+publisher:"University of Michigan" +contributor:("Caston, Victor")

University of Michigan

1. Allen, Kate. Stop and Smell the Romans: Odor in Roman Literature.

Degree: PhD, Classical Studies, 2015, University of Michigan

URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/116729

► In this dissertation, I examine the role of smell in Latin literature. Looking specifically at Roman comedy, epic, and epigram, I demonstrate both how smells… (more)

▼ In this dissertation, I examine the role of smell in Latin literature. Looking specifically at Roman comedy, epic, and epigram, I demonstrate both how smells function as literary devices and how these texts reveal particularly Roman ways of thinking about the power and meaning of scents. My first chapter treats the connection between odor and identity, illustrated in the comedies of Plautus (late 3rd-early 2nd century BC). Like masks and costume, smell provides information about character and role and is an important element of comic role-play and identity-switching. Interestingly, however, characters who use smell to improve or alter themselves frequently fail; instead they draw attention to the disparity between their true identity and the role they are trying to assume. In Chapter 2, I examine how Latin epic, which chronicles both heroic quests and civil discord, links disgust at foul odors to anxieties about death by emphasizing odor’s ability to cross boundaries and spread contagion. These qualities suggest the threat of death, the shame of dying unheroically, the distinction between plague and war death, and the injustice suffered by the unburied. Moreover, olfactory signs of civil strife recall the lingering stain of civil war in the Roman collective memory, as well as the impossibility of determining a single guilty party in civil war. In my third chapter, Martial’s Epigrams (1st century AD) combine an interest in olfactory identity and contagion. While Martial highlights the scents of his literary subjects, these odors simultaneously pose a threat to the poet’s persona, whose exposure to an array of questionable scents threatens his bodily integrity and poetic and moral authority. Additionally, I suggest that odor mirrors qualities of Martial’s poems themselves: short-lived but enduring, insignificant but powerful, truthful (so Martial claims) yet frequently open to (mis)interpretation. Through his poems about smell, Martial teaches his audience not only how to read his epigrams, but even how to become critics themselves. As a literary study which accounts for the cultural significance of smell, this dissertation highlights the importance of odors in literature while simultaneously shedding light on Roman ideas about disgust, contagion, identity, and the body. Advisors/Committee Members: Caston, Ruth Rothaus (committee member), Caston, Victor (committee member), Potter, David S (committee member), Schultz, Celia E (committee member).

Subjects/Keywords: smell; sense perception; Latin literature; Roman culture; Classical Studies; Humanities

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APA (6^th Edition):

Allen, K. (2015). Stop and Smell the Romans: Odor in Roman Literature. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/116729

Chicago Manual of Style (16^th Edition):

Allen, Kate. “Stop and Smell the Romans: Odor in Roman Literature.” 2015. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan. Accessed March 05, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/116729.

MLA Handbook (7^th Edition):

Allen, Kate. “Stop and Smell the Romans: Odor in Roman Literature.” 2015. Web. 05 Mar 2021.

Vancouver:

Allen K. Stop and Smell the Romans: Odor in Roman Literature. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2015. [cited 2021 Mar 05]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/116729.

Council of Science Editors:

Allen K. Stop and Smell the Romans: Odor in Roman Literature. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2015. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/116729

University of Michigan

2. McOsker, Michael F. On the Good Poem According to Philodemus.

Degree: PhD, Classical Studies, 2015, University of Michigan

URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/116753

► This dissertation handles the poetics of Philodemus of Gadara, a first century BCE Epicurean philosopher and poet. His views are recoverable from several of his… (more)

▼ This dissertation handles the poetics of Philodemus of Gadara, a first century BCE Epicurean philosopher and poet. His views are recoverable from several of his treatises, which are primarily polemical and without positive exposition. However, his views are recoverable from careful readings of the debates, rare direct evidence, and attention to his commitments, which as a loyal member of the school, he could not contradict. The first, introductory, chapter treats Philodemus' biography, the history of scholarship on the topic, and introduces some technical matters (often editorial) and conventions. The second chapter treats the history of the Garden's engagement with poetics. Epicurus did not write an On Poems but Metrodorus did. Other early Epicureans, as well as Zeno of Sidon, Demetrius Laco, and Siro and other Epicureans are examined as well. In chapter three, “The Prolepsis of the Poem,” I discuss what counts as a poem for Epicureans. Philodemus indicates that there were prolepseis of “poetry” and “poem;” the Epicureans meant basically what we mean by the terms. In chapter four, “Poetry as Techne and the Uses of Poetry,” I argue that poetry counts as an art for the Epicureans, but not a useful one. In my fifth chapter, “The Form, Content, Judgment, and Purpose of Poems,” I examine Philodemus' views as what form and content are, and the ways in which they interact. They are interdependent: the content depends on the words used to describe it, but there cannot be language without a topic. He values form above content in judging poems. The poem has an strange effect: it produces “additional thoughts” in the audience, by which they are entertained. It seems clear that Philodemus expected good poets to arrange form and content suggestively, so that the poems could exert a lasting pull on the minds of the audience. My sixth chapter collects a miscellany of topics which Philodemus handles but which do not fit neatly into another chapter. I discuss his views on genre, mimesis, “appropriateness,” utility, and various technical terms. The seventh chapter contains a concluding summary. Advisors/Committee Members: Janko, Richard (committee member), Caston, Victor (committee member), Schironi, Francesca (committee member), Scodel, Ruth S (committee member).

