http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/topic/42/philosophy Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Tue, 07 Apr 2026 05:06:57 -0400 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 05:06:57 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1961/unity-in-virginia-woolf-and-hannah-arendt-creating-reality-in-the-insensitive-and-inaccessible By Esteban A. Sanchez - Woolfian Scholars regularly denote the moments where Woolf’s characters feel inexplicably connected and inseparable from one another as representing the spiritual and mystic beliefs of their author. I want to reframe this notion, considering Woolf's moments of unity, not as a metafictional tool, but as a rebellion against the insensitive and inaccessible natural world. Wittgenstein's refutation of the linguistic contentions in Plato’s Cratylus will outline language’s relationship to reality and how Woolf rejects Platonic Forms. Woolf along with Hannah Arendt will consider thought... Thu, 22 Sep 2022 10:48 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1961/unity-in-virginia-woolf-and-hannah-arendt-creating-reality-in-the-insensitive-and-inaccessible http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1952/pathological-withdrawal-syndrome-a-new-kind-of-depression By Katelynn V. Healy - Marion Godman makes the argument that Pathological Withdrawal Syndrome (PWS) makes the case for psychiatric disorders as a natural kind. Godman argues that we can classify kinds according to their shared ‘grounding’, but we need not know what the grounding is to know that the natural is a natural kind. However, I argue that Godman erroneously classifies PWS as its own natural kind when it is in fact a variant of depression, which is its own natural kind. Cooper highlights culture-bound syndromes, which can explain the discrepancy between the different diagnosis rates for psychiatric... Fri, 15 Apr 2022 02:38 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1952/pathological-withdrawal-syndrome-a-new-kind-of-depression http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1927/deconstructing-social-classification-and-mobility-the-hindu-varna-system-platos-magnificent-myth-and-the-british-caste-system By Aadi C. Krishna - This research elucidates the striking parallelism between the Hindu Varna System and Plato's Magnificent Myth through an unorthodox view of their class-based classification, social mobility, and meritocracy while arguing that these stem from the Arguments from Division of Labor and Biological Determinism. Furthermore, it establishes that the Caste System introduced in India by the British in the 18th Century fundamentally differs from the systems followed in ancient India and Athens and investigates the fundamental forces and the motivations behind its implementation. Lastly, the paper conducts... Fri, 10 Dec 2021 02:49 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1927/deconstructing-social-classification-and-mobility-the-hindu-varna-system-platos-magnificent-myth-and-the-british-caste-system http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1924/ethics-of-the-far-future-why-longtermism-does-not-imply-anti-capitalism By Nathaniel Peutherer - It has recently been argued that longtermism it at odds with capitalism. It is said that while longtermism places great emphasis on the value of far future benefits, capitalism neglects the future by favouring short-term gains. Therefore, those who are sympathetic to longtermism should support an anti-capitalist solution. In this article, I argue that after we make this claim more precise it becomes clear that anti-capitalism is not the only solution for longtermists. Instead, they can adopt Schwartz’s capitalist reforms centred around the legal basis for a corporation to act as an immortal... Tue, 30 Nov 2021 09:42 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1924/ethics-of-the-far-future-why-longtermism-does-not-imply-anti-capitalism http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1918/euthanasia-and-consensual-harm-evaluating-the-moral-and-legal-asymmetry-of-self-and-other-regarding-acts By Anna L. Peters - Suicide is legal in almost every country, but places where euthanasia is permitted remain in the minority (Mishara and Weisstub 2016). In many legislatures, suicide is not a criminal act. It is, however, a criminal act for you to assist me in this, either indirectly by providing the means (assisted suicide), or directly by performing the fatal act (euthanasia), even if I ask for your assistance. This dichotomy is emblematic of a pattern that can be found in many legal systems: person B – the agent, throughout – is prohibited from doing to person A – the principal, throughout &... Mon, 25 Oct 2021 08:48 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1918/euthanasia-and-consensual-harm-evaluating-the-moral-and-legal-asymmetry-of-self-and-other-regarding-acts http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1917/the-structure-of-fiction-and-the-emergence-of-the-other-than By Dani W. Park - In this essay, I will analyze the structure of fiction, arguing that this structure is a duality that rests upon a spirit that defines and propels fiction in reality. This spirit, which I refer to as the Other-than, is the metaphysical embodiment of radical change that seeks to emerge in reality. The structure by which this spirit of fiction emerges, however, depends on two components- the Imaginative and the Written. The Imaginative is the divided and individuated form of the Other-than that is imbued within each work of fiction and is therefore incapable of ideological influence; the Written... Mon, 