Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Other minds (Philosophy)'

If I am aware of my own mental states by introspection (a) How can I know that other people have minds? and (b) How can I know what their mental states are? These are two of the questions with which I will be concerned in this dissertation. I discuss five different attempts to deal with them. (i) The claim that we can know that other people have minds by an argument from analogy. I show a number of serious flaws in Russell's and other versions of this argument. (ii) Malcolm's thesis that the criteria by which we apply mental terms to others are just different from the criteria one applies in one's own case. I argue that Halcolm's accounts of both first- and third-person criteria are not adequate. (iii) I consider Strawson claim that 'persons' is a primitive concept and that behavioural criteria are "logically adequate" for determining the correctness of statements about the mental states of others. I argue that both of his key concepts are underanalysed. (iv) A quite different attempt to answer our questions (a) and (b) is given by the empirical realist who argues that knowledge claims about other minds are best understood as hypotheses in a wider psycho-physical theory. I show that the major fault in Putnam's version of empirical realism is that he overlooks the subjective character of (iii) our mental states. (v) Finally I consider the claim, due to Nagel, that a conception of mental states is possible which incorporates both subjective and objective aspects of the phenonemon. I speculate that with a great deal of development this approach might hold the answer to our questions.

Summary In chapter one I reject the thesis that a relation of partial entailment holds between probability evidence and conclusion, as also the claim that the propositions of applied geometry are synthetic a priori. By way of balance, I suggest that there may be a sense in which necessary conditions of discourse transcend the distinction between a priori and empirical. In chapter two I reject the claim that logical relations in the form of intrinsic probability enter into the no-miracles argument, which I suggest is frequency-connected in its more systematic applications, so that it belongs within a system. I begin chapter three with a critique of an attempted formal probability solution to Hume’s problem, and I now suggest that inductive inference has application only within a system in which its validity is pre-supposed in its premises, a concomitant of which is that the sceptic about induction cannot stop short of global scepticism. Since my aim is to show that global scepticism is self-refuting, given that intentionality may be analysed in terms of a system, I now develop that analysis by devoting chapter four to an examination of Wittgenstein on meaning and understanding. In chapter five I reject his thesis equating meaning and understanding with use, arguing instead that they are irreducible and subject to dispositionality conditions, and in furtherance of that argument I try to solve the problem of the authoritativeness of belief avowals by showing again that there are necessary conditions of discourse. These are such that selfascribing belief, crediting oneself with understanding and with being suitably disposed, are inherent in reasoning. In chapter six I weave the threads of the previous discussion into a solution by arguing that the sceptic about induction, who is committed to global scepticism, necessarily refutes himself. In chapter seven, on the problem of other minds, I attempt a solution by modifying the arguments used against inductive scepticism.

Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASCs) are marked by social-communicative difficulties and unusually fixed or repetitive interests, activities, and behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). In this thesis, I review empirically and conceptually based philosophic proposals that maintain the social-communicative difficulties exhibited by persons on the autism spectrum result from a lack of capacity to understand other persons as minded. I will argue that the social-communicative difficulties that characterize ASCs may instead result from a lack of ability to access other minds, and that this lack of ability is due to a contingent lack of external resources.

1) Objetivo El planteamiento de esta tesis tiene como objeto de investigación la representación del “otro” en el retrato fotográfico. El contexto histórico que manejamos incluye dos polaridades: por un lado los retratos documentales elaborados durante la colonia entre el s. XIX y principios del s. XX y por otro, obras de artistas contemporáneos cuyo marco conceptual pone a debate la herencia colonial en la contemporaneidad, mediante retratos de estilo documental. A partir de aquí han surgido cuestiones que vertebran el desarrollo de la investigación. ¿Cuáles son los estereotipos e imaginarios creados a partir del retrato antropológico colonial?, ¿Qué aspectos de estos estereotipos son utilizados por los artistas contemporáneos?, ¿Es la fotografía documental una construcción simbólica?, ¿Qué aporta el género documental en la construcción de imaginarios contemporáneos? 2) Metodología La metodología escogida es el análisis cualitativo de fotografías, con un énfasis en la perspectiva sociológica, que engloba el contexto cultural, social y político en el que se desarrollaron dichas imágenes. 3) Conclusiones La fotografía, tanto documental, como artística, es una construcción simbólica. A través de los artistas contemporáneos que hemos analizado a lo largo de ésta investigación, se demuestra que desde el arte se transgreden los modelos de representación del otro realizados durante la colonia. En los casos de estudio, se definen dos modelos de representación del retrato fotográfico: algunos artistas se apropian de fotografías documentales e históricas de la época colonial, para hacer un uso artístico de ellas y construir su propio proyecto de creación. Mientras que otros artistas generan fotografías nuevas, mimetizando las formas del documental, para aportar a sus proyectos una apariencia de veracidad histórica. La consecuencia final es la creación de un discurso en el que se evidencia la “colonialidad” contemporánea. La representación del “otro”, desde nuestro momento actual, desde la fotografía artística contemporánea, es una constante re-evaluación de paradigmas y de estereotipos, en donde la pluralidad, la multiplicidad y la hibridación son inherentes a la identidad del sujeto contemporáneo. .
1) Objective The main object of this researching is the representation of the otherness in photo portraits. Our historical context includes two polarities: one is about documental portraits doing during colonial period, between XIXth Century and beginnings XXth century; and by another hand, contemporary art works that discuss the contemporary colonial heritage through documentary-style portraits. During this itinerary of the development of research, we propose four main questions: What are the stereotypes and imaginaries created from colonial anthropological portraits?, What aspects of these stereotypes are used by contemporary artists?, Is documentary photography a symbolic construction?, What brings the documentary genre in contemporary imaginary building?. 2) Metodología The methodology is the qualitative analysis of photographs, with an emphasis on the sociological perspective, into the cultural, social and political context in which these images were developed. 3) Conclusiones The documentary and artistic photography are a symbolic construction. Through contemporary artists projects, the representation of the otherness transgress the prototypes made during the colony. In this researching we define two models of representation of photographic portraiture: some artists appropriate documentary and historical photographs from the colonial period, for making an artistic use and building your own creative projects. While other artists generate new photographs imitate the documentary genre, to bring to their projects a semblance of historical accuracy . The representation of the otherness, in our present time, into the contemporary art photography is a constant reassessment of paradigms and stereotypes, wherein the plurality, multiplicity and hybridization are inherent to the identity of the contemporary subject.

