Browsing by Author "Kneller, Jane, committee member"
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Item Open Access A Psychosomatic condition: prints as symptoms(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Conley, Allison, author; Dormer, James, advisor; Plastini, Johnny, advisor; Lehene, Marius, committee member; Kneller, Jane, committee memberTo transcend my standard way of art making, I have revoked all intent or previous purpose. I work intuitively, reacting to each mark as it is placed and developing an image on the matrix rather than the mind. This mode evokes internal conflict to spill into the physical world, as they are not allowed to dawdle in the mind. The resulting images are psychosomatic: they are the physical symptoms that manifest from an underlying mental disturbance. They are not the cause of the problem, only the residue created from the mind taking form.Item Open Access Acts of emergence(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) LaBarre, Sarah E., author; Lundberg, Thomas, advisor; Harrow, Del, committee member; Kneller, Jane, committee member; Ryan, Ajean, committee memberIn my thesis installation Acts of Emergence, impressions of memory and past experiences emerge from canvas through layers of stain and stitch. Each piece suggests a fragment of memory--real and imagined. Several dozen fragmented units represent a mapping of memory through space, as if each component manifests pieces of a moment in time, flowing across the wall. The format of this piece presents a kind of disjointed timeline that contains partial records of an experience. The work as a whole is scattered across and floating away from the wall, creating a fragmented composition made up of bits of densely stitched canvas. Viewed more closely, each fragment itself becomes a composition. Stains suggest the presence of memories left behind. Each piece in this panorama holds a moment; together the units present a kind of suspended place or moment in time. These fragments appear to travel across the wall, emerging from my memory and stained with references to a history, not unlike paintings made by the Mexica people of Pre-Hispanic Mexico, who conceived time and space as intrinsically linked. I draw much inspiration from the human body's capacity to convey many emotions. The dancing figures in my work are anonymous: each with their own identity, yet not seen as anyone in particular. They are frozen in specific moments, offering a view of that moment as well. Together, suspended figures plot multiple moments within this spreading map of memory.Item Open Access Davidson and the idiolectic view(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Gumm, Derek, author; Losonsky, Michael, advisor; Kneller, Jane, committee member; Chong, Edwin, committee memberIn this thesis, I defend and expand Donald Davidson's view of language and linguistic meaning. I begin by looking at two positions that appreciate the sociality of language and linguistic meaning in two different ways. One view, as exemplified by Michael Dummett, sees the meaning of words as a feature of a language that holds independently of any particular speaker, while the other view, as exemplified by Davidson, sees meaning as depending on particular speakers and interpreters, their intentions, and their interactions. I find a serious tension in the former view and side with the latter, which I dub the idiolectic view of language. In the second chapter, I analyze Davidson's claim that understanding gives life to meaning. Using this analysis as a jumping off point, I outline the primary features of the Davidsonian idiolectic program. Finally, I conclude that the idiolectic features of this position place a special emphasis on the moment at which two people's personal understanding of language overlap and that such an emphasis is best understood in terms of events as particulars. In the third and final chapter, I argue that an ontology that countenances events as particulars is required for the idiolectic view of interpretation to get off the ground. First, I outline some of Davidson's classic arguments in favor of an ontology of events for action sentences and expand them to the case of what I call second-order language sentences, sentences about communication. Next, I discuss the importance of a criterion of event identity and individuation, working from some of Davidson's own arguments. I then extend Davidson's analysis of action sentences to second-order language sentences in order to determine the essential features of the linguistic event-type. Finally, I conclude that some basic notion of a language is required by this idiolectic view despite what Davidson originally thought. However, it is not the notion of a shared language that Dummett originally had in mind.Item Open Access Drawing interventions(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2009) Reckley, Amy, author; Lehene, Marius, advisor; Kokoska, Mary-Ann, advisor; Voss, Gary Wayne, committee member; Kneller, Jane, committee member; Flippen, Paul, committee memberI make drawings. Even if I use color and three-dimensional elements in my work, I think of my practice to be that of drawing. The questions I attempt to explore in my work are grounded in the contemporary art discourse that combines two and three dimensional practices into an elastic definition of drawing. My works play off of flat surfaces and into space serving as a confrontation that questions the definitions that separate two dimensional (painting/drawing) and three dimensional (sculpture/installation) practices. In response to specific locations and architectural structures, I fluctuate between perspective and physical presence. I reflect upon a particular set of structural conditions set forth by existing spaces (comers, rafters, stairs, ceilings, walls), and engage possibilities within those spaces with specific materials, gestures and divisions. All of the elements in my work converge to suggest singular situations or moments that are between flux and stasis. My works play upon the notion that psychological spaces are comprised of experience, perception and memory. As architectural interventions on the familiarity of spaces and perspective, drawings play out in sequences of destruction and reinvention. Preexisting perceptions of structures and spaces are broken down to create the illusion of something more fluid, vulnerable and impermanent. My work