18 Oct 2021 07:21 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1917/the-structure-of-fiction-and-the-emergence-of-the-other-than http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1902/biologization-of-capital-and-capitalization-of-biopower-connecting-foucault-and-marx By Tianhao Hou - Foucault raised the concept of biopower in the first volume of The History of Sexuality and placed its emergence in the context of capitalism, but he did not fully tackle the relationship between biopower and capitalism. In this article, the author fills this gap through a careful reading of Foucault and Marx, arguing that perpetual spirals are formed between biopower and capitalism and their techniques intersected on the human body. The author first traces the definitions of each concept in order to show that they can be discussed and drawn connection with each other. After that, he expands upon... Tue, 25 May 2021 09:33 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1902/biologization-of-capital-and-capitalization-of-biopower-connecting-foucault-and-marx http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1900/the-holistic-universe-wisdom-as-attention-to-the-cohesion-of-physicality-and-immateriality By Erin Aslami - We are all witnesses. You see and are seen; you step in and step out. You brush your hair out of your face, out of the face of a friend, a lover. Sometimes, you feel that the lock of hair is something more than the strands that compose it, and that stroking it strokes something not-quite physical. In your power of physical and emotional cohesion, you practice wisdom. You knit together the self and the other, the self and the body, the body and the world, the physical and the spiritual. You sense how the material and immaterial encompass each other. They are not only the most intimate of dance... Tue, 11 May 2021 02:40 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1900/the-holistic-universe-wisdom-as-attention-to-the-cohesion-of-physicality-and-immateriality http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1897/gender-theory-vs-pragmatism-a-point-of-diversion-between-judith-butlers-gender-performativity-and-the-psychosocial-limitations-of-gender-construction By Melissa Padron - The question of what it means to be a gendered individual has been left unanswered in light of its variants. The feminist movement proceeding the Industrial Revolution propelled philosophical and literary works, such as Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, challenging the traditional perception of man and woman and concomitantly advancing the foundation for gender theory. Judith Butler’s Gender Performativity theory proved to be one of the most salient works of the rather unexplored realm of philosophy. This paper confronts Butler’s theory of gender as an individual act and analyzes... Fri, 16 Apr 2021 10:50 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1897/gender-theory-vs-pragmatism-a-point-of-diversion-between-judith-butlers-gender-performativity-and-the-psychosocial-limitations-of-gender-construction http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1893/16th-century-clapback-the-manipulation-of-poetic-devices-in-sir-philip-sidneys-an-apology-for-poetry By Adeola P. Egbeyemi - Often thought to be a recent development of pop culture, writers have been using biting clapbacks in response to criticism since antiquity. This essay will explore how poet and scholar Sir Philip Sidney effectively manipulated poetic devices in An Apology For Poetry​ to respond to criticism about the usage of poetry for education. This will be done through a description of the devices found in what Sidney considered to be the key types of poetry: verse, philosophical poetry and biblical hymns. Then, the paper will reveal the presence of these devices in Apology itself. Finally, this paper will... Mon, 05 Apr 2021 02:54 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1893/16th-century-clapback-the-manipulation-of-poetic-devices-in-sir-philip-sidneys-an-apology-for-poetry http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1891/conservative-perspectives-of-political-outsiders By Audrey Cialdella - Western conservatism is often conceived as the philosophy of large landowners in the past and business executives in the present. Heightened awareness of racial and class disparities in recent years has increased the perception that conservatism is the ideology of the elite. In this paper, I will explore the conservative philosophies of three individuals who contradict this notion: Cicero, Edmund Burke, and Alexander Hamilton. I argue that conservatives consider their in-group to be those who share their values and traditions, and those traditions and values are their most salient identity. Disruption... Thu, 18 Mar 2021 04:39 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1891/conservative-perspectives-of-political-outsiders http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1887/reconstructing-ruin-as-future-rethinking-the-spatiotemporality-of-race-and-gender-in-glissant-and-spillers-middle-passage By Yiyang Chen - Intersecting Edouard Glissant’s poetics with Hortense Spillers’ theory of race, gender, and sexuality alchemizes a new conception of the Middle Passage’s spatiotemporality. With the slave trade haunting the living, this paper attempts to orient a rupture in the fabric of spacetime, through which implosion leads to a new future. The destructive and destabilizing abyss of the Middle Passage, in itself, creates a philosophy of alterity, where linear, universalizing logics of the West become ruin through which new paradigms emerge. In