Browsing by Subject "Political philosophy"
Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item The aim of dialectics In Plato's Euthyphro(2015-12) Fallis, Lewis Bartlett; Pangle, Thomas L.; Stauffer, Devin; Pangle, Lorraine; Tulis, Jeffrey; Muirhead, RussellThis dissertation presents an analysis of Plato’s dialogue on piety, the Euthyphro. The aim of the dissertation is to understand the nature of piety and its connection with morality. Chapter One introduces the topic of the dissertation, discusses two aspects of its political relevance, and justifies the decision to turn to Plato, and specifically Plato’s Euthyphro, for guidance on the question. Two weaknesses of contemporary approaches to the investigation of piety are discussed here, in order to highlight by contrast the strengths of Plato’s approach. Chapters Two and Three present an analysis of Plato’s Euthyphro, with special attention to what the dialogue can reveal about the connection between piety and morality. Chapter Four is a conclusion discussing the limitations of the study, the understanding of piety conveyed by Plato’s Euthyphro, and the aim of Socratic dialectics, understood as a means of testing whether moral opinions might be a condition of pious experiences.Item An analysis of Plato's Meno(2015-10-16) Duggan, Nicholas James; Stauffer, Devin, 1970-; Pangle, Thomas LThis thesis offers an analysis of Plato’s Meno, in which the Greek philosopher addresses more directly than in any other dialogue the character of human virtue. Believing that Plato has considerable guidance to offer us in respect to the question of what virtue is, I attempt to approach his writing with considerable care and attention to the details and the structure of the argument. I argue that the dialogue ultimately presents a complicated teaching about virtue’s character, and the way that virtue comes to be present, which ultimately culminates in the claim that virtue is knowledge – and in the thoughtful consideration of the alternatives to, and the nuances of, that claim.Item Cicero's critique of popular philosophy in De Finibus(2010-05) Baruh, Carly Tess; Pangle, Lorraine Smith; Pangle, ThomasThis paper considers Cicero’s dialogues concerning Epicurean and Stoic philosophy in De Finibus. In it, I consider Cicero’s portrayal both of the deep appeal of the promise of perfect wisdom and invulnerability to chance offered by both philosophical schools as well as the confusions that necessarily lie at the heart of philosophies that seek these ends.Item The person and society Rawls, Maritain, and the concept of personhood in politics(2015-08) Stuart, Kevin Ethridge; Budziszewski, J., 1952-; Koons, Robert C; Martinich, Aloysius P; Elkins, Zachary; Stoner, Jr., James RJohn Rawls, a titanic figure in political philosophy in the 20th century, thought he could make politics independent of metaphysics, that he could work up a neutral, coherent, and compelling account of justice free of controversial elements of a particular "worldview." I am not the first critic to claim he failed--Theory of Justice is the book that launched a thousand dissertations. Unlike nearly all other critics, however, I will focus on the metaphysical account of personhood, and will offer a critique from a Thomistic standpoint. Personhood is the focus because it's the most fundamental and important part of a political theory: politics is about people and mistakes about what a person is will have great consequences. Political philosophy is, in a manner of speaking, the second-person plural form of one's view of personhood, an unfolding of an account of people living in groups with other people. This dissertation shows that Rawls inevitably incorporates metaphysically laden claims in his argument. But more than a series of "gotchas" it also shows that the attempt to ignore metaphysics is a bad way of proceeding not just because it’s bound to fail, but also because it only succeeds in adopting a metaphysical view that is both confused and mistaken. This is where the Thomistic tradition, a rival of Rawls's liberal tradition, can help. I bring to bear some of the resources from the rich tradition of Thomistic philosophy to highlight two essential features of personhood for political philosophy: the inclination of the intellect towards truth and the primordial importance of love for the will. The centrality of truth and love for the human person illuminate a richer and more adequate starting point for political philosophy.Item Plato and Thucydides on Athenian imperialism(2012-05) Truelove, Scott Matthew; Seung, T. K., 1930-; Martinich, Aloysius; Perry, H. W.; Tulis, Jeffrey; Woodruff, PaulFor over two thousand years, Plato’s superiority to Thucydides was taken as an article of faith in Western philosophy. Nietzsche was the first to challenge this verdict by asserting his view—on philosophical grounds—that Thucydides was the more penetrating analyst of the human condition. Other than Nietzsche’s consideration of the two thinkers, surprisingly little has been done to investigate the connections between the two greatest Greek prose writers. My purpose in this dissertation is to rekindle this debate in light of new evidence to see what—if anything—can be gained by examining the relationship between how Plato and Thucydides treat the problem of Athenian imperialism. More specifically, I believe and attempt to show that: (1) Plato silently but explicitly directs his readers to different parts of the History through the use of textual references and thematic patterns; (2) Plato uses these textual allusions to highlight the common ground between the two thinkers, and that Plato understands Thucydides to be an ally to his philosophic aims; (3) Plato and Thucydides agree that the underlying cause of Athenian imperialism can be attributed to a combination of greed (pleonexia) and the internalization of specific sophistic teachings that, whether intended by the sophists or not, support unbridled appetitiveness as the best way of life; and (4) Plato and Thucydides largely agree on the solution to the problem—that pleonexia must be extirpated from the ruling order.Item Political ambition and piety in Xenophon's Memorabilia(2013-05) Fallis, Lewis Bartlett; Pangle, Thomas L.; Pangle, Thomas L.This thesis analyzes Books III and IV of Xenophon’s Memorabilia. The Memorabilia is Xenophon’s defense of Socrates or the philosophic life against Athens or the political community as such. In Book III, Xenophon presents six portraits of ambitious young men. These portraits, read closely, unveil the psychological nature of ambition and convey important lessons about the Socratic understanding of healthy politics, as a realm that is necessarily pious. Book IV’s four Socratic conversations with a dim-witted youth named Euthydemus both underscore the lessons of