Current Search:   Strawser, Michael (x)

View All Items

  • CSV Spreadsheet
(1 - 7 of 7)
DECONSTRUCTING PRESENCE: RETHINKING THE INTENTIONALITY OF THE SUBJECT ON THE BASIS OF THE EXISTENTIALITY OF DASEIN
Title
DECONSTRUCTING PRESENCE: RETHINKING THE INTENTIONALITY OF THE SUBJECT ON THE BASIS OF THE EXISTENTIALITY OF DASEIN.
Creator
Diaz, Edgar, Strawser, Michael, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Having begun from the assumption that our most fundamental way to relate to the world stems from an 'I think' and that consciousness is at the center of this act, Edmund Husserl sets himself up for a very narrow and specialized view of human experience. In the end, such assumptions in the philosophical tradition and their terms often remain unquestioned and ingrained in a paradigm of discourse. My aim is to move beneath these assumptions -using Heidegger's and Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological...
Show moreHaving begun from the assumption that our most fundamental way to relate to the world stems from an 'I think' and that consciousness is at the center of this act, Edmund Husserl sets himself up for a very narrow and specialized view of human experience. In the end, such assumptions in the philosophical tradition and their terms often remain unquestioned and ingrained in a paradigm of discourse. My aim is to move beneath these assumptions -using Heidegger's and Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological work- so as to, first, explicitly undermine the scope of Husserlian intentionality at its foundation and, second, decenter the subject in contemporary phenomenological literature. An account of human experience in terms of inner intentional content, I argue, yields an incomplete and misleading picture of our human involvements and we must ultimately move beyond the subject and its logic. The way we are always already being-in-the-world and embodied in the phenomenal texture of everydayness leaves the cogito one step behind.
Show less
Date Issued
2014
Identifier
CFH0004709, ucf:45398
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004709
COLLECTIVE NOBILITY: SPINOZA AND THE POLITICS OF EMOTION
Title
COLLECTIVE NOBILITY: SPINOZA AND THE POLITICS OF EMOTION.
Creator
Uhlig, Ethan K, Strawser, Michael, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The intent of this thesis is to examine Spinoza's philosophy of emotion as it relates to groups of individuals, or collectives. These groups, especially political collectives such as nation-states, are evaluated through Spinozist understandings of virtue, nobility, and blessedness. From this analysis, a novel concept of "collective nobility" is used to create philosophical guidance for the emotional dimensions of politics and state action. Drug policy is used as a case study to understand how...
Show moreThe intent of this thesis is to examine Spinoza's philosophy of emotion as it relates to groups of individuals, or collectives. These groups, especially political collectives such as nation-states, are evaluated through Spinozist understandings of virtue, nobility, and blessedness. From this analysis, a novel concept of "collective nobility" is used to create philosophical guidance for the emotional dimensions of politics and state action. Drug policy is used as a case study to understand how emotion influences policymaking and vice versa, both negatively (as in the United States) and positively (as in Portugal).
Show less
Date Issued
2019
Identifier
CFH2000556, ucf:45664
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH2000556
SITUATING POLITICAL OBLIGATION IN POLITICAL ONTOLOGY: ETHICAL MARXISM AND THE EMBEDDED SELF
Title
SITUATING POLITICAL OBLIGATION IN POLITICAL ONTOLOGY: ETHICAL MARXISM AND THE EMBEDDED SELF.
Creator
Chambers, Chris A, Strawser, Michael, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Though various obligations typically affect our behavior without being recognized, they have a substantial impact on how we operate as human beings. The relationships we have between, say, our parents when in their household obligate us to take out the trash at certain times and wash the dishes after dinner. The relationships we have between our closest friends often oblige us to hear them out when they have undergone a traumatic experience. Upon reflection, it may be easy to point out a...
