Browsing by Author "Webb, Mark O."
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Item A comprehensive study of anatta and its relative truth within Buddhism(2006-12) Stout, Jerry; Webb, Mark O.; Kim, SungsuOften-times we question how two rational, logical, and intelligent people can observe a scenario or argument and come away with varying degrees of belief. The question of personal identity is no different, the self maintains its critics and followers, it is well documented through argumentation, defense, and theory, but though these arguments exist on three sides as rational and passionate defenses, debate continues between the three unique and well-founded sides of this issue. Whether it's the reductionist, the non-reductionist, or the no-self theorist, debate and disagreement exists over the consistency of doctrine and the viability of the theories presented by each group. To understand and decipher the elements of the debate, I propose a relative understanding of the question of personal identity, one consistent with the doctrine of Philosophical Relativity advocated by Peter Unger. Through careful study of the critiques, counter-theories, and counter-arguments of the doctrine of anatta, I seek to provide compelling reasons to doubt that an absolute answer to the question of the self is possible but also that a relative understanding of the no-self doctrine is plausible. Moreover, I focus on a new and distinct interpretation of the teachings of the Buddha, one of the central proponents of the no-self theory, whereby we consider a connection between the doctrine of Philosophical Relativity and one of the core metaphysical doctrines of Buddhism. Thus, I seek to accomplish two important tasks: I seek to cast doubt upon the absolute assumptions which drive the debate within personal identity, and I further hope to argue for a new interpretation of the Buddha’s teachings that is both consistent with the possible relative nature of the question of personal identity and true to the doctrine of anatta itself.Item A place for moral theory in the argument from evil(2012-08) Reed, Robert P; Webb, Mark O.; Schwartz, JeremyArguments from evil intend to prove that the existence of an all-powerful and morally-perfect being would preclude the existence of evil. Such arguments hold that the absence of evil is a necessary consequence of a morally-perfect and all-powerful being existing. Yet evil does exist and so by modus tollens, God must not. Despite the presence of unmistakably moral terms in these arguments such as “evil” and “morally-perfect”, treatments of the problem of evil in the philosophical literature have avoided discussing the related normative and metaethical issues and so have hindered the progress of the debate. Whether or not the attributes of being all-powerful and being morally-perfect do in fact preclude the existence of evil is substantially (if not entirely) determined by the moral or normative structure of the world: the moral truths about good, evil, normativity, right action etc. and any properties and facts about the world needed to ground them (supposing moral truths require such grounding). So the very same truths moral philosophers seek while doing normative ethics will largely determine whether the existence of a morally-perfect and omnipotent being precludes the existence of evil. The truth about God and evil hinges upon the truth about morality. Thus, the question of whether or not God and evil can coexist cannot be answered without committing to the sorts of normative claims at issue in moral philosophy.Item Cicero's Paradoxa stoicorum: a new translation with philosophical commentary(Texas Tech University, 1985-05) Webb, Mark O.Not availableItem Complete radical skepticism(2007-05) Fitzpatrick, Kevin; Weiner, Matt; Hazlett, Allan; Webb, Mark O.Many contemporary philosophers believe that skeptical arguments are important as they reveal flaws in our reasoning, the removal of which helps us to fine tune 'good' epistemology. However, few, if any, seem to take the position of skepticism seriously, at least as a potential position to hold. In the following pages I will try to lay out why I take skepticism seriously, why I cannot escape it and why my ignorance may have some significance for other philosophers. The skepticism that I wish to defend is best described as a complete form of radical skepticism, hereafter referred to as radical skepticism or just skepticism. By 'complete' I mean that there is no belief or belief forming process that is immune from its skeptical doubts, including the skeptical doubts themselves. A proponent of this form of skepticism is unable to find any was to give any belief at any time the status of being rational.Item Differing discourses on art between art history and philosophical aesthetics(Texas Tech University, 2009-05) Haggard, Amy L.; Check, Ed; Calkins, Laura; DeVriese, Todd; Erler, Carolyn; Webb, Mark O.The disciplines of Art History and Philosophical Aesthetics both study and discuss art; however, they do so in dissimilar ways. This dissertation investigates how scholars of either field address primary questions, and how such questioning reveals disciplinary differences in methodologies, analyses, and assessments. Through analysis of responses to the questions of “what is Art?†and “how should Art be evaluated?†this dissertation investigates a historical tracing of approaches to these two questions by important scholars in the fields, including Aristotle, David Hume, Arthur Danto, Giorgio Vasari, Johannes Winckelmann, Erwin Panofsky, and Linda Nochlin in order to discern whether such investigation will reveal relevant discrepancies between the fields. Through this investigation, certain historical trends become evident. Too, certain commonalities and differences between these major voices become evident. Ultimately, however, this direct comparison of questions does not identify the major reasons for discrepancies between the fields for several reasons. Primarily, this format of question comparison derives from the field of philosophy, and analyzing two fields by means of the methodology of one disproportionately advantages that field. Further, discerning the agreements and disagreements of particular scholars reveals differences of opinion between these particular scholars, yet fails to reveal systemic discrepancies between the fields. Conclusions reached in this project, then, suggest that differences between the fields are ingrained in the different natures of either discipline. This project ultimately concludes, then, that some means of translating between the fields, such that either can better understand the other, would enhance cross-disciplinary discussions of the arts.Item Origen's doctrine of the soul: Platonist or Christian?