# dianoia: A Pathfinder

This is a computer-generated pathfinder created against the Distant Reader study called dianoia.

Each Distant Reader study carrel is composed of many individual items. Each item is bibliographically described with author, title, date, summary, and keyword values. Below is a list of the items' most signficant keywords as well as lists of the items themselves. Purpusing the content of this pathfinder provides the student, researcher, or scholar with one way to get their heads around the scope of the carrel. The keywords include:

> Ibid; Human; Dianoia; Heidegger; Boston; Life; World; Nature; College; Experience; Art; Good; Work; Knowledge; Self; Time; Ethics; God; Value; Virtue; Law; Kant; Truth; Nothingness; Faith; Level; Alex; Thought; Editors; Essays; Authenticity

Depending on how this pathfinder was created, many of the bibliographic sections will include elaborations on the meaning(s) of the given keywords. These elaborations were generated by feeding the items' summaries to a large langauge model and asking the model to address the question, "What is X?", where "X" is the keyword. The result will be a few sentences of elaboration. Be forewarned. The elaborations are often plausible, but they should not be take as truth. Instead, they should be taken as points for consideration.

## Ibid

- Issue I (Spring 2012) by Kim, Lucia (2017) - While nature provides its own rule, according to Kant, the rule for Art, is manifested through the individuals’ talent in so far as “beautiful art is only possible as a product of Genius.” When we think of the surrealist movement, of Rodin’s drawings of prostitutes, of interpretive dance, or of certain works of modern art, many of us find nothing beautiful on the surface, and we even feel discomfort rather than pleasure upon viewing it. Keywords: alex; art; beckett; dianoia; draper; form; foucault; godot; good; heidegger; ibid; imagination; judgment; kant; life; man; men; nature; new; philosophy; plato; pleasure; print; reason; society; taste; truth; waiting; way; work; world
- A Defense of the Gods: Interpreting Plato's Myth of Er by Fahey, Christopher (2018) - 84 Plato, Republic, 379c. 85 Ibid., 380b-c. 79Issue V F Spring 2018 A Defense of the Gods and had become just and pious, they were rewarded according to the same scale.86 The totally incorrigible receive their just punishment as well, and are “thrown into Tartarus” for eternity.87 Socrates also upholds the second point—that the gods should not be blamed for the bad that befalls humans. At the same time, a “critique of myth” is to be found in Plato because Socrates never subscribes to “undiscriminating, uncritically naive acceptance of what is handed down” through myth.94 Indeed, Pieper says that “defend[ing] the truth about the gods as it is revealed in legitimate sacred tradition [...] defines Plato’s most genuine aim. Keywords: annas; ibid; johnson; myth; plato; socrates
- Issue III (Spring 2014) by Celie, Karel-Bart (2017) - Nietzsche, Portable Nietzsche, 491. 44 Nietzsche, Basic Writings, 710. Nietzsche, Portable Nietzsche, 122. Keywords: 902980_text.indd; argument; banksy; dianoia; e vig; enpu evig; evi g; evig reven; evig revenreve; existence; faith; form; god; hegel; ibid; iii reven; kierkegaard; life; man; new; nietzsche; paradox; philosophy; pu evig; pu evigreven; public; rev en; reve n; reven pu; reven reven; reven revenreven; revenreven pu; self; undergraduate; way
- Merleau-Ponty and Barthes on Image Consciousness: Probing the (Im)possibility of Meaning by Beaudin Pearson, Natasha (2019) - Spectators might be wounded by different punctums, which are, as Barthes puts it, “outside of meaning. Richard Howard (New York: Hill and Wang, 1981), 26. 4 Barthes, Camera Lucida, 19-20. 9Issue VI ◆ Spring 2019 Merleau-Ponty and Barthes on Image Consciousness unity” of the world,5 Barthes contends that “since every photograph is contingent (and thereby outside of meaning), photography cannot signify (aim at a generality) except by assuming a mask. Keywords: barthes; freud; ibid; meaning; merleau; ponty; punctum
- Phenomenological Reproduction in Thompson and Mailer's New Journalism by Chambers, Brendan (2019) - The March, for Mailer, is an almost incommunicably chaotic event; however, by placing himself at the center of it in his retelling, he builds an image of Norman Mailer which, though at times confusing and complex, is nonetheless solid. (Penguin Books, 2018), 54 57 Mailer, 76. 40 Dianoia: The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Boston College Upon arrival at this climactic scene, the first detail that Mailer notes is the chaotic mix of cymbals, chanting, and spoken word played by the Fugs. Keywords: eason; experience; ibid; image; journalism; mailer; new; novel; reader; reality; thompson; world
- Walter Benjamin's "Über den Begriff der Geschichte" and the Marxist Tradition by Wade, Maxwell (2019) - Political Theory 12, no. 3 (1984): 423-434. 62 Dianoia: The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Boston College Perhaps one of the most basic difficulties in Benjamin scholarship with “On the Concept of History” is the plethora of interpretations around it, many of which contradict each other. A Companion to the Works of Walter Benjamin. Keywords: benjamin; engels; history; ibid; marx; marxism; past; text; time; walter
- Patočka's Critique of Husserl: The Possibility of A-Subjective Phenomenology by Vidal, Gabriel (2019) - 10 Walter Biemel, “Las Fases Decisivas En El Desarrollo de La Filosofía de Husserl,” in Husserl. This implies the task of debunking two theses: on one hand, the idea that the subject is the creator of the objects that appear to him and, on the other, the idea of the absolute independence of objects, or the thesis of the thing in itself.3 The path taken by Husserl in order to debunk both theses aims to restore the connection between the two dimensions at stake—subjectivity, and objectivity—by putting at the forefront their correlation. Keywords: appearance; consciousness; husserl; ibid; object; patočka; phenomenology; subject; thing; way
- Full Text by Klapes, Peter (2019) - 53 Jan Patočka, “The Natural World and Phenomenology,” in Jan Patočka: Philosophy and Selected Writings (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989), 247. 86 Dianoia: The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Boston College attempts to add a thing-like essence (a thing that acts, thinks, and wants),54 in such a way that constitutes a special thing between other things that lack a self or ego. For example, the innovation of the photograph is “the first truly revolutionary means of reproduction […which] for the first time in world history, technological reproducibility emancipates the work of art from its parasitic subservience to ritual.” Keywords: appearance; barthes; benjamin; boston; cabrera; century; college; complex; consciousness; dianoia; experience; fact; history; human; husserl; ibid; image; journal; level; life; mailer; marx; meaning; merleau; new; object; order; patočka; phenomenology; philosophy; ponty; press; reader; reality; self; spring; subject; thing; thompson; thought; time; undergraduate; university; way; work; world
