Theses and Dissertations, Capstones, and Directed Research
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Browsing Theses and Dissertations, Capstones, and Directed Research by Department "Philosophy"
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Item A Defense of Moral Responsibility(2023-12) Woodruff, McIntosh G.; Baltzly, Vaughn; Gilbertson, Eric; Warnell, KatherineNo abstract prepared.Item Ahora Puedo Respirar Now I Can Breathe(2021-12) De La Rosa, Yvonne M.; Guajardo, Miguel A.; Brooks, Ann; Bohonos, Jeremy; Valadez, MonicaThis research explored the struggle and resiliency of a Mexican American community in Central Texas as they attempted to maintain, teach, and celebrate their Mexican American roots, customs, knowledge, and celebrations through community education. The research employed critical ethnography to explore history and its impact on self, organization, and community; it also interrogated agency within racially contentious times. Additionally, this research provides insight into public pedagogy of teaching, learning, and leading as a means to remember and record the growth and change within the local Mexican American community. The community learning exchange theory of change informed this dynamic-critical place-based conceptual framework. The study’s framework was a hybrid that included: theory of change, public pedagogy, community cultural wealth, culturally relevant pedagogy, and community education through the arts. The research design was grounded in critical ethnography, social cartography, anthropological life, and history mapping. From the research findings, five tenets of critical consciousness emerged and are presented through community voices (i.e., stories from research partners, el vestido, and visual artifacts), giving breath and description to each tenet. The five tenets were (a) critical awareness of self; (b) deficit thinking and resiliency (racism and segregation); (c) organic process of an emerging public pedagogy: teaching, learning, and leading; (d) community education; and (e) cultural pride and sustainability. Implications of the research include growing your own leaders which provides an entry point for Mexican Americans to share the ways in which community education has and can uplift a community through teaching, learning, and leading. Last, an implication for the resiliency of the Mexican American community reflected that Teatro has been able to crisscross spaces of contention, peace, and harmony. This research invites the reader to breathe together.Item An Evaluation of Saul Kripke's Argument for Property Dualism(2013-07) Chambers, Thomas H.; McKinney, Audrey M; Fischer, Robert; Carson, JoAnnThis paper concerns Saul Kripke's argument against type physicalism and for property dualism. My objection to the argument is that it relies upon a premise for which Kripke does not provide adequate support. The unsupported premise is Kripke's claim that it is possible for pain to occur in the absence of C-fiber stimulation. This premise relies upon what Crispin Wright identifies as the Counter-Conceivability Principle – the notion that if we can clearly conceive a counterexample to a claim of necessity, that serves as evidence against the claim of necessity. This principle is, however, not useful because it does not provide any guidance for what counts as a clear conception. Additionally, providing precise theories of conceivability and imaginability does not lend the support that Kripke's argument needs. Thus, I conclude that this objection to Kripke's argument stands and type physicalism can be maintained.Item An Insight into Groundwater Management and Policy in Texas(2016-07) Maleki, Shadi; Hanks, J. Craig; Lopes, Vicente; McKinney, Audrey; Sansom, AndrewNo abstract prepared.Item Applying Mill’s Utilitarian Ethic And His View On TheTyranny Of Public Opinion To The Modern Gun Control Debate(2019-12) Prunty, Kyle Scott; Luizzi, Vincent; Carson, Jo Ann; McKinney, Audrey; Hale, JanetNo abstract prepared.Item Channeling La Charit: Towards an Intersectional Understanding of Care-Based Ethics in Public Maternity(2014-05) Rompel, Katherine E.; Yuan, Lijun; McKinney, Audrey; Lewis, HollyNo abstract prepared.Item Education for Hire: A Critique of the Business/Corporate Model of Higher Education(2013-08) Chumbley, Cody KeithNo abstract prepared.Item Emotional Intelligence for the Culinary Industry: Perspectives of Community College Instructors Participating in a Collaborative Inquiry Project(2024-05) Ortiz, Richard; Larrotta, Clarena; Bohonos, Jeremy W.; Coryell, Joellen E.; Guajardo, Miguel A.This qualitative descriptive case study documents the experiences of culinary instructors furthering their learning of emotional intelligence