presents the possibility that the real, the actual and the illusion that one element may or may not signify a particular reality can exist within a singular space.Item Open Access Exploring new work: a personal reflection art critique in the world of prints(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) De La Cruz, Michael, author; Simons, Steve, advisor; Dormer, Jim, committee member; Dicesare, Catherine, committee member; Kneller, Jane, committee memberThe paper at hand seeks to critique aspects of my own work in terms of thinking process, act of making, and several contextual art concepts of the past including: comparisons to certain Futurist artists and elements of pre-Columbian Aztec and Mayan artwork. I will discuss briefly technical processes and emphasize visual concepts. In viewing several examples of my own prints and exploring the makeup of these pieces, one can better understand the delicate balance between the earthly components of past artwork and the sleeker, more geometric designs of the future. These two attributes are utilized in my work to create the tension and play derived from personal emotions. In breaking down these works into components that can be directly compared to my own influences, the genres and allusions to ancient art mingle into a single map of art and time.Item Open Access Hoodoo and the Law: mostly printed works(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Frondorf, Aaron William, author; Dormer, Jim, advisor; Kneller, Jane, committee member; Bates, Haley, committee member; Plastini, Johnny, committee memberThis paper discusses the relationship of ideas to their media, through the relationship of contents to a book and through the use of aesthetic barriers. The conceptual content of the artworks produced center around epistemological self-betterment and practical mysticism. I discuss in this paper my thought process, the work itself, and the works intended functions. I discuss the idea of the book and my rationale behind working in printmaking.Item Open Access Of mice and Kant: re-examining moral considerability to non-human animals on Kant's cognitive grounds(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Easley, William Eric, author; Rollin, Bernard E., advisor; Kneller, Jane, committee member; Volbrecht, Vicki J., committee memberIn this thesis, I examine Kant's criterion for moral considerability in light of the intersection between the moral, critical, and epistemic principles Kant commits himself to and evidence of advanced cognitive capacities in non-human animals. As I argue, Kant's denial of crucial cognitive capacities in non-human animals represents a flawed attempt at applying a principle of parsimony which threatens to undermine the transcendental base of his theories. Further, expelling the anachronisms and human exceptionalism Kant fell victim to in his theories reveals a robust sense of ethical duties directly to non-human animals, beyond non-cruelty. In Chapter One, I argue that the basis of moral considerability in Kant's ethics ought to extend directly to non-human animals if they possess sufficient degrees of the three cognitive capacities that comprise dignity and the ability to meaningfully set ends: reason, autonomy, and self-consciousness. In Chapter Two, I examine Kant's cognitive theory and argue that it lacks a developmental account in terms of degrees of these capacities that is crucial to completing Kant's ethical project. In Chapters Three and Four, I develop a model for such an account based upon evidence and theories in the philosophy of mind and the sciences, concluding that many non-human animals do possess advanced cognitive capacities and the we, thus, have moral duties directly to most non-human animals.Item Open Access Our childcare problem: three essays on the childcare decision-making process from a gendered perspective(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Cole, Paula M., author; Bernasek, Alexandra, advisor; Fan, Chuen-mei, committee member; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member; Kneller, Jane, committee memberChildren bring great joy and love to families, but for many families childcare entails significant stress, worry, sacrifice, and financial hardship. Social and cultures norms in the United States place these care difficulties in the private sphere to be handled by individuals, primarily women. The challenges families face in choosing between quality, affordability, and availability demonstrate that our childcare system is not the best that it could be and that all of us need to become stakeholders in the care of children. This research examines the childcare decisions of families using the ideas of neoclassical, feminist, and institutionalist economists. The childcare choice is explored with quantitative and qualitative methodology enabling critique of both the outcome and the process. Research findings demonstrate the importance of gender in the care of children, the need for more complete data on childcare, and that a solution to the childcare problem requires an ethic of care.Item Open Access Piecing together(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2003) Ment, Becca, author; Fahey, Patrick G., advisor; Voss, Gary Wayne, committee member; Frickman, Linda, committee member; Kneller, Jane, committee memberTo view the abstract, please see the full text of the document.Item Open Access Subliminal recognition(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) McGee, Mike, author; Bates, Haley, advisor; Harrow, Del, committee member; Kneller, Jane, committee member; Tornatzky, Cyane, committee memberIn the making of Subliminal Recognition I strove to create a work of art that will engage an attentive viewer and facilitate a contemplative experience. The writing in the following pages provides background information regarding the path of exploration that led me to the ideas and processes of its creation. It is designed as a resource to facilitate both an appreciation of this work and an understanding of my intentions as an artist.Item Open Access The impacts of national security and sustainable development: comparative study of shared protected areas(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Harwell, Janeane, author; Mumme, Steve, advisor; Stevis, Dimitris, committee member; Velasco, Marcela, committee member; Kneller, Jane, committee memberNational security and sustainable development