Show moreThough various obligations typically affect our behavior without being recognized, they have a substantial impact on how we operate as human beings. The relationships we have between, say, our parents when in their household obligate us to take out the trash at certain times and wash the dishes after dinner. The relationships we have between our closest friends often oblige us to hear them out when they have undergone a traumatic experience. Upon reflection, it may be easy to point out a number of the obligations which inform our social behavior. What is not so easy, however, is pointing out the foundation for such obligations. In this project I will explore the foundation of obligation, specifically political obligation. Through this exploration I will attempt to situation political obligation in the ontology of political actors. In particular, an analysis of liberal democracy and social democracy, and their ontological backgrounds, liberalism and communitarianism, will be utilized in order to elucidate both the usefulness and the location of political obligation. Ultimately, I will show how recourse to Marxism provides for a more robust account of political obligation.
Show less
Date Issued
2016
Identifier
CFH2000064, ucf:45568
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH2000064
UPBUILDING OPPOSITIONS: KIERKEGAARD, CAMUS, AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE
Title
UPBUILDING OPPOSITIONS: KIERKEGAARD, CAMUS, AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE.
Creator
Luzardo, Jesus, Strawser, Michael, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Despite the fact that they are both known as leading figures of existentialism, the relationship between 19th century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard and 20th century French philosopher and novelist Albert Camus has largely gone unexplored in secondary scholarship. In the few times that their relationship is discussed, focus is heavily placed on the most obvious difference between the two thinkers: their religious orientations, which tends to prevent any further analysis or discussion....
Show moreDespite the fact that they are both known as leading figures of existentialism, the relationship between 19th century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard and 20th century French philosopher and novelist Albert Camus has largely gone unexplored in secondary scholarship. In the few times that their relationship is discussed, focus is heavily placed on the most obvious difference between the two thinkers: their religious orientations, which tends to prevent any further analysis or discussion. Furthermore, popular conceptions of each thinker-largely informed by their most popular works, arguably Fear and Trembling and The Myth of Sisyphus, respectively-tend to depict them as pessimistic and individualistic figures, the former basing his philosophy on an irrational leap of faith and the latter basing his own on the world's meaninglessness and absurdity. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an alternative, or rather a corrective, to these aforementioned views on the two thinkers. Through literary and philosophical analyses, I will attempt to demonstrate not only that there is a concrete, fecund relationship between Kierkegaard and Camus, but furthermore that this relationship is grounded in a practical, duty-based philosophy of love. The thesis will look at three concepts that play a key role in both philosophies: the absurd, love, and aesthetic creation. As the analysis progresses, it is repeatedly shown that the thinkers' opposing views on theology do not prevent us from finding similar conceptions and practical manifestations of selfhood, neighborly and romantic love, and the social role of the artist. Thus, I shall argue that they are most properly understood as philosophers of love who saw themselves as social critics whose main goal was to help eradicate the corrupting and dangerous nihilism of their respective eras rather than as traditional philosophers.
Show less
Date Issued
2013
Identifier
CFH0004410, ucf:45122
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004410
NAVIGATING AUTHENTICITY IN THE AGE OF THE INTERNET: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF THE EXISTENTIAL EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Title
NAVIGATING AUTHENTICITY IN THE AGE OF THE INTERNET: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF THE EXISTENTIAL EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA.
Creator
Zimmerman, Douglas, Strawser, Michael, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Our world is a world of technology, and technology is part of what has made human beings so adept at survival. Yet, the 21st century has seen a new type of technology that is unlike anything ever seen before. This new information technology is known as social media (including such things as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.), and it has the power to influence our very being. However, we are seemingly uncritical and unconcerned about social media in relation to society. This project attempts to...
Show moreOur world is a world of technology, and technology is part of what has made human beings so adept at survival. Yet, the 21st century has seen a new type of technology that is unlike anything ever seen before. This new information technology is known as social media (including such things as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.), and it has the power to influence our very being. However, we are seemingly uncritical and unconcerned about social media in relation to society. This project attempts to analyze social media and its relationship to human beings from an ontological standpoint. I do so by exploring both the ontic and the ontological aspects of social media. In order to do so, I use a method of hermeneutical inquiry and phenomenological exploration. By using the works of several different thinkers, I attempt to get at the essence of the relationship between humans and social media. First, using the works of Martin Heidegger, I argue that there is an ethical dimension contained within the concept of authenticity. Then, using the works of psychologists, phenomenologists, and cognitive scientists, I show that social media has just as much control over us as we think we have over it. Lastly, I return to Heidegger's work in order to understand what the very essence of social media is, and I then explain what our relationship to social media ought to be in order to live authentically. In doing so, I attempt to explain how we can gain a free relation to social media in order to establish the ways in which it can be most helpful to us.
