assert a primacy of relations in experience. Drawing upon the framework of John Dewey and classical American Pragmatism, I sketch out an experimental method for thinking about environmental philosophy that follows this reconstruction, moving beyond both applied ethics and dogmatic values. Central to this move is the possibility of opening up ecotonal spaces, literal and theoretical cites of intensified interaction between cultural and natural systems. These spaces furnish reconstruction with the experiences necessary to generate new concepts that set human communities on the course towards greater ecological attentiveness.
Advisors/Committee Members: Campbell, James.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: environmental philosophy; philosophy; ecology; pragmatism; american philosophy; reconstruction; John Dewey; ecological reconstruction; more-than-human
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2.
Furlane, Kyle Keenan.
Beyond the Paradox: Answering the Real Question About Fictive Emotions.
Degree: MA, Philosophy, 2012, University of Toledo
► Across cultures, people have engagements with fictions which can result in physiological…
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▼ Across cultures, people have engagements with fictions which can result in physiological and psychological responses. These responses are what I call fictive emotions. Fictive emotions, though phenomenologically similar to other types of emotions, are distinct in that they seem to be a reaction to characters and events that do not exist. This observation has lead philosophers to ask three questions about fictive emotions: the conceptual (Are fictive emotions possible?), the normative (Are fictive emotions rational?), and the causal(How is it that fictions can cause fictive emotions?). In the past, philosophers have focused almost exclusively on the conceptual and normative questions, avoiding the more important causal question. In the following I explain why a focus on the conceptual and normative questions is misguided and the superior benefits of working toward an answer to the causal question. Though some current work has focused on this question it has been marked by many of the latent worries of past work on the other questions. Here I will explore the motivations for a more robust explanation of fictive emotions as well as possible avenues for providing this explanation.
Advisors/Committee Members: Blatz, Dr. Charles.
Subjects: Aesthetics; Philosophy
Keywords: paradox of fiction; emotion; emotions; philosophy; aesthetics; cognitive science; Radford, Colin; Walton, Kendall; fictive; virtual
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3.
Gallagher, Christine Marie.
Consciousness and the Demands of Personhood: Intersubjectivity and Second-Person Ethics.
Degree: MA, Philosophy, 2012, University of Toledo
► This thesis argues that “person” is not a natural kind—it is not…
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▼ This thesis argues that “person” is not a natural kind—it is not a kind at all. Instead, personhood is a mode of experiencing each other rooted in the structure of our consciousness; personhood is fundamentally relational. I begin with a survey of the prevailing theories of personhood, giving special attention to the history and development of the concept of genetic personhood. Next, I bring insights from developmental psychology, ethnography, and evolutionary anthropology to elucidate the connection between intersubjectivity and personhood. To further develop and support a concept of relational personhood, I combine these insights with a philosophical approach that includes feminist philosophy, phenomenology, and philosophy of mind. With the help of philosophers including Annette Baier, Beata Stawarska, Christine Korsgaard, and Jean-Paul Sartre, I show how the second-person experience is the experience of intersubjectivity, and how it informs our intuition that beings exist that can be wronged. I conclude by examining the implications of a relational understanding of personhood for bioethics, with special attention to questions involving the moral status of human fetuses and non-human animals.
Advisors/Committee Members: Muntersbjorn, Madeline.
Subjects: Ethics; Medical Ethics; Philosophy; Womens Studies
Keywords: intersubjectivity; relational personhood; moral standing; feminism; second-persons; ethics; pregnancy; abortion; animism; consciousness; fetus; fetal rights; animals; Stawarska; Baier; Korsgaard; Sartre; Trevarthen; Buber
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4.
Gandhi, Anandi.
Rethinking Relationships: A Critique of the Concept of Progress.
