Philosophy
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/141107
2024-03-28T22:49:08ZCommunities, advertising, and democracy : moral education for reasonable social cooperation
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/214136
Communities, advertising, and democracy : moral education for reasonable social cooperation
Paul, Eric Harrison
According to John Rawls, a well-ordered liberal democratic society requires citizens to possess the virtue of reasonableness, regarding fellow citizens as standing in a relationship of reciprocity among equals. To maintain a stable overlapping consensus of reasonable cooperation, citizens need to wholeheartedly endorse a reasonable political conception of justice by accepting it as a part or module of their own comprehensive doctrines. The failure of political cooperation in contemporary liberal societies suggests the failure of some of these conditions. I argue that due to the influence of pervasive persuasive advertising, citizens are socialized into the unreasonable comprehensive doctrine of consumerism, and that in conjunction with conditions of inadequate moral education in their comprehensive doctrines and in a reasonable political conception of justice, they are committing reasonableness akrasia as they fail to consistently act from moral considerations they would endorse upon reflection at both the comprehensive moral and political levels. To solve this problem, I argue that societies must provide opportunities for comprehensive moral education in the home and community as well as citizenship moral education in public schools according to principles of liberal neutrality.
2019-01-01T00:00:00ZNarcissus, Baudelaire, and Foucault : a response to Pierre Hadot
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/214094
Narcissus, Baudelaire, and Foucault : a response to Pierre Hadot
Henrick, James Lawrence
Pierre Hadot’s criticism that Michel Foucault advocates a modem day form of Dandyism
has animated much d'".cussion among modem ethical theorists. Yet, little research has
been done into the history of Dandyism and its importance to Hadot’s criticism. In order
to properly situate their disagreement, this thesis traces the history of Dandyism from
Beau Brummell to Charles Baudelaire, examining connections between Foucault’s
thought and this intellectual history. After demonstrating the reasonableness of Hadot’s
critique, this thesis examines Hadot’s own unstated philosophical assumptions, arguing
that his writing on the myth of Narcissus provides substantial evidence of his Perennialist
disposition. Finally, this thesis examines Richard Shusterman’s theory of somaesthetics
to argue that Shusterman’s pragmatic conception provides a better model that can
successfully incorporate both Hadot and Foucault’s ethical projects.
2019-01-01T00:00:00ZAmerica's violent democracy : addressing police violence as a structural injustice
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/214076
America's violent democracy : addressing police violence as a structural injustice
Wondyfraw, Mikias Tilahun
This paper aims to address the issue of police violence in local police forces by drawing attention to the structural features that are often unnoticed in department practices. My
goal in this paper is to demonstrate how we can learn about police violence by looking at
budgets and settlements as a structural injustice. In section one, I give an account of
social roles that are examined through a structural explanation and show how this
explanation can help us to identify and understand structural injustice. In section two, I
begin by discussing the historical context in which the first national commission on
police violence developed in the United States and then demonstrate the lack of structural
examination in contemporary philosophical writings on police violence. In section three,
I propose that participatory budgeting potentially establishes political accountability for
vulnerable social groups regarding police violence as a structural injustice. I argue that
vulnerable groups’ participation in the governing process of police budgets and
settlements can potentially establish accountability in police practices.
2019-01-01T00:00:00ZSiegel’s epistemological theories and full dissociation of consciousness and attention
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/214029
Siegel’s epistemological theories and full dissociation of consciousness and attention
Thomas, Michelle Elena
I will use empirical evidence to support the argument that there is a possible dissociation between processes of consciousness and processes of attention such that the two independent systems work in tandem and simultaneously. Secondly, if there is a dissociation between processes of consciousness and processes of attention, I maintain that having two completely independent systems would affect views on epistemology, rationality, and perception. One such robust epistemological theory is Susanna Siegel’s theories of perceptual experience and inference. I aim to show what the full dissociation of processes of consciousness and attention would mean for epistemological and perceptual theories using Siegel as an example. Siegel has a complete and thoroughly comprehensive epistemological theory. I am interested in applying a theory of full dissociation to her epistemological system. I contend that her theory, when viewed in relation to a full dissociation theory would indicate support for full dissociation or partial overlap.
2019-01-01T00:00:00Z