Subjects/Keywords: Philodemus of Gadara; Poetics; Epicureanism; On Poems; Hellenistic Philosophy; Literary Criticism; Classical Studies; Humanities

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APA (6^th Edition):

McOsker, M. F. (2015). On the Good Poem According to Philodemus. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/116753

Chicago Manual of Style (16^th Edition):

McOsker, Michael F. “On the Good Poem According to Philodemus.” 2015. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan. Accessed March 05, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/116753.

MLA Handbook (7^th Edition):

McOsker, Michael F. “On the Good Poem According to Philodemus.” 2015. Web. 05 Mar 2021.

Vancouver:

McOsker MF. On the Good Poem According to Philodemus. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2015. [cited 2021 Mar 05]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/116753.

Council of Science Editors:

McOsker MF. On the Good Poem According to Philodemus. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2015. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/116753

University of Michigan

3. Shaikh, Umer. Aristotle's Theory of Powers.

Degree: PhD, Philosophy, 2019, University of Michigan

URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/153366

► This dissertation explores how causal powers connect in Aristotle's system to Aristotelian causation, hylomorphism and the composition and nature of material objects, and possibility and… (more)

Subjects/Keywords: ancient philosophy; Aristotle; metaphysics; Classical Studies; Philosophy; Humanities

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APA (6^th Edition):

Shaikh, U. (2019). Aristotle's Theory of Powers. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/153366

Chicago Manual of Style (16^th Edition):

Shaikh, Umer. “Aristotle's Theory of Powers.” 2019. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan. Accessed March 05, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/153366.

MLA Handbook (7^th Edition):

Shaikh, Umer. “Aristotle's Theory of Powers.” 2019. Web. 05 Mar 2021.

Vancouver:

Shaikh U. Aristotle's Theory of Powers. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2019. [cited 2021 Mar 05]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/153366.

Council of Science Editors:

Shaikh U. Aristotle's Theory of Powers. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2019. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/153366

University of Michigan

4. Wiseman, Rebecca L. Reading and Reception in Early Modern England: Aesthetics, Judgment, and Selfhood from Sidney to Milton.

Degree: PhD, English Language & Literature, 2011, University of Michigan

URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/86552

► "Reading and Reception in Early Modern England" contends that early modern subjectivity was invented in the indeterminate space between reader and text, and defined within,… (more)

▼ "Reading and Reception in Early Modern England" contends that early modern subjectivity was invented in the indeterminate space between reader and text, and defined within, around, and against the textual encounter. Early modern debates about reception were, I argue, also debates about the powers of the subject. Questions about freedom of choice, imaginative autonomy, self-evaluation, and the relationship between sensation and thought were all key aspects of an ongoing early modern conversation about receptive experience. The poets and critics upon whom I focus interrogated, debated, and revised the contours of private mental experience through a dense, contradictory, and ever-evolving discourse of literary reception. The literary sphere offered these poets a range of unique theoretical possibilities: in its embrace of indeterminacy and its liberation from the constraints of the normative and the polemical, literature functioned as an arena of radical conceptual free play. Thus the poets I consider were able to establish reception as the fundamental act of the early modern subject while depicting, at the same time, the contradictions, inconsistencies, and elusive aspects of a receptive theory still under development. Between 1580 and 1670, English poets and critics engaged in a reconsideration of the powers, limitations, and responsibilities of the reader, a reconsideration that culminated in a new emphasis on critical engagement as the first duty of the receptive subject. The mid-seventeenth-century reader, earlier the receptive object of somatic appeal, was newly re-imagined as a self-conscious arbiter of poetry’s content. The emergence of this self-sufficient readerly ideal meant that anxiety about internal self-regulation and the proper limits of bodily experience, which had dominated writing about poetry and the self during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, shifted to the realm of public interaction, where the central concerns about selfhood became questions about the proper exercise of judgment in a social world. By making new claims for the autonomy of the reader, the poets upon whom I focus shaped sixteenth- and seventeenth-century ideas about perceptual experience, intellectual freedom, and the powers of the self. Advisors/Committee Members: Schoenfeldt, Michael C. (committee member), Caston, Victor (committee member), Gregerson, Linda K. (committee member), Trevor, Douglas (committee member).

