Master of Arts in Medical Ethics and Humanities, Northeast Ohio Medical University, 2023, College of Graduate Studies

My thesis explores the concept of dual loyalties among military physicians and proposes a more thorough integration of virtue ethics in the military. The ethical principles and values embodied in virtue ethics theory align with the foundational mission and purpose of the military, but their implementation of the theory remains incomplete. The proposed framework for military medical ethics combines both virtue theory and duty-based ethics, with an emphasis on the former. While duty-based ethics are important, this framework recognizes the importance of virtuous character traits to help military physicians navigate dual loyalties. The aim is to ensure that duties are nested in a way that enables the actualization of moral virtues. By prioritizing the development of virtuous character traits, military physicians can better fulfill their duties in a manner that aligns with virtuous character. The military and medical profession share a commitment to ensuring that military physicians uphold high moral standards by being people of good character. Despite the military's appreciation for virtue ethics, there are instances where its application falls short which may be due to various factors like a lack of emphasis on character development in training or a focus on rules and regulations over virtuous conduct. My thesis seeks to create a more robust ethical framework for military medical ethics that combines duties, rules, and regulations with the development of virtuous character to prevent misconduct and distress among military physicians. By incorporating a more comprehensive virtue ethics theory into military medical ethics education and development, military physicians can develop a deeper understanding of how to act virtuously in challenging situations, even when the duties, rules, and regulations may not explicitly guide their behavior.

Committee: Julie Aultman Ph.D. (Advisor); Brian Harrell (Committee Member); Matthew Arbogast Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Ethics; Medical Ethics; Military Studies

Master of Arts in Medical Ethics and Humanities, Northeast Ohio Medical University, 2021, College of Graduate Studies

The US military medical system has come under scrutiny for severe breaches of ethics during the war on terror. Physicians assisted in the creation of waterboarding techniques to be used on prisoners (SSCI, 2014, p. 87). These failures of the ethical infrastructure of the US military have led to a reevaluation of military medical ethics, and a call for a specific code for military medical ethics (DHB, 2015). The current medical ethics of military physicians is impaired through the reliance on two competing deontological strictures from the professions of soldiering and medicine–duties to the patient and duties to orders. This thesis employs a framework of using Aristotelian virtue ethics and identity theory to navigate the intersection created by these competing duties. This framework is demonstrated in a case of Medical Rules of Eligibility (MEDRoE), where only certain individuals may receive care from military health units. It is further applied to a case of potential whistleblowing, whereby one military physician is aware of another who is impaired during a mission. The application of this framework to these two cases showcases its plausibility as an adjuvant for the deontological and teleological structure which currently dominates military medical ethics. This framework improves upon the current military medical ethics system through focus on building of moral character of military physicians.

Committee: Deborah Barnbaum PhD (Advisor); Julie Aultman PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Ethics; Health; Health Care; Medicine; Military Studies

BS, Kent State University, 2020, College of Communication and Information / School of Media and Journalism

In this paper, I seek to bring epistemic principles, namely, epistemic justification, to the forefront of the discussion of journalistic best-practices. The goal is threefold: first, to examine contemporary views of best practices in the journalism industry using previous survey data and research papers on the subject; second, to provide a brief overview of some (but not all) epistemological principles relevant to the topic; third, to argue that epistemology would be the best starting point for developing or adopting best practices in the journalism industry (with a particular focus on reliabilism and virtue epistemology). The goal is to set the stage for, if not the development of a new theory that places greater emphasis on our approach to the concepts of knowledge, belief, and justification in an industry that deals in propositions as a commodity, further recognition and application of epistemological principles as an important component of journalistic best practices and journalism studies for future industry members.

Committee: Deborah Smith PhD (Advisor); Mitchell McKenney MBA (Committee Member); Deborah Barnbaum PhD (Committee Member); Angela Neal-Barnett PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Epistemology; Journalism; Philosophy

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2008, Philosophy (Arts and Sciences)

This thesis is intended to argue against Terence Irwin's instrumental thesis that explains the relation of virtue to happiness in Plato's early dialogues. Irwin's instrumental thesis leads him to believe that virtue is a craft that is "entirely distinct" from the end it pursues -happiness. His instrumental thesis rests on the idea of techne being a productive craft; however, I argue that Irwin's interpretation of techne is skewed and leads him into trouble. Moreover, Irwin fails to answer the objection that virtue cannot be a craft since a craft is possible to be used for vicious ends. Finally, if we examine extreme situations, such as exile or bodily dismemberment, we notice that the relation of virtue to happiness is not as Irwin claims it to be.

