Fall 2015 Proseminar Browsing Exercise

Sections 3.1 discussing music and emotions is really interesting. It's a bit long, but explores some interesting questions of why we can experience emotions from music and the theories surrounding this. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/music/#3.1

This shorter article discusses ghosts and while I didn't follow his name-dropping, the basic ideas are simple enough. While I don't believe in ghosts, I think this article was a fun and interesting read. http://schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2007/11/metaphysics-of-ghosts.html (Austin)

I found this article on Buddhist philosophy particularly interesting, particularly Sarvastividian Realism, and how it relates Anaxagoras'/ the Atomists' ideas of divisibility. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_philosophy#Sarvastivadin_realism

Heres an interesting article discussing the possibility of pre-traumatic street, and whether or not mere anticipation of trauma is enough to cause serious damage. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/03/waiting-for-the-bomb-to-drop/#more-157677

I really enjoyed this article by J.R.R Tolkien explaining his philosophy on stories and mythology. http://brainstorm-services.com/wcu-2004/fairystories-tolkien.pdf

Another good resource on the philosophy of stories is this article giving a broad overview of some of the more influential thought in the area. http://cafephilosophy.co.nz/articles/human-beings-are-inextricably-entangled-in-stories/

Aristotle and John Paul II on the Family and Society: A Reply to John Hittinger - Walter J. Thompson http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=9590aa82-e54d-41e3-aff3-18adc7450f37%40sessionmgr4003&vid=35&hid=4209 The Theology of the Body by JP2 is the most wonderful topic in the world (Kyle)

Toward an Aesthetics, Ethics, and Pedagogy of Wonder -Laura-Lee Kearns https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/the_journal_of_aesthetic_education/v049/49.1.kearns.html This topic intrigues me, especially lately as we have brought up the reality of attraction being essential to education in my Ancients class with Socrates teaching method. Wonder and attraction are interchangeable to me. (Kyle)

Recently, I have been interested in the philosophy of Walker Percy as articulated through his novels. I just finished reading his "Love in the Ruins", which highlights the dislocation of man in the modern world and the efforts of the main character to heal the Cartesian split of body and mind (soul). Another theme he often treats is the "malaise" of modern man. This link is to an interested (albeit long) interview conducted with Percy himself via letters. (Michael) http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2643/the-art-of-fiction-no-97-walker-percy

Here's another Percy article, this time on his work "Lost in the Cosmos." Although still fiction, this work contains a series of twenty questions and thought experiments which help the reader explore the concept of selfhood, abstraction, self-knowledge, etc. I would highly recommend the book itself. (Michael) http://www.npr.org/2012/11/30/157305871/an-existential-guide-for-when-youre-really-lost

I also stumbled upon this other topic within Percy's body of work: his integration of the study of semiotics (especially following Charles Peirce) with the other themes in his novels. Especially in "Lost in the Cosmos" (see link above), Percy delves into semiotics in relation to the self's abstraction and search for communion. The section from that book, entitled "A Short Semiotic Primer of the Self" is both fascinating and super confusing. (Michael) https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=24229 http://wwwcriticalvision.blogspot.com/2010/07/walker-percy-on-symbols-and-semiotics.html

A surprise appearance of the Socratic Elenchus reassures us that philosophy is alive and well! http://www.philosophynews.com/post/2012/06/08/The-Supreme-Court-and-Philosophy.aspx The audio is worth a listen as well: http://www.oyez.org/cases/2010-2019/2011/2011_11_210 (Tof)

Another practical and fascinating use of philosophy. (Tof) https://www.ted.com/talks/damon_horowitz_philosophy_in_prison

I looked into the philosophy of competition and sportsmanship because I think some of the controversies that have emerged and the debates that follow can be a microcosm for myriad ethical issues in our world. The second article is an opinion on what the ideal coach (in this case football coach) should look like. It's interesting to actually break down athletics to a philosophical level because so many times we don't actually think about why sports are such a big deal to our culture. https://charactercounts.org/sports/Olympic/olympic-report-ethicssportsmanship2.htm http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/developing-a-successful-coaching-philosophy (Max)

hailey's browsing

https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_the_history_of_philosophy/v050/50.2.mori.html article about an anonymous letter sent to descartes on the meditations, author argues Hobbes was the penman.

a lot of my research is feminist oriented, but here's an interesting article about a feminist phenomenology http://feministkilljoys.com/2014/06/04/practical-phenomenology/

https://www.ualberta.ca/~lgotell/OB_Articles/masters.pdf Feminist Levinas applied to cyborg soldiers

http://www.egs.edu/faculty/donna-haraway/articles/donna-haraway-a-cyborg-manifesto/ harraway, cyborg manifesto, the mother of socialist feminism in the late twentieth century

http://benjaminthomasjones.com/?p=44 does simone debeauvoir still matter? idk, find out, read the blog.

relevant as college students, interesting claim about moral nihilism http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/why-our-children-dont-think-there-are-moral-facts/

then, i have to admit that i've had kind of a weird week in terms of browsing. I've been thinking a lot about cannibalism http://www.theawl.com/2011/03/cannibals-seeking-same-a-visit-to-the-online-world-of-flesh-eaters this article kind of dug the rabbit hole i fell into. but, this is where i arrived: http://phaenex.uwindsor.ca/ojs/leddy/index.php/phaenex/article/view/4094/3171

Matthew Pancoe's browsing

I am double major in math and philosophy, and while I don't often think about their relationship, people often ask how they fit together, because such a combination seems so foreign, so I did enjoy surfin' the web on this topic: http://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy-of-mathematics

Beauty is something that has always interested me. Questions like, what makes something beautiful?, is there objective beauty?, why do people respond so strongly to it?, etc, fill my mind, I think because beauty has moved me in powerful ways throughout my life, either through art, literature, music, people, actions, nature. So it was interesting reading more about the philosophy of beauty and seeing the technical side of it: http://faculty.philosophy.umd.edu/jhbrown/beautyintro/

I am a Roman Catholic and love the Church in all of her teachings, especially concerning theology. I have, however, always been a little unclear about the relationship between philosophy and theology, namely, where one ends and the other begins. In my Christian Metaphysics class, our textbook has a quick session, which I only read within the last week, this too helps define the distinction: http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/aquinas_on_the_relationship_of_philosophy_and_theology/

I like languages, speaking them, learning them, writing them, discovering a new world and culture, in doing so I've gained an appreciation for English, and often recognize my limitations with it, as far as expressing an idea is concerned, and what certain things imply. So: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Philosophy_of_language

I took History 112 from Dr. Cunningham last fall--blew my mind--fantastic course. I highly recommend it. He showed me that history just isn't dates and names of events and battles, but much more which really peaked my interest: http://www.iep.utm.edu/history/