Philosophy - Student Works
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- ItemJosef Pieper and the recovery of leisure in the workaday world(2022) Rundell, Lauren; Lorkovic, EdvardIn this paper, I look at Josef Pieper’s conceptualization of what he calls “total work”. In the world of total work, one’s value is reduced to their practical value to society. In this world, Pieper argues that we lose our ability to realize our full humanity by limiting ourselves to only the concerns of the workaday. The missing element that Pieper brings forward is that of leisure. Leisure, Pieper explains, is a time and place in which we are able to be fully human, free from concerns of the everyday. By recovering the practice of leisure, Pieper believes we can recultivate that which makes us distinctly human and reclaim our value as more than just our output. One of the activities Pieper proposes to promote leisure, the example that I will be focusing on here, is his example of philosophy. When properly practiced, Pieper argues that philosophy can lead to the realization of one’s humanity through experiencing a deeper understanding and affirmation of the world. Through looking at Pieper’s writings on total work, leisure, and philosophy, I will argue that the University should be a space dedicated to the fulfillment of the individual by distinguishing it from concerns of the everyday. I will then argue that this should be done by grounding academic disciplines in philosophy and practicing them in a philosophical way. By reuniting the University with its foundation in philosophy, the university can be re-established as a place of leisure, where one can realize their full humanity.
- ItemThe pursuit of mathematical truths: a rich and meaningful aesthetic experience of inquiry as an end in itself(2020) Ulliac, KevinGiven a Deweyan philosophy of mathematics, education, and of the nature of experience, the pursuit of mathematical truths can be classified as rich and meaningful aesthetic experiences that are ends in themselves. My argument is that mathematical experiences of inquiry can have a meaningful impact on an individual that is of similar effect on an individual as a work of art, such as a painting, or a novel, or a piece of music. The nature of mathematical inquiry is to expand an individual’s conscious experience of themselves, their relation to other people, and their relation to the world at large.
- ItemLes aspects satiriques, l’identité, la déviance et les structures de pouvoir dans le roman Balzac et la Petite Tailleuse chinoise(2018) Seyidova, Leyla; Yegani, Marc M.; Kim-Bernard, KyeongmiDai Sijie's novel takes place during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and Balzac and the Chinese Little Tailor indirectly criticizes the communist regime, but in a satirical way. The books of the novel play a central role in the creation and preservation of the personal identities of the characters by means of acts of deviance. They also have a great role in establishing power structures between characters.
- ItemIdentité, déviance et les structures de pouvoir dans le Roman Balzac et la Petite Tailleuse(2017) Yegani, Marc M.; Kim-Bernard, KyeongmiDai Sijie's novel takes place during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and Balzac and the Chinese Little Tailor indirectly criticizes the communist regime, but in a satirical way. The books of the novel play a central role in the creation and preservation of the personal identities of the characters by means of acts of deviance. They also have a great role in establishing power structures between characters.
- ItemA polemic against those who assert world-bound individuals in Leibniz’s philosophy(2016) Smith, Joshua HenryThe German philosopher, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, wrote his first philosophical work at the tender age of seventeen and died at the age of seventy. Leibniz was able to write much in terms of both quantity and quality. His ideas were on significant and difficult subjects, ranging from philosophy, to mathematics, to physics, and engineering. Because he wrote so much and over such a very long period of time, there is much to be reconciled and understood in Leibniz’s philosophy. A sort of rectification should take place, a cohesion of thought between his seemingly disparate ideas. I will present one such tension in Leibniz’s philosophical writings that requires said careful attention. The tension comes via Leibniz’s thoughts on the individual and freedom.