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The source of governmental power is the Zizekian sublime object of ideology. This object is composed of demands that are enforced by a force that is vast and powerful beyond comprehension. It is the Lacanian Symbolic Order enforced by the fear of castration by the Other. The evolution of government is characterized by the use of more subversive power mechanisms. The more subversive these mechanisms, the more they resemble the Symbolic Order and the greater their effectiveness. Marx outlines a progression of governmental structures. At each point of change, there is great unrest amongst the population. In this way, unrest and protest are indicative of a need for the change i.e., protest is a symptom of a system in need of revolution. There is a growing sense of unrest, particularly in the United States, characterized by growing participation in protest movements. The government is oftentimes responding with violence, a sign that the rules of its sublime object are failing to do their job. Thus, there must be a substitution for the current sublime object. Existentialist humanism seems to be the best substitution available because it promotes the safe release of instinctual drives while still promoting social cohesion. Humanism values all parts of the human condition and recognizes that human shortcomings are simply a fact of life. Recognition of peoples' tendency to fail and to later overcome these failures is a failsafe built into the new sublime object, thus preserving civil society in a way that religion or neo-liberal ideas cannot.
ContributorsHuston, Jordan James (Author) / Matustik, Martin (Thesis director) / Huntington, Patricia (Committee member) / Ramsey, Ramsey Eric (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the relationship between mental illness and capitalist consumer society. Many Americans are suffering from mental illness and there has to be something causing it besides a chemical imbalance in the brain. A capitalist society creates a set of expectations that conflict with human desires. The thesis takes a historical, economical, and psychological approach to answering the following question: Does a capitalist society make its citizens mentally sick? A brief history of capitalism over the past century is discussed, as well as a more in depth look at capitalism and the creation of neoliberalism during the 1980s. The psychological effects capitalism has on human beings is discussed for the majority of the thesis and focuses on ideas from the 1950s as well as the early 2000s. To show the effect capitalism has on modern day society, an analysis of a psychopharmaceutical drug commercial is given. The concluding thoughts attempt to offer solutions to the problems of human unhappiness in a consumer culture.
ContributorsSerki, Aisling Erin (Author) / Gruber, Diane (Thesis director) / Ramsey, Ramsey Eric (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Theory has often been historically characterized as lacking pragmatisms and action necessary for social change. Thus, as this challenge between pragmatists and theorists continues to exist, this project attempts to disclose a manner in which we may alter this conflict by reinterpreting theory, poetry, and philosophy as active political moments of resistance that fundamentally change our ethical relationship with language and consequently to others. This thesis recognizes that dire political situations of social injustice require a more materialistic and sociological analysis in order to achieve structural reform for marginalized groups. However, this work attempts to show how an ethical relationship with theory, poetry, and philosophy is requisite to cultural and material change, as these meditative ways of thinking hold a stake in the overall discussion of social progress as well.
ContributorsDel Rincon, Yessica (Contributor) / Ramsey, Ramsey Eric (Thesis director) / Kirsch, Sharon (Committee member) / Luna, Ilana (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
Friendship between males have grown stronger throughout the last 20 years thanks to the production of buddy and bromance films. These movies have started to separate themselves from labels like gay and straight. Feelings are no longer foreign and inaccessible to men, and this has led them to a greater understanding of themselves. Man is currently on the road that woman has been on for many years, that being of close knit friendships that resemble homosexual relationships; and even though this mimicry (or rather appropriation) has come at a much later time, man is now closer than ever to the tipping point for a new masculinity. Through philosophy, sociology, gender studies, social theory, psychoanalysis, and pop culture (specifically film and television) this paper reveals what bromance has already done and could potentially do for man and eventually for humanity.