- Full Text by Valdez, Noah (2020) - [T]he relevant [ethical] reasons for acting, on occasions when they co- exist with considerations that on their own would be reasons for acting otherwise, as, not overriding, but silencing those other considerations—as bringing it about that, in the circumstances, they are not reasons at all.25 I interpret these lines to mean that when a virtuous person is faced with the choice between different moral considerations, there are two possible ways in which he can perceive a situation: a) the non-virtuous considerations are silenced such that they stop being reasons for acting at all; therefore, such non-virtuous considerations stop being considerations (morally speaking, that is) at all and b) the competing non- virtuous considerations are moral considerations, as far as the agent is concerned; nonetheless, they are so implausible, in that they go against the virtuous nature of the agent, that his will silences them and he never takes such considerations seriously— let alone chooses them. 15Issue VII ◆ Spring 2020 δι αν οι α VIRTUE, SILENCING, AND PERCEPTION1 ABHI RUPARELIA Over the course of several influential articles, philosopher John McDowell describes the practical reasoning of the virtuous agent using an appeal to his distinctive perceptual abilities.2 McDowell argues that when such an agent deliberates about a course of action, he never sees any conflict between the demands of virtue and other competing non-virtuous considerations, because for him, the requirements of virtue silence the other competing reasons for action. Keywords: act; agent; arendt; boston; cage; college; dianoia; earth; heidegger; human; ibid; injustice; john; journal; logic; man; mcdowell; nature; new; non; nothingness; person; philosophy; relation; silence; silencing; sound; technology; undergraduate; vii; virtue; virtuous; work; world
- Human (and) Nature: Using Arendt to Reconcile Models of Environmental Ethics by Gillette, Caroline (2020) - That is, science has the same problem as math: it ceased to be a tool to understand what we learn about nature sensually, and has instead become more authoritative about reality than actual nature. Using Arendt to Reconcile Models of Environmental Ethics CAROLINE GILLETTE INTRODUCTION In The Human Condition, Hannah Arendt implicitly oscillates between two paradigms that relate the human to nature. Keywords: arendt; earth; human; ibid; man; model; nature
- Full Text by Valdez, Noah (2021) - We are assuming that Plutarch shares the commitment of his predecessors to moral virtue and its cultivation as necessary for human flourishing. It is worth noting that Lycurgus and Numa cultivate moral virtue in the Spartans and Romans not only as lawgivers, but also as examples. Keywords: absolute; actions; admiration; argument; aristotle; art; book; boston; college; dianoia; education; ethical; ethics; good; hegel; hägglund; ibid; journal; kierkegaard; knowledge; law; life; lives; moral; people; philosophy; plato; plutarch; poetry; politics; press; qualia; socrates; spring; subjectivity; theory; time; torture; tradition; undergraduate; university; value; viii; virtues; way; work
- Perfect Society or Voluntary Association?: Locke, Maritain, and the Autonomy of Church and State by Sean Scully (2025) - In the process, he provides an extensive account of how a separation between Church and state could actually work for the benefit of the Church. In doing so, I hope to show that only Locke’s theory is structured to fulfill its stated ambitions, while Maritain’s envisioned society fails to achieve its desired relationship between Church and State. Keywords: authority; chapter; church; ibid; locke; maritain; society; state
- “There is No Such Finis Ultimus”: Liberal Anthropology and Church-State Relations Considered by Ellison, Michael (2025) - 80 Dianoia: The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Boston College THERE IS NO SUCH FINIS ULTIMUS LIBERAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND CHURCH- STATE RELATIONS CONSIDERED MICHAEL ELLISON In this paper, I will describe the philosophical anthropology presupposed by the liberal tradition and demonstrate how that anthropology influences liberal conceptions of the relationship between Church and state. Having explored the liberal anthropology, its effects on liberal conceptions of church-state relations can now be analyzed. Keywords: church; good; hobbes; ibid; locke; man; rawls; state
- Issue XII (Spring 2025) by Elliott Jones (2025) - 89Issue XII ◊ Spring 2025 There is No Such Finis Ultimus such groups ought to be “curbed,” which, though sounding mundane, leaves the door open for any variety of state actions against such groups in a Rawlsian polity.41 Thus, the liberal anthropology, with its view that there is no objective good for man and that he is free to define and pursue the good as he sees fit, directly affects the relationship between the Church and state that each of the liberal thinkers envisions. Existentialism is a philosophy centered around human freedom and responsibility within a universe considered devoid of inherent meaning. Keywords: authority; beauvoir; boston; chapter; church; college; conception; daoist; dianoia; existentialism; faith; freedom; good; heidegger; human; ibid; idea; john; journal; life; locke; maritain; nature; people; philosophy; rawls; sartre; society; spring; state; theory; time; university; way; webber; wuwei; xii
- Virtue Ethics and Caring: The Ethical Presuppositions of Taking Mortality Seriously by Nilsson, Alicia (2021) - The essay is divided into three parts: first, I will give a brief overview of Hägglund’s philosophical position; second, I will present the virtue ethical framework that lays the groundwork for my arguments; 1 Martin Hägglund, This Life: Why Mortality Makes Us Free, (London: Profile Books, 2019). Hägglund, Martin, “Utblick: Martin Hägglund och det ändliga livet.” Keywords: caring; ethical; hägglund; ibid; life; value; virtue
- G.K. Chesterton and the Quest for Heideggerian Authenticity by Chiodini, Clare (2017) - Heidegger seeks to ground his study of existential Dasein in its existentiel understanding. 13 Idle Talk can be understood as the existential of discourse as a character of fallen Dasein; it is discourse submitted to the control of the ‘they’. Keywords: dasein; death; heidegger; ibid; possibilities; possibility
- Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Alex Garland: Human Consciousness in Ex Machina by Pressman, Fisher (2017) - 87Issue IV F Spring 2017 Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Alex Garland Finally, another important scene focuses on art, but does not directly involve Ava. Ponty discusses the importance of the body for lived experience as our point of intentionality in the world in his work Prospectus (A Report to the Collège de France). Keywords: ava; body; garland; ibid; merleau; ponty; world