The United Nation’s mandate to engineer international peacecraft is correlated with the promotion of universal human rights. Universal human rights are held to apply consistently to everyone everywhere without conceivable exception. There is some debate as to whether universal human rights possibly exist. This debate centers around two difficulties: 1) the task of identifying a single trait or capability that all human beings necessarily share, and 2) the task of relating human rights to this trait or capability. Conventional epistemic justifications defending the existence of universal human rights attempt to address both difficulties. However, they have become the focus of numerous criticisms. By conducting systematizing and critically reviewing text analyses, I will conclude that conventional epistemic justifications are unable to refute standard criticisms satisfactorily. In their place, I will introduce an epistemic justification from the philosophy of mind. I will attempt to demonstrate that this justification is capable of 1) identifying a single trait that all human beings necessarily share, 2) relating human rights to this trait, and 3) satisfactorily refuting the standard criticisms raised against conventional epistemic theories. I have produced this paper in the hope of further legitimizing the UN’s mandate to engineer international peacecraft by providing a more philosophically optimal justification of claims affirming the existence of universal human rights.

La present investigació parteix de la urgència de revisar la poesia catalana contemporània des dels paràmetres de la teoria literària que abracen la representació del desig. Partint de l’estreta vinculació entre aquest marc teòric i les noves formulacions del subjecte líric postmodern, hem proposat l’estudi de tres grans poètiques que han marcat, cada una d’elles en el seu context socioliterari, un punt d’inflexió a la poesia catalana des d’aquest quadre teòric: Gabriel Ferrater, Maria-Mercè Marçal i Enric Casasses. Per aquest motiu, l’objectiu central de la tesi és demostrar, a través de la categoria del desig, com l’alteritat eroticoamorosa és un dels centres de representació i experimentació dels límits del subjecte poètic i quins efectes té en la construcció de la identitat textual i en el que hem anomenat matèria-emoció. La tesi no pretén ser un estudi comparatiu dels tres autors, sinó que, capturant les tres trajectòries en paral•lel, situa cada poètica en un punt de no retorn respecte al desig i la seva representació. Atès això, és, metafòricament, el signe desig, en els seus tres plans, el que unifica els tres paradigmes que hem sotmès a anàlisi: Gabriel Ferrater com a referent, Maria-Mercè Marçal en qualitat de significat i Enric Casasses, portador del significant. El primer capítol va més enllà de la ruptura moderna entre escriptura i exaltació d’una subjectivitat única i monolítica, per comprendre en què consisteix la dissolució del jo líric en tant que fonament de l’enunciació del subjecte en el vers. És una proposta metodològica que, prenent com a centre l’intent de construcció d’una teoria del poema basada en l’expansió del jo cap a l’Altre, analitza algunes de les variables retòriques i ontològiques que coparticipen en la formulació teòrica de subjecte líric incomplet o fragmentat en el moment d’enunciar-se. D’aquesta manera, amb una voluntat de teixir uns ítems teòrics per on circuli el concepte de jo líric versus l’Altre (poesia de l’alteritat, “llei de l’assentiment”, “apropiació” de l’enunciat o, sobretot, matèria-emoció), l’escriptura poètica es concep com un joc de forces entre la performativitat del subjecte líric i la recerca de la seva pròpia subjectivitat. Aquesta crisi del subjecte i la impossibilitat de restituir una relació unilateral respecte a l’Altre, cobren una especial rellevància quan el motor o força que activa la relació d’alteritat és el moviment que impulsa el jo fora de les seves pròpies estructures per atènyer l’altre/a (subjecte desitjat) o absorbir-lo: el desig. La segona part del primer capítol està destinada a definir les aproximacions teòriques sobre la representació del desig —encercades en un posicionament postestructuralista conjuminat amb la crítica literària feminista—, que ens permeten assentar les coordenades interpretatives per portar a terme l’estudi de la formalització de tres subjectes lírics que cerquen en l’escriptura el seu propi esdevenir com a subjectes desitjants. Així és que al llarg del segon capítol hem interrogat les tres poètiques resseguint els espais comuns erigits en la nostra proposta de marc interpretatiu. Per fer-ho, ens hem centrat en Les dones i els dies de Gabriel Ferrater, amb especial èmfasi a “Teoria dels cossos”. En el cas de Maria-Mercè Marçal, hem estudiat exhaustivament el primer poemari que inaugura l’escriptura del desig lèsbic, Terra de Mai, tot establint una contigüitat temàtica amb “Sang presa” (dins de La germana, l’estrangera). I, finalment, hem resseguit la poesia d’Enric Casasses d’una forma transversal, a partir de les obres més significatives entorn al subjecte de recerca, com ara La cosa aquella, “Alquímia d’amor” (dins de Començament dels començaments i ocasió de les ocasions), D’equivocar-se així, Calç i, sobretot, Do’m. Drama en tres actes. Primer de tot, hem definit les coordenades del subjecte desitjant en relació amb el subjecte del desig, la qual cosa ens ha exigit l’anàlisi de l’enunciació del jo líric, respectivament. La recerca de les directrius fundacionals de les subjectivitats líriques —actives des del moment en què sorgeix la demanda del desig (implícita o explícita)―, han fet palesa, progressivament, la problemàtica suficiència ontològica del subjecte que deriva, al seu torn, de l’encontre amb l’altre/a. Així hem arribat a mesurar la distància inexorable que separa el jo del tu, amb resultats ben diferents. Ferrater, que anihila sorprenentment el subjecte líric, ha estat el primer port d’una singladura que, en arribar a Marçal, ens ha permès conèixer la continuïtat del ser: el despertar del desig és l’origen de la individuació dels subjectes agents del plaer en detriment de la compleció identitària. I hem navegat, finalment, fins a Casasses, qui defensa al llarg de la seva obra una individuació com a centre ètic de l’acte amorós. En una segona part, hem estudiat la representació de l’altre/a en cada corpus poètic. En el cas de Ferrater, les dones no només activen l’alteritat eroticoamorosa concreta en cada poema, sinó que, des d’un punt de vista metapoètic, esdevenen constitutives de la subjectivitat lírica en la recerca de la identitat que té lloc al llarg de Les dones i els dies. Partint de la figura de “Teseu”, poema que emmiralla i significa el procés d’escriptura poètica, hem explorat la formalització del desig en funció de les diferents representacions de la dona en paral•lel amb les posicions enunciatives del jo líric. Al llarg d’aquest recorregut, la representació del cos del desig (la fragmentació, la carícia, la mirada, etc.) i l’espai on aquest cos s’esdevé (la cambra), han estat els dos epicentres mitjançant els quals hem conclòs que la dona es presenta com un cos resistent que guia el jo líric a negar, paradoxalment, el mateix desig. La impossibilitat de satisfer el desig es manifesta, així, amb una reformulada pèrdua dels límits del subjecte desitjant. En els versos marçalians el desig emergeix com un gran torrent que arrossega al jo líric a mesurar-se en la distància que la separa de l’altra. A partir de l’altra especular, les primeres sextines de Terra de mai obren un nou ordre del jo i del tu en el discurs amorós: l’equivalència física dels cossos amants/amats extrema la fusió tant física com amorosa que es convertirà en l’acció transformadora i afirmativa de la identitat. Amb això, Marçal desarticula la gestió fal•logocèntrica del desig i l’ubica com una categoria des de la qual emprèn la construcció d’una subjectivitat lírica femenina i lèsbica. En aquest sentit, mitjançant la presència nítida d’una exploració i reconstrucció del cos de dona albirat des del desig homoeròtic, la poeta desplega la renovació d’una simbologia eròtica que configura un cosmos corporal totalment nou: cossos d’aigua i sang. Marçal busca en els fluids corporals femenins (l’aigua, la sang menstrual, la sang del trau o, fins i tot, el vòmit), la transposició dels marges corporals als textuals, convertint el poema no en un paral•lel verbal de l’experiència del desig sinó en un paral•lel corporal. En un primer moment, la representació de l’altra és indissociable de les imatges especulars (aigua o mirall). Aquesta és la fase de continuïtat, de la compleció identitària a través de l’experiència de la jouissance, i està constituïda per tres eixos: la confusió dels límits entre el jo i la seva altra, la fusió de les dues subjectivitats i l’afirmació de la unicitat amb el verb “som”. A continuació, hem resseguit com aquest “ser u” es trenca a mesura que el jo poètic es va singularitzant. Aquest segon moment és on el desig irromp al llenguatge del plaer i es converteix en una passió altament destructiva. La dissimilació amb el tu i la nostàlgia de la “fal•laç utopia d’una fusió absoluta” bolquen el poema cap a un jo poètic mutilat, que cerca un cos absent i l’espai de plenitud d’un subjecte líric que es troba irreparablement ferit (“Sang presa”). La poesia de Casasses trava la representació de l’altre amorós en la modalitat dialògica dels versos (el parlar). El fenomen de l’enunciació poètica casassiana s’emmarca en unes estructures poemàtiques que invoquen, des de l’origen, el Tu, apel•lant, així, al problema estrictament postmodern de la unicitat del jo líric i de la identitat en el procés d’escriptura. Atès això, el poema es convertirà en un dir ofert a l’Altre com a demanda del llenguatge, motiu pel qual el desig emergeix com a motor de l’escriptura poètica. Abans d’endinsar-nos específicament a l’eclosió del Tu en tant que altre amorós, ha calgut esclarir les coordenades generals del Tu en majúscules per esbossar els trets fonamentals de la significació poètica. Així, doncs, hem analitzat com es despleguen els diferents tu en l’enunciació, ja sigui quan aquest refereix al lector o a la poesia (recursos metapoètics), quan correspon a l’amor/desig (governador del subjecte de l’escriptura) i, finalment, quan el tu condensa l’altre amorós (amor particular). En aquest darrer cas, hem proposat una possible escala de transcendència del tu respecte al jo líric: d’un tu amorós totalitzador (la lluna) fins al subjecte del desig, la dona. Paral•lelament, la representació de l’amada és indissociable del concepte d’emoció lírica creada a través de la modelització del dir del jo poètic. Per aquest fet, hem classificat la irrupció del subjecte desitjat en diferents graus de referencialitat: el “tu” present, el “tu” absent i el “tu” de destinació. En un tercer apartat, hem intentat respondre a una de les grans problemàtiques que giren entorn a les escriptures del desig: és possible la seva representació? Ferrater ens enfronta davant de l’indicible. La poètica ferrateriana se situa en un distanciament deliberat de les emocions, la qual cosa circumscriu l’expressió del desig en el marc d’allò incomunicable de l’experiència. Consegüentment, hem abordat la formalització del desig a través del concepte d’imaginació tot analitzant com el poeta aconsegueix elevar l’energia emotiva del llenguatge a partir de les relacions entre la paraula i els seus absents, i com això ens permet parlar del poema en tant que matèria-emoció. Així mateix, hem conclòs que Ferrater captura l’indicible en el text jugant amb els límits representatius del llenguatge. Per abordar les escriptures del desig marçaliana i casassiana hem recorregut als plecs de la matèria-emoció encarats a l’écart: la fractura de l’epidermis del poema causada per l’erupció de la vida corporal, pulsional i afectiva del subjecte de l’escriptura. El ritme pulsional del desig (escena d’escriptura i escena amorosa) i la veu (poiesis) es converteixen en els fonaments de la construcció d’unes subjectivitats líriques que s’inscriuen en una posició femenina, allà on el cos amb estat d’apetència cerca la continuïtat en l’escriptura. Concretament, hem resseguit la formalització de l’absència de l’altra en els versos de Marçal, la qual recorre a figuracions com l’espera, el buit, la desfeta del mirall, l’assassinat dels cossos en plenitud, entre altres imatges que activen el salt de l’eros al thanatos; així com, també, les estructures interrogatives que signifiquen la impossibilitat d’experimentar el desig del desig de l’altra. Respecte a l’obra de Casasses, el poeta troba en la forma dramàtica el mitjà idoni per experimentar les possibilitats de la representació del desig: Do’m. Mitjançant una exegesi detallada del drama, hem pogut concloure que, tal com postula Barthes, l’única construcció textual possible d’allò amorós es troba en formular el que té d’intractable, i això només es pot representar a partir de l’acció mateixa. Talment, Casasses porta a l’extrem la modalitat dialògica pròpia de la seva poesia per escenificar l’encontre amorós i la construcció in progress del subjecte desitjant a través del dir-se l’amor. Finalment, la investigació intenta oferir una resposta al voltant de la conjunció desig, subjectivitat lírica i identitat. Aquestes tres coordenades ens permeten elevar les diferents representacions del desig a l’alçada de les millors poètiques contemporànies. L’ètica i l’estètica ferrateriana es congreguen en l’espai de l’erotisme moral. Ferrater concep el vers com un mètode fenomenològic a través del qual inscriu una actitud poètica que no es pot pensar sense la formalització del subjecte desitjant. Atès això, amb Les dones i els dies s’inaugura la categoria del desig en relació amb els límits d’expressió del subjecte líric. Marçal obre les portes a l’espai literari femení i lèsbic amb una escriptura poètica creadora de nous àmbits per a l’expressió del desig. La cerca d’un nou ordre simbòlic en el llenguatge poètic està estretament vinculada amb la construcció d’una subjectivitat tant política com poètica, un dels trets principals de la qual és la reivindicació i afirmació del plaer sexual femení. D’aquesta manera, el desig a l’obra de la poeta és portador d’una actitud i praxi política que troba la seva màxima expressió en la conquesta d’una llengua abolida. Per acabar, Casasses invoca l’espai de la paraula viva per articular l’acompliment de la funció poètica. A través de la poesia recitada, ja sigui des d’un punt de vista teòric com en la seva performance escènica, construeix una nova i fundacional experiència poètica que troba el seu paral•lel amb l’experiència amorosa. En aquest nou espai de circulació de la paraula poètica hi situa una subjectivitat lírica fundada en el moviment ètic cap a l’altre encarnat en el cos, la veu i el ritme.
Poetics of desire. Alterity and writing in the work of Gabriel Ferrater, Maria-Mercè Marçal and Enric Casasses The starting point of this research is the need to review contemporary Catalan poetry from the parameters of a literary theory that embrace the representation of desire. Considering the close relation between this theoretical framework and the new approaches to the postmodern lyric subject, this thesis studies three important poetics that in their own socioliterary context have imprinted a turning point in Catalan poetry: Gabriel Ferrater, Maria-Mercè Marçal and Enric Casasses. In addition to the study of the modern division between writing and the exaltation of a unified and monolithic subjectivity, this thesis analyzes the rhetoric and ontological possibilities that coparticipate in the inscription of a postmodern lyrical subject and poetic endeavor. Furthermore, this thesis particularly reflects on the construction of textual identity for the lyrical self, which is understood as a quest for one’s own subjectivity. The thesis’ final part studies love alterity as a core for the representation and experimentation of the boundaries of the poetic subject. The theoretical approaches on the representation of desire ―which are inscribed in a poststructuralist positioning together with feminist literary criticism― set the terms for the methodological guidelines that justify the chosen triangle. These approaches also allowed us to demonstrate how the erotic-love poetry is the epicenter of the poetry and poetics of these three authors. The exegesis of their work has oriented the research towards the study of the constructions of the lyrical self, paying special attention to: a) writing, opening towards the Other, b) the subject of enunciation as desiring subject, c) the representations of the loving other, d) the writing of desire, and e) moral and poetics. Lastly, we have outlined the itineraries that give shape to the writing of desire in Catalan poetry and, we have emphasized as an opening gesture, how the poetics of the three authors establish new poetic subjectivities through the rhetoric of love alterity.

My art distills my relationship to spirituality, digital culture, and the practices and side-effects therein, into a simplified visual language. The work manifests in the form of paintings, drawings, and light sculptures. Meditation and mindfulness training are a large part of my influence and interests. I often wonder how mindfulness practice can be mirrored in my artwork, not only in my process for creating the work, but also with what the resulting imagery does for the viewer. My intention is to provide an art form that invites one to look and experience one’s own capacity to observe, without the need for immediate intellectualization. I wish to offer people an opportunity to focus their attention on the phenomenological sensations that emanate from the art, to take a step back from the conceptual part of the mind, and step into a part that’s more fundamental to our moment to moment reality.

An argument for the compatibility of causal determinism and free will. Draws on recently conducted philosophical experimentation related to intuition and development of the intuition of agent-causal accounts of free will in children. Argues that regardless of the intuition held, the manner in which people arise to these intuitions shows that the working definition of free will is different than people posit. Lays groundwork for why the working definition of free will is compatible with causal determinism.

This thesis is an investigation into the phenomenon which Shozo Ohmori (1921-1997) considered “a peculiar manner of awareness”, and to which he attributed the term ‘fancy’. The objective is to achieve an approximate understanding of Ohmori’s theory of ‘fancy’, as it relates to awareness of entities in three-dimensional space, and the extensions mentioned in his only publication in English: “Beyond Hume’s Fancy” (1974). This objective will be realized by asking three questions. The first question is how we are to understand the demarcation of the different phenomena of awareness which Ohmori identifies. The second question that this thesis asks is what applications that the phenomenon ‘fancy’ mentioned in Ohmori’s account have, as Ohmori saw it. Having answered these questions, I will then make an assessment of another salient consideration: how does Ohmori’s employment of the term ‘fancy’ relate to Hume’s employment of the same term (seeing as the name of Ohmori’s article makes such a reference). As we shall see, Ohmori is attempting to identify a more specific phenomenon than the widely discussed issue of thinking about something that is not currently perceivable in our perceptual field. The third and final question that this thesis asks is whether there are any salient issues with Ohmori’s theory of ‘fancy’ and, if so, whether those issues can be resolved. When we are aware of entities in three-dimensional space, we are subject to various mental processes. Our awareness, seemingly, uses different modes of interpretation and orientation. In other words, our ‘point of view’ (which is something that not only pertains to the use of our visual sensory organs) determines both our place and relation towards other entities. One salient issue when considering the notion of awareness is how and by which order awareness emerges. Impressions, as David Hume would call them, seemingly precede our ideas. Sense-data, as Shozo Ohmori phrased it, is unquestionably inseparable from conceptions. Our conceptions, in turn, seem to inform our perceptions with expectations and predictions of how things are. When we perceive an entity, we are ready to make judgements about its being at this moment. When we see the front of a desk, we are ready to claim awareness of said desk-front as part of a desk (which entails the ontology of a desk, namely, being a three-dimensional construction of a particular variety). In everyday situations we simply speak of such an awareness as ‘perception’ when in actuality, all we see (which constitutes the sense-data or content of a perception) is the front of a desk. It seems we cannot regard our awareness of a desk (a three-dimensional entity) as a perception simpliciter. Of course, by having a notion of what a desk is, our awareness is pregnant with a ‘conception’ in the form of an idea that is informing our awareness of said desk. But our conceptual understanding of the notion of something being a desk is not enough to explain what our awareness of a desk-at-this-moment is. At least, that is what Ohmori thought.