Committee: John W. Bender PhD (Committee Chair); James Petrik PhD (Committee Member); James Andrews PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Philosophy

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2011, Antioch New England: Environmental Studies

Aristotle says our best moral guidance comes from considering the lives of exemplary individuals. I explore John Muir, as an exemplar of environmental virtue, and consider the role of Nature in his conception of the good life. I argue his conception consists of a web of virtue including various goods, values, and virtues. I suggest three virtues are cardinal: attentiveness, gratitude and reverence. I explore how Muir cultivated these virtues in Nature. I argue Muir sought freedom from a popular conception of the good life, grounded in the gilded age values of money and materialism, and was sensitive to the harms these brought to both Nature and individuals. I show that Muir was particularly aware of the effects of what he called the vice of over-industry. I argue Muir was willing to suffer extreme loneliness in order to cultivate his conception of the good life in Nature. I show that he struggled, especially in his thirties, to find a balance between freedom and community. I show how in Nature Muir cultivated attentiveness to both his intuition and the observable world and I explore the relationship between them. I show that his rejection of anthropocentrism was based, in part, on his observations as a fully-engaged scientist. I argue attentiveness lead Muir to view wild animals as exemplars. He was especially drawn to the skill, beauty and true instinct of wild mountain sheep. I explore the relationship between gratitude and celebration and Muir's exuberant expressions of ecstasy. I argue that while many of his friends remained stoic, his observation of the celebration of Stickeen, a small black dog, lead him to important insights into the commonality of all “our fellow mortals.” I make the case that Muir was most grateful for beauty as expressed in natural harmony. I distinguish gratitude from appreciation and thankfulness by suggesting gratitude implies reciprocity, as in a debt of gratitude, and that Muir's environmental activism was motivated by wanting to rec (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mitch Thomashow Dr (Committee Chair); Phil Cafaro Dr. (Committee Member); Joy Ackerman Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Ecology; Environmental Education; Environmental Philosophy; Environmental Studies; Ethics; Philosophy; Religion; Wildlife Conservation

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 0, Philosophy (Arts and Sciences)

The ethical teachings of Aristotle and the Roman Stoics occupy a prominent role in the history of virtue ethics, and its enduring influence on Western civilization. Both traditions deem the cultivation of a virtuous and disciplined character to be the basis of human flourishing, yet their views concerning the development and purpose of virtue, the proper end of human life, and the value of external goods, demonstrate significant incompatibilities. While Aristotle's teachings on virtue are part of a larger study on political science, whose proper end is collective human flourishing, the Stoics' teachings center on achieving personal tranquility, which involves detaching from matters beyond one's control. Although the Stoics offer a liberating alternative to the conditional happiness envisioned by Aristotle, which is dependent on external goods and admittedly not available to all, their extreme commitment to rational self-sufficiency entails a superficial account of the development of virtue, and a potentially unnatural apathy towards the fortunes of others, which is in conflict with the inherently social nature of human beings. A unique and promising solution to the Stoic doctrine's problematic implications comes from Buddhist philosophy, whose teachings, like those of the Stoics, emphasize the attainment of inner tranquility by overcoming attachments, while simultaneously preserving a benevolent concern for others.

Committee: Scott Carson (Committee Chair); Christoph Hanisch (Advisor); James Petrik (Advisor) Subjects: Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2021, Theology

