Philosophy of nature

Contemporary thinking, bound as it is to a dualistic paradigm,
inherently privileges one side of the duality over the other. Feminists - most
notably in this dissertation, Val Plumwood - argue that we must overcome
these privileged dualities and reconstruct a way of knowing that recognizes
difference while not granting privilege to one side or the other. Dualities result
from the modernist and postmodernist desire to name and control. One of the
reasons that we cannot transcend this desire is because we have lost our
connection to our environment. Examining novels and films set in Detroit,
Michigan, as well as coming to terms with that city's history, will allow us to
find places where clairvoyant messengers can commune with the
environment and offer us an insight into ways of overcoming the radical
"othering" ofduality.
This project begins by examining the literary history of urban fiction in
the United States and pointing to the tradition of duality and some of its
surface problems. Then, the project begins to construct a history of Detroit that
exposes the complex layers of duality that have informed the city's growth
and ultimately led to the 1967 riots. Next, the argument suggests the
importance of fiction and film in understanding modern dualities.
The first fictive example, Maureen, from Joyce Carol Oates's novel
them is an example of a potential clairvoyant. However, bound as she is to a
postmodern existence, Maureen experiences her "other'' but fails to provide a
didactic example of non-dualistic thinking. Ultimately, postmodernism and
postmodern/post riot Detroit only mystify and compound the problems
associated with modern dualities. Likewise, Jeffrey Eugenides transgendered
hero/ine Calliope (Middlesex) experiences her natural "other" and allows us to
call into question the traditional binaries we use to create our understandings
of gender. Both characters retell their experience and re-present their bodies
in an attempt to bridge dualities and overcome their "otherness." Finally, the
dissertation finds a representation of contemporary Detroit, Eminem's 8 Mile,
and argues that violence and shame are at the root of dualities and ultimately
distract us from overcoming both fictional and real examples of the
oppressive "othering" which results from a culture steeped in dualistic
thinking.

Linda Hogan's Power and Gregory Maguire's Wicked are two works of literature
that encompass a process of raising and transforming consciousness about humans'
relationships with each other and with the Earth and elemental energies. Both can be
considered prayers to and for the world. The goal of this thesis is to highlight and explore
themes of spirituality, ecofeminism, environmental justice, anti-colonialism, indigenous
philosophies regarding sense of place, human and animal rights, and feminist critical
theories of race and gender through the artistic, creative and powerful writing of these
authors. These works both reflect and participate in ongoing processes of political and
spiritual change away from patriarchal, Eurocentric and imperial culture. By applying
concepts including F. Marina Schauffler's "Ecological Conversion" and Gloria
Anzaldua's "Mestiza Consciousness," I will show how the novels' characters, though
very differently, encompass these transformations of consciousness.

Feminist theory has long criticized the hierarchical and oppositional thinking responsible for creating the basis of what counts as real knowledge. In questioning how and why the experience of enduring relationship with the dead is not imagined as real, this dissertation will draw from this theoretical tradition. This analysis involves a paradigm shift in thinking about the nature of relationship---one that posits these kinds of experiences as something other than either a psychological remedy to our grief or the requisite belief in the survival of the self. Feminist critiques of dualistic thinking become the cornerstone of Chapter One in order to get to the roots of how knowledge of enduring relationship with the dead gets denied. This chapter addresses the splitting responsible for the othering of death, the desire to flee it, and, by association, the desire to flee the body. This flight is predicated on a bounded and distinct subject who imagines it must separate itself from the material in order to survive. Imagining the body in this manner sets limits for making visible a relationship that endures with death. Dualistic thinking, the degradation of the body and the desire to flee it will also be the focus of Chapter Two as it looks at the dominant contemporary practices around what is done with the corpse. These practices work together to deny a dead body that matters and one important for legitimizing enduring relationship with the dead. While enduring relationship is made invisible through these hegemonic discourses and practices, there are, as I mentioned at the start, experiences that say otherwise. Chapter Three will suggest that the knowledge that comes with these experiences is one sometimes accepted and explored in popular culture. Popular culture may provide the reminder, but recognizing enduring relationship also relies on the willingness to bring to the fore the role, the value and the contribution of the corpse. The conclusion will offer some examples of what I call practices of proximity that recognize the corpse as central for the living.

Is beauty really in the eye of the beholder? Historically, philosophers, poets, artists, and scientists have striven to define and express one of the most complex words in the English language : beauty. In contemporary society we tend to casually ascribe the word beauty to many various objects,paintings, sounds, and ideas. Its meaning can adhere to a stone, to the oscillating waves of an ocean, to the nonorganic as to the organic. Perceptions of Beauty is a project the follows my journey as an artist and how my perception of beauty has changed over the past four years. Using examples from select artists, philosophers, and scientific studies, I will contend that Beauty is not "in the eye of the beholder," but is a complex and formulated characteristic that inspires not only an emotional response, but evokes mechanisms that defy our understanding of ourselves.