1,720,965 research outputs found
The State of Nature and Natural Rights: Analyzing the Characteristics of Human Beings
No full textThis research project examines and compares the social contract theories of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Their social contract theories are important to political philosophy because they provide a framework for rights, natural law, and political constitutions. Using primary sources, we specifically focused on analyzing and comparing their different accounts of the characteristics of human beings, natural rights, and the state of nature. Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau employ the state of nature as the foundation for their social contract theories. They each argue, in different ways, that the characteristics of human beings and natural rights in the state of nature dictate the terms by which legitimate government is defined and political authority is justified. Their social contract theories suggest that the ends of government are to seek the preservation of life, liberty, and secure the rights of its citizens. However, despite their similarities, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau disagree on the innate characteristics of human beings and the condition of the state of nature. For these reasons, each holds different views on the role of the sovereign. We, however, found that despite each holding different views, they agree that human beings by nature possess reason, will and seek self-preservation. They also agree that human beings enter into a social contract/covenant by consent.Honors Colleg
Understanding History through a Musicianï¾’s Perspective: Contextualizing the Works of Dmitri Shostakovich
No full textMusical expression has long been one of the most important tools shaping our society, and typically one of the first points of analysis when considering history. This research project focused on the life and works of one contemporary Soviet-era composer, Dmitri Shostakovich, and how the reception and ethos of his work could assist current society in understanding the current rise of tension in Eastern Europe. The project began with a thorough look into the life of Shostakovich, a man who oftentimes found himself ﾓtoeing-the-lineﾔ of acceptable musical composition within the harsh parameters of Soviet-era censorship. Audiences always wondered if his music held deeper political meanings and while this claim was truly inconclusive, one can observe the powerful public impact of his musical compositions. This study was able to conclude that it is indeed important to pay attention to this raw form of artistic expression. In understanding the power of Shostakovichﾒs music, as well as the importance of his musical communication under the harsh grip of censorship, perhaps current day society may develop a sharper eye towards hidden meaning. Furthermore, in this type of reflection we open our eyes to social patterns, and ideas. In the case of Shostakovichﾒs music, audiences today are able to better grasp current Russian politics. But the scope of artistic expression is limitless, and the overarching conclusion of this project would be that in analyzing art, more specifically music, we are able to better understand and appreciate the events of history and today.Honors Colleg
Understanding Democracy
No full textI investigated the stability of Athenian democracy at the end of the 5th century. Direct democracy can give us a new perspective on the characteristics of the form that the elective republics of today cannot. Athenian dem. is often separated into ‘radical’ and ‘moderate’ periods by scholars, but I am not convinced that such a break exists. Conclusions. Athens said to have a break in 404/403 BC. Athenian democracy was changed institutionally, but its spirit remained. Secondary sources must be consulted.Political Science, Department ofHonors Colleg
Recommended from our members
The trouble with Xenophon: marching with the Ten Thousand in 21st-century fiction
No full textAlexander the Great: A Historiography of Power
No full textThis thesis tackles a central question in the historiography of Alexander the Great: why has the scholarship about him changed so wildly over the centuries? The answer put forward in this thesis is that definitions of power are the driving agent behind the ever-changing nature of Alexander scholarship. Over time and across cultures, the "correct" use of power has shifted dramatically, and the way Alexander has been written about has shifted accordingly. This thesis, then, analyzes sixteen authors, spanning centuries of scholarship, and traces how the authors' contexts may have influenced their view of power and how, in turn, that view may have influenced their accounts of Alexander's life. The thesis begins by exploring the issues with the source material about Alexander the Great and what scholars know about the lost, primary sources. The first chapter discusses the authors of the five ancient extant written accounts of Alexander: Diodorus Siculus, Quintus Curtius Rufus, Plutarch, Arrian, and Pompeius Trogus/Justin. The second chapter covers a large expanse of time, beginning with the Alexander Romance as a transmission agent for Alexander scholarship through the Middle Ages. It identifies Machiavelli's Prince as the first place that Alexander reemerges as a historical, not legendary figure. From this point on, it analyzes Samuel Clarke, Charles Rollin, Montesquieu, and Konstantinos