Churches of Christ (Stone-Campbell Movement) have inherited from early thinkers in the Restoration Movement and generally operate out of an ethic which can be summarized in the maxim, “Try hard to do what the Bible says.” This approach has two major flaws: self-reliance rather than reliance on the Holy Spirit, and a tendency to treat Scripture and an individual's obedience to Scripture as ends in themselves instead of the means to an end. This ethic yields an anthropology that is at once too high and too low: too high in its assumption that we can achieve goodness without the direct aid of the Spirit and too low in its assumption that obedience is the highest good to which we are called. To this problem, I propose a two-part prescription. The first element of my proposed solution is recommendation of Alasdair MacIntyre's recovery of Aristotelian virtue ethics. Key concepts like teleology, narrative, community, practices, and traditions help provide a more wholistic, practical, and, I argue, biblical way to think about ethics. Helpful as he is, MacIntyre presents his project in the language of philosophy, and if virtue ethics are to be accessible to Churches of Christ, they must be baptized and appear in explicitly Christian language. Providentially, Stanley Hauerwas has already done precisely this work. His theological appropriation of MacIntyre transforms teleology into eschatology, narrative to the gospel, practices to sacraments, and traditions to the church. But Hauerwas's work, as has often been noted, tends to offer only a bare account of the Holy Spirit. The second element of my prescription is a more robust pneumatology than can be provided either by Hauerwas or by Churches of Christ but which draws on the best elements of both. Following Hauerwas's aphoristic style, I propose a riddling methodology to explore three major themes in pneumatology: 1) the Holy Spirit as both the power/presence of God and as a person, 2) the Holy Spirit's role in (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Brad Kallenberg Ph.D. (Advisor); William Portier Ph.D. (Committee Member); Dennis Doyle Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jana Bennett Ph.D. (Committee Member); John Mark Hicks Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Bible; Biblical Studies; Ethics; Philosophy; Religion; Spirituality; Theology

MA, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

William Shakespeare's tragedies dwell upon death, loss, grief, and sacrifice. But one of the common, underlying and at times unexpected components that recurs throughout the tragedies is honor. For Shakespeare's honor is tied to human life, as Julius Caesar insinuates to his wife, “Cowards die many times before their deaths; / The valiant never taste of death but once” (2.2.32-33). Shakespeare's honor is largely connected to how one lives their life, whether it be honorably in bravery, or cowardly in fear. The concept is further developed in Othello, when Iago says, “Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, / Is the immediate jewel of their souls” (3.3. 183-184). If one does not possess an honorable character, in other words, he or she owns nothing of import. This is reiterated in Richard II, when Mowbray says, “Take honor from me, and my life is done” (1.1.183). However, Shakespeare's portrayal of honor often displays an ambivalence between the Christian and the pagan-humanist values of honor in his age. He toys with the concept of honor radically within the minds of several of his most prominent characters, namely the protagonists in King Lear, Coriolanus, and Macbeth. For these three men, honor becomes a moral trap, and they each meet tragic fates as a result. In this paper, I seek to illuminate the different functions of honor and how this coincides with Shakespeare's overall theme which suggests that honor and (quality of) life go hand in hand, which demonstrates the idea that the pursuit of glory can prove to be a snare for the overly ambitious man.

Committee: Don-John Dugas (Advisor); Vera Camden (Committee Member); Ann Martinez (Committee Member) Subjects: Literature

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2020, Journalism (Communication)

Although previous research has been targeted at the aspects of journalistic cultures within nations through the views of their population, such as the multinational Worlds of Journalism Study (2019), other avenues of study can offer a new perspective on these differences. To this end, the study provides a comparison of journalistic codes of ethics. Such codes (while differing in structure, implementation, and reach) share a common purpose in providing and defining standards of ethical action within the field of journalism. By making note of what standards are discussed within journalistic codes of ethics with national reach, and in what manner the ethical rationale is constructed and defended within said ethical codes, the study aims to provide insight into the similarities and differences of the journalistic cultures in which they are set. The study found that the 25 ethical codes examined discussed over 100 distinct generalized ethical situations, the documents often stretched beyond outlining the practice of ethical journalism. The codes of ethics were also found to primarily make use of deontological and virtue-based justifications, although examples of the other selected ethical frameworks were found in small numbers. Additionally, both the deontological and virtue-based justifications occurred dominantly within the examined codes of ethics with such frequency as to be considered ethical norms within the standards set by the study. In both cases, the findings provide a means to critique and point to ways these ethical codes could be improved in order to better relate to both the journalists they hope to guide and the public they hope to educate while laying the groundwork for similar examinations in the future.