## Human

- Spinoza the Hindu: Advaita Interpretations of The Ethics by Forslund, Noah (2018) - Advaita philosophy promotes a similar human union with God, since atman is non-different from brahman. It is from this foundational understanding of substance that Spinoza derives the claim that “there can be, or be conceived, no other substance but God,” and, that, consequently, “whatever is, is in God, and nothing can be or be conceived without God. Keywords: advaita; brahman; god; human; knowledge; reality; spinoza
- Book Review: Discomfort and Moral Impediment by Julio Cabrera (Cambridge Scholars Publishing: 2019) by Casey, Myles (2019) - Cabrera then turns to more ontological considerations of human being, in chapters 2 and 3, to articulate his concept of “negative ethics,” the question of discomfort, and the status of “value” in human life. human being as having a non-exhaustive trifold structure—[a] human life, from birth has a “decaying” structure that can end at any point; [b] human life’s decaying-being is characterized by three kinds of “frictions’—physical pain, discouragement (i.e., the possibility of “lacking the will” to continue to be), and “exposure to the aggressions of other humans”; Keywords: cabrera; creation; human; life; value
- How Can We Reach the True Definition of Something? Essence, Definition, and Teleology in Aristole's Metaphysics by Lee, Minjun (2023) - e denition of something is the account of its essence. e denition is the account of the essence. Keywords: animal; aristotle; de"nition; di#erentia; end; essence; genus; human
- Kant's Racial and Moral Theories: The Importance of a Teleological Perspective by Toensing, Lauren (2023) - The Importance of a Teleological Perspective LAUREN TOENSING INTRODUCTION It is often observed that the works of Immanuel Kant contain many propagations of racist and prejudiced beliefs, which seem to have been sincerely held by Kant himself. ! 1 Immanuel Kant, “Toward Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch,” Essay, in Toward Perpetual Peace and Other Writings on Politics, Peace, and History, edited by Pauline Kleingeld, translated by Jeremy Waldron, Michael W. Doyle, Allen W. Wood, and David L. Colclasure, 67–109, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006, 82. 2 Pauline Kleingeld, “Kant’s Second !oughts on Colonialism,” essay, in Kant and Colonialism: Historical and Critical Perspectives, edited by Katrin Flikschuh and Lea Ypi, 43–67, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, 573. 3 Lucy Allais, “Kant’s Racism,” Philosophical Papers 45, no. 1-2 (2016): 1–36, https://doi.org/10.1080/05568641.2 016.1199170, 30. 72 Dianoia: The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Boston College IDEA FOR A UNIVERSAL HISTORY WITH A COSMOPOLITAN AIM AND KANT'S TELEOLOGY Some of Kant’s most explicitly teleological thinking can be found in his philosophy of history. Keywords: ethics; history; human; kant; kleingeld; nature; peace; racism; reason
- Issue XI (Spring 2024) by Elliott Jones (2024) - ess u rs e e s es i e ise r ug ur reness eing ni e re e e n ei e s e ing is n ni e e in ni e “Spirit”: Kierkegaard refers to spirit as a sort of glue that 30 Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety, 57. Keywords: aristotle; boston; college; consciousness; e e; e es; e g; e ien; e ing; e ns; e p; e s; ere e; ethics; human; love; n e; n s; nature; ni e; p r; philosophy; power; r e; r n; r r; r s; ris e; s u; se e; self; ssi e; su e; teleology; u e; u n; u r; un e
- A Symetrical Argument for Personhood and Abortion by Arthur deCarle (2024) - ns i us e perien e in ie is e rs n s ru i i r rs ns i us e perien e is s e ri Keywords: experience; human; personhood
- Against Evolutionary Ethics by Roberto Ureña (2024) - For the present purposes, this paper will not consider the ques- tion of evolutionary metaethics, and will deal solely with the descrip- tive and prescriptive aspects of evolutionary moral theory. i n r s s ien i rather than philosophically, evolutionary moral theorists avoid abstract speculation regarding the mechanics of how morality ‘works.’ Keywords: beings; e e; ethics; genes; human; individual; ought; r e