Degree: MA, Philosophy, 2010, University of Toledo
► I focus on a critique of the concept of progress that dominates…
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▼ I focus on a critique of the concept of progress that dominates human interaction and relationships with the non-human world. The aspects of progress I deal with are largely based on Kant’s theory of progress, the ideology of globalization, and a hierarchy between man, the environment and women. These aspects of progress are critiqued by ecofeminism, deep ecology, and eco-movements which argue for a rethinking of human relationships with the environment and women especially in agrarian communities in India. The critique delineates alternate modes of interaction with the environment that challenge hierarchies and promote recognition of humans as within the environment rather than outside it. Eco-movements help deconstruct the gap between theory and action. I argue that change is required at several levels, but most importantly change needs to come from the bottom of the social setup and move upwards which is exemplified through the example of the genetically modified Bt Brinjal seed debate and the seed saving movement, Navdanya.
Advisors/Committee Members: Pryor, Ashley.
Subjects: Agriculture; Philosophy; Sociology
Keywords: Progress; Deep Ecology; Ecofeminism; Globalization; Bt Brinjal, Bt Cotton
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5.
Kusina, Jeanne Marie.
Interconnection as an Ethic of Generosity.
Degree: MA, Philosophy, 2004, University of Toledo
► The significance that establishing relationships holds for ethical theory can be evidenced…
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▼ The significance that establishing relationships holds for ethical theory can be evidenced in the network culture that is emerging in contemporary society. John Rawls’ Contractarianism, despite its aim to be an ethic of “justice and fairness”, is not always capable of addressing the broad range of human qualities and virtues as is required in a complex world. Thus, I explore alternatives to Contractarianism, such as the moral particularity of Iris Murdoch, Lawrence Blum, and others as well as the corporeal generosity of Rosalyn Diprose. I then propose my own Mutualist model of generosity that asserts an appreciation for intimacy and symbolic exchange, the acceptance of risk, and above all, a commitment to an authentic responsiveness to others. Through an examination of the aesthetic of networked art, I show that an ethic of interconnectedness can be established through acts of generosity.
Advisors/Committee Members: Purviance, Susan M.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Generosity, ethics, mutualist model, moral particularity, partialism, impartialism, mail art, networked art, Ray Johnson, aesthetics, Rawls, Contractarianism, Blum, Diprose, feminism, interconnection.
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6.
Lake, Danielle Lee.
Institutions and Process.
Degree: MA, Philosophy, 2006, University of Toledo
► The following pages explore the social reality of institutional lag. Since existence…
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▼ The following pages explore the social reality of institutional lag. Since existence is processive, institutions founded on certain principles and circumstances must be subject to careful examination and subsequent adjustment when they no longer produce valued results. The social reality of institutional lag, however, has roots in a more personal reluctance to relinquish certitude and undergo change. Since growth is accomplished through such a process, the reluctance to address change and make adjustments must be addressed. Thus, this inquiry begins with the recognition and analysis of institutional lag, evolves into an analysis of the individual and, finally, discusses the complicated and interwoven nature of the problem and possible solutions.
Advisors/Committee Members: Campbell, James.
Keywords: Institutions; change; tradition; process; institutional lag; habit; belief; doubt; John Dewey; Charles Sanders Peirce; Thorstein Veblen; Reinhold Neibuhr
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7.
Larson, Michael.
Locating Responsibility After Heidegger: Levinas and Nancy.
Degree: MA, Philosophy, 2008, University of Toledo
► The thesis explores the intertwining of the ethical and the ontological, contrasting…
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▼ The thesis explores the intertwining of the ethical and the ontological, contrasting the works of Jean Luc Nancy and Emmanuel Levinas around central themes and questions posed, in part, by Martin Heidegger. The thesis evaluates their respective approaches to relationality and responsibility in relation to a number of central questions including finitude and the infinite, situatedness and the everyday, and their respective approaches to freedom and decision. While taking seriously the infinitely demanding sense of responsibility in Levinas's work, I find the conceptions of relationality and responsibility in Levinas to be lacking with concern to situatedness and political considerations. These issues are connected to how Levinas conceives of ethical subjectivity. In response, Nancy's thinking of relationality opens up an approach to ethical responsibility which is entirely rooted in our finite situatedness, and thus does not place the ethical apart from the ontological.
Advisors/Committee Members: Pryor, Benjamin S.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Jean Luc Nancy; Emmanuel Levinas; Martin Heidegger; relationality; continental ethics
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8.
McCarthy, Karen L.