fundamentals. Research participants included a total of 6 participants. The study was implemented as a collaborative inquiry project and was guided by the experiential learning cycle. The research questions guiding the study were: (1) What can culinary instructors gain from participating in a collaborative inquiry project focusing on emotional intelligence fundamentals? (2) How do they describe their learning experiences and understanding of emotional intelligence? (3) How does participation in this project impact curriculum planning and instructor’s views to promote change? Data collection sources included an online questionnaire, a 3-hour emotional intelligence workshop, three collaborative sessions, a group interview, participant written reflections, field notes, and the research journal. Creswell and Poth’s (2018) data analysis spiral served as the method for data analysis. Study findings are presented in three chapters under participant profiles, participant’s learning experiences and understanding of emotional intelligence, and impact on curriculum planning. This study highlights the important role that EI fundamentals play in the professional lives of culinary educators as they train and build relationships with their students, the next generation of food service professionals.Item Encouraging Change: Transformative Learning, Holarchy, Epiphany, and the Shepherd(2011-12) Hill, J. DeVere; Hanks, J. Craig; Lopes, Vicente; Luizzi, Vincent; McKinney, Audrey; Reardon, Robert F.No abstract prepared.Item Environmental Ethics and Urban Permaculture in Central Texas(2013-11) Samples, Katelyn M.; McKinney, Audrey; Smith, Chad; Benedikt, AmelieHuman activities are causing vast environmental degradation around the globe at unsustainable rates. It is more imperative now than ever that we create sustainable societies that can coincide harmoniously with the natural environment. The dominant social paradigm views nature as resources for human consumption, but this paper argues that there are ethical human activities that challenge the mainstream ways of interacting with the natural environment. Environmental ethics is a subject advancing different ethical human-nature relationships. This thesis explores environmental ethics held by permaculture practitioners. Permaculture is a specific type of sustainable agriculture that focuses on using a system’s thinking approach to designing gardens that emphasize biodiversity and locally-adapted, edible perennial plants, as well as maximizing energy efficiency. Permaculture also contains embedded ethics of Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share. Since permaculture is ‘site- specific,' this paper examines the environmental ethics held by permaculture practitioners. It also explores the potential of urban permaculture in Central Texas.
Through interviewing permaculture practitioners of Central Texas, four main environmental ethics emerged, which are: social ecology, deep ecology, Aldo Leopold’s land ethic, and sustainability ethics. Many permaculture practitioners blurred the distinction between these ethics, while some aligned more closely with one ethic over another. Permaculture in and of itself embodies environmental ethics, and for the interviewees in this study, their ethical practice of permaculture influenced other aspects of their lives, not just gardening techniques. Practitioners also exemplified great hope for urban permaculture and felt that with the right amount of support, permaculture could become a more widespread practice. This paper also proposes some policy implications for implementing permaculture on a wider scale.
Item Fractured Foundations of the Culture of Narcissism and Its Public Philosophy(2013-08) Inks, Riley Hartwell; Hanks, Craig; Luizzi, Vincent; Grasso, KennethNarcissism, cultural narcissism, and the culture of narcissism are interrelated. Cultural narcissism is both cause and consequence of the culture of narcissism. In turn, the culture of narcissism fosters narcissistic behavior. Narcissism has a primary and a secondary formulation. Primary narcissism does not acknowledge the separate existence of self and has two hallmarks: a longing to be free from longing and yearning for uniqueness. Pathological narcissism or secondary narcissism manifests as a reactive characterological regression toward primary narcissism that distorts healthy maturational development. This pathology can be a completely solipsistic mode of being, or it can be a partial denial or hostile rejection of object relations beyond the self. Pathological narcissism expresses itself on two extremes – either an experience of omnipotent self-unity or an experience of a lack of self-unity, both always susceptible to identity crisis.