## Dianoia

- Issue II (Spring 2013) by Kim, Lucia (2017) - e Grand Inquisitor Notes from the Underground is Basic Writings of Existentialism Existentialism Existentialism Basic Writings of Existentialism 30 DIANOIA UNDERGRADUATE PHILOSOPHY JOURNAL ! e Absurd in Camus and Frankl 10 DIANOIA UNDERGRADUATE PHILOSOPHY JOURNAL !e Keywords: batman; dianoia; philosophy
- A Letter from the Editor by Klapes, Peter (2019) - The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Boston College represents, indeed, the world’s finest undergraduate work in philosophy. I am certain that such training will continue to influence our annual review and will continue to keep us firmly in our position as a top journal of undergraduate work in philosophy. Keywords: boston; dianoia; philosophy
- A Letter From the Editor by Valdez, Noah (2020) - 6 Dianoia: The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Boston College Spring 2020 Dear Reader, It is with great honor and pride that I present to you Issue VII of Dianoia: In the interest of philosophically engaging with COVID-19—a feat still quite rare in the early days of the virus—Dianoia is pleased to present an interview with the Joseph Chair in Catholic Philosophy and current Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Boston College, Dermot Moran, speaking on the pandemic and its assorted effects on everyday life. Keywords: dianoia; journal; philosophy
- Letter From The Editor by Valdez, Noah (2021) - The union of these two pieces—from Bacon’s isolation to Yakovlev’s horizon of community—is a fitting image for our gradual return to a pre-COVID-19 lifestyle, and we enthusiastically look forward to holding future publication symposia in-person, to meetings on campus, and to seeing journal friends again, both old and new. Spring 2021 To the Reader, Welcome to Issue VIII of Dianoia: The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Boston College! Keywords: dianoia; journal

## Heidegger

- A Conversation with Heidegger and the Kyoto School on Nothingness by Stanley, Matthew A. (2018) - Abe calls this “self- centeredness,” an obstacle to truly knowing other things. Because self-centeredness presumes that other things are not settled within themselves and not sufficient unto themselves. Keywords: anxiety; dasein; heidegger; nishitani; nothingness; object; self; things
- Language and Signs in Heidegger's What is Called Thinking by Victor, Jon Stuart (2018) - Yet, while any combination of signs can yield new meaning, there can be only one relationship of sign to signifier. Language as a combination of signs is constantly productive, but the relation of sign to signifier, or of human to Being, is transcendent, in that it is fixed in its singular meaning. Keywords: heidegger; language; sign
- Art, Technology and Truth in the Thought of Martin Heidegger by Montero, Felipe Daniel (2020) - a translation of Gelassenheit, (New York, Harper & Row, 1959) 4 Iain D. Thomson, Heidegger, Art, and Postmodernity, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 110 5 Martin Heidegger, “Vom Ursprung des Kunstwerks: Erste Ausarbeitung” Heidegger Studies Vol. 5 (1989): 5-22. We must take into account that even if the ancient Greeks could be said to have damaged nature just as much as the English did in the times of Francis Bacon, the difference between the two of them— and of unique interest to Heidegger—is how from a certain historical horizon nature can be seen as something to be dominated, which is clearly incompatible with the Greek conception of physis.10 9 Martin Heidegger, Vorträge und Aufsätze, (Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann, 2000), 17. Keywords: art; earth; heidegger; ihde; new; technology; work; world; york
- Interview with Dermot Moran by Moran, Dermot (2020) - Analytic philosophy then grew out from that breed of German scientific thought of the 20th century whereas Husserl and Heidegger influenced people like Gadamer, Arendt, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Beauvoir, Kristeva and the more European thinkers that you tend to associate with continental philosophy. And that’s interesting too, continental people tend to be more interested in the arts and literature, and analytic philosophers often want to be piggybacking on science, mathematics, logic and so on. Keywords: heidegger; moran; people; phenomenology; philosophy
- Interview with Professor Gregory Fried: Towards a Polemical Ethics: Between Heidegger and Plato by Fried, Gregory; Kelly, Patrick (2023) - Heidegger traces that weakness back to Greek thinking, starting with Plato, which sees the world as divided between historical reality—the shadows of the cave that we live in—and the realm of philosophical truth, the realm of the Ideas, which philosophy can bring us to as the true world beyond our historical experience in which there are everlasting truths that transcend us. 6 Dianoia: The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Boston College δι άν οι α AN INTERVIEW WITH GREGORY FRIED, PH.D., PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY AT BOSTON COLLEGE Towards a Polemical Ethics: Between Heidegger and Plato I think for Plato and for Socrates, the philosophical life is a constant striving to seek that enlightenment: to try our utmost to transcend our historical circumstances, even knowing that we will ultimately fail. Patrick Kelly, Managing Editor ! Keywords: cave; heidegger; philosophy; plato
- Of Experience and Being: Apropos of This and That - An Analysis from Daoism to Heidegger by Shea Divoll (2025) - All in all, there is significant evidence de- veloping the connection between Martin Heidegger and Daoism, espe- cially classical Daoism (to the extent that the Laozi and Zhuangzi 莊子11 are pillars of classical Daoism).12 § 1.3: THE SCREAM OF NATURE With an understanding of Martin Heidegger’s academic back- ground, I will now give a selection of passages from Being and Time that are useful in later understanding how he may have had “hidden” sources.13 Heidegger believed that the question of Being was central to philosophy. Thus, both Heidegger and Zhuangzi address the origins of certain determinis- tic mechanisms in life by illuminating the existence of said mechanisms 56 Martin Heidegger, Being and Time, 410. Keywords: action; dao; daoist; dasein; experience; hand; heidegger; martin; ontology; philosophy; time; way; world; wuwei; zhuangzi

