Theses/Dissertations - Philosophy
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Browsing Theses/Dissertations - Philosophy by Author "Baird, Robert M., 1937-"
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Item Kongzi, Rawls, and the sense of justice in the Analects.(2006-07-31T01:16:48Z) Cline, Erin May.; Baird, Robert M., 1937-; Philosophy.; Baylor University. Dept. of Philosophy.This dissertation is a comparative study of the philosophy of John Rawls and the Confucian Analects regarding the idea of a sense of justice. The first aim of this work is to correct a view that has been advanced by several scholars of Chinese and comparative philosophy, namely, that the absence of terms such as "justice" in classical Chinese indicates that classical Chinese texts are not concerned with questions of justice, and that classical Confucian philosophers were not interested in the ideas that are the focus of modern Western political philosophy. Against these claims, I argue that there are deep and important areas of agreement between the understanding of a sense of justice in the Analects and John Rawls's account of a sense of justice. I show that on both views, a sense of justice is cultivated first within the context of parent-child relationships and then within communities, finally emerging as a fully developed moral sense that informs the capacity to feel and act in certain ways toward other members of society. The second aim of this study is to show how comparative work can help us to understand more fully and accurately the features of two or more views. I argue that studying the idea of a sense of justice in the Analects alongside a Rawlsian sense of justice highlights some important dimensions of Rawls's work that have been neglected, including the role he assigns to the family and the community in his account of how citizens cultivate a sense of justice. I also argue that Rawls's discussions of moral psychology and the development of a sense of justice provide readers with a model for understanding the role that moral capacities can play in political philosophy. Rawls's account helps readers to see how an appreciation for justice can be expressed in a text like the Analects, even though there is not a fully developed theory of justice or a single term that consistently designates "justice."Item The meaning of illness : a phenomenological approach to the physician/patient relationship.(2011-12-19) Toombs, Sheila Kay, 1943-; Baird, Robert M., 1937-; Philosophy.; Baylor University. Dept. of Philosophy.It is my purpose in this thesis to explore the "reality" of illness, using philosophical phenomenology as a guide. In particular, I am concerned to show that the experience of illness, rather than representing a shared "reality" between physician and patient, represents in effect two quite distinct "realities" (the meaning of one "reality" being significantly different from the meaning of the other). Philosophical phenomenology focuses on the nature of experience, and particularly upon the manner in which all experience is structured by the activity of consciousness. In so doing phenomenology emphasizes the unique nature of experiencing and particularly the correlation between the perceiver and that which is perceived. Meaning is seen to be a function of the activity of individual consciousness. In the first chapter consideration is given to some basic concepts which are fundamental for phenomenology and a distinction is made between "own world" and "common world." In the second chapter these concepts are shown to provide insights into the nature of the discrepancy between the physician's and the patient's understanding of illness. Consideration is given to the manner in which the separate worlds of the physician and patient are constituted. It is argued that it is through attentional focusing that the sense of illness is made explicit for the individual. An analysis is provided of the manner in which such attentional focusing is determined. In the third chapter consideration is given to the question of how it is possible to construct a shared world of meaning between patient and physician, given the unique nature of experiencing. An eidetic interpretation of illness is proposed and attention is directed towards some ways in which we do, in fact, come to some understanding of the Other. In the final chapter it is suggested that the notion of healing presupposes a shared world between physician and patient. A distinction is made between healing and curing disease. It is noted that the manner in which the "reality" of illness is defined directly influences the way in which the end of the patient/physician relationship is defined. It is argued that the end of the patient/ physician relationship is healing and that healing is a mutual act which is accomplished within the context of a shared world between physician and patient.