Subjects/Keywords: Early Modern; Poetics; Renaissance; Literary Criticism; Subjectivity; History of Ideas; English Language and Literature; Humanities (General); Humanities

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APA (6^th Edition):

Wiseman, R. L. (2011). Reading and Reception in Early Modern England: Aesthetics, Judgment, and Selfhood from Sidney to Milton. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/86552

Chicago Manual of Style (16^th Edition):

Wiseman, Rebecca L. “Reading and Reception in Early Modern England: Aesthetics, Judgment, and Selfhood from Sidney to Milton.” 2011. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan. Accessed March 05, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/86552.

MLA Handbook (7^th Edition):

Wiseman, Rebecca L. “Reading and Reception in Early Modern England: Aesthetics, Judgment, and Selfhood from Sidney to Milton.” 2011. Web. 05 Mar 2021.

Vancouver:

Wiseman RL. Reading and Reception in Early Modern England: Aesthetics, Judgment, and Selfhood from Sidney to Milton. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2011. [cited 2021 Mar 05]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/86552.

Council of Science Editors:

Wiseman RL. Reading and Reception in Early Modern England: Aesthetics, Judgment, and Selfhood from Sidney to Milton. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2011. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/86552

5. Parkhurst, Bryan J. Sound's Arguments: Philosophical Encounters with Music Theory.

Degree: PhD, Music Theory and Philosophy, 2014, University of Michigan

URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/108772

► This dissertation is comprised of two big essays. The first seeks to understand what is at stake in the project of music analysis writ large.… (more)

Subjects/Keywords: Music Theory; Schenker; Philosophy; Kant; Hanslick; Dewey; Music and Dance; Philosophy; Arts; Humanities

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APA (6^th Edition):

Parkhurst, B. J. (2014). Sound's Arguments: Philosophical Encounters with Music Theory. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/108772

Chicago Manual of Style (16^th Edition):

Parkhurst, Bryan J. “Sound's Arguments: Philosophical Encounters with Music Theory.” 2014. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan. Accessed March 05, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/108772.

MLA Handbook (7^th Edition):

Parkhurst, Bryan J. “Sound's Arguments: Philosophical Encounters with Music Theory.” 2014. Web. 05 Mar 2021.

Vancouver:

Parkhurst BJ. Sound's Arguments: Philosophical Encounters with Music Theory. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2014. [cited 2021 Mar 05]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/108772.

Council of Science Editors:

Parkhurst BJ. Sound's Arguments: Philosophical Encounters with Music Theory. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2014. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/108772

University of Michigan

6. Morphew, David. Passionate Platonism: Plutarch on the Positive Role of Non-Rational Affects in the Good Life.

Degree: PhD, Classical Studies, 2018, University of Michigan

URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/147715

► My dissertation urges a reconsideration of Plutarch’s importance as a philosopher. Plutarch is well known for his biographies and as a source for other authors,… (more)

▼ My dissertation urges a reconsideration of Plutarch’s importance as a philosopher. Plutarch is well known for his biographies and as a source for other authors, but not for original views of his own. A study that attempts to understand Plutarch sympathetically is surprisingly untried. Far from the uncharitable perception of Plutarch as a mere eclectic disseminator of popular philosophy, Plutarch offers a distinctive and appealing ethical view, neglected in the history of philosophy, which affirms the centrality of our passions in ethical development and their essential place in the good life. It is a refreshing alternative to the overly rationalistic tradition of Stoicism, the main philosophical rival of Plutarch’s day. It is also different from other forms of Platonism. It does not ask us to abandon familiar, positive features of our emotional life and intimacy with others, unlike the otherworldly Platonisms we often find later in antiquity. I explore the centrality of passions in Plutarch’s moral philosophy primarily through the close reading of his ethical writings, the Moralia, vis-à-vis Plato’s dialogues, the traditions spawned from Plato’s Academy, and rival philosophical schools. In the Introduction to my dissertation, I begin with Plutarch’s presentation of himself as part of the continuing tradition of Plato’s Academy, a living tradition for Plutarch that is united, from Socrates to his own day, by a commitment to critical reflection rather than by a commitment to a set of dogmas or doctrines. Given this view of Plato’s Academy, Plutarch takes a distinctive position in holding that emotions and emotional vulnerability are essential to social virtues and genuine concern for other individuals, in contrast with Stoicism. I take up this point in Chapter 1 of my dissertation, where I examine Plutarch’s criticisms of the rival ethical theory of Stoic “appropriation” or “identification” (oikeiōsis) which Plutarch argues ironically alienates us from our own human nature and from other human beings. In Chapter 2, I explore Plutarch’s Platonic psychology and analyze his arguments on the appropriateness and naturalness of grief. Plutarch’s position that passions should be moderated and serve specific purposes sits in contrast with the advice to minimize and eradicate emotions such as grief as far as one is able in Plato’s Republic. In Chapter 3, I show that for Plutarch passions are not only ineradicable aspects of embodied life, but are also necessary for acting in the world, can enhance and intensify virtuous action, and can aid in the pursuit of virtue. Life with passions is better than without them. Chapter 4 is an examination of the positive role that shame plays in correcting one’s actions and character in Plutarch’s moral psychology. In Chapter 5, I turn to the prominent role emotions play in the formation of character. In contrast to the Old Academy, Plutarch argues that the most important preparation for the virtuous life begins with the formation of our passionate nature in childhood. In Chapter 6, I argue… Advisors/Committee Members: Caston, Victor (committee member), Saxonhouse, Arlene W (committee member), Ahbel-Rappe, Sara L (committee member), Janko, Richard (committee member).