## Boston

- Masthead by Klapes, Peter (2018) - The materials herein represent the personal opinions of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Dianoia or Boston College. Dianoia The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Boston College Spring 2018 Issue V Boston College 140 Commonwealth Avenue Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/mcas/departments/philosophy/undergraduate/dianoia.html Keywords: boston
- Author Biographies by Klapes, Peter (2019) - GABRIEL VIDAL Pontifical Catholic University of Chile Gabriel Vidal Quinones is a student at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. 98 C O N TR IB U TO RS NATASHA BEAUDIN PEARSON McGill University Natasha Beaudin Pearson is a soon-to-be graduate of McGill University, where she completed a joint honours B.A. in philosophy and art history. Keywords: boston; philosophy; university
- Masthead by Klapes, Peter (2019) - Editor-in-Chief: Peter Klapes Senior Managing Editor: Noah Valdez Managing Editors: Weitao Liu, Ethan Yates General Editors: Benjamin Dewhurst, Christopher Fahey, Jennifer Howard, Gregory Kacergis, Brian Kominick, Ana Luque, Elizabeth LoPreiato, Jacob Schick, Alexander Turney, Lauren White, Madeline Wolfe, Xinyu Zhou External Reviewers: Jeremy Freudberg (Boston University), Justin Messmer (Boston University), Tristan St. Germain (Brown University), Alexander Stooshinoff (Concordia University) Communications Editor: Jessica Flores Graduate Advisor: Myles Casey Faculty Advisor: Ronald Tacelli, S.J. Cover designs courtesy of Gregory Kacergis. The materials herein represent the personal opinions of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Dianoia or Boston College. Keywords: boston; university
- Masthead by Valdez, Noah (2020) - διανοιαDIANOIA The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Boston College Spring 2020 ISSUE VII διανοια Editor-in-Chief: Noah Valdez Senior Managing Editor: Ethan Yates Managing Editors: Nicholas Arozarena, Weitao Liu, Lauren White General Editors: Nicholas Avallone, Kathryn Bryson, Jacob Browning, Carolyn Chang, Yang Cheng, Benjamin Dewhurst, Lucy Hanson, Emily Haverstick, Wenyu Huang, Qihui Liu, Yue Liu, Elizabeth LoPreiato, Alexandria Mullen, Jacob Schick, Drew Thorburn, Maxwell Vogliano External Reviewers: Arabella Adams (Wellesley College), Nathan Evans (University of Northern Colorado), Tyler Hruby (Carleton College), Tristan St. Germain (Brown University) The materials herein represent the personal opinions of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Dianoia or Boston College. Keywords: boston; college

## Life

- On Admiration and Wonder: Should We Accept Plutarch's Lives in the Platonic City? by Ainsa, Gabriel (2021) - As I will argue, although Plutarch's description of poetry (and other activities and arts, including political ones) follows Plato in his analysis of their psychological risks, he does not exclude them from human life. In this essay, I read Plutarch and his Lives as a text of moral and political philosophy responding to the Platonic tradition to which Plutarch feels in debt yet free to challenge and improve2. Keywords: admiration; art; city; good; life; lives; lycurgus; numa; plato; plutarch; poetry; politics; soul; virtue
- The Positive Illusion of Qualia by Ivie, Nikki (2021) - ENJOYMENT I run because it makes me feel good—it provides me with positive qualia. There are many things that provide me with positive qualia, but there are, of course, qualia that are quite the opposite effect: falling on a trail, having to take a cold shower, or experiencing the death of a loved one. Keywords: child; dennett; experience; illusions; life; positive; qualia

## World

- Cognition, Domination and Complexity: A Speculative Outline of Intersections Between Cognitive Activity and Structures of Control, and their Relation to Dynamics of Complexity and Simplicity by Cardoza, Ryan (2019) - Stratification will be a useful concept, because we can use it to talk about the convergence of certain tendencies two different levels of matter without equivocating between levels. 47Issue VI ◆ Spring 2019 Cognition, Domination and Complexity the nature of stratification at the other level; there is no equivocation between levels, only an “isomorphism without correspondence”5 between the two. 3) Scientific Conceptualization; Physics In his Will to Power, Friedrich Nietzsche writes that “Thinking in primitive conditions (pre-organic) is the crystallization of forms, as in the case of a crystal.—In our thought, the essential feature is fitting new material into old schemas (=Procrustes’ bed), making equal what is new.”6 Keywords: abstract; chaos; collapse; complex; control; level; new; simplicity; world; york
- The Nature of Human Knowledge in Light of Empiricism After a Critique of Kantian Epistemology by Arıcı, Burak (2022) - At this point, it becomes possible to address a conceptual scheme which consists of the concepts “a priori, a posteriori, analytic, and synthetic” by their combination in the expression of human knowledge. Before Kant, David Hume, in An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, claimed that human knowledge consists of “relations of ideas” and “matters of fact.” Keywords: analytic; analyticity; experience; knowledge; priori; synthetic; world