Committee: Bernhard Debatin (Committee Chair); Aimee Edmondson (Advisor); Rosanna Planer (Committee Member); Bill Reader (Committee Member) Subjects: Journalism; Mass Communications

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2019, Educational Leadership

In this project, I examine the theoretical and practical arenas in terms of the conceptualization, implementation, and pedagogy of moral character. The fundamental concern is embodied in the reductive fallacy and the conceptual blurriness between moral character and moral virtue facing extant moral character definitions, as well as the attribution error and confirmation bias (Harman, 2000) for empirical measurements of moral character. The review of contemporary literature confirms but does not provide conceptually concrete and structurally holistic solutions to the fundamental problems diagnosed above. So I dive deep into the four legendary philosophers, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, and Dewey to explore how they conceptualize experiential moral character in terms of the five dimensions of its forming logical structure (i.e., distinct appearances, intrinsic motivations, operative strengths, active self-agency, and awakened supreme moral principles). Through reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of historic conceptualizations by the four philosophers, I re-conceptualize experiential moral character based on the Body-Heart-Mind-Soul model. In the end, I briefly analyze the three areas in which experiential moral character can be applied: empirical measurements in research, experiential moral character education intervention or practice, and self-meditation practice.

Committee: Kathleen Knight Abowitz (Advisor); Joel Malin (Committee Member); Thomas Poetter (Committee Member); Aimin Wang (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2018, Philosophy (Arts and Sciences)

Dale Jamieson, Stephen Gardiner, Allen Thompson, and Byron Williston are four of the most prominent philosophers who have written on the role that virtue plays in an age of climate change. None of them, however, consider how valuable virtue can be in serving preventative ends. Climate change is, in part, a moral failure and part of the task of mitigating climate change should be acknowledging this failure and working to make sure we do not commit the same mistakes of the past. In this thesis, I argue for the cultivation of a virtue that I call “holism” that I believe can help humanity achieve this end. In chapter one, I discuss the arguments of the aforementioned philosophers and identify how their views of virtue in the Anthropocene are not identical to my own. In chapter two, I spell out the virtue of holism and argue for how it can help humanity work towards not allowing another climate catastrophe to happen once the present crisis is mitigated. Finally, in chapter three, I consider possible objections to the claim that cultivating the virtues is necessary for adequately remedying climate change.

Committee: Scott Carson (Advisor); James Petrik (Committee Member); Christoph Hanisch (Committee Member) Subjects: Climate Change; Environmental Education; Environmental Management; Environmental Philosophy; Environmental Studies; Epistemology; Ethics; Philosophy

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2018, Leadership Studies

This study addressed the lack of emphasis and understanding related to the benefits of the practice of ethical principal leadership. The purpose of this study, to address the noted problem, was to explore the practice of principal ethical leadership through acts of virtue and was viewed through the Framework of Foundational Virtues of Educational Leadership: consisting of the virtues of responsibility, authenticity, and presence (Starratt, 2004). This phenomenological study consisted of interviewing six principals in Northwest Ohio. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and written personal codes of ethics. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed in conjunction with other noted forms of data. This data produced the essence of the practice of ethical principal leadership through acts of virtue via the following five themes: the virtue of responsibility, the virtue of authenticity, the virtue of presence, the virtue of perseverance, and student centrality. The identified essence and themes of the study provide a greater understanding of, and benefits related to, the practice of ethical principal leadership through acts of virtue. Also, this study expands the literature related to ethical leadership and principal leadership by identifying practical and theoretical implications that impact both areas of leadership.

Committee: Paul Willis EdD (Advisor); Salim Elwazani PhD (Other); Tracy Huziak-Clark PhD (Committee Member); Patrick Pauken PhD (Committee Member); Kevin Pfefferle EdD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Leadership; Ethics

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2018, English (Arts and Sciences)

