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John Bova
Desire-(of)-consciousness
Towson University
This paper presents an argument that consciousness is the object-goal of desire, to be distinguished from the object-stimulus of the phenomenon perceived in desire. This conclusion resolves a dilemma of desire: desire is desire of its object, but it is also desire to desire. These contradict in hungry desire, an attitude that identifies the stimulus of desire with its goal. In fundamental desire, these two kinds of object are separated out, enabling the goal of desire to reveal itself as a transphenomenal relation to phenomena. But consciousness is the being that is its own relation to phenomena, thus consciousness is the desired in fundamental desire. Consciousness desires itself as consciousness as opposed to the ego, a false consciousness deprived of intentionality. Thus it has its joy in a perpetual restoration of itself. This restoration is given in different aspects in thinking and emotion.
Erin Cline
No-things that are Some-things: Democritus and Daoists on the Void
Belmont University
This paper focuses upon Aristotle's criticism of Democritus in which Aristotle argues that the void or non-being cannot be said to be an existing thing. In response, I give attention to the key texts for Democritus' position and show how these can be related to important passages in the Laozi (Daodejing). In addition to exploring the manner in which the Daoist position stands in sharp contrast to the categories used by Aristotle, I make particular use of the non-referential character of the Dao (emptiness and non-being). I conclude that the Aristotelian objections to Democritus can be minimized (or answered) if Democritus is read through Daoist sources. To round out my argument, I explore the interpretation that Democritus tied his ontology to his ethics, and show how the Daoists did the same thing, and how the way in which they did this can suggest new ways of approaching Democritus.
Erin Cline
Finding the Riverbed: Uncertainty in a Nunamiut Eskimo Village
Belmont University
Three hundred miles south of Alaska's northern coast, at the summit of a glacially carved valley lies the Eskimo village of Anaktuvuk Pass, home of the Nunamiut people, who are believed to have been the last nomadic people to settle in North America. In Nunamiut culture, it is common practice to answer a question with "maybe" when in the West one would answer the same question with a definite "yes" or "no." In Anaktuvuk Pass this spoken uncertainty is used prominently and consistently, providing an example of the type of people discussed by Wittgenstein in paragraph 338 of On Certainty. In this paper, using original research conducted in Anaktuvuk Pass, I explore the use of the language game of uncertainty as a reflection of the importance of community in Nunamiut culture, drawing upon Wittgenstein's discussion of language games, forms of life, and certainties to support this interpretation. My goal, as Wittgenstein writes, is to gain a "clear view of the aim and functioning of the words" in the uncertainty language game of the Nunamiut.
Kevin Collins
Philosophical Foundations of Ayn Rand's Objectivism
SUNY Rockland
Ayn Rand is one of the most influential philosophers in the second half of the Twentieth Century. This paper is an attempt to address some of the major philosophical foundations of Ayn Rand's Objectivism. Some of these philosophical questions include: What is man?, What kind of being is he?, What are his essential attributes? (Peikoff 187), Does man need values at all and why?, In what manner does a human being discover the concept of value? (Rand 14), How does man discover morality? (Peikoff 214), When does man first become aware of good and evil in its simplest form? (Rand 18), For what end should man live?, By what fundamental principle should he act in order to achieve his end?, Who should benefit from his actions? (Peikoff 206).
Joanna Doody
Communication in a Practical Light
Simmons College
How can a person's experience, which is essentially private, be communicated to another person? In what settings are limitations in communication evident and how can such limitations be overcome? What is the value of communicating and how does this value indicate the need for better communication? This paper addresses these questions considering the nature of experience, the limits of expression and the possible means of improving communication.With the questions of other minds and private experience raised by Nagel and Wittgenstein as background, I explore theories of the process of expression and the reciprocal process of communication. Wittgenstein's claim that there is no outward criterion for private experience is challenged based on the practical stance that communication happens, regardless of theoretical accuracy. The practical goal of improving communication inspires a new theory of reciprocal communication that will be developed and applied to practical settings such as work and school environments.
