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Today (Monday, March 19th) there will be two panels by the USU Veterans Representatives regarding the Iraq war. One will feature philosophy major Will Hollaway, along with other students, veterans, protesters, Iraqi students and possibly others at 1 pm. The second is at 6 pm, called “After Iraq: The costs and benefits of nine years in Iraq,” with potential panelists Jeannie L. Johnson (USU political science), Selin Ece Guner (USU political science), Lyle Holmgren (USU extension), Iraqi students, and VA representatives. The events will be held in the TSC Juniper room.

Philosophy major Carson Bessinger will be presenting a public lecture on March 31st. His talk will be about a project for which he was awarded a grant from the Utah Humanities Council. (Way to go, Bessinger!) I will copy below the press release for the event.

Chapter U of the International P.E.O. Sisterhood, an organization that
promotes education for others, has invited Carson Bessinger, a reciver of the Utah
Humanities Council 2011 Undergraduate Student Research Fellowship, to present his
research on the philosophy of consciousness on March 31 at 4:00 PM at the Accolades
at Hamilton’s 2427 North Main Logan, Utah 84341. Bessinger will be presenting his
research from a paper titled: “Consciousness Enframed: The Alētheia of Qualia,” which
he presented at an undergraduate philosophy conference last year.

Bessinger’s research is an examination of the philosopher Daniel Dennett’s claim that
qualia—the subjective experience of our senses—do not exist, that they are an illusion.
That is to say there is no red that we experience when we see an apple, just a
judgment that it is red. Bessinger argues in favor of Dennett’s account while ultimately
criticizing it using the philosophy of Heidegger.

All are welcome to attend this lighthearted presentation of an examination of
consciousness—what it seems to be and what it might actually be.
For more information regarding this event please call Carson Bessinger 435-881-4212.
For more information about the Utah Humanities Council contact Maria Torres at
torres@utahