Philosophy Dissertations and Theses: Recent submissions
Now showing items 1-20 of 64
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Thomistic Approaches to Welfare Theory
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31)The purpose of this work is primarily to defend the Thomistic approach to well-being on three fronts. First, it is often said that objective theories of well-being are vulnerable to the objection that, if well-being is ... -
A Defense of the Moral Praiseworthiness of Anger
(University of Kansas, 2018-08-31)In this paper, I challenge criticisms concerning the moral use of anger in recent debates. Recently criticisms have emerged claiming that anger either always carries with it an irrational desire or that anger causes one ... -
How Can Human Intelligence Collection Be Morally Justified?
(University of Kansas, 2018-05-31)This paper is an exploration of the ethics of espionage, specifically as it pertains to the human dimension. In it, I discuss the ethical aspects of some specific cases and questions about which moral theory we should use ... -
Constructivism and the Liberal Dilemma
(University of Kansas, 2018-05-31)In this dissertation I show that constructivist liberal philosophers are confronted by a dilemma. On the one hand, the conceptions of persons that they appeal to are so thin that contradictory conclusions can be derived ... -
On the Efficacy of Character Education for Cultivating Virtue
(University of Kansas, 2018-05-31)This dissertation serves to support deliberate attempts to cultivate moral character. Character education faces criticism, some of which are inherited from its grounding in virtue theory. The aim of this dissertation is ... -
An Examination of Thomas Hurka's Virtue Consequentialism
(University of Kansas, 2017-12-31)In this dissertation, I examine three separate issues pertaining to Thomas Hurka’s virtue consequentialism. Hurka’s account describes virtue as a positive orientation towards a good, and a vice as a negative orientation ... -
Some remarks concerning the general theory of human social praxis and its relation to ethical theory
(University of Kansas, 1978) -
Against the Linguistic Strategy for the Ontic Conception of Scientific Explanation
(University of Kansas, 2017-05-31)Philosophers of science are interested in characterizing the nature of scientific explanation. Much of the debate has been about which format or structures best represent, and thus explain, scientific phenomena. Pushing ... -
ORGANISMS AND THE EXTENDED SELF: A RE-EVALUATION
(University of Kansas, 2016-05-31)In this paper I argue against Eric Olson, who argues that the extended mind thesis must be false if animalism—the view that human persons are numerically identical with biological organisms—is true. Whilst I agree with ... -
LIFE AND DEATH ISSUES IN BIOETHICS: ABORTION, PERSISTENT VEGETATIVE STATE, AND THE DEFINITION OF DEATH
(University of Kansas, 2015-12-31)This dissertation is comprised of three papers which consider prominent issues in bioethics. The three topics can be briefly stated as: 1) a refutation of the responsibility objection to abortion, 2) a rejection of the ... -
The Harmony Thesis and the Problem of Continence in Contemporary Virtue Ethics
(University of Kansas, 2016-12-31)Contemporary virtue ethicists have largely followed Aristotle in accepting what Karen Stohr calls the harmony thesis. This thesis claims that a virtuous agent will not experience inner conflict or pain when acting. His ... -
Does a consistent soul-theory exclude the animals?
(University of Kansas, 1929) -
Misunderstanding Davidson
(University of Kansas, 2016-08-31)The main aim of this dissertation is to offer, and to defend, an interpretation of Donald Davidson’s classic paper “Mental Events” which interpretation I take to be identical to Davidson’s intended interpretation. My ... -
The philosophy of Edwards
(University of Kansas, 1928) -
The Natures of Pride and Shame
(University of Kansas, 2016-05-31)In this dissertation, I explore the natures of emotional pride and shame. Using elements from Hume’s discussion of pride and humility in Book 2 of the Treatise, as well as Gabriele Taylor’s analysis of pride and shame in ... -
Parmenides' Theistic Metaphysics
(University of Kansas, 2016-05-31)The primary interpretative challenge for understanding Parmenides’ poem revolves around explaining both the meaning of, and the relationship between, its two primary sections: a) the positively endorsed metaphysical arguments ... -
The problem of immediate knowledge in the philosophy of Mr. Bertrand Russell and Mr. Bernard Bosanquet
(University of Kansas, 1927) -
Philosophical Methodology and its Implications for Experimental Philosophy
(University of Kansas, 2015-05-31)Since most philosophers accord some role to intuitions in the practice of philosophy, my dissertation’s first paper addresses an important subsidiary question: Whose intuitions should be allowed to play a role in proper ... -
The Primitive Thesis: Defending a Davidsonian Conception of Truth
(University of Kansas, 2015-05-31)In this dissertation I defend the claim, long held by Donald Davidson, that truth is a primitive concept that cannot be correctly or informatively defined in terms of more basic concepts. To this end I articulate the history ... -
Kant's Knowledge of Unknowable Things in Themselves: An Examination of the Doctrine of Ignorance and the Non-spatiotemporality Thesis
(University of Kansas, 2015-05-31)This dissertation is an examination of things in themselves as they are presented in the Critique of Pure Reason. Chapter 1 deals with Kant’s notion of a thing in itself generally. I argue that Kant uses ‘things in themselves’ ...