Schedule of Events

Current copyright protection laws today may stifle creativity and create a hostile environment for new ideas to form. There will be a presentation and evaluation of the current laws of copyright protection up to 2022. Evaluation will include a case study of intellectual property, a philosophical stance, and a legal stance of intellectual property with its protected usage. The legal stance will look into the difference between an idea and an expression. The philosophical stance will look into the ontology of intellectual property. Whether intellectual property is considered traditional property will also be analyzed through the lens of John Locke. There will also be a discussion on the difference between physical and mental labor in terms of creating ideas and expressions. Finally, there will be an analysis of the algorithmic generation of intellectual property with tools like ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion.

Throughout the formation of the United States, and continuing through this young nation’s history, Indigenous viewpoints and beliefs have been pushed to the side. Western political philosophy, in large part situated around John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, helped form the cornerstone of the political foundation the United States rests on today. The result of this was Indigenous peoples being pushed off of lands they held sacred and as their homes since time immemorial. Through treaties (that have all ultimately failed to be upheld) and Supreme Court notions of “domestic dependent nations” (which insinuate a lack of power and rights) the United States has seemingly justified the actions that have been taken against Indigenous people. 
Understanding that the US Government and Indigenous people are functioning with different definitions of land and land usage, which is tied directly to notions of sovereignty, is important in these comparisons. There is importance in the places of similarity and perhaps even more importance in the places these definitions run counter to one another. What I will be arguing is even when looking at this issue from a Lockean viewpoint, which aligns itself with American law and formational documents, is that injustice has occurred. All being interconnected, people, nations/governments, treaties/compacts, and land are the foundational concepts for this political and cultural argument. Through this examination of Western and Indigenous ideas of consent, sovereignty, and land, one can begin to understand that the mistreatment of Indigenous people was never justified

In this paper, I will be discussing the fundamentals of forgiveness, and how it is a process, not an action. From a religious perspective, forgiveness has been seen as an integral part of living a life guided by faith, specifically in Christianity. In Christian teachings, Jesus taught, “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins”(Matthew 6:14-15). Through numerous accounts of Jesus’ teachings, there is a consistent theme illustrating the power of forgiveness and the importance of how forgiving others benefits the forgiver rather than the forgiven. In other words, forgiveness is an individualistic process that is not dependent on the offender or the act committed itself. I will be using multiple philosophical sources, some religious text and a few real-world examples to support my claim that forgiveness is not an act that requires confrontation and reconciliation from the offender, but rather it is a process of self-healing. This paper will also dive deeper into the mental, physical, and social benefits of forgiveness, and how it is an essential part of self care. 

In this paper I will provide the overview of Effective Altruism and give my stance in support of it. Along with bringing up William MacAskill’s and Peter Singer’s ideologies of effective altruism. In the first section I will present and explain William MacAskill’s ideologies of effective altruism. I will then provide articles that I have found that are criticism against his stance on effective altruism. I will then defend the criticism against him by giving reasoning from myself and from William MacAskill for why the criticism is not justified. I also plan on stating my previous stance on the information presented in this section and how my stance changed after doing the research and being open to learning more about effective altruism. In the second section I will present and explain Peter Singer's ideologies of effective altruism. I will then provide articles that I have found that are criticism against his stance on effective altruism. I will then defend the criticism against him by giving reasoning from myself and from Peter Singer for why the criticism is not justified. I also plan on stating my previous stance on the topics presented in this section and how my stance changed after doing the research and being open to learning more about effective altruism. In the final section I will offer my stance on effective altruism and state why effective altruism is the best choice to make in order to do the most good for the greatest number of people.

My capstone presentation focuses on what I believe is the most accurate form of ethical behavior, utilitarianism. My paper defends the theory from its many objections namely, the demandingness objection then provides a general background of the theory and it highlights the various ways the most ideal version of behavior should be undoubtedly demanding. While defending utilitarianism, I argue how important it is that people consider others and the importance of understanding one’s influence over another. This paper intends to demonstrate how important it is to be an ethical being and how acting according to utilitarianism will provide people with greater meaning and purpose in their lives. I was very interested in pursuing this topic because I always felt like determining what is ethical in society should be a difficult task and not one that is always blatantly the obvious choice.

The practice known as ‘Council 'can be found in different forms and stages from societies around the world and a staple in ancient cultures sprawled throughout history. Boasting centuries of tradition, Councils effectively approach an expansive variety of potentially challenging situations with storytelling and the sharing of experiences. Despite this historical prevalence, the practice remains relatively unknown in popular culture especially in the West. However, German philosopher Jürgen Habermas argued for a metaphilosophical method that closely resembles the values and tenants held commonly by these global Councils and Jack Zimmerman's rulebook for Council “The Way of Council”. Habermas' metaphilosophical theory, particularly his emphasis on communicative rationality and the importance of dialogue, are evident in Zimmerman's concept of Council, which emphasizes empathic listening and respectful communication among participants, ultimately leading to a more just and democratic society. Additionally Hebermas’ conception of the current state of society closely parallels Zimmermans’ as well as their methods for solutions in the future. With this a new way of practicing and studying philosophy could be unveiled and its effects given form to influence the world.