Wednesday, March 31

3-4 p.m. — Panel Presentation. The topic of this event is Ethics in the Future. The speakers are:

Dr. Paul Neiman “Defining Refugeehood in a Changing World”
Dr. Rachel Robison-Greene “Emerging Technology and Conceptual Shift”

This event will be held via Zoom. You can register here: https://weber.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUkcuGgrzouG9Lxktw8aBekx-D9oq3lOhXJ

Thursday, April 1

6:00-7:30 p.m. — Ethics Slam! The topic is Radical Solutions to Environmental Problems.

This event will be held via Zoom. You can register here: https://weber.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwvf-qsqz8jHtZaFhaDJUgX54xn2YSUJHox

Abstracts due April 2nd.

Huenemann will be doing his utmost to persuade you the answer is “no”: Thursday, March 11th, 4:30 pm.

Zoom link:

Topic: Grad school in philosophy
Time: Mar 11, 2021 04:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://usu-edu.zoom.us/j/84910453634?pwd=YUpBMXpobUpnYzlpUzluTGo1N2hRQT09

Meeting ID: 849 1045 3634
Passcode: 583910

For interested students, below is a tentative sketch of what we will be offering in philosophy in the fall semester. I am also posting below a pdf with course descriptions – some generic, some more specific. Again, this is tentative, so realize that there may be changes!

PHIL 1000: Introduction to Philosophy (BHU)
PHIL 1000: Introduction to Philosophy (BHU)
PHIL 1000: Introduction to Philosophy (BHU)
PHIL 1120: Social Ethics (BHU)
PHIL 1120: Social Ethics (BHU)
PHIL 1320: The Good Life (BHU)
PHIL 2200: Deductive Logic (QI)
PHIL 2400: Ethics (BHU)
PHIL 3150: Kant and the 19th Century
PHIL 3530: Environmental Ethics (DHA)
PHIL 3580: Ethics and Economic Life (DHA)
PHIL 3600: Philosophy of Religion (DHA)
PHIL 3700: Political Philosophy (DHA)
PHIL 3800: Philosophy of Literature (DHA)
PHIL 4400: Metaphysics

Philosophy students often hear about the logical positivists, or the logical empiricists, or the Vienna Circle, and wonder what all that’s about, and whether there is any value in it. Here is a recent article on finding some value in their cherished verification principle:

“In particular, the verification principle seems like it’s an interesting tool to apply when you’re suspicious of something – when you think things don’t quite add up…. One problem with conspiratorial thinking is that – while often motivated by a critical instinct which is fundamentally laudable – the conspiracy theorist is typically not … the sort of person who, as yet, knows how to think properly. Thus conspiratorial thinking often assumes nonsense epistemic principles like Jim Garrison’s time and propinquity – the idea, pioneered by the godfather of Kennedy Assassination conspiracies, that we can get to the truth by mapping how (for instance) two individuals are secretly linked by having been in the same place at the same time (the Pepe Silvia way of understanding reality).”

Here is the article!

On Tuesday at 6:00, there will be an Ethics Slam on “Robot Ethics.”  Join the discussion!

https://weber.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAtdemvqDMsEtwtXHBY_1fb5ChLAQCZTI9X?fbclid=IwAR0ahHBJNZRNyOEegdyGblw4q_-Xry5rwdlwQWt_ahUiP6tyH3qKc7JxCVI

We’ll have an open discussion over Zoom about the adventures in relating philosophical inquiry to one’s faith: Wednesday, Feb 24, 4:30. Below is a description, and a Zoom link. All are welcome! Bring your own beverage of choice!

As a religious tradition, the LDS faith seeks to answer fundamental questions about who we are, what role we occupy in the universe, and how we should live our lives. It represents in many ways a deviation and synthesis of religious concepts and faiths that came before it. Philosophy also deals with fundamental questions about goodness, reality, and truth. It is thus natural that there will be intersections between Mormonism and philosophy. There has been a long debate in various branches of Mormonism about how the LDS faith and philosophy should interact with one another.

This event will be an opportunity to ask some questions that you might have about this interaction. Dr. Otteson has taken different positions on these sorts of questions throughout his life and has been close to a wide variety of people in and around the LDS faith who have also thought a lot about these questions. Join him for a lively discussion!

Zoom link: https://usu-edu.zoom.us/j/89491352291?pwd=WGVGVG1ua0J3NEhwMzY3NEF6ZzBmdz09

Please find below a call for papers for the Spring 2021 virtual student research symposium, hosted by the Department of Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies, to be held April 16, 2021.  The symposium will be held virtually on Zoom this year. 

If you are in a philosophy class, you may want to think about developing a paper you will be writing into a presentation. Talk to your professor about it!

Please announce this in your classes and encourage students to be involved. Students are invited to submit abstracts to Dr. Ko-yin Sung [koyin.sung[at]usu.edu] by Friday, March 19.  Students wanting to be considered for the Best Paper Award should submit complete papers to Dr. Sung by March 26.