Show less
Date Issued
2012
Identifier
CFH0004303, ucf:45047
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004303
THE NATURE OF LOVE: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH
Title
THE NATURE OF LOVE: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH.
Creator
Schroeder, Samantha, Strawser, Michael, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Since the time of Socrates, the idea of love and the conception of the human heart have been devalued by thinkers who, by definition, are known as "lovers of wisdom." Considered pejoratively as "the passions," the subject of emotion was deemed inferior to thought centered upon the human faculty of reason. Many studies in the sciences, from biology to psychology, claim to have pointed us to the source of the human experience of love - but do they help us to understand love properly? In order...
Show moreSince the time of Socrates, the idea of love and the conception of the human heart have been devalued by thinkers who, by definition, are known as "lovers of wisdom." Considered pejoratively as "the passions," the subject of emotion was deemed inferior to thought centered upon the human faculty of reason. Many studies in the sciences, from biology to psychology, claim to have pointed us to the source of the human experience of love - but do they help us to understand love properly? In order to provide a full consideration of love in my philosophical research, I will focus my analysis on love under the philosophical lens of phenomenology. Known as the study of firsthand human experience, phenomenology became the influential school of thought for many German philosophers in the early twentieth century. My research will closely examine the writings of Max Scheler, Dietrich von Hildebrand, and Jean-Luc Marion within the context of this tradition. Moving from a justification of love in philosophy to the topic of self-love, I hope to define effectively what it means to love another. I shall also attempt to disambiguate the common assumptions regarding the nature of love. Is there a fundamental difference between the phenomenon of "falling in love" and of love itself? I question whether love, in its essence, is defined by the element of choice - of a willful emotional giving of oneself to another - and whether it can be distinguished from a passive feeling and an active loving will. I aim to bring the human affective sphere into the full light of philosophical inquiry, considering whether love is a moral act of the will that involves a total participation of the self - in mind, body, and spirit. Love is arguably the most powerful of the human emotions, one that elevates the human sphere of emotions and the ethical existence beyond simple desire. As I hope to show, a philosophical study of love is highly relevant today, since the sciences have not adequately answered the perennial question: What is love?
Show less
Date Issued
2012
Identifier
CFH0004194, ucf:44836
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004194
A Thomistic Critique of the Ethics of Alasdair MacIntyre
Title
A Thomistic Critique of the Ethics of Alasdair MacIntyre.
Creator
Otte, Marcus, Jones, Donald, Marien, Daniel, Strawser, Michael, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Alasdair MacIntyre argues in favor of a historicist Thomism in ethics and political philosophy. In his theory, sociological categories take up much of the space traditionally occupied by metaphysics. This peculiar feature of MacIntyre's Thomism, and its merits and demerits, is already a subject that has been taken up by many critics. In this thesis, these criticisms are supplemented and unified by identifying what is perhaps the most fundamental difficulty with MacIntyre's ethics: his version...
Show moreAlasdair MacIntyre argues in favor of a historicist Thomism in ethics and political philosophy. In his theory, sociological categories take up much of the space traditionally occupied by metaphysics. This peculiar feature of MacIntyre's Thomism, and its merits and demerits, is already a subject that has been taken up by many critics. In this thesis, these criticisms are supplemented and unified by identifying what is perhaps the most fundamental difficulty with MacIntyre's ethics: his version of Thomism is problematic because it treats epistemology as first philosophy. This misstep compromises MacIntyre's ability to provide a defense of moral objectivity, while also undermining his theory's usefulness in deriving moral rules. The result is an ethics of doubtful coherence. If Thomism is to offer a viable alternative to Enlightenment morality and Nietzschean genealogy, it must defend the priority of metaphysics with respect to epistemology.
Show less
Date Issued
2014
Identifier
CFE0005537, ucf:50322
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005537