Subjects/Keywords: Plutarch; Plutarch's Platonism; Passions; Platonic Philosophy; homoiōsis theōi; Classical Studies; Philosophy; Humanities

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APA · Chicago · MLA · Vancouver · CSE | Export to Zotero / EndNote / Reference Manager

APA (6^th Edition):

Morphew, D. (2018). Passionate Platonism: Plutarch on the Positive Role of Non-Rational Affects in the Good Life. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/147715

Chicago Manual of Style (16^th Edition):

Morphew, David. “Passionate Platonism: Plutarch on the Positive Role of Non-Rational Affects in the Good Life.” 2018. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan. Accessed March 05, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/147715.

MLA Handbook (7^th Edition):

Morphew, David. “Passionate Platonism: Plutarch on the Positive Role of Non-Rational Affects in the Good Life.” 2018. Web. 05 Mar 2021.

Vancouver:

Morphew D. Passionate Platonism: Plutarch on the Positive Role of Non-Rational Affects in the Good Life. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2018. [cited 2021 Mar 05]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/147715.

Council of Science Editors:

Morphew D. Passionate Platonism: Plutarch on the Positive Role of Non-Rational Affects in the Good Life. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2018. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/147715

University of Michigan

7. Tu, Van. Aristotle on Practical Rationality: Deliberation, Preference-Ranking, and the Imperfect Decision-Making of Women.

Degree: PhD, Philosophy, 2020, University of Michigan

URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/163089

► We have it on the authority of Aristotle that “reason (nous) is the best thing in us” (EN X.7, 1177a20). This idealization of reason permeates… (more)

▼ We have it on the authority of Aristotle that “reason (nous) is the best thing in us” (EN X.7, 1177a20). This idealization of reason permeates his account of eudaimonia, a term commonly translated as ‘happiness’, which Aristotle identifies with living and doing well (EN I.4, 1095a18-20). In harmony with a certain intellectualism peculiar to the mainstream of ancient philosophical accounts of eudaimonia, Aristotle holds that living well requires the unique practical application of rationality of which only humans are capable (EN I.7, 1098a13-15/EE I.7, 1217a25-27). This dissertation investigates Aristotle’s substantive view on the practical application of reason by examining how, according to him, human agents use reason to decide what to do, what kind of person to be, and indeed how to live well. A distinctively human way of making decisions is deliberation (bouleusis), an exercise of practical reason par excellence. The first chapter reconstructs Aristotle’s account of deliberation from a wide range of texts in the corpus. It argues that deliberation is a complex decision-making process that, for the most part, unfolds into four stages: (1) positing a provisional goal; (2) constructing a set of alternatives; (3) identifying the best alternative; (4) forming an intention to do the most proximate action as identified in the penultimate stage. This reading offers a comprehensive representation of Aristotle’s theory while rendering his theory more sophisticated—and indeed more modern—than the alternatives in recent years. Deciding what to do often requires that we confront the question, “Which is preferable (hairetōteron) or better (beltion) between two or more options?” In Topics III, a text widely acknowledged as the inaugural treatment of the logic of preference, Aristotle articulates a set of principles to guide our preference-ranking. While scholars pay historical homage to Aristotle, there is little engagement with his treatment of preference logic. The second chapter addresses the need for a current study and reassessment of Aristotle’s preference-ranking principles. It argues that, despite differences in scope and methodology between the Aristotelian and modern systems, the description inaugural treatment of preference logic comfortably, and accurately, applies to Topics III. When one looks at the role that Aristotle allows reason to play in the production and motivation of action, it is tempting to conclude that Aristotle endorses the Humean division of labor. For Aristotle claims that deliberation is about “the things towards the goal” (EN III.3, 1112b11-16) and that virtue (aretē) makes our goals right (EN VI.12, 1144a7-9). Chapter three seeks to show, against a recent influential quasi-Humean interpretation, that the primary function of practical reason is mapping the landscape of value corresponding to the agent’s reasoned conception of what eudaimonia consists in, as a rational being that she is. Aristotle notoriously defends the political subordination of individuals he believes to have a defective… Advisors/Committee Members: Caston, Victor (committee member), Ahbel-Rappe, Sara L (committee member), Joyce, James M (committee member), Schmaltz, Tad M (committee member).