This research project seeks to establish the degree to which morality and ethics are implicated in writing pedagogy. While writing, rhetoric, and ethics have long been interlinked in the traditions of rhetorical pedagogy, perhaps most famously in Socrates' admonishment of the Sophists, postmodern skepticism has, in part, diminished the centrality of morality and ethics to college writing instruction. I arrive at this project prickled by my own assumptions that writing might well be taught aside from moral and ethical considerations. To this end, I curate a collection of representative work applying the concepts of ethics to composition pedagogy research and scholarship from 1990 to the present. This work is necessary because the theory and practice of ethics in composition studies is diverse and diffuse. While a few scholars have made ethics a primary concern (for example, Marilyn Cooper; Peter Mortensen; James Porter) and others who have sought to map the disciplinary engagement (for example, Paul Dombrowski; Laura Micciche), treatments of ethics in composition scholarship remain fragmented and idiomatic. This research project draws together the streams of thought informing composition's diverse engagement with ethics to provide a representative sampling of approaches and ethical treatments pertaining to writing pedagogy. My approach is to seek to understand what prompts scholars to engage ethics: What problems and questions drive writing scholars toward ethics? And what do these scholars hope to accomplish by doing ethics? Employing a descriptive method grounded in feminist interpretations of pluralist ethics, this research project collects ethical interventions into writing scholarship interested in writing tradition, theory, research methods, and social advocacy. This research projects concludes by considering how writing ethics has transformed my writing praxis.

Committee: Sherrie Gradin (Committee Chair) Subjects: Composition; Rhetoric

Bachelor of Arts, Ashland University, 2017, History/Political Science

William Shakespeare's three roman plays, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, and Antony and Cleopatra, present a condensed history of Rome at three of its most important moments. Coriolanus portrays Rome near the inception of the republic, while Julius Caesar shows the death of the republic and Antony and Cleopatra explores the alternative to republican government. Each of the three plays shows the kinds of men produced by the Roman regime and explores how their virtues and vices affect the regime. The characters in the plays shows that the character necessary for republican government is hard but not impossible to produce. Shakespeare also uses Antony and Cleopatra to suggest republican regimes are best suited to developing the kinds of great character that republics require. When viewed in isolation, Coriolanus and Julius Caesar seem to suggest that republican government produces base men and generates political instability. Antony and Cleopatra, however, shows that the vices seen in republics are caused by the faults of human nature rather than a defect in the regime. Furthermore, it highlights the virtues shown by characters in the other plans by showing a Rome devoid of those virtues. In Coriolanus, the main character is a courageous men who cannot maintain the support of the people because he demands too much virtue out of them. In Julius Caesar, Shakespeare presents the rule of a man who abandoned his faith in the people. This destroys the republic and brings about the imperial rule of Antony and Cleopatra in which virtue is not possible.

Committee: Jeff Sikkenga Ph.D. (Advisor); Chris Burkett Ph.D. (Committee Member); David Foster Ph.D. (Committee Member); Chris Swanson Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: History; Literature; Philosophy; Political Science

Master of Arts in English, Cleveland State University, 2015, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

Ethan Allen Hawley receives the gift of redemption throughout John Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent (1961). Many forms of redemption occur throughout the novel, but Steinbeck does not blatantly present all of them. Raymond L. Griffith's 1972 dissertation uses the term “duality” to discuss, as stated, the “validity of perfection and the impossibility of perfection” contained in Steinbeck's works. My thesis specifically uses the term duality to explicate the various “hardship versus redemption” dualities that exist in Winter. Ethan lives a life of duality throughout the majority of the novel. Ethan's dual lives involve his behavior and rationale while in nature settings and his behavior and rationale while in socioeconomic settings. Ethan experiences this duality but never acknowledges this duality of place. Other “hardship versus redemption” dualities exist in the novel, such as Ethan receiving his grandfather's and aunt's teachings and then Ethan teaching his own children; Ethan's brotherly encounters; Steinbeck's inclusion of Christian ideas; and Steinbeck's correlation to and also divergence from William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. Ethan's duality of place finally unites at the novel's conclusion. Ethan's secret Place in nature induces a confrontation with reality and a humanistic response to socioeconomic hardship. Steinbeck concludes the novel with the subtle assertion of the redemptive hope of nature to induce strength.

Committee: Adam Sonstegard Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Julie Burrell Ph.D. (Committee Member); James Marino Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: American Literature; Ecology; Economics; Ethics; Pedagogy; Personal Relationships; Religion

M.A. (Master of Arts in Liberal Studies), Ohio Dominican University, 2015, Liberal Studies

A consideration of civic virtue, both liberal and republican as construed by the American Founders, the effects of its absence from the U.S. Constitution, with a remedy suggested by Wilson Carey McWilliams.