Book III and explore piety itself, as a phenomenon that is necessarily political. These sections of the Memorabilia may be read as an argument for the necessity of a fissure between healthy politics and philosophy – and as a bridge from the one to the other.Item Politics, religion, and philosophy in Al-Farabi's Book of Religion(2014-08) Siddiqi, Ahmed Ali; Pangle, Thomas L.This thesis offers an interpretation of Al-Farabi’s Book of Religion, in which the tenth- century philosopher addresses more directly than in any of his other works the relationship between human and divine wisdom. Believing Farabi to be a philosopher in the full sense of the term, I attempt to approach his writing in the spirit of his own approach to the writings of Plato and Aristotle. I argue that the discussions of religion, philosophy, and political science found in the text constitute a single teaching, through which Farabi addresses some of the most fundamental questions facing man as both a political and spiritual animal.Item Toward an Aristotelian liberalism(2011-05) Sherman, James Arthur; Bonevac, Daniel A., 1955-; Dancy, Jonathan; Hurka, Thomas; Martinich, Aloysius P.; White, Stephen A.My dissertation develops and defends a contemporary Aristotelian form of political liberalism. I articulate an Aristotelian interpretation of individual autonomy as excellence in deliberating about ends, and develop a decision-theoretic model for representing this type of deliberation. I then provide a precise characterization of individual freedom, building on Amartya Sen’s neo-Aristotelian theory of freedom as capability. I argue that we should understand individual liberty, the guiding value of political liberalism, as a compound of autonomy and freedom as I have articulated these notions. I then argue that liberty in this sense is the proper focus of a liberal theory of distributive justice. I provide a teleological justification of the state’s authority to pursue a liberty-based program of distributive justice, and argue for a liberty-based interpretation of the harm principle as the appropriate limitation on state action.Item Towards a psychology of recognition : a critical analysis of contemporary multicultural counseling competency models(2011-08) Beaulieu, Gregory René; Sherry, Alissa René; Adams, Mark; Aguilar, Jemel; Cokley, Kevin; Richardson, Frank; Rude, StephanieSince the 1970s multiculturalism has emerged as an important area of scholarship within both academic and applied psychology. Scholars have offered a range of theories to assist psychologists in understanding the ways cultural context impacts psychological development and well-being with the aim of moving the field towards an affirming position on psychological differences that depart from the Eurocentric mainstream. One prominent example is the Multiple Dimensions of Counseling Competency (MDCC) by D. W. Sue (2001) which enjoins psychologists and counselors to acquire knowledge, awareness, and skills (KA&S) for five different racial and ethnic groups to promote culturally affirming work in a variety of professional and societal contexts. KA&S approaches like the MDCC remain the primary mode for conceptualizing multicultural competence today. This dissertation begins with a critical analysis of the extant multicultural competency literature which yields three important areas of concern. First, theorists face a dilemma regarding the definition of culture itself. Race and ethnicity receive stronger emphasis in the multicultural discourse which marginalizes other oppressed voices and perpetuates the invisibility of their unique struggles. In turn, attempts to expand the definition of culture to a non-hierarchical approach to all social identities and contexts draws attention away from race, an area already too easily avoided. Currently, no solution has balanced these two poles in the treatment of the word culture. Second, current models draw no limits to cultural relativism leaving questions of intragroup oppression unanswered. Third, models inadequately conceptualize the multiple social and cultural identities within the same person and offer insufficient guidance to professionals when intrapersonal identities conflict. Each of these three concerns is addressed by drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship in anthropology, political philosophy, and social psychology. These answers yield a new model for work with diverse social identities, Recognition Competency Theory (RCT). This new approach to competency with diverse populations has implications for the ways the psychology of oppression is conceptualized, taught, and treated as a focus of professional policy. Strengths of this new model, its relationship to the MDCC, its limitations, and implications for future research are discussed.Item Virtue and irrationality in republican politics : Cicero’s critique of popular philosophy(2014-12) Herold, Carly Tess; Pangle, Lorraine SmithThis dissertation examines the political thought of Cicero in order to shed light on the question of the extent to which politics is or can be made rational. Much of modern political science and policy-making treats citizens as calculating pursuers of interests and preferences, if not as consistently rational. But this view has been powerfully challenged by evidence that human beings are far less adept at the determination and pursuit of our preferences than we believe ourselves to be. As a result, political scientists and policy-makers alike have begun to grapple with the question of how regimes committed to self-government ought to address the limits of our rational capacity, not only in the crafting of particular policies, but also in the rethinking of foundational and constitutional principles and institutions. By considering Cicero’s presentation of virtue and republican politics together with his analysis of the popular philosophical schools that were widely influential in his day, I show that Cicero recognizes and reflects on the pervasive irrationality in human decision-making. Like our modern critics of the irrationality of republicanism, the popular philosophical schools of Cicero’s day both deprecated politics for its inherent unreasonableness and sought to make the world as they experienced it conform to strict rules of reason. Through a reading of Cicero’s evaluation and critique of the schools in De Finibus, De Natura Deorum, and De Officiis, this dissertation aims to shed light not only on his account of the limits of reason in the political arena and the danger of attempting to overcome them, but also on his insistence that the irrational parts of human nature are the source of much that is beneficial in republican politics. Only by understanding this aspect of Cicero’s thought can we understand his reflections on the virtues of republicanism.