Are implicit biases something we can rightly be held responsible for, and if so, how? A variety of social and cognitive psychological studies have documented the existence of wide-ranging implicit biases for over 30 years. These implicit biases can best be described as negative mental attitudes that operate immediately and unconsciously in response to specific stimuli. The first chapter of this thesis surveys the psychological literature, as well as presents findings of real-world experiments into racial biases. I then present the dominant model of implicit attitudes as mere associations, followed by evidence that at least some implicit attitudes take on a propositional form and involve making inferences based on evidence. I then reject adopting either of these two rigid models in favor of a dispositional approach that treats implicit biases as on the same spectrum of, but adjacent to, beliefs. I then evaluate the moral wrongdoing associated with holding explicitly prejudicial beliefs, appealing first to Kantian notions of respecting individuals as agents, then appealing to Strawson’s argument that we are responsible for expressions of our will. Our status as human agents involves participating in complex and sustained interactions with others, which necessarily implies that we take part in the social practice of holding each other responsible for the quality of their will. The reactive attitudes we display in our everyday interactions indicate which features and circumstances are most important when investigating this practice. After applying this approach to implicit attitudes, I then pose the objection that their unconscious and unendorsed nature disqualifies implicit attitudes as proper expressions of our will. I develop this objection using Scanlon’s account of moral responsibility, which requires the capacity to self-govern in light of principles that are generally agreed upon as good reasons for guiding interactions with one another. Finally, I critique Real Self theories that seek to arbitrarily privilege one part of ourselves in favor of the Whole Self, which privileges those features that are most integrated into our overall character.

This paper will introduce the theory of blame and demonstrate how it relates to self-blame. I will begin by first highlighting two competing definitions of blame. The first of these forms, upheld by two prominent philosophers, Thomas Scanlon and Linda Radzik, looks at blame as impairing relationships. Both philosophers study how wrongful actions cause impairments in relationships and argue that blame is utilized to the extent of that impairment. Reactive emotions, according to them, are simply a byproduct of blame and not of quintessential importance to the theory of blame. The second form of blame, presented by Susan Wolf and R. Jay Wallace, refutes the Impaired Relations Theory and, instead, studies the theory of blame in accordance with reactive emotions. These two philosophers contend that blame is the reactive attitudes one has, or should have, towards wrongful actions. These emotions are, therefore, required in order for an agent to be blamed. This paper will first thoroughly outline the differences between these two forms of blame. It will then introduce the notion of self-blame with respect to these four philosophers’ viewpoints and compare them to one another. It will ultimately conclude by revealing how the Reactive Attitudes Theory represents a more accurate account of self-blame.

In this thesis, I answer the gamer's dilemma or the inability to find a moral distinction between virtual pedophilia and virtual murder. I expand virtual pedophilia to virtual rape to address increasing rates of sexual harassment and assault in virtual reality. In this thesis, I 1) explain what occurs when one engages in virtual rape; 2) identify relevant moral differences between physical rape and virtual rape; 3) challenge the existing relationship between committing harm and wrong in the case of rape; and 4) argue that virtual rape is morally reprehensible due to the agent’s intention to utilize a person as a mere tool for pleasure.

This thesis is made of two main parts. First main part of the thesis is based on the qualitative enquiry of twenty-three Aikido participants from different levels - beginner, intermediate, advanced- from three different dojos. Open ended questions regarding the difference of Aikido from other sports is asked to the participants. Their written responses were coded using qualitative methods. Based on coding of documents: labels, categories and themes have been generated. Second main part of this thesis is based on the discussion of those findings. The discussion between different levels, the comparison with other findings in Aikido Literature was done. Lastly and largely the position of findings and possible arguments it can generate in the Philosophy of Sports Literature are discussed.