Poetics of Relation, Glissant delineates three... Wed, 10 Mar 2021 08:59 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1887/reconstructing-ruin-as-future-rethinking-the-spatiotemporality-of-race-and-gender-in-glissant-and-spillers-middle-passage http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1886/the-self-cognizant-idea-and-the-methodological-transformation-of-hegel-marx-and-ditltheys-historiography By Youngdahl Kaylee - The transformation of the philosophy of history reveals how and why methodological systems change over time. Methodological systems engage in contemplative action, and strive to assemble a distinguishable pattern of historical study. Though structure develops its own epistemology, without a shared notion of collective human experience there would be no collective history to reflect upon. This study maps the changes of philosophic methodology, within the context of historical study, from 1800-1850, but maintains that the action of reflective contemplation remains. The methodological systems of... Wed, 10 Mar 2021 08:22 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1886/the-self-cognizant-idea-and-the-methodological-transformation-of-hegel-marx-and-ditltheys-historiography http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1853/the-brain-gut-and-consciousness-microbiology-of-our-mind By Radek Vana - We are never alone. And by this statement, I do not intend to argue for existence of some supernatural entities, aliens or God. We are never alone because we all share our bodies with trillions of symbiotic microorganisms that perform various physiological functions crucial for our health. In fact, they may be responsible for even more than that. Here, I present a view that the symbiotic microbiota is an important part of the complex system constituting our consciousness. By consciousness, I mean the type called phenomenal consciousness (Block 2002) which stands for the subjective experience of... Tue, 29 Dec 2020 12:10 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1853/the-brain-gut-and-consciousness-microbiology-of-our-mind http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1843/a-postcolonial-theory-of-value-broadening-economic-scholarship-through-disciplinary-mimetic-valuation By David L. Myers - This work aims to integrate postcolonial scholarship into some basic theoretical foundations of a mainstream economic curriculum. Noting the insufficiencies of neoclassical economics to deal with problems of cultural difference and priority, the work offers a basic critique of economics and its aspirations for universal applicability. It does this by building upon existing postcolonial critiques of economics as a social science and focuses specifically on economic notions of value. Using postcolonial and anthropological scholarship, it sketches out a broader, more inclusive theory of value than... Tue, 24 Nov 2020 10:49 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1843/a-postcolonial-theory-of-value-broadening-economic-scholarship-through-disciplinary-mimetic-valuation http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1834/aquinas-just-war-theory-and-pandemic-response By Ezekiel Vergara - “Just-war theory,” as it is called, aims to guide action during warfare, so that states and individuals can act ethically. Because warfare is often analogized to epidemics, this paper will argue that just-war theory can recommend how one ought to conceive of governmental action during a pandemic. Drawing off the work of Thomas Aquinas, one of the most canonical figures within the just-war tradition, this article demonstrates that just-war theory explains both why the government has expanded powers during a pandemic and what a government ought to do with these expanded powers. Notably... Tue, 10 Nov 2020 08:16 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1834/aquinas-just-war-theory-and-pandemic-response http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1828/humes-law-and-genetic-engineering-considering-the-possible-implications-of-positive-eugenics-in-light-of-our-horrific-past By Chad E. Brack - The eugenics movement of the 20th century epitomizes the danger that is possible when religion and science coalesce. Grounded in the emerging science of evolution and heredity, social Darwinists superimposed beliefs about social worth, racial superiority, and divine providence onto unbiased scientific research. Eugenicists combined religious and cultural ideas about inferior people with pseudoscientific justifications to impart their beliefs onto others in tangible ways. Vestigial eugenics practices still exist in modern American social systems, and new technologies are paving the way for a potential... Wed, 28 Oct 2020 08:30 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1828/humes-law-and-genetic-engineering-considering-the-possible-implications-of-positive-eugenics-in-light-of-our-horrific-past http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1799/unification-of-mind-matter-and-consciousness-through-an-essence-of-relation By Jacob Bell - In contemporary philosophy, the mind-body problem and the problem of consciousness are often viewed through the lens of physicalism, which claims that all that exists is physical. Physicalism in general, and reductive physicalism specifically, remain inadequate in explaining, describing, or understanding consciousness and the mind because such things diverge in their ontological status and thus cannot be fully accounted for from within a physicalist worldview. Accounting for consciousness, for example, requires the acknowledgment that physical facts cannot describe everything, and that phenomenal... Fri, 18 Sep 2020 09:39 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1799/unification-of-mind-matter-and-consciousness-through-an-essence-of-relation http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1793/ergodic-textuality-in-egan-and-ozeki-the-rhetorical-dialogism-of-time-being By Taylor G. Hein - Human beings decided that time is linear. We continually assert that is made up of the past, present, and future, proceeding infinitely and mercilessly in an exclusively forward motion. Thus, our lives and our relationships are experienced linearly. Grounded in the fear of its purported rigidity and absoluteness, we lament time’s passing and the war it wages on our bodies and our minds. So, we conclude that we are powerless against it. Over its short history, humanity has proven itself to be epistemologically inclined, desiring to remain in the realm of culturally imposed ideals of &ldquo... Tue, 08 Sep 2020 09:56 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1793/ergodic-textuality-in-egan-and-ozeki-the-rhetorical-dialogism-of-time-being http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1773/a-nietzschean-interpretation-of-the-self-in-psychological-continuity By Harry P. Chalklin - There are two views of personal identity that many people find plausible. The first is the psychological continuity view; the second is what I shall call multiplicity views of the self. Despite their plausibility, these positions appear incompatible, as I shall go on to explain. In this essay, I propose the thesis that psychological continuity and multiplicity views of the self can be made compatible by thinking of the self, not as a continuous psychological unity, but instead as a continuous, creative, psychological task a person undertakes to form a self which feels more unified than it previously... Mon, 02 Dec 2019 08:38 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1773/a-nietzschean-interpretation-of-the-self-in-psychological-continuity http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1764/unveiling-ultimate-reality-in-platos-allegory-of-the-cave-and-the-bhagavad-gita By Rocco A. Astore - Questions regarding the very foundations of our reality abound throughout the history of world philosophies. For example, if we examine Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” as well as the Bhagavad Gita, we find that both masterpieces illustrate a reality of greater perfection than ordinary, everyday existence. In other words, we find Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” expounding the truth of a reality which is everlasting, above and beyond mundane existence, while at the same time ever-present, life-giving, and benevolent. Although surprising to some, we find a similar... Fri, 27 Sep 2019 07:36 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1764/unveiling-ultimate-reality-in-platos-allegory-of-the-cave-and-the-bhagavad-gita http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1718/debating-space-through-the-gand#246;ttingen-review-why-kants-transcendental-ideality-of-space-exceeds-berkeleys-subjective-idealist-interpretation By Rocco A. Astore - It is not often that one questions the nature of space, in fact, most people understand extension as independent of their mind as well as the objects that appear in their surrounding world. However, in a radical twist, fitting for the revolutionary epoch of the Enlightenment, Königsberg scholar, philosopher Immanuel Kant forwarded a strikingly new hypothesis. To Kant, although the representations of objects rely on space for their subsistence, minds are independent of it, since they alone impose space onto the world of appearance. Despite his view not being readily defendable by all his peers... Tue, 09 Jan 2018 04:25 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1718/debating-space-through-the-gand#246;ttingen-review-why-kants-transcendental-ideality-of-space-exceeds-berkeleys-subjective-idealist-interpretation http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1665/pederasty-and-power-in-platos-mythological-dialogues By Paul Regan - As a topic of philosophical interest the Socratic dialogues play a pivotal role in many of Plato’s works of more than thirty authentic dialogues. This paper discusses pederasty and power through myth and story-telling to teach Ancient Greek communities about the soul, morality and character through three of Plato’s mythological dialogues on Socrates: Symposium, Phaedrus and the Republic. Each work falls within several categories of investigation, speculation and argumentation. The re-telling of a story suggests that myth offers an economical framework from which to balance the soul... Thu, 26 Oct 2017 05:18 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1665/pederasty-and-power-in-platos-mythological-dialogues http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1656/the-value-and-benefit-of-an-enlightened-people-for-the-continuity-of-democratic-societies By Rocco A. Astore - Political philosophers and theorists alike continue to debate if more enlightened populations would be of value or not. This piece will contribute to that dispute by claiming that an enlightened populace is integral to the progress of free-societies. First, through Kant’s political and moral philosophy this piece will outline what being a free or enlightened person truly involves. Next, by drawing from Rousseau’s On the Social Contract, this essay will describe his vision of a citizen and how one can understand it as the political equivalent of what Kant would call an enlightened member... Thu, 19 Oct 2017 09:34 