ContributorsAvelar, Matthew (Contributor) / Fahs, Breanne (Thesis director) / Ramsey, Ramsey Eric (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
This thesis reflects on how we understand the psyche, religion, and care for the Earth and the suffering Other. Through a hermeneutic walk through the works of Martin Heidegger, John D. Caputo, and Friedrich Nietzsche, we come to have an understanding of the incredible importance of words, language, and stories. Technological language is taken as a threat to what makes humans unique, if it makes us say that what matters most must be able to be measured. The myth of Cupid and Psyche leads us to an understanding that the psyche is made of words, and that stories are true, not factual. The way in which meditative thinking requires us to open to other ideas leads us to postmodernism. A discussion of Pope Francis's encyclical, "Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home," aims to persuade Catholics that climate change is a complex and real issue worthy of our attention. As people of faith, we must acknowledge our sins against the Earth and against the poor. We have the power to create positive change, yet we waste our resources. Evidence is given that the poor are effected at a greater degree by climate change. Liberation theology is discussed as one way Catholics can care for the suffering Other. Through my reading of Caputo's "On Religion," we are all more religious than we think, and therefore must all play a part in the care of our common home. A new and more inclusive conversation from a place of love about all of these issues is needed to create revolutionary change.
ContributorsSeitz, Sarah Elizabeth (Author) / Ramsey, Ramsey Eric (Thesis director) / Watrous, Lisa (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The image of La Virgen de Guadalupe is an iconic symbol for many in the Catholic Religion and those with Mexicana/ indigenous roots. Her image has played a vital role in the personal and religious agency of Latina women raised Catholic. The image of La Virgen de Guadalupe sets up many expectations of what a woman in my culture should grow up to be. Purity, chastity, and motherhood are tied into the story of La Virgen. All words that prevent self-identity and self-pleasure. However, moving away from the characteristics that are constructed by those in power she has become much more. Through words and language we retell the story of La Virgen de Guadalupe and give her the capacity to become a symbol of hope and courage. This reclamation offers women the power to express self-identity and pleasure and allows us the ability to see La Virgen as women. Following writers such as Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Sandra Cisneros, Carol Gilligan and others, I have created a creative project with the image of La Virgen de Guadalupe and words that are associated with La Virgen. Some of these words will lead to La Virgen and some will block however we still must work with them to get to La Virgen that will correspond with our soul. The words came from my own personal thought and from my writing. In addition, some words are borrowed from the authors that helped in my writing. I hope my creative project will give the capacity to think beyond the ideas that restrict us from true self identity and pleasure for Latina Women.
ContributorsRamos, Myra (Author) / Watrous, Lisa (Committee member) / Ramsey, Ramsey Eric (Thesis director) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The Judithian Woman manifests herself in both the fictional works and the lives of feminist writers throughout the three waves, starting with the first mention of Judith in Virginia Woolf’s, A Room of One’s Own. She is Shakespeare’s fictional sister, just as gifted and talented as her legendary brother, but burdened with her destiny to fulfil the “proper” roles of a woman: sister, daughter, wife, mother. Judith flees an arranged marriage to pursue opportunity in the world of theater, only to be met with lack of opportunity and discrimination, which eventually leads to her suicide. This narrative has become all too familiar, as Virginia Woolf’s own life follows a very similar path, and this same story is echoed in the life of other feminist authors and their character’s lives.
This thesis explores the four pillars that make up the Judithian Woman, an archetype for understanding the discrimination and oppression that female writers (and their characters) face in pursuit of their passion for literature. The structure states that the Judithian woman first has the potential for literary genius, and that in pursuit of this gift, she faces three deaths: spiritual, emotional, and physical.
Visiting Paul Tillich’s Invocation: The Lost Dimension in Religion, we understand Judith’s spirituality as living in pursuit of the bigger questions in life, such as “what is my purpose?” Through her writing, the Judithian woman answers these existential questions and live out her purpose as a writer. The discrimination she faces in pursuit of answering these bigger questions eventually results in her spiritual death. Her emotional death results from the pressures of resorting to a domesticated lifestyle in which she is expected to occupy the roles society has deemed only suitable for a woman. The constant expectation of both marriage and motherhood serve as daily interruptions to the creative pursuits of the Judithian woman. She often gives in to the pressure, resulting in the death of not only her creativity, but her emotional well-being as she sacrifices her craft to occupy these other roles.
The accumulation of the discrimination she faces, as well as the pressures of domestication, inevitably result in the Judithian woman’s literal death by suicide, or at least her attempt.