Paparrigopoulos. With this last author, the thesis considers how he stands against the near-contemporary example of George Grote. The third chapter moves into the twentieth century. Beginning with William Woodthorpe Tarn and his belief in Alexander's proclamation of the brotherhood of all mankind, the thesis traces the specific impact of events like the First and Second World Wars, the creation of the League of Nations, and the politics of the Soviet Union on Alexander scholarship. This is evident in the scholarship of Ernst Badian, Peter Green, and AB Bosworth, who, in the context of leaders like Hitler and Stalin, see power of the sort that Alexander wields as tyrannical and corrupting. NGL Hammond, the last author featured in this thesis, presents a counterargument against these more negative interpretations, returning to the idealism of Tarn. These sixteen authors, though each existing in very different contexts and representing very different beliefs, all similarly display how definitions of power deeply influence their opinions about Alexander and the purposes they have for creating an account of his life.History, Department ofHonors Colleg
Depersonalizing Virtue: Against An Externalist Account
No full textWhile philosophers agree that virtues are excellences and vices are defects, they disagree about their precise nature. Julia Driver (2001) defends an account of virtue that argues against the relevance of internal states and emphasizes outcomes. On her view, a person is virtuous if and only if she systematically produces good consequences, regardless of her motives or intentions. In this paper, I argue that a fully externalized approach to virtue is unsatisfactory for a variety of reasons, primarily because it depersonalizes virtue. States of affairs are insufficient for determining the moral quality of an agent’s character and the traits that compose it, because two people could produce the exact same effects and yet we’d evaluate them in completely different ways. Based on their internal states, we would praise one and blame the other. Further, states of affairs fail to communicate anything about the most profound qualities of a moral agent, such as the things that they care about and value. This serves as evidence against the idea that a fully externalized approach captures the precise nature of moral virtue and character evaluation.Philosophy, Department ofHonors Colleg
As Pleasantly as the Human Condition Will Allow
No full textThomas Hobbes is famous for his bleak world view. Yet, in a lesser discussed work, De Cive, Hobbes implores the sovereign that it ought to seek the happiness of the citizens. I seek to understand the concepts of duty and civic happiness as they appear in De Cive and only in De Cive among Hobbes' works, as well as to understand why this train is shed in the move to Leviathan. Ultimately, I conclude that civic happiness, for Hobbes, is a way of eliminating the threat poseed to the sovereign by the great, and that Leviathan does not discuss the concept because its focus has shifted away from the threat of the great and towards that of popular opinion.Political Science, Department ofHonors Colleg
Cicero and Roman Civic Education
No full textThis thesis argues that Cicero equates civic education for Roman public statesmen with a moral education in Roman virtue, where the statesman learns the virtues of courage, prudence, and total dedication to his city, that lend to both proper and effective governance. Civic education, for Cicero, has two main components: learning by imitating exempla of Roman virtue, and acquiring universal knowledge by studying academic disciplines from philosophy and civil law to poetry, history, and music. However, Cicero never compiles his philosophy on education clearly or schematically into a single philosophical work, but rather he provides pieces of his philosophy of education over the course of several distinct works, each of which were written to address distinct Roman political climates. For this reason, this thesis contextualizes Cicero's philosophy of education in the respective political climates in which he wrote each of these works to understand how Cicero's conception of education addresses enduring political problems in Roman politics, especially regarding the disruption of the traditional Roman political order. I will also note a shift in Cicero's philosophy of education from De Oratore to De Officiis, as the former nowhere indicates that philosophy teaches virtue and the latter begins with the premise that philosophy teaches virtue.Political Science, Department ofHonors Colleg
Design Practice in Support of Capitalism: Industrial Design and Cold War Consumer Politics
No full textThe United States and the Soviet Union were political rivals in a battle between U.S. capitalism and Soviet communism known as the Cold War. In the 1950s, international exhibitions such as the Marshall Plan Exhibits, the Brussels World’s Fair, and the American National Exhibition in Moscow were critical opportunities for the U.S. to show audiences in Europe and the Soviet Union that capitalism, as opposed to communism, offered a better standard of living for people living under its economic system. This thesis examines the role of the U.S. industrial designers who designed and curated exhibits at these international exhibitions to demonstrate their support of capitalism during the Cold War.Architecture and Design, Gerald D. Hines College ofHonors Colleg
- …