(2008-05) Essary, Kirk A.; Christiansen, Peder; Lavigne, Donald E.; Webb, Mark O.This thesis attempts to exposit Origen’s doctrine of the soul as it appears in his De Principiis, a work that in our day is fraught with textual problems for a number of reasons. The first part of the thesis contains a reasonably coherent and responsible view of Origen’s psychological cosmology, and that this exposition contributes to modern understanding of Origen’s thought. More specifically, the paper attempts to illuminate, regarding each of the aspects of Origen’s doctrine of the soul, to what extent he is Platonizing and to what extent he is writing within the realm of Christian orthodoxy. Origen is certainly doing both to some extent, whether he is conscious of it or not. Themes of Platonism inherent in Origen’s De Principiis abound. However, many of the aspects of Origen’s doctrine of the soul to have a strong Christian basis. Whether from the abundant scriptural evidence that support epistemic salvation or that Origen’s maintenance of the preexistence of souls to stem primarily from his attempts to defend Christianity against Valentinus and Marcion, Origen has primarily Christian reasons for setting forth his doctrines. At almost every point that Origen’s enemies have charged him with heresy, Origen can respond with a poem from David, or a line from one of Paul’s epistles. It might have been inevitable that Origen escaped Alexandria with positive views of Aristotle’s ethics and Plato’s metaphysics. Rather than being accused of subverting Christian thought, Origen ought more often to be commended for trying to strengthen it by drawing on a peerless tradition of Greek philosophy. He has shown us that the writers of the New Testament are not themselves free from occasional Platonizing, and he always argued that rather than eschewing anything that smacks of Athens, Christianity ought to take from it what it can use for the improvement of its own doctrine, but to be careful of allowing it to supplant the major tenets of Christianity. Our goal is to show that this is, at worst, what Origen has done in presenting his doctrine of the soul in the De Principiis.Item The myth of the Stone-Campbell movement(Texas Tech University, 2007-08) Cook, James J.; Stoll, Mark; Adams, Gretchen A.; Webb, Mark O.; Lorcin, PatriciaThe Stone-Campbell Movement was created in 1832 when Barton Stone's "Christ-ians" from the West merged with Alexander Campbell's "Reforming Baptists." By the beginning of the Civil War it was the sixth largest religious movement in the United States. In the twentieth century the movement split into three main branches that exist today. In recent years, scholars from these branches have worked to better understand their nineteenth-century roots. A historical sub-field often called "restoration history" has emerged, in which historians and other scholars debate the influence of Stone and Campbell on certain characteristics of the existing branches. This dissertation uses the writings of both Stone and Campbell to show that Stone was never a viable leader of the movement after 1832, and his ideas were never part of what influenced the various men and ideas that led to the development of the twentieth-century branches of the movement. The debates going on between "restoration historians" are thus predicated on the false assumption that Stone influenced people within the movement. The evidence presented in this dissertation proves that Stone was an outsider in the movement that bears his name. This dissertation furthermore provides evidence that Stone's broad and inclusive view of Christianity was an influence on another group called the Christian Connexion which partly grew out of Stoneite churches that openly rejected the 1832 union with Campbell. The history of the Christian Connexion and its development into the twentieth-century ecumenical movement called the United Church of Christ represents Barton Stone's true legacy.Item Women and Buddhism in Playwriting: Two Theatre Scripts(2011-08) Lelanuj, Orada; Bert, Norman A.; Chansky, Dorothy; Fehr, Dennis; Marks, Jonathan; Webb, Mark O.Since the time of Buddhism’s inception, women have occupied an ambiguous position in the religion, partially because Buddhist arts and literature are almost always created and written by men. The professional problem in playwriting for this project is, therefore, to write two theatre scripts that present certain Buddhist teachings while at the same time emphasizing female characters and their experiences. One of the scripts is an original and the other is an adaptation from a novel. Arya, the original script, tells the story of a spirit and her three different past lives. The adaptation, Under A Sorrowless Tree, focuses on the journey Vasitthi, a character from Karl Gjellerup’s The Pilgrim Kamanita, takes toward the Buddhist enlightenment. Upon completing this project, I hope to contribute works that bring focus to the role of women and Buddhism in the field of contemporary playwriting. The dissertation is divided into five chapters, with the two scripts included as appendices. Chapter I introduces my background and my approach to the scripts and the dissertation. Chapter II surveys selected Buddhist-related dramas in certain countries in Asia and discusses how this project fits into these historical practices. Chapter III relates the details of the writing processes of the two scripts. Chapter IV contains the account of the production of Arya, which was presented at Texas Tech University in November of 2009. Chapter V displays the results of the survey of the audience’s responses to the production of Arya and the analysis of the survey, with an emphasis on the audience’s reception of the Buddhist content in the script.