## Nature

- Heroes or Villains? A Lockean Approach to Justifying Vigilantism by Locke, Rebekah (2022) - Harel’s integrationist justi#cation of state sanctions does have force in the situations in which it applies, but this theory of punishment justi#cation simply does not pertain to actions in a pseudo-state of nature. And because the vigilante, under the speci#c paradigm laid out in section one, strives to uphold the morality of his community, he is likely to mimic state sanctions as best he can. Keywords: executive; nature; pseudo; punishment; right; state; vigilante; vigilantism
- A Natural Interpretation of Aristotelian Teleology by Jordan Smith (2024) - That is to say, wherever a formal cause is present, so too i n use 30 r urren purp ses e re e n e is This being said, Aristot- le’s preference for explaining teleology in terms of biological processes s u n e en e e usi n er e s n uses s is done by those who support the restrictive interpretation of teleology. Keywords: aristotle; e e; e r; e s; n e; nature; r n; r s; ris e; teleology

## College

- Author Biographies by Klapes, Peter (2018) - Other specific areas of philosophical interest include philosophy of art, philosophy of religion, and existentialism. JAZLYN CARTAYA New York University Jazlyn Cartaya is a recent graduate of New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, with a BFA in Film and TV and Philosophy. Keywords: college; philosophy; senior; university
- Contributors by Klapes, Peter (2017) - She is currently a junior at Boston University, double majoring in Philosophy and Ancient Greek & Latin. ROBERT ENGELMAN Boston University ‘17 Robert Engelman is a senior at Boston University where he is completing a double major in Philosophy and Psychology. Keywords: college; philosophy; university

## Experience

- Praxis of the Soviet Avant-Garde by Hasdan, Leah (2018) - However, Adorno mentions that the Soviet artist, through his violence—in enforcing the pragmatic direction of reformism and in moments where Constructivist art merely reverts to industry of pedagogical directness—creates an impositional alterity that severs their art from its autonomous roots. This loss of revolutionary experience isolates theory from its praxis by collapsing the distinction between the artwork and its message: What since then has been called the problem of praxis and today culminates in the question of the relation between theory and praxis coincides with the loss of experience caused by the rationality of the eternally same. Keywords: adorno; art; experience; new; praxis

## Art

- The Horror of the Real: Filmic Form, The Century, and Fritz Lang's M by Gavaris, Peter (2019) - Since the film’s form loudly announces its own ineptitude, we are pointed to this infinite opening more frequently than when engaging with other artistic forms. We see this surreptitious absolution in the sheer cruelty of the criminals and other residents of Berlin who put Beckert on trial, and who laugh and jeer at the killer as he begs for his life. Keywords: art; badiou; beckert; century; film; real

## Good

- Interview with Gregory Fried: Professor of Philosophy by Fried, Gregory (2021) - He also works in the philosophy of law, especially law and hermeneutics; philosophy and race; practical ethics, including just war theory; public philosophy; the history of ethics; Ancient philosophy; and 20th century Continental philosophy, especially Heidegger. And, so, what that brought together were my interests in figures like Locke and Aristotle on questions of prerogative and law at the limit and my father’s interests in what he had seen in the govern- ment in terms of the abuse of presidential power and constitutional issues around privacy. Keywords: book; fried; good; government; law; philosophy; privacy; torture; trump

## Work

- The Fructifying Ray: Considering Kandinskian Artistic Creation Through the Hegelian Alienated Consciousness by Fitzgerald, Martin (2017) - Instead, it is the unique role of the artist to make spiritual values available to non-artists. Consciously or unconsciously, from this moment man seeks a material form for this new spiritual value that lives in spiritual form within him. Keywords: artist; composition; consciousness; form; kandinsky; spiritual; value; work

## Knowledge

- Unified Foundations for Normative Education by Oakley, Alec (2021) - As we will see, perceptive virtues are important for the cultivation of productive virtues, but one might object that this is not really a virtue if this is their only value. And in aesthetics, the virtues of artistic appreciation are perceptive virtues. Keywords: aesthetics; cultivation; education; ethics; knowledge; progress; theory; tradition; virtues
- Looks, Gestures, and Words: Skepticism and the Ethical in Cavell and Levinas by Andrade, Bernardo Portilho (2017) - In other words, these are the criteria that establish what it means to be a goldfinch. In other words, it stands as a permanent possibility that the hammer could have caused a wholly distinct pain in your finger, and my inability to have your pain stops me from either confirming or denying it. Keywords: cavell; criteria; knowledge; language; lear; levinas; love; pain; philosophy; skepticism; words
- Preserving Human Freedom: Aquinas on Divine Transcendence and Creaturely Contingency by Janakiefski, Kelly (2017) - CONCLUSION With respect to the question of the relationship between divine knowledge, divine causation, and creaturely contingency, Goris nicely sums up the heart of Aquinas’ position: “God’s incomprehensible, eternal mode of being allows us to say that events which are future and contingent, and hence indeterminate in themselves and in relation to us, are present and determinate in relation to God. In conclusion, therefore, through his appeal to the transcendence of the nature of God, Aquinas defends the compatibility of divine knowledge, divine causation, and creaturely contingency. Keywords: aquinas; cause; god; goris; knowledge

## Self

- A Superior Natural Law Theory in the Works of Johannes Althusius by Vaughan, Alison (2023) - Perhaps he would claim the Roman law he cites for duties to self is su%ciently in alignment with common law to be considered natural law. Behavioral guidelines and the tenets of associational happiness cement both public and private life in his polity, and Althusius underpins these discussions with a theory of natural law. Keywords: althusius; duties; god; johannes; justice; law; politica; right; rst; self; system; theory
- The Human Synthesis: An Exploration of Anxiety, Love, and Selfhood under the Domain of the Will to Power by Daniel Andrews (2024) - ess u rs e e s es i e ise r ug ur reness eing ni e re e e n ei e s e ing is n ni e e in ni e “Spirit”: Kierkegaard refers to spirit as a sort of glue that makes this synthesis possible. Keywords: e e; e s; love; n e; ni e; power; self