The World in Common: Hannah Arendt, Jean-Luc Nancy and the Re-housing of the Political Self.
Degree: MA, Philosophy, 2009, University of Toledo
► Working primarily with Hannah Arendt and Jean-Luc Nancy, I critique aspects of…
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▼ Working primarily with Hannah Arendt and Jean-Luc Nancy, I critique aspects of contemporary political thought with regard to the public, the private and the nature of the individual. I challenge the vision of the public and private spheres as being necessarily divided, as well as the assumption of the family into the private realm. Using Nancy, I develop a way of thinking about plurality, the self and our interactions with the political from a more holistic stance.
Advisors/Committee Members: Pryor, Benjamin.
Subjects: Families and family life; Philosophy; Womens studies
Keywords: Arendt, Hannah; Nancy, Jean-Luc; Public; Private; Family; Self; Plurality; Social
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9.
Parks, David R.
Textual Relationships and the Problem of Authority.
Degree: MA, Philosophy, 2012, University of Toledo
► The ‘Death of the Author’ and subsequent ‘Birth of the Reader’ notes…
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▼ The ‘Death of the Author’ and subsequent ‘Birth of the Reader’ notes a turning point in post-structural literary criticism that is marked by a struggle for authorial sovereignty. This essay argues that the traditional models thus far offered are inadequate in explaining why one source is preferable to another. Through an ontological exploration of the relationships that exist in literature, this essay hopes to offer a more sound and complete explanation for the reasons surrounding this struggle and what potential solutions free us from the traditional stagnation that has occurred in literary theory.
Advisors/Committee Members: Allred, Ammon.
Subjects: Literature; Philosophy
Keywords: literature; Blanchot; author; ante litterae; Barthes; Foucault; deceit; mistakes; violence
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10.
Pook, Robert.
Why Rawlsian Liberalism has Failed and How Proudhonian Anarchism is the Solution.
Degree: MA, Philosophy, 2011, University of Toledo
► Liberalism has failed. The paradox in modern society between capitalism and democracy…
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▼ Liberalism has failed. The paradox in modern society between capitalism and democracy has violated the very principles of liberty, equality, and social justice that liberalism bases its ideology behind. Liberalism, in directly choosing capitalism and private property has undermined its own values and ensured that the theoretical justice, in which its foundation is built upon, will never be. This piece of work will take the monumental, landmark, liberal work, A Theory of Justice, by John Rawls, as its foundation to examine the contradictory and self-defeating ideological commitment to both capitalism and democracy in liberalism. I will argue that this commitment to both ideals creates an impossibility of justice, which is at the heart of, and is the driving force behind liberal theory. In liberalism‟s place, I will argue that Pierre-Joseph Proudhon‟s anarchism, as outlined in, Property is Theft, offers an actual ideological model to achieving the principles which liberalism has set out to achieve, through an adequate and functioning model of justice.
Advisors/Committee Members: Pryor, Benjamin.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Liberalism; Rawls; Proudhon; anarchism; social justice; capitalism; trickle down economics; globalism; world trade
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11.
Savage, Joshua.
On Being Spoiled: Arendt and the Possibility of Permanent Non-thinking.
Degree: MA, Philosophy, 2012, University of Toledo
► My thesis explicates Hannah Arendt's Socratic notion of thinking, the adversarial dialogue…
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▼ My thesis explicates Hannah Arendt's Socratic notion of thinking, the adversarial dialogue one has with oneself that enables one to take moral account of past and future actions. Plato’s Socrates and Nazi officer Adolph Eichmann are utilized by Arendt as paradigmatic cases of thinking and non-thinking, respectively. My concern is how the thinking activity may become corrupt or even spoiled, whereby one is rendered genuinely incapable of thought, and hence, of moral action. I suspect such spoiling, if possible, could occur under one or both of the following conditions: (a) habituated refusal to engage in critical self-reflection; or (b) never developing the conceptual tools and language to adequately reflect on one’s moral self. I show that if we interpret Arendt’s claim that Eichmann was “never” capable of thinking to be absolute, in accordance with condition (b), then Arendt cannot justifiably levy moral and legal responsibility upon a man who helped send hundreds of thousands of Jews to their murderous death. However, if we interpret Eichmann’s failure to think as the product of condition (a), it suggests that at some point in his past Eichmann was capable of thought, and hence, moral action. Under such a reading, Arendt can have her cake and eat it too.