Subjects/Keywords: Ancient philosophy; Aristotle; Rationality; Practical reason; Preference; Deliberation; Philosophy; Humanities

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APA (6^th Edition):

Tu, V. (2020). Aristotle on Practical Rationality: Deliberation, Preference-Ranking, and the Imperfect Decision-Making of Women. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/163089

Chicago Manual of Style (16^th Edition):

Tu, Van. “Aristotle on Practical Rationality: Deliberation, Preference-Ranking, and the Imperfect Decision-Making of Women.” 2020. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan. Accessed March 05, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/163089.

MLA Handbook (7^th Edition):

Tu, Van. “Aristotle on Practical Rationality: Deliberation, Preference-Ranking, and the Imperfect Decision-Making of Women.” 2020. Web. 05 Mar 2021.

Vancouver:

Tu V. Aristotle on Practical Rationality: Deliberation, Preference-Ranking, and the Imperfect Decision-Making of Women. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2020. [cited 2021 Mar 05]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/163089.

Council of Science Editors:

Tu V. Aristotle on Practical Rationality: Deliberation, Preference-Ranking, and the Imperfect Decision-Making of Women. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2020. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/163089

8. Parnell, Jason B. The Theurgic Turn in Christian Thought; Iamblichus, Origen, Augustine, and the Eucharist.

Degree: PhD, Classical Studies, 2009, University of Michigan

URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/64788

► This dissertation aims to suggest a relationship between the thought of the ancient Christian theologians Origen (c. 185-254 CE) and Augustine (354-430 CE) and the… (more)

▼ This dissertation aims to suggest a relationship between the thought of the ancient Christian theologians Origen (c. 185-254 CE) and Augustine (354-430 CE) and the theurgy characteristic of some pagan religious thought of the Greco-Roman world, and systematized by the Neoplatonist philosopher Iamblichus of Apamea (c. 245-325 CE). Central is the question of the indebtedness of Origen and Augustine’s own theorizing of Christian Eucharist to religious and philosophical convictions that are fundamentally theurgic, and that are most clearly articulated by Iamblichus. The study proceeds theoretically from the assumption that the transmission of ideas should not be interpreted strictly in terms of straightforward lineal descent, an approach that has previously limited discussion of theurgy’s role in Christian thought to its genealogical influence on much later thinkers, particularly Pseudo-Dionysius (late 5th – early 6th century). This dissertation argues rather that earlier Christian thought on Eucharist is already taking shape within a basically theurgic template. The justification for invoking Iamblichus and Origen is their participation in the Middle Platonist and Neopythagorean intellectual culture that shaped the Platonism of the third century. The addition of the much later Augustine is supported by his own conscious re-engagement of the issue, and particularly by his argument’s direct confrontation with the third century thinker Porphyry, the philosopher whose challenges to theurgy first provoked Iamblichus’ response in the previous century. Augustine is therefore reasonably viewed as a participant in an older debate, and is further implicated by his use of a rhetoric very much like Origen’s, whose postures of exclusion aim to obscure perception of Christian thought’s indebtedness to theurgic accounts of cult efficacy. By considering issues of philosophical first principles, cosmology, material reality and material embodiment, and the possibilities for a materially mediated ascent for the soul, the study aims to underscore what is essentially theurgic in the works of Origen and Augustine, as the two thinkers construct provisional systems of Christian sacramental mediation, shaped by a theology of the incarnate Logos, and conceptually parallel to the theurgic systems of hierarchic mediation whose validity their work strives to deny. Advisors/Committee Members: Ahbel-Rappe, Sara (committee member), Potter, David S. (committee member), Caston, Victor (committee member), Verhoogt, Arthur Mfw (committee member).

Subjects/Keywords: Theurgy; Classical Studies; Humanities

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APA (6^th Edition):

Parnell, J. B. (2009). The Theurgic Turn in Christian Thought; Iamblichus, Origen, Augustine, and the Eucharist. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/64788

Chicago Manual of Style (16^th Edition):

Parnell, Jason B. “The Theurgic Turn in Christian Thought; Iamblichus, Origen, Augustine, and the Eucharist.” 2009. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan. Accessed March 05, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/64788.