## Time

- The Representational Fallacy and the Ontology of Time by Cartaya, Jazlyn (2018) - This example successfully shows that we cannot translate tensed sentences into tenseless sentences without loss of meaning. (Russell 1915; Goodman 1951: 287-301; Quine 1960: 36; Smart 1963: 132-42).21 B-theorists tried to appeal to parsimony or Ockham’s razor to support their claim that tenseless sentences displayed the true nature of reality, since tenseless sentences on their own imply the existence of fewer entities than tensed sentences (and are thus preferred) (Dyke 2007: 43). Keywords: language; reality; sentences; time; truth

## Ethics

- The Justification-Application Spectrum: Exploring Seyla Benhabib’s Reconciliation of the Generalized and Concrete Others by Wu, Megan (2021) - it is therefore essential, Young argues, that dialogue participants consider temporality in their comprehension of asymmetries between participants. As a way of reconciling or navigating an interplay between the Generalized and Concrete others, Benhabib proposes the idea of communicative ethics, which consists of the following four principles:7 1. Keywords: benhabib; communicative; concrete; dialogue; ethics; participants; reciprocity

## God

- Interview with Gadamer Chair Professor Jean-Luc Marion by Sky Lyu; Elliott Jones (2024) - There- fore the idea that science is objective means only that within science ere is n gree en e een su e s u in er e s e is er other different agreements between subjects which lead to other kinds of intersubjectivity: in art, in morals, in politics, and in religion. n is e ern e ni Keywords: god; philosophy

## Value

- An Analysis of the Overlooked Value of Greatness by Beesley, Brandon (2023) - Binghamton (NY: Vail-Ballou Press, 1924): 21. 4 Amy Allen, “Feminist Perspectives on Power,” e Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2022 Edition): 1. 5 Johanna Oksala, “Feminism and Power,” e Routledge Companion to Feminist Philosophy, (2017): 680. 6 Oksala, “Feminism and Power,” 681. 59Issue X ◆ Spring 2023 An Analysis of the Overlooked Value of Greatness GREATNESS AND ITS VALUE AS POWER: A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE e feminist perspective, with a de!nition of power vastly di%erent than Nietzsche’s, still supports the idea that greatness is reliant upon the expression of power. Or is greatness simply an expression of human power, with no tie to morality? Keywords: act; care; expression; feminist; greatness; in#uence; nietzsche; power; value; virtue

## Virtue

- Virtue, Silencing and Perception by Ruparelia, Abhi (2020) - That is, owing to the fact that there are no genuine losses on the part of the virtuous agent in failing to choose the non-virtuous reasons under rational silencing, none of the agent’s motivational energies are enticed in favor of non-virtuous considerations under motivational silencing. Analogously, the virtuous agent may perhaps acknowledge the existence of non-virtuous considerations – he might know that they exist – but he surely does not know what they are. Keywords: agent; mcdowell; person; silencing; virtue; virtuous

## Law

- Revolution, Revelation, Responsibility: Emancipatory Futures in Benjamin and Habermas by Fineman, Max (2018) - Thus, divine violence destroys law, firstly, in the sense that it replaces the methods of control used by legal violence with direct annihilation wherever it finds something it regards as a transgression. Based on a critique of the instrumental use of legal violence, Benjamin argues that this violence inevitably will serve the interests of state power, and he concludes that the only remedy to this situation is the total annihilation of the legal order. Keywords: benjamin; divine; law; means; violence

## Kant

- Is Geometry Analytic? by Mwakima, Mghanga David (2017) - In classical mechanics, for example, Euclidean geometry was used in kinematics by “building bridge equations”20 from pure Euclidean geometry to physics. So, the axioms of coordination could, in principle, be revised as a result of scientific advances, e.g., physical Euclidean geometry is a priori in classical mechanics but is not a priori in General Relativity, where “topology (sufficient to admit a Riemannian structure)” is instead a priori.45 This is the relativized a priori – the idea that relative to a scientific theory, a geometry, for example, is a priori. Keywords: analytic; ayer; geometry; kant; priori; putnam

## Truth

- The Shadow of Hegel: in Kierkegaard's Notion of Subjectivity by de Donato, Matteo (2021) - Kierkegaard was the first in a long tradition of critics to reject Hegel’s absolute idealism as a philosophy of identity that effectively 1 Jon Stewart, “The Crisis of the Danish Golden Age as the Problem of Nihilism,” in The Crisis of the Danish Golden Age and Its Modern Resonance, eds. The beginning of Sickness Unto Death, in which Kierkegaard posits that the “self is a relation that relates itself to itself or is the relation’s relating itself to itself in the relation,” has been interpreted as parodying Hegel’s obtuse writing style. Keywords: absolute; edition; hegel; irony; kierkegaard; objective; philosophy; socrates; subjectivity; truth