paradigms shape national goals, priorities and policy in shared protected areas. The two paradigms define the physical, economic, social, and political infrastructure of shared protected areas through competing frameworks of national interests and environmental protections. This comparative study builds on international thinking about the relationship between sustainable development to answer the hypothesis that national security impacts most the environmental pillar of sustainable development. The research methodology is a triangulation of comparative document analysis with qualitative and quantitative interviews for a rich description of the two paradigms in two shared protected areas. Sustainable development is assessed in the four park conservation management plans using the Lockwood and Kothari traditional versus emergent sustainable development indicators as independent variables and the organizing framework. The impacts of national security doctrine, policy and projects are systematically assessed on sustainable development in the parks. This research formalizes one step toward the study of national security and sustainable development and the challenges of developing environmental protections in a national security environment.Item Open Access The space between: cognition, constructs, and contemplation(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Guntren, Anthony, author; Faris, Suzanne, advisor; Harrow, Del, committee member; Kneller, Jane, committee member; Lundberg, Thomas, committee memberI frequently ponder the buzz that surrounds a person at any given moment in a day. Stopped at a traffic light, I gaze around at other people in their cars and think of all of the experiences that have brought this group of humans to the same point, waiting for the light to turn. These brief moments of simultaneity--these intersections of individual experiences, environments, and objects--are wonderful features of being alive; the ability to contemplate these brief moments is uniquely human. As well as offering critical analysis of five separate sculptures, this paper delineates the conceptual framework, artistic influences, material considerations, and compositional choices as it relates to the creation of sculptural body of work titled Cognition, Constructs, and Contemplation. The forms presented in this body of work attempt to reconcile ideas of "cognition" in visual form by abstracting isolated units of complex neurological systems that govern the transmission of thoughts, memories, and emotions. These sculptures are composed into naturalistic constructs that draw inspiration from cyclical systems found in both the natural world as well as the manmade. My intention is to evoke contemplation on the unseen forces found in the space inside and between living entities, and in the objects and landscapes that surround them. The space between bodies contains an unknown energy that pulses with the cognitive output of all living creatures.Item Open Access To the light(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) French, Matthew, author; Faris, Suzanne, advisor; Voss, Gary, committee member; Ryan, Ajean, committee member; Kneller, Jane, committee member; Lundberg, Thomas, committee memberWood is a warm, natural material that has a long history as a structural support in the construction of buildings and this role is deeply embedded in our minds. Left bare with minimal sealants, its grains reveal the course of the growth it took while still in an organic state. These qualities remind us of the living presence contained within certain inanimate objects. The scale of construction is miniature, revealing the numerous conscious decisions that went into building the passageways, levels, and thresholds that respond to each other as they define the spaces of the sculpture. The sculpture is intentionally taller than the human body so that we are physically overwhelmed and humbled by it. The constructed form also expresses the humbling qualities of gravity and time. The sculpture's appearance, as tenuous and struggling for uprightness, expresses the vulnerability all forms experience under the pressures of gravity and time. We relate to how our bodies feel physical vulnerability to these and other forces at work in the material world.Item Open Access Unconscionability in contracts: a new test(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Aaronson, Michael Louis, author; McShane, Katie, advisor; Kneller, Jane, committee member; Gill, Ann, committee memberThe goal of this thesis is to answer a number of unresolved, fundamental legal and moral questions about contracts. Answering these important questions will require a broad legal, applied ethical, and normative ethical analysis of historical and contemporary case law, statutory law, and legal literature. The end result will be a unified theory of unconscionability: it will capture the intent of contemporary statutory law, provide a test that consistently yields judgments of unconscionability where it ought to do so, and include plausible, well-developed normative ethical justification for the judgments yielded by the test. In Chapter 1 there will be a brief presentation of the legal historical context. We will have a look at unconscionability in statutory law, case law, and the legal literature of the previous era of unconscionability law and find that there has for a long time been broad, fundamental disagreement about the nature of unconscionability itself, and more recently, equally serious disagreement about how contemporary statutory legal attempts to define unconscionability should be interpreted and applied. In Chapter 2, we will examine and critique two contemporary attempts at legal and moral analysis of extant case and statutory law. In Chapter 3, I will take a stand on the issues discussed throughout the first two chapters, proposing a general theory of unconscionability and a two-pronged test for identifying unconscionability in contracts. The theory will capture the intent of contemporary statutory unconscionability law, explain and solve the difficulties that led to broad inconsistency in the case law we saw in Chapter 2, and lead us to a plausible test. Chapter 4 will present the normative theory that undergirds and unites both prongs of the test proposed in Chapter 3. The goal is to show how my theory of unconscionability is explained and justified within moral theory more broadly.