MLA Handbook (7^th Edition):

Parnell, Jason B. “The Theurgic Turn in Christian Thought; Iamblichus, Origen, Augustine, and the Eucharist.” 2009. Web. 05 Mar 2021.

Vancouver:

Parnell JB. The Theurgic Turn in Christian Thought; Iamblichus, Origen, Augustine, and the Eucharist. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2009. [cited 2021 Mar 05]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/64788.

Council of Science Editors:

Parnell JB. The Theurgic Turn in Christian Thought; Iamblichus, Origen, Augustine, and the Eucharist. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2009. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/64788

9. Mittal, Rajesh Paul. Time and History in Virgil's Aeneid.

Degree: PhD, Classical Studies, 2011, University of Michigan

URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/84462

► This dissertation examines the philosophy of history espoused by Virgil in the Aeneid. On the one hand this involves locating the philosophical inspiration behind Virgil’s… (more)

▼ This dissertation examines the philosophy of history espoused by Virgil in the Aeneid. On the one hand this involves locating the philosophical inspiration behind Virgil’s diverse references to temporality. On the other hand, it involves considering how Virgil interpreted the momentous historical events that had occurred in his own lifetime. With regard to this second point, I have taken the constructive approach of isolating aspects of the Aeneid that interpret contemporary history, and comparing them to several of Augustus’ public displays from the period following Actium that responded to the same historical stimuli. This approach allows us to see the tremendous rapport that existed between the ways these two conceived of history and historical agency, and indicates that Virgil was much more supportive of Augustus than some have supposed. The two most important philosophical influences on Virgil’s conception of history are Stoicism and Pythagoreanism. With its doctrine of ekpyrosis, the former offered Virgil a model of history that identified destruction with creation, and thus complemented his interpretation of time as a basically sacrificial process. This latter feature is one of the most important aspects of the poem, and I devote significant attention to its presence and function in the Aeneid. This sacrificial conception of history produces a tension that underlies many of the poem’s pivotal moments; Virgil establishes this tension in such a way that it can only be resolved by a permanent escape from temporality. Such an escape was offered by the form of Pythagoreanism that he would have known, and for this reason it is the primary influence behind Virgil’s conception of the afterlife. Virgil’s reliance on these two traditions has led to the existence of two “arcs” in the narrative, and I argue that each of these culminates in a “Golden Age.” Part of his reason for doing this was to accommodate the genuine progress that he had witnessed in his lifetime, largely in the political sphere through Octavian/Augustus. But even the latter, as I argue, was intent upon maintaining the distinction between the temporal and eternal worlds. Advisors/Committee Members: Potter, David S. (committee member), Caston, Victor (committee member), Frier, Bruce W. (committee member), Seo, Joanne Mira (committee member).

Subjects/Keywords: Virgil's Aeneid; Augustus; Stoicism; Pythagoreanism; Sacrifice; Georgics; Classical Studies; Humanities

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APA (6^th Edition):

Mittal, R. P. (2011). Time and History in Virgil's Aeneid. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/84462

Chicago Manual of Style (16^th Edition):

Mittal, Rajesh Paul. “Time and History in Virgil's Aeneid.” 2011. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan. Accessed March 05, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/84462.

MLA Handbook (7^th Edition):

Mittal, Rajesh Paul. “Time and History in Virgil's Aeneid.” 2011. Web. 05 Mar 2021.

Vancouver:

Mittal RP. Time and History in Virgil's Aeneid. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2011. [cited 2021 Mar 05]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/84462.

Council of Science Editors:

Mittal RP. Time and History in Virgil's Aeneid. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2011. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/84462

10. McCready-Flora, Ian C. Belief and Rational Cognition in Aristotle.

Degree: PhD, Philosophy, 2011, University of Michigan

URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/89804

► Aristotle’s view of rational thought is understudied and little understood. Scholarly energy focuses on his deductive theory of science, knowledge and grasp of first principles,… (more)

▼ Aristotle’s view of rational thought is understudied and little understood. Scholarly energy focuses on his deductive theory of science, knowledge and grasp of first principles, all of which involve certainty and necessary truth. Aristotle also, however, pays systematic attention to bounded rationality and reasoning about contingent matters. Belief, for Aristotle, is about the contingent. It ranks below scientific knowledge, but still above any cognition animals are capable of: only rational animals believe. Aristotle’s theory of belief, then, provides data for his broader theory of reasoning and human rationality. I therefore organize the dissertation around three arguments which distinguish belief from other forms of mental representation that we share with animals. (1) Belief requires credence, which depends upon the ability to represent matters as more or less likely, and therefore the ability to see facts as evidence for other facts. These two abilities require reason and are partially constitutive of rational thought. Animals can be conditioned to act in certain ways given certain inputs, but this ability differs from the weighing of evidence. (2) We cannot form beliefs as we please, while we can do so with other forms of mental representation, such as imagining. Belief is out of our hands in this way because it has a normative connection to truth. It is supposed to be true, and must therefore submit to normative evaluation with respect to truth. This accountability to norms is partially constitutive of rational thought. (3) Belief causes affective response in ways that other mental states, such as imagining, do not. Imagining can cause emotional response, but does not necessitate it in the way belief does. The ability to entertain mental content without committing to it is peculiar to rational creatures, and therefore partially constitutive of rational thought. Rationality confers the ability to question, test and be open to doubt. Advisors/Committee Members: Caston, Victor (committee member), Curley, Edwin M. (committee member), Evans, Matthew (committee member), Frier, Bruce W. (committee member), Walton, Kendall L. (committee member).