This dissertation attempts to interrogate whether the postmodern anti-essentialist approach to the body can truly recognize the ethical value of the body. For the postmodernists, the value of the human body has long been repressed by Cartesian rationalism and dualism that privileges the mind over the body. Dualism is a form of reductionism that reduces either the mind to the body or the body to the mind. It not only fails to recognize an interaction between mind and body, but also privileges one side at the expense of the other. For instance, rationalism is a dualist reductionism since it always explains the body and matter in terms of mind or reason. Thus, dualism not only refers to a split or separation between mind and body, but also refers to a reductive relation between mind and body.

My thesis is about Virginia Woolf’s novels, Mrs. Dalloway, The Waves, and To the Lighthouse. I examine these novels in relation to the theories of Henri Bergson, William James, and Sigmund Freud, and the groundwork of Modernism. I relate Woolf's use of water imagery and stream of consciousness technique to Bergson’s theory of “la durée,” or psychological, subjective time, James’ “stream of consciousness” theory in psychology, and Freud’s theory of the “oceanic” feeling of religious experience.

The return to body awareness, or embodiment, is necessary for individual and communal harmony. A reflection on the use of dance in tribal societies suggests their importance in creating community and identifies how they were prohibited during colonization and thereafter. Subsequently, an investigation into current American culture in the 21st century finds a disembodied culture, as defined by the lack of awareness to the body as a living entity. Embodiment practices are suggested for a return to individual harmony and communal dancing as the solution for community harmony. Lastly, a personal exploration into the making and creating of danced rituals suggests the power of dance to heal, transform, and unite humanity.

In this thesis I examine various theories of humor to establish an account of the functional roles of humor in social interaction and agentive development. These roles are integrated into a view of agency developed by G.H. Mead, and further refined by the recognition theory of Axel Honneth. The core thesis is: Humor is under-examined as an aspect of human interaction, because it plays such an integral role in individual agency and social development. Understanding how humor works helps to explain how agents are formed through the internalization of the expectations of others via processes of recognition, either positively or negatively. Through the explication of the core humor theories—superiority, relief, incongruity, and play—insight is offered into the various processes of basic human interaction, understanding, and identity. The work has theoretical application by proving Mead's and Honneth's emphasis on recognition for development is justified, while also correcting an overly positive view of recognition by outlining the social policing function of humor. But the thesis has also obvious practical value in day to day human interaction, as it shows that humor is able to address issues that are very difficult through other modes of communication and understanding. Humor’s role in agentive interaction and formation cannot be overstated, both as a mode of expression and coping, but also since the threat of embarrassment through ridicule underpins and motivates a great deal of human interaction. The negative ethical implications of the role of humor, which are often overlooked, are extensively outlined and developed through the conceptual frameworks of social power (punching-up and punching down) as well as act-centered vs. agent-centered views of discriminatory humor. The thesis offers and analyzes ready examples from the work of Chris Rock and Bill Cosby, and looks at the implications of each through the theoretical lenses fleshed out in previous chapters. Through this it is clearly demonstrated, not only how these theories interconnect, but as well how such knowledge is of obvious, and practical value in day-to-day human interaction.

The popularization of academic spaces that combine Buddhist philosophy with the literature of the Romantic period – a discipline I refer to as Buddhist Romantic Studies – have exposed the lack of scholarly attention Samuel Taylor Coleridge and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner have received within such studies. Validating Coleridge’s right to exist within Buddhist Romantic spheres, my thesis argues that Coleridge was cognizant of Buddhism through historical and textual encounters. To create a space for The Rime within Buddhist Romantic Studies, my thesis provides an interpretation of the poem that centers on the concept of prajna, or wisdom, as a vital tool for cultivating the mind. Focusing on prajna, I argue that the Mariner’s didactic story traces his cognitive voyage from ignorance to enlightenment. By examining The Rime within the framework of Buddhism, readers will also be able to grasp the importance of cultivating the mind and transcending ignorance.

Many philosophical subjects attempt to analyze the basis of human welfare. Theories of desert, distribution of property, and happiness tend to dominate philosophical discourse. Mental credit, which is the mental acquisition of credit for one’s accomplishments and the satisfaction one derives from this credit, is absent from this discourse despite its underlying role in the way people think about their lives. Mental credit is an eternal cognitive good that deserves thoughtful attention and pious decisions for implementation. The following theory of mental credit seeks to serve as a unifying theory for the mental calculations that guide life’s most imperative decisions, satisfaction, and impact one has on the world.