Committee: Ronald Carstens Ph.D (Advisor); Thomas Stephens Ph.D (Other) Subjects: History; Political Science

MA, Kent State University, 2015, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy

In recent scholarship, an ongoing debate about Buddhist ethics has been taking place. On one side, some adhere to the position that Buddhist ethics resembles consequentialism. One noteworthy figure, Charles Goodman, has written on this subject at length in a book titled The Consequences of Compassion. Others hold that Buddhist ethics is akin to Aristotelean virtue ethics. Damien Keown is a key proponent of this view, which he argues in a work titled The Nature of Buddhist Ethics. Both of these views attempt to offer the best interpretation of Buddhist ethics so that it can better understood and analyzed. In the pages that follow, I will argue for two claims: First, both Goodman and Keown make crucial errors in their methodology by failing to lay out the best set of necessary conditions for virtue ethics and consequentialism. I aim to shed light on this methodological error and to offer a basis of comparison that is more precise. Having recalibrated the starting point of this debate by setting out the necessary conditions virtue ethics and consequentialism, I develop my second main claim—viz., that a third, distinct approach to interpreting Buddhist ethics is available.

Committee: David Pereplyotchik (Advisor); Michael Byron (Committee Member); Jung-Yeup Kim (Committee Member) Subjects: Ethics; Philosophy; Religion

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2015, Philosophy (Arts and Sciences)

In this paper, I first assess whether Rosalind Hursthouse's evaluation structure is warranted for the evaluation of non-rational social animal good. I argue that when Hursthouse's concept of “characteristic way” is identified with Michael Thompson's concept of “natural history”, her evaluation structure is warranted in the context of non-rational social animals. But this warrant does not transfer to the human ethical context. Rationality destroys the determinate link that exists between the four ends and the human characteristic way. If her evaluation structure is to be warranted for the evaluation of human good, then Hursthouse must either be a foundationlist about the normative status of the four ends or eliminate competing conceptions of the human good that are in tension with the unity of the four ends. I show that neo-Aristotelian ethical foundationalism is false in the case of rational animals. Thus, Hursthouse must justify why the four ends “really do constrain” what can pass reflective scrutiny as a possible virtue, despite not ruling out alternative conceptions of the human good. Until she does this, Hursthouse's evaluation structure is not fit to serve as an objective criterion for the classification of human virtues.

Committee: James Petrik PhD (Committee Chair); Mark LeBar PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Ishida Yoichi PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Philosophy

MA, Kent State University, 2015, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy

This project contests Robert Solomon's claim in Living with Nietzsche that Nietzsche is a virtue ethicist. To create a list of virtues that everyone should follow seems to be prima facie antithetical to Nietzsche's position on morality (e.g.- In Thus Spoke Zarathustra “Do I advise chastity? In some people chastity is a virtue, but in many it is almost a vice.”, and also “if you have one virtue, and it is your virtue, then you have it in common with no one.”). This thesis first summarizes Solomon's position, then discuss Nietzsche's writings on virtue. Finally after discussing the nature of virtue and ethics, this project examines whether Nietzsche's writings on virtue can be classified as an ethic.

Committee: Linda Williams (Advisor); Frank Ryan (Committee Member); Deborah Barnbaum (Committee Member) Subjects: Philosophy

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2014, Theological Studies

Saint Catherine of Siena wrote one of the most theologically orthodox works of mysticism, Dialogue on Divine Providence. Unlike other mystics of the later middle ages, Catherine's Dialogue provided a highly doctrinal theology written in her own vernacular language. Catherine's mystical theology demonstrates influence of several prominent schools of theological thought, most notably the moral theology of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Like Aquinas, Catherine emphasizes the habituation and practice of the virtues, above all the virtue of charity. Aquinas and Catherine both understood charity as directed towards the two same ends - God and neighbor for God's sake - and as manifesting itself through outward spiritual and corporeal practices. Catherine, however, wrote with a very particular audience in mind - the increasingly literate laity. As demonstrated in her own letters, Catherine understood her writing for a lay audience as spiritual instruction and therefore writing served as an act of charity for her.

Committee: Sandra Yocum Ph.D (Advisor); William Portier Ph.D (Committee Member); William Johnston Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Medieval History; Medieval Literature; Regional Studies; Religious History; Spirituality; Theology