## Nothingness

- Sound as Silence: Nothingness in the Music of Anton Webern and John Cage by Bu, Chenyu (2020) - As a result, every heard sound becomes based on a subjective situation constructed essentially by the relationship between sound and another sound (i.e. the sound of relative silence, rather than an objective situation where sounds are the negative of silence or vice versa20). 2 Charles B. Guignon, and Derk Pereboom, Existentialism: Basic Writings, (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2001), 325. 37Issue VII ◆ Spring 2020 Sound as Silence The notion of the silence of the infinite space invoked by Pascal, however, sheds light upon a broader interpretation of Sartrean nothingness beyond the paradigm of being; namely, to the world of sound. Keywords: cage; john; non; nothingness; relation; silence; sound

## Faith

- To Live Free or To Make Excuses: In Defense of Sartre’s (Revised) Concept of Radical Freedom by Paloma Figueroa (2025) - 11Issue XII Spring 2025 To Live Free or To Make Excuses § I: NO MATTER THE CIRCUMSTANCE, WE ARE ALWAYS FREE: SARTRE'S INITIAL CONCEPT OF FREEDOM6 Though Sartre did revise his version of existentialism later in his philosophical career, the main ideas for which he is remembered––and caricatured––stem from his initial concept of human freedom. At this point, it is important to insist that Beauvoir’s analysis does not conclude that sedimentation and oppression negate freedom: she offers a more nuanced, realistic account of freedom than Sartre, but with no less emphasis on the moral value of embracing one’s freedom––for example, through participation in collective revolt against a shared condition.41 § 2: OBJECTIONS FROM NEUROSCIENCE So far, we have posited human freedom as a central inescapable necessity: without freedom, there can be no existentialism and both Beauvoir’s and Sartre’s entire philosophies would be rendered obsolete. Keywords: beauvoir; concept; existentialism; faith; freedom; philosophy; project; sapolsky; sartre; sedimentation; webber

## Level

- Don't Get Hung Up in the Middle by Agarwal, Yash (2022) - Bernstein argues that middle level entities like iPhones, toasters, and amoebae have an (prima facie) advantage over the fundamental entity(ies) posited by top- ists (the cosmos) and bottom-ists (mereological atoms). ! I object by saying that the list of middle level entities is indeterminate. ! Keywords: atoms; entities; ism; ist; level; middle

## Alex

- The Epistemic Injustice of Ex Contradictione Quodlibet by Tseng, Sherry (2020) - As the future of AI is intrinsically bound to formal logic, the consequences of epistemic injustice will only become more evident and tangible lest we adopt some form of paraconsistent logic and adhere to logical pluralism. The assumption of triviality from contradiction in formal logic makes it such that the contradictions found within natural language on our social identities equally trivializes those contradictory aspects, and thereby, inflicts an epistemic injustice. Keywords: alex; contradictione; injustice; logic; quodlibet; social; triviality

## Thought

- Hermeneutics of Heraclitus: Allowing Concept Flux by Bickerstaff, Gabriel (2023) - “Flux-Gibberish: For and Against Heraclitus.” 14 Dianoia: The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Boston College δι άν οι α HERMENEUTICS OF HERACLITUS Allowing Concept Flux GABRIEL BICKERSTAFF Conjoinings: wholes and not wholes, converging and diverging, harmonious dissonant; and out of all things one, and out of one all things.1 –Heraclitus A thought exercise by which to consider the meaning of the above fragment might leave one feeling that there is more unsaid than said, or wondering what Heraclitus is speaking in reference to. Keywords: companioning; desmond; hadot; halapsis; heraclitus; kahn; philosophy; thought

## Editors

- Masthead by Klapes, Peter (2017) - Editor in Chief: Thomas Lombardo, ‘17 Managing Editors: Peter Klapes ‘19, Jordan Pino ‘17 Senior Editors: Myles Casey ‘17, Laura McLaughlin ‘17, Jianing Wu ‘17 General Editors: Bernadette Darcy ‘19, Jen Howard ‘19, Gregory Kacergis ‘19, Alex Kerker ‘18 Layout Design Editor: Courtney Timmins ‘17 Faculty Advisor: Ronald Tacelli, S.J. The editors of Dianoia would like to express their gratitude to the following individuals for their generous support: Eileen Sweeney, Department of Philosophy Ronald Tacelli, S.J., Department of Philosophy Cover designs courtesy of Courtney Timmins. The materials herein represent the personal opinions of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Dianoia or Boston College. Keywords: editors

## Essays

- A Letter from the Editors by Lombardo, Thomas J.; Klapes, Peter; Pino, Jordan (2017) - Much like those aforementioned, the philosophers referenced in this collection of essays have made their own unique contribution to the pursuit of wisdom. We hope that you enjoy reading the essays that follow, and, in the hope of creating continued discourse, encourage the submission of essays in response to those here contained for future issues of Dianoia. Keywords: essays; philosophy

## Authenticity

- Jimi Hendrix: Creolization and the Re-Imagined Black Authentic by Engelman, Robert (2017) - To apply Waksman’s notion to Hendrix, we see that Hendrix began his musical development with the blues tradition, which is entangled with African- 27 Waksman, “Black Sound, Black Body: Jimi Hendrix, the Electric Guitar, and the Meanings of Blackness,” p. 88. 29 Waksman, “Black Sound, Black Body: Jimi Hendrix, the Electric Guitar, and the Meanings of Blackness,” p. 88. 99Issue IV F Spring 2017 Jimi Hendrix American culture, but throughout his career, he engaged with a number of other musical styles and cultural movements, which, in turn, expanded his imaginative horizon while entangling him in further commitments and contingencies. Keywords: american; authenticity; black; blackness; cultures; glissant; hendrix; jimi; race

## Epilogue

For more detail, about this study carrel, see the computed home page. For more detail about study carrels in general, see the read me file.

Created: 2025-12-23