Subjects/Keywords: Aristotle; Rationality; Belief; Emotion; Normativity; Evidence; Philosophy; Humanities

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APA · Chicago · MLA · Vancouver · CSE | Export to Zotero / EndNote / Reference Manager

APA (6^th Edition):

McCready-Flora, I. C. (2011). Belief and Rational Cognition in Aristotle. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/89804

Chicago Manual of Style (16^th Edition):

McCready-Flora, Ian C. “Belief and Rational Cognition in Aristotle.” 2011. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan. Accessed March 05, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/89804.

MLA Handbook (7^th Edition):

McCready-Flora, Ian C. “Belief and Rational Cognition in Aristotle.” 2011. Web. 05 Mar 2021.

Vancouver:

McCready-Flora IC. Belief and Rational Cognition in Aristotle. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2011. [cited 2021 Mar 05]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/89804.

Council of Science Editors:

McCready-Flora IC. Belief and Rational Cognition in Aristotle. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2011. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/89804

11. Mehta, Neil J. A Subjective Representationalist Approach to Phenomenal Experience.

Degree: PhD, Philosophy, 2012, University of Michigan

URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/93925

► I defend a subjective representationalist theory of phenomenal experience. On this view, phenomenal experiences are simply certain kinds of representations of subjective (i.e., suitably mind-dependent)… (more)

▼ I defend a subjective representationalist theory of phenomenal experience. On this view, phenomenal experiences are simply certain kinds of representations of subjective (i.e., suitably mind-dependent) physical properties of environmental objects or of one’s body. Chapter 1 focuses on the thoroughly spatial character of experience. Here I argue against views of experience according to which phenomenal properties – roughly, the properties which constitute “what it’s like” to have an experience – are internal to the subject’s mind. If my arguments succeed, then phenomenal properties are outside the subject’s mind. Representationalists typically embrace this claim. Chapter 2 quickly recapitulates some well-known motivations for representationalism and then considers an important choice point for representationalists: are phenomenal properties objective (essentially mind-independent) or subjective (essentially mind-dependent)? I introduce a robust set of inversion intuitions and argue that subjective representationalism, which holds that some phenomenal properties are subjective, can better accommodate such intuitions than objective representationalism. Chapter 3 focuses on the familiar “explanatory gap” problem. I consider a recent version of this argument which concludes that phenomenal consciousness is not reducible to the physical. Since the version of subjective representationalism I hold is part of just such an attempt to reduce phenomenal consciousness to the physical, I spend this chapter developing the resources to respond to Chalmers’ argument. Chapter 4 considers the intuition that internal twins must have precisely the same kinds of phenomenal experiences. This intuition is widespread, powerful, and recalcitrant. But it is very likely that representationalism, especially of the highly externalist sort that I defend in Chapter 1, is incompatible with such intuitions. I argue that this intuition is unreliable and attempt to debunk it. Chapter 5 very tentatively fills in some details of the subjective representationalist account. Representationalists can be sorted into first-order and higher-order theorists. Roughly, first-order representationalists hold that a ground-level representation of a certain kind suffices for phenomenal experience, while higher-order representationalists insist that phenomenal experiences also require a higher-order representation of the ground-level representations. I am tempted by the first-order view on grounds of parsimony. In this chapter, I rebut just one recent, introspectively-based argument for higher-order representationalism. Advisors/Committee Members: Lormand, Eric P. (committee member), Egan, Andrew Michael (committee member), Mashour, George Alexander (committee member), Railton, Peter A. (committee member), Caston, Victor (committee member).

Subjects/Keywords: Subjective Representationalism; Philosophy; Humanities

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APA · Chicago · MLA · Vancouver · CSE | Export to Zotero / EndNote / Reference Manager

APA (6^th Edition):

Mehta, N. J. (2012). A Subjective Representationalist Approach to Phenomenal Experience. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/93925

Chicago Manual of Style (16^th Edition):

Mehta, Neil J. “A Subjective Representationalist Approach to Phenomenal Experience.” 2012. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan. Accessed March 05, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/93925.

