Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3
Description
This project analyzes the use of fear appeals in transmitting a moral of self-realization in the drama Oedipus Rex and its adaptations into painting and film. It draws upon earlier work in media ecology, adaptation, and studies of emotions in media. It proposes that what distinguishes media from one another is the unique way that each medium stimulates the reader to draw from their own experiences with life and literature. Alternatively, what unites media is the cross platform assimilation of author and reader reality. More specifically, it asserts that print stimulates the reader via immersion, that painting achieves this same effect by acting as a proxy for the reader to embody the image before them, and that film stimulates the viewer as a result of emotive focus. Collectively, it concludes that when it comes to Oedipus and its many forms, the plays utilize fear to communicate the moral through both surface and dense texts, while painting adaptations focus on dense texts, and the filmic adaptations emphasize their surface equivalent. The project’s significance rests in its challenge to Marshal McLuhan’s technological determinism. On exposing the effects that a reader’s varied mindset can have on a medium’s ability to communicate its message, the project highlights that the relationship between humankind and media is not so deterministic and is more complex than McLuhan would have us believe.
ContributorsHerrera, Yoslin (Author) / Mack, Robert (Thesis director) / O'Neill, Joseph (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
In this thesis, I will be discussing the similarities between Stoicism (as both an ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, as well as how it is interpreted in the modern age) and modern therapeutic methods; However, I will not be developing any type of novel theory as to how Stoicism can be used as one of those therapeutic methods by itself. That would require a degree of psychological and medical knowledge that I, as an undergraduate student, do not yet possess and do not have the authority to expand upon in a safe manner. What the goal of this thesis is, instead, is to draw and explore parallels between the ideals and principles of stoicism (such as eudaimonia, ethics, and relative asceticism) as compared to modern therapeutic techniques, like cognitive-behavioral and dialectical-behavioral therapies. I will draw direct parallels between Stoic philosophy and the therapeutic treatments commonly used to address the symptoms of two psychiatric issues (Bipolar Mood Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). I will also be addressing a third psychiatric case study, as relating to Stoic philosophy - suicide, and how our view of it has changed and progressed,both through a Stoic lens as well as from a contemporary psychological viewpoint.
As a result of drawing these parallels, this thesis will also explore some of the more modern uses of Stoicism - for example, those discussed in A Guide To The Good Life by William B Irvine, and Stoic Warriors by Nancy Sherman. Irvine focuses primarily on the use of Stoicism to avoid the factors of“chronic dissatisfaction” that afflict much of our modern-day lives - an absence of control, unhappiness, and erroneous personal values, to name a few. Sherman takes a more targeted approach - the application of Stoic philosophy to the workings of the military mentality and instinct. Sherman explores how being “Stoic” is taught as a part of military bearing, specifically when serving in the American forces. Stoic values are used to create a culture of discipline and self-control in the military - as Sherman puts it, “The idea that one’s happiness could depend solely on one’s own virtue, and that one’s agency and control might be bulletproof, appealed to [them]” (Sherman, 11). These authors’ perspectives are just two examples of how Stoicism can be applied in the modern age, as will be shown in further detail in subsequent sections.
As a result of drawing these parallels, this thesis will also explore some of the more modern uses of Stoicism - for example, those discussed in A Guide To The Good Life by William B Irvine, and Stoic Warriors by Nancy Sherman. Irvine focuses primarily on the use of Stoicism to avoid the factors of“chronic dissatisfaction” that afflict much of our modern-day lives - an absence of control, unhappiness, and erroneous personal values, to name a few. Sherman takes a more targeted approach - the application of Stoic philosophy to the workings of the military mentality and instinct. Sherman explores how being “Stoic” is taught as a part of military bearing, specifically when serving in the American forces. Stoic values are used to create a culture of discipline and self-control in the military - as Sherman puts it, “The idea that one’s happiness could depend solely on one’s own virtue, and that one’s agency and control might be bulletproof, appealed to [them]” (Sherman, 11). These authors’ perspectives are just two examples of how Stoicism can be applied in the modern age, as will be shown in further detail in subsequent sections.
ContributorsSimpson, Naomi (Author) / Lynch, John (Thesis director) / O'Neill, Joseph (Committee member) / School of Music (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Post-truth has become a household word since the start of 2016. Post-truth is the concept that facts are becoming less useful towards swaying popular opinion. Post-truth is based off the ideation that the truth is laced in the metaphysical, which means that facts are independent of the human mind. Post-truth states two methods in which we derive truth: one is an objective truth, or a statement based on scientific and statistical analysis; the other is or a subjective truth, or a statement based on a feeling or value. Objective truth and subjective truth are interpretations of the “truth”: where objective truths use objective methods, such as research and statistics, and subjective truths use subjective methods, such as emotions or values. Further interpretations of post-truth interpret post-truth being a struggle between the objective truth and the subjective truth, and that objective truths are the correct interpretation of the truth. However, the current interpretation of post-truth becomes problematic. The case studies presented show that something that could be considered a subjective truth is grounded in reality, even though it is objectively wrong. There are instances where statistical analysis fails in its goals to represent reality in both war and science. There are also instances where capitalizing on the strongest emotional aspect of an issue creates a better understanding of that issue. The objective and subjective truths may not conflict with each other, in fact they may inform each other. The thesis concludes that a different interpretation of truth should be used to understand post-truth.
ContributorsSora, Nicholas (Author) / Fette, Donald (Thesis director) / O'Neill, Joseph (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05