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1656/the-value-and-benefit-of-an-enlightened-people-for-the-continuity-of-democratic-societies http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1652/john-rawls-primary-goods-approach-to-justice-an-analysis-of-indexing-problems By Rhidoy Rashid - There has been extensive debate over the past few decades regarding the criteria by which we should measure distributive justice. In conceiving a just state of affairs it is imperative that we determine the most appropriate measure of the distributions we are evaluating. Different approaches have their own merits, and range from evaluations of the distribution of happiness, to that of wealth, to that of life prospects. John Rawls and fellow Rawlsians believe that primary goods are most representative of citizens’ fundamental interests. According to Rawls (1999: 54), primary goods are those... Fri, 14 Jul 2017 05:46 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1652/john-rawls-primary-goods-approach-to-justice-an-analysis-of-indexing-problems http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1641/the-psyscholinguistic-semiotics-and-metanormative-ethics-of-suicide-and-death-in-shakespeares-king-lear By Conner R. Hayes - The fascination with death and the sensationalizing of suicide are prevalent metaphysical themes which traverse all Shakespearean tragedy. These brooding themes, despite their ubiquitous portrayal, take on an idiosyncratic ethical meaning in King Lear. Though naturally nihilistic and bleak, these sentiments serve as more than mere evidence of the existential longing plaguing the psyches of many of Shakespeare’s characters. The yearning to die, and moreover, one’s ability to die, explicates the very metaethical framework and normative ethical epistemology of the play. The characters... Tue, 02 May 2017 12:30 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1641/the-psyscholinguistic-semiotics-and-metanormative-ethics-of-suicide-and-death-in-shakespeares-king-lear http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1639/does-essence-precede-existence-a-look-at-camuss-metaphysical-rebellion By Scot N. DuFour - Albert Camus lived during a tumultuous time that included his experience of World War II and the Algerian War. Camus is most prominently known as an author of fine French literature but he was also a philosopher. While it is debatable whether Camus was an existentialist, a label he personally disliked, his analysis of rebellion in his work The Rebel serves as a relevant argument for the establishment of an ethic based on metaphysical rebellion. Camus faced and was witness to great oppression throughout his lifetime so it is no surprise that he wrote about rebellion. Camus was personally part of... Mon, 01 May 2017 10:41 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1639/does-essence-precede-existence-a-look-at-camuss-metaphysical-rebellion http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1628/the-fundamental-illegitimacy-of-facism-and-the-innate-desire-for-freedom By Rocco A. Astore - This piece examines the ideologies and tactics used by fascist governments to validate and enforce their authority through Michael Mann’s work Fascists. By explicating Kant’s view of autonomy and progress, found in “An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?” and Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, it is demonstrated that people are fundamentally progressive beings with innate capacities for freedom. Moreover, explaining J.S. Mill’s view of the innate progressiveness and value of individuality in On Liberty, it is asserted that fascist demands of obedience... Thu, 27 Apr 2017 10:24 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1628/the-fundamental-illegitimacy-of-facism-and-the-innate-desire-for-freedom http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1626/the-purposive-power-of-natural-theology-on-moser-and-the-christian-apologetics By Jimmy R. Lewis - In recent years there has been quite a bit of talk in philosophy of religion regarding how relevant and how purposive natural theology is, especially in comparison with experiential evidence. One major proponent of this recent skepticism in relation to natural theology is Paul K. Moser. Moser believes that natural theology may in fact be a satisfactory means to arriving at theism, but not to personal theism. This is problematic for Moser, because he believes that the goal of Christian apologetics ought to be to convince people not only of the existence of a divine being, but also that the divine... Fri, 14 Apr 2017 08:32 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1626/the-purposive-power-of-natural-theology-on-moser-and-the-christian-apologetics http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1624/antonio-gramsci-hegemony-and-the-greek-crisis-building-new-hegemony-to-supersede-neoliberal-discourse By Carter Vance - Antonio Gramsci’s interpretation and analysis of “hegemony,” its mechanisms, causes and consequences for the Left, is fundamentally an attempt to grapple with how culture and the “common sense of the epoch” (Miliband, 1990) grow out of class society and impose their ontological structure on even those whose interests it opposes. Given the continued existence and deepening of class divisions in the 21st century, an understanding of Gramsci’s work may be even more of a critical project for the Left now than when it was first written. The terrain on which political... Mon, 10 Apr 2017 11:23 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1624/antonio-gramsci-hegemony-and-the-greek-crisis-building-new-hegemony-to-supersede-neoliberal-discourse