Andrew J. Forney
Pragmatism and Neo-Pragmatism: Language and "truth"
Western Maryland College
Pragmatism arose in the early twentieth-century as a foil to traditional Continental metaphysics. However, it did not focus on language as a notion of philosophical import, something that later philosophers, particularly the conceptual analysts, would. Rorty, something of a Pragmatist, brought together the works of Davidson and Kuhn to form Pragmatism in accordance with the new focus on language. His deflationary view of language runs along with his expansionistic view of Pragmatism. Verifiability operates in time-sectioned paradigms, thus lending itself to relativity in "truth." More importantly, Rorty's gap between man and the world is not to be overcome with language, leaving man and science permanently separated from the actual condition of the world. This does not bother Rorty; he sees it simply as a part of the human condition, something that man has had to deal with since the beginning of time. While his views are intriguing, Rorty appears to have moved away from the foundation of traditional Pragmatism, placing and emphasis on relativity and metaphysics rather than on strict verifiability.
Tushar Irani
Beyond the Death of God: The Question of Nihilism in Nietzsche and Pascal
Colgate University
This paper seeks to examine the claim of Friedrich Nietzsche that the advent of nihilism is upon us: that our highest values have begun to "devaluate" themselves. Such an inquiry deals, in part, with the problem of faith in a modern world—with Nietzsche's notorious declaration of God's death and his call for a radical revaluation of all values considered highest. In section I, accordingly, I analyse Nietzsche's definition of nihilism as a "transitional" stage lacking aim, unity, and absolute truth. In section II, the paper shifts focus as it turns retrospectively to the seventeenth century, the beginning of the modern era, when science challenged the faith of Blaise Pascal. Pascal foresaw the spectre of nihilism about two centuries before Nietzsche and provides us in his Pensées with an interesting riposte. There, the question of nihilism in the modern world concerns our idea of self as Pascal establishes three orders of human greatness and arrests our will between cupidity and charity. His own philosophy, I conclude, rests on strength of heart—our willingness, through faith, to offer up the self to something greater.
Bradden R. Kluesner
Good Wood
St. Thomas University
This essay begins by looking at the commonsensical analogy Confucius uses in reference to teaching when he states, "You cannot carve rotten wood." From this point, I ask, how does a professor recognize "good wood" worth carving? This paper aims to show the practical manner in which a professor can evaluate a student's desire to learn through the insights of Confucius. Hence, "good wood" or a good student proves his desire to learn to the professor through his habits. The professor can then judge the student's habits in two categories: first, listening to the manner in which a student uses language and second, acknowledging the student's excellence (de).
Christopher LaBarbera
Reviving Fighting Words Doctrine: An Expansion of Hostile Environments
Dartmouth College
In the United States Supreme Court decision of Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, the Court upheld a state law that censured the use of "offensive words when addressed by one person to another in a public place" (Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 1). This decision gave birth to the concept of a "fighting words" doctrine, in which certain speech is restricted due to the effects of that speech. However, the court interpreted "fighting words" as those words that "tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace" (1). This interpretation ignored a crucial element in the original state law, which included restrictions on words which "by their very utterance inflict injury" (1). In this paper, I outline the court's interpretation of "fighting words" in the Chaplinsky decision, and show how this decision cuts out restrictions on a class of speech—namely, "words which by their very utterance inflict injury" (1). I argue for a revival of this aspect of "fighting words" doctrine through parallels to the restrictions on, and harms of, sexual harassment speech under hostile environment law in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. In conclusion, I consider Kingsley Browne's objections to hostile environment law in "Title VII as Censorship: Hostile-Environment Harassment and the First Amendment," and respond to his objections.
Jesse Lee
Morality and the Relationship
Trinity College
Imagine that there are 6 billion individuals on this planet, all walking around thinking that they are right. There is absurdity here. And what is the crutch on which each of us rely? It is pride. There is no reason to say that pride is in itself contemptible or evil, but it is fragile and unstable because it is in an important sense self-contradictory, and this contradiction is the root of the absurdity. For if we all believe that we are right, as to some degree we must in order to trod through life as individuals, it immediately implies that to some degree others are wrong and just further implies the simply false statement, "If I were he, I would think that I were wrong".