Advisors/Committee Members: Grazzini, Benjamin.
Subjects: Ethics; Modern History; Peace Studies; Philosophy; Political Science; Social Psychology; Sociology
Keywords: Thinking; Moral Responsibility; Hannah Arendt; Adolph Eichmann; Spoiled; Socrates; Moral Psychology; Non-thinking; Totalitarianism; Nazi
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12.
Skorburg, Joshua August.
Human Nature and Intelligence: The Implications of John Dewey's Philosophy.
Degree: MA, Philosophy, 2012, University of Toledo
► This work demonstrates the continued relevance of John Dewey’s philosophy, especially as…
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▼ This work demonstrates the continued relevance of John Dewey’s philosophy, especially as it relates to questions at the intersection of ethics and the philosophy of mind. I begin by taking up a fundamental philosophical question: “what kind of beings are we?” I argue that the Deweyan answer is “embodied, habitual, problem solvers.” Working from this conception of human nature, I show that intelligence is continuous with - and not something apart from - the embodied, habitual, and reconstructive nature of human existence. Finally, I point to the ways in which human nature thus construed, poses a fundamental challenge to the computational and representational models of the mind. Similarly, I point to the ways in which intelligence thus construed poses a fundamental challenge to the traditional notions of the moral agent and moral deliberation. I conclude by suggesting that Dewey’s conceptions of human nature and intelligence provide a useful framework for re-thinking many of the problems associated with better understanding what kind of beings we are and how we ought to live.
Advisors/Committee Members: Campbell, James.
Subjects: American Studies; Ethics; Metaphysics; Philosophy; Social Research
Keywords: John Dewey; Human Nature; Intelligence; Pragmatism; Embodiment; Habits; Problem Solving; Philosophy of Mind; Ethics; Social Reconstruction
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13.
Van Zanten, Joel A.
Foundations of Deep Ecology: Daoism and Heideggerian Phenomenology.
Degree: MA, Philosophy, 2009, University of Toledo
► This thesis explores two facets of the ancient Daoist world view and…
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▼ This thesis explores two facets of the ancient Daoist world view and Heideggerian phenomenology. It then explores the relationship of these facets to Deep Ecology. The facets in question are: (a) a way of looking at the world without thematic lenses and (b) the ethical and normative content that comes from that perspective. Deep Ecology assumes a re-examination of the relationship between humans and the non-human world while situating itself within a normative framework. This thesis argues the facets of Daoism and Heideggerian phenomenology are constitutive of a proper foundation for Deep Ecology, i.e. they provide the basis for the re-examination and detail a normative framework.
Advisors/Committee Members: Blatz, Charles V.
Subjects: Philosophy
Keywords: Deep Ecology; Daoism; Heidegger; Naess
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14.
Young, Adam J.
Friendship, Marriage, and the Good Life: Stoic Virtue in a Contemporary Context.
Degree: MA, Philosophy, 2011, University of Toledo
► Utilizing the framework of Stoic virtue ethics, I endeavor to examine how…
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▼ Utilizing the framework of Stoic virtue ethics, I endeavor to examine how Stoicism is valuable for thinking about the common relationships of friendship and marriage. Friendships are helpfully understood as social relationships where two people are committed to fostering virtue and happiness between each other. Marriage is taken to be the deepest possible friendship into which two people can enter, and by understanding marriage this way, marriage can be understood as a union between either a man and woman, a man and man, or a woman and woman. The issue of homosexual marriage will be examined from a Stoic perspective in an attempt to avoid the criticisms of the traditionalist perspective which holds that marriage is only possible between man and woman.
Advisors/Committee Members: Purviance, Susan.
Subjects: Ethics; Philosophy
Keywords: homosexual marriage; same sex marriage; marriage; virtue; Stoicism; Lucius Annaeus Seneca; natural law
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