This thesis explores the four pillars that make up the Judithian Woman, an archetype for understanding the discrimination and oppression that female writers (and their characters) face in pursuit of their passion for literature. The structure states that the Judithian woman first has the potential for literary genius, and that in pursuit of this gift, she faces three deaths: spiritual, emotional, and physical.
Visiting Paul Tillich’s Invocation: The Lost Dimension in Religion, we understand Judith’s spirituality as living in pursuit of the bigger questions in life, such as “what is my purpose?” Through her writing, the Judithian woman answers these existential questions and live out her purpose as a writer. The discrimination she faces in pursuit of answering these bigger questions eventually results in her spiritual death. Her emotional death results from the pressures of resorting to a domesticated lifestyle in which she is expected to occupy the roles society has deemed only suitable for a woman. The constant expectation of both marriage and motherhood serve as daily interruptions to the creative pursuits of the Judithian woman. She often gives in to the pressure, resulting in the death of not only her creativity, but her emotional well-being as she sacrifices her craft to occupy these other roles.
The accumulation of the discrimination she faces, as well as the pressures of domestication, inevitably result in the Judithian woman’s literal death by suicide, or at least her attempt.
ContributorsDingman, Meghan F. (Author) / Gaffney, Cynthia (Thesis director) / Ramsey, Ramsey Eric (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This thesis grew out of my own experiences of the sudden loss of a loved one. It turns to the philosophy of Martin Heidegger and Paul Tillich to examine how vertical and meditative thought, respectively, aid in interpreting art to overcome such a tragic event. The first section of this thesis begins with an explanation of how I came to realize that my capacity to understand and interpret life had been restricted by a lens of calculative thought. The second section of this thesis addresses the philosophical lessons about depth in thought in the vertical plane that Paul Tillich teaches us about, and is combined with Martin Heidegger's teaching about the difference between being studying in meditative versus calculative thought. Following their explication on the importance of our elusive capacity, the third section is reserved for becoming aware of how to practice our capacity of meditative and vertical depth in thought through the art of poetry. The final section concludes with a discussion of the importance of involved thinking, along with a poem I created using a meditative mind frame.
ContributorsDillman, Blake A. (Author) / Ramsey, Ramsey Eric (Thesis director) / Gruber, Diane (Committee member) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
My thesis will revolve around the ideology and sociology of the sneaker brand and it particular, basketball sneakers. The mega sneaker superpower Nike and the under dog of Under Armour have shoes they want to sells and consumers they want to buy them. I will discuss how the advertisement are used and implanted but both Nike and Under Armour. The two points of references from each company will be LeBron James, Nike, and Stephen Curry, Under Armour. Both basketball players have signature shoes and are undoublty the NBAs most relevant players this past season. The two players just so happened to face off against each other in the NBA finals, which enhanced the marketing potential for both companies. Thus, the advertisements for these and their shoes would have been its peak trying sway consumers to either side. Nike and Under Armour both ploy attempts in creating marketing material to attract their consumer base. The Thesis will look at why sneakers have become a social trend and high commodity. I will look at how pop culture and psychological diseases play a roll in the consumers' choice to purchase either shoe. The work as a whole will attempt to bring forth some revitalizing information on today's sneaker culture. Research was limited, however with the information to conduct this thesis, the thesis should spark interest in a new research related field. Thus, bringing forth a new renaissance in today's culture; the Sneaker Life.
ContributorsMitchell, Devon Willie (Author) / Ramsey, Ramsey Eric (Thesis director) / Gruber, Diane (Committee member) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Nietzsche’s aphoristic style and affinity for rhetorical ‘masks’ raise an acute interpretive problem. The problem is that his fragmented style might be taken to reflect a deeper fragmentation in his thought. For instance, philosopher Raymond Geuss argues that we should not read Nietzsche’s thought as being unified. Against Geuss, I argue that we should. To make my case, I appeal to Nietzsche’s meta-philosophy, which gives us plenty of evidence for attributing unity to his thought. I conclude by reflecting on why this result is important for interpreting different aspects of Nietzsche’s work.
ContributorsMartin, Jacob Samuel (Author) / Suk, Mina (Thesis director) / Ramsey, Ramsey Eric (Committee member) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05