The cultural narcissist is an individual with the rational attitude of indifference about disclosing social, political, and cultural expressions in the public square unless it imminently affects the self. The result is non-expression from culture about cultural life unless the cultural narcissist is compelled to do so for self-gratification. This leads pathologically narcissistic behavior in collective groups and institutions which, in turn, reinforces the culture of narcissism. The public philosophy of the unencumbered self is the essential philosophy of primary cultural narcissism, and this philosophy is the root cause of the culture of narcissism. The public philosophy holds two axioms: choice itself is the highest and only right and the privatization of the good. The enlightenment conception of reason and the epistemological premises that inform the public philosophy of the unencumbered self can serve as a justification for cultural narcissism. Hunter’s method of cultural analysis can be applied to institutions to test for effects of culturally narcissistic behavior. If we assume that the culture of narcissism affects collective expressions than we can use this method to identify cultural non-expression resulting in extremist polarization. In chapter seven I will apply Hunter’s method to – as an example of testing for pathological narcissistic behavior – American Christianity to briefly show how his cultural analysis can be used as an indicator of the culture of narcissism.
Item Inmates and Stimulants: A Case for Promoting Well-Being via Stimulants(2018-08) Bernal, Cesar; Ray, Keisha S.; Hanks, James Craig; Fischer, BobNo abstract prepared.Item Invisible: Human Trafficking in the United States(2011-08) Conkling, Parish; McKinney, Audrey; Hanks, Craig; Yuan, LijunNo abstract prepared.Item Kingslayer The Reclamation Of Independence(2014-05) Barton, Seth; Luizzi, Vincent; McKinney, Audrey; Bárcenas, AlejandroNo abstract prepared.Item Magical Materialism: A Formulation and Defense of Rational Magical Thought(2016-12) Sanchez, Stefan Ray; Lewis, Holly; Laycock, Joseph; Hanks, James CraigNo abstract prepared.Item More Human Than Human: Ethical Challenges of a Probable Future(2020-05) Senftleber, Michael James; Hanks, Craig; Kanon, Elizabeth; Lewis, HollyIn this Applied Philosophy and Ethics Master’s thesis, I will explore the ethical challenges resulting from enhancing humanity that may be present in a not too distant future. While I will discuss much of the current literature and take a position on the ethics of enhancing humans, I believe it is a foregone conclusion that humans will be enhanced. And while that doesn't decrease the importance of discussing the ethics of enhancing humans, I believe that the potential ethical dilemmas that might be present in the future are more important to begin thinking about and discussing. The path our future history takes will have a massive impact on which ethical dilemmas are present and which are impactful. The summation of this paper will serve as a topology of these future dilemmas where I will document and offer potential paths that may be employed for further research and discussion.Item Nurturing Democratic Values in the Classroom(2017-08) Clark, William G.; Carson, Jo Ann; McKinney, Audrey; Luizzi, VincentNo abstract prepared.Item One Possible Solution for MacIntyre's Problem of Virtue in the Modern Age: Wendell Berry as the Instantiation of MacIntyre's Good life (Sustainability as a Virtue)(2013-08) Taylor, Aaron Dain; Hanks, Craig; Carson, Jo Ann; Grasso, KennethNo abstract prepared.Item Pressure Cooker: On Political Violence and Insurrection(2021-05) Rhodes, Jake H.; Lewis, Holly; Baltzly, Vaughn; Cross, AnthonyNo abstract prepared.Item Reframing the Army's Conception of Character: The Necessity of Virtues for Leadership Excellence(2021-08) Grimes, William Joshua; Fischer, Robert; Gallegos de Castillo, Lori; Olson, LonnieNo abstract prepared.