Through discursive essays and poetic narrative, Antithetical Commentaries on X, Y and the Disruption of Being explores the tenuous relationship between modes of measurement and the struggle for human relevance in the post-contemporary digital age. In the introductory essay, “Not the Feather, but the Bird”, I give an overview of the inherent problems of object-oriented ontology, and how it relates to aesthetics and social issues of our times. In the Developmental Overview, I detail how I developed my installation approach and techniques, particularly with regard to the three-way dynamic of the artist:work:viewer relationship and how it can encourage a ‘transgression’ that leads to the possibility of a transformative awareness of being. Subsequently, I present a series of ‘antithetical’ commentaries that neither explain nor expand the installation, rather, they create a non-binary duality that, through an entirely non-linear anti-narrative, work to erode the overlay of personal, civic and collective grids present in the memory space/time referenced in the video, TAG. Finally, in “Grid: Towards a Transgressive Humanism.” I propose a path by which installation art might serve to create transgressive opportunities for viewers, rather than the transcendence sought through religious rituals, which often reinforce stigmas, fears and authoritarian social dynamics, or worse, the reductive loop, of many contemporary approaches to art which proclaim their detachment in wordy displays, essentially leading to a form of aesthetic nihilism. This Transgressive Humanism is not presented as a dogma, but rather a revitalization of the work as a vessel of possibilities, an agent of creative growth for the artist and the viewer.

Neuroaesthetics is the study of the brain’s response to artistic stimuli. The neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran contends that art is primarily “caricature” or “exaggeration.” Exaggerated forms hyperactivate neurons in viewers’ brains, which in turn produce specific, “universal” responses. Ramachandran identifies a precursor for his theory in the concept of rasa (literally “juice”) from classical Hindu aesthetics, which he associates with “exaggeration.” The canonical Sanskrit texts of Bharata Muni’s Natya Shastra and Abhinavagupta’s Abhinavabharati, however, do not support Ramachandran’s conclusions. They present audiences as dynamic co-creators, not passive recipients. I believe we could more accurately model the neurology of Hindu aesthetic experiences if we took indigenous rasa theory more seriously as qualitative data that could inform future research.

Working through methods of abstraction and comedic mimicry I choreograph awkwardly balanced sculpture with objects of adornment as a means to defuse personal sensitivities surrounding my experiences of gender, desire, and home. The research that follows is concerned with the adjacent, the in between, above and underneath, because I feel that this kind of looking means that you are, to some degree, aware of what lies at the edges. Maybe this is what Gertrude Stein means to act as though there is no use in a center—because this concerns a way of relating, though there are many things in the room. ‘A spectacle and nothing strange’ is an arrangement of gestures, of made difference, of kinships, of orientations and possible futures, sustained tension, coded adornment, big dyke energy, shifts in hardness, leaning softness, much more than flowers, ...and in any case there is sweetness and some of that.

This thesis examines the methods used by the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), more commonly known as the Stasi, or East German secret police, for extraction of information from citizens of the German Democratic Republic for the purpose of espionage and covert operations inside East Germany, as it pertains to the deliberate brainwashing of East German citizens. As one of the most efficient intelligence agencies to ever exist, the Stasi’s main purpose was to monitor the population, gather intelligence, and collect or turn informants. They used brainwashing techniques to control the people of the GDR, keeping the populace paralyzed with fear and paranoia. By surrounding themselves with a network of informants they prevented actions against the dictatorial communist regime. Using the video testimonies of former prisoners, and former confidential informants who worked closely with and collaborated with Stasi agents, in combination with periodicals and previous historical studies, this work argues that the East German Police State’s brainwashing techniques had long and lasting consequences both for German citizens, and for the psychiatric health of former GDR citizens. The scope and breadth of the techniques and data compiled for use by the Stasi were exhaustive, and the repercussions of their use are still being felt and discovered twenty five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. This study aims to show the lasting effects brainwashing had on former informants and the Stasi’s victims.

In the midst of honing my craft as an educator, this ethnographic narrative was done for the purposes of taking an introspective look at the many moving parts of becoming an effective educator as well as developing an ethnographic view of the students who will pass through my classroom during my tenure as an educator. This ethnographic narrative examines my individual background, the educational spaces within which I find myself, communities I serve, and the students I was given the privilege of building relationships with within the classroom. This project serves as an in-depth analysis of the implicit biases one might hold as a teacher and a vehicle for continual introspection on my part as an effective and culturally-aware educator.

This thesis and its corresponding art installation, Lessons from Ziggy, attempts to deconstruct the variables prevalent within several complex systems, analyze their transformations, and propose a methodology for reasserting the soap box within the display pedestal. In this text, there are several key and specific examples of the transformation of various signifiers (i.e. media-bred fear’s transformation into a political tactic of surveillance, contemporary freneticism’s transformation into complacency, and community’s transformation into nationalism as a state weapon). In this essay, all of these concepts are contextualized within the exponential growth of new technologies. That is to say, all of these semiotic developments must be framed within the post-Internet sphere.

Through research, inquiry, and an evaluation of Recovery By Design, a ‘design therapy’ program that serves people with mental illness, substance use disorders, and developmental disabilities, it is my assertion that the practice of design has therapeutic potential and can aid in the process of recovery. To the novice, the practices of conception, shaping form, and praxis have empowering benefit especially when guided by Conditional and Transformation Design methods together with an emphasis on materiality and vernacular form.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2010.
Title from title page screen (viewed on July 20, 2010). Thesis advisor: Steven N. Waller. Vita. Keywords: charc, flow, mystery trance, mystery zombie, mysticism. Includes bibliographical references.