MLA Handbook (7^th Edition):

Mehta, Neil J. “A Subjective Representationalist Approach to Phenomenal Experience.” 2012. Web. 05 Mar 2021.

Vancouver:

Mehta NJ. A Subjective Representationalist Approach to Phenomenal Experience. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2012. [cited 2021 Mar 05]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/93925.

Council of Science Editors:

Mehta NJ. A Subjective Representationalist Approach to Phenomenal Experience. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2012. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/93925

University of Michigan

12. Jayasekera, Marie Y. The Will in Descartes' Thought.

Degree: PhD, Philosophy, 2010, University of Michigan

URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/78972

► René Descartes’ conception of the human will has important implications for his conception of human beings as rational and moral agents. Specifically, the will plays… (more)

▼ René Descartes’ conception of the human will has important implications for his conception of human beings as rational and moral agents. Specifically, the will plays a significant role in his views on what control we have over our beliefs; what kind of freedom we enjoy; how our emotions affect our actions, and how we can moderate our emotions. I explore these issues in three contexts that arise throughout Descartes’ corpus, from his earliest significant work, Rules for the Direction of the Mind (the Regulae, 1619-1628), to his last published work, The Passions of the Soul (1649). I begin with the question of why Descartes construes judgment as an operation of the will in the Meditations. This is a change in view from the Regulae. I argue that to understand this change, we need to consider his conceptions of error and activity in the Regulae. I trace the development in his philosophical views about error and activity from the Regulae to the Meditations and show that these commitments underpin his mature theory of judgment. I then turn to Descartes’ conception of freedom in the Fourth Meditation. Descartes’ conception of the will, I argue, figures centrally in his conception of freedom. I show that Descartes holds that freedom is compatible with determination and consists in the power of the will to determine itself. I show, further, that Descartes’ later correspondence helps to clarify and unify his characterization of freedom in the Fourth Meditation: freedom is proportional to the ease of self-determination. Lastly, I consider Descartes’ conception of the relationship between the will and the passions of the soul (the passions). I begin by addressing how the passions affect the will, and I argue for a “bifurcated” approach to the function of the passions. This interpretation holds that the passions affect the will differently depending on what kind of volition results—volitions involved in action or volitions involved in judgment. I then discuss several ways in which Descartes conceives of the passions as problematic. I conclude by exploring three means Descartes prescribes for controlling them: habituation, indirect control, and the regulation of desire. Advisors/Committee Members: Curley, Edwin M. (committee member), Caston, Victor (committee member), Hoffmann, George P. (committee member), Loeb, Louis E. (committee member).

Subjects/Keywords: Descartes; Will; Error; Judgment; Freedom; Passions; Philosophy; Humanities

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APA · Chicago · MLA · Vancouver · CSE | Export to Zotero / EndNote / Reference Manager

APA (6^th Edition):

Jayasekera, M. Y. (2010). The Will in Descartes' Thought. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/78972

Chicago Manual of Style (16^th Edition):

Jayasekera, Marie Y. “The Will in Descartes' Thought.” 2010. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan. Accessed March 05, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/78972.

MLA Handbook (7^th Edition):

Jayasekera, Marie Y. “The Will in Descartes' Thought.” 2010. Web. 05 Mar 2021.

Vancouver:

Jayasekera MY. The Will in Descartes' Thought. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2010. [cited 2021 Mar 05]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/78972.

Council of Science Editors:

Jayasekera MY. The Will in Descartes' Thought. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2010. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/78972

University of Michigan

13. Sampson, Christopher Michael. Themis in Sophocles.

Degree: PhD, Classical Studies, 2009, University of Michigan

URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/63633

► This study examines the history of themis’ (θέμις) semantic range in archaic and classical Greek literature and religion. Prior to the codification of law, archaic… (more)

Subjects/Keywords: Ancient Greek Literature; Ancient Greek Religion; Classical Studies; Humanities

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APA · Chicago · MLA · Vancouver · CSE | Export to Zotero / EndNote / Reference Manager

APA (6^th Edition):

Sampson, C. M. (2009). Themis in Sophocles. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/63633

Chicago Manual of Style (16^th Edition):

Sampson, Christopher Michael. “Themis in Sophocles.” 2009. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan. Accessed March 05, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/63633.

MLA Handbook (7^th Edition):

Sampson, Christopher Michael. “Themis in Sophocles.” 2009. Web. 05 Mar 2021.

Vancouver:

Sampson CM. Themis in Sophocles. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2009. [cited 2021 Mar 05]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/63633.

Council of Science Editors:

Sampson CM. Themis in Sophocles. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Michigan; 2009. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/63633

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