Justin C. Maaia
The Highest Good: A Kantian and Buddhist Ideal
Suffolk University
Why aren't all people concerned with morality? Is the problem that there is no reward for it? This is certainly not an issue for morality itself, for by its definition it should not be concerned with any reward. It is our duty to be moral, to be virtuous. This idea of duty was most famously exalted by the eighteenth-century philosopher Immanuel Kant. But what if there is a reward for virtue, what if happiness is a result of it? This is a theory that is touched upon by Kant in his Critique of Practical Reason, but it is unclear as to how, when, where, or if this correspondence of happiness and virtue actually happens. Upon closer examination of the text, this theory's possibility unfolds. The only question that remains is whether the theory can be carried out into practice. The experience of certain Buddhist masters can attest to the truth of this theory. Perhaps their path to morality can give us insight into how Kant's theory can be experienced by us as well.
Theresa Morris
How Word Relates to the Other, Through Love
SUNY New Paltz
What does language mean when we use it to speak to another? How does the idea of language relate to the idea of the other? These are the central themes of this paper, which explores what happens when we move outside ourselves into relation with another human, and how language contributes to the exploration of that relation. Among the subject matter covered are inquiries into the definition of love, self, soul, and desire. Specifically, the paper considers what happens to the self in its relation to the other and how does language complicate or facilitate this process? Working off references by the philosophers Plato, Emmanuel Levinas, and Iris Murdoch, my conclusion points to the possibility that consciousness in both language and love may enable us to better grasp what at first seems essentially unknowable.
Jason Ohliger
An Ethical Investigation of Christian Missionary Efforts
SUNY Oneonta
There is an inherent conflict between the Christian ethical maxim (i.e. the Golden Rule) and Christian missionary practices. Through the utilization of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and examples of the Christian reaction to the increasing secularization of society, I intend to show that this conflict arises largely out of an antiquated view of unfamiliar cultures. Furthermore, this view leads us to misinterpret the command given by Jesus, in the book of Matthew, to spread the Word. The secularization of society, with relation to the antiquated view of other cultures, has forced the modern Christian to feel the discomfort of alienation in a world once ruled by her religion, a feeling which pagan, polytheistic religions have felt, historically, in the face of newly-introduced Christianity. This conflict in the duties of the contemporary Christian (to follow the Golden Rule and to spread the word of Christ) necessitate a reevaluation of Christianity's traditional interpretation of the duty to spread the Word as well as a move toward a postmodern attitude toward the other.
Michael Alan Payne
The Biblical Approach to Abortion
Virginia Commonwealth University
This paper is controversial to say the least, but its objectives and conclusions are quite poignant and clear: there is a biblically based argument in favor of abortion. The paper will take into account both New and Old Testaments, presenting texts from both New King James and The New International Version translations of the Bible. It will be argued that typical Christian arguments take a few selected lines out of context. The Pro-Life arguments based upon concepts such as "abortion is murder" and "abortion is destroying a soul" will be discussed, both in the form presented by most Christians per the referenced text and the "full" argument that considers the surrounding text and other pertinent factors. Counterpoints will be made and the final argument in favor of abortion will be solidified with the "Value Theory" given by God in Leviticus which indicates, among other things, that a child less than one month of age has no biblical value.
Priyadarshi Shukla
Notion of Reality in Buddhism and Vedanta: A Philosophical Investigation
Le Moyne College
In this paper I attempt to explore the notion of reality in Vedanta and Buddhism. I study the different realms of realities in both the schools and their understanding of it. Also, we have to keep in mind whether the statement, "everything that is real is not false" is necessarily true. This could lead us to the exploration of the relationship between the two—dialectic to be precise. Can one exist without the other? Isn't the affirmation of real done by also affirming the existence of that which is false by means of negation of falsity in a process to affirm what is essentially true, i.e. real? This appears to be a satisfactory idea for the recognition of that which is real, but it is not entirely devoid of that which is false because of the relationship established between the two earlier. This notion of reality does not satisfy the Buddhists and Vedantins. Thus, arises a necessity to categories different levels of reality in order to find the Absolute Reality, which is real qua real. This paper also points out as to how the above mentioned schools of ancient Indian philosophy influenced and enriched each other.
Kevin Stacy
A Case Against Tenure in Higher Education Establishments
United States Military Academy
The controversy surrounding tenure in an academic institution is an issue re-examined and debated almost every year. This paper examines the issues of equity and the problematic establishment of a tenure system within the higher education in the United States. I argue that the concept of a tenure system within higher education compromises the value and importance we place upon the cultivation and development of our society. I address four main arguments, which support tenure in higher education. These arguments contend that tenure is not only valuable, but also essential to the academic security, integrity, and autonomy of professors. This paper demonstrates how such arguments fail to address the essential importance of the profession of an educator. This paper also develops a constructive remedy to a tenure system similar to the evaluation process of the United States Army.
David Tulkin
The Hindu Problem of Evil, Suffering and Sin
Denison University
The solution to the problem of evil is one that has been contemplated by every religion. This paper will do three things: 1) demonstrate how the contemporary approach to The Problem of Evil is inadequate, irrelevant and not compatible with all schools of Hinduism, 2) propose an alternative perspective titled, "The Problem of Suffering and Sin," that is more relevant and appropriate for Hinduism as a whole, and 3) suggest the karma and rebirth solution as an acceptable solution to The Problem of Suffering and Sin.
John E. Turri, Jr.
Self-Critical Method in the Moral Philosophies of Plato and Aristotle
Wayne State University
Since the writings of Plato and Aristotle still occupy preeminent positions in the Western canon, it is worth inquiring into their methodological differences. In this paper, I examine a methodological difference between Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Their methods differ with respect to self-critical reflection, based on two criteria, conceptual rigor and what I call the inclusiveness of a theory. I find that Aristotle is more self-critical than is Plato. Concerning inclusiveness, Plato asserts that any theory of the good life must not only be theoretically sound but also be consistent with everyday standards of the good life, and Aristotle agrees. Plato demands more of others' theories than his own, while Aristotle subjects his own initial formulations to scrutiny and revises them to more accurately reflect ordinary usages, even at the expense of argumentative rigor. Concerning conceptual rigor, both men criticize others' theories if they are conceptually flawed or if they can think of one counterexample. Neither author subjects his theory to the same conceptual scrutiny to which he subjects others' theories. Therefore, presuming one values consistency and self-critical reflection, and assuming all other things are equal, one must conclude that Aristotle's method, though not ideal, is superior to Plato's.
Adrian M. Viens
Wittgenstein's Rejection of the Private Language Argument:
Implications of the Language-Game of Pain in the Patient-Physician Relationship
University of Toronto
By the time Ludwig Wittgenstein had completed the Philosophical Investigations, his notion of meaning in language had radically evolved from that of the Tractatus. No longer was the picture theory thought to be sufficient to account for meaning in our language. Instead, the meaning of a proposition was to be found in its use and the ability to correctly employ it in a particular language-game. Wittgenstein's rejection of the private language argument, using the example of the sensation of pain and its associated behaviour, provides a persuasive argument against the reasonableness of maintaining a view about the privacy of such objects in our language. In the course of this paper, I employ the patient-physician relationship as an ideal framework in which to examine the operation of the language-game of pain. Through the examination of the special case of disingenuous pain behaviour, I hope to elucidate some of the possible implications this may have for the language-game of pain as it has been traditionally conceived.
Caroline Marie Watral
A Representative Education
Pennsylvania State University
This paper is an investigation of the disconnectedness of the student and the institution in traditional education systems. Lorraine Code's account of positivistic epistemology is used to further elucidate issues common between traditional education and traditional epistemology. Code's recommendations for a more representative epistemology are used in this paper to support creating an educational experience that is relevant to the student. Such a learning system is both engaging and dialectical in nature. Additional consideration is given to the views of theorists like John Dewey, Paulo Freire, John Taylor Gatto and William James.
Nate Zuckerman
The Case for Post-Normal Science as an Integral Philosophy of Science
Haverford College
A new understanding of science—dubbed "post-normal" by Jerome Ravetz and Silvio O. Funtowicz—exemplifies the type of integrative approach necessary to bridge the fractured philosophical realities of postmodern pluralism. Not only does it acknowledge multiple perspectives and stakeholders in science-policy disputes; it goes a step further and essays the difficult task of reconciling their various interests, methods and partial-truths. This essay defends post-normal science's integrity—on epistemological, empirical and, finally, political grounds—concluding with possible criticisms and room for growth, as the post-normal "insight" (as Ravetz and Funtowicz call it) straightens out into becoming some sort of philosophical "theory" of science.
Website constructed and maintained by Douglas Shrader / Department Chair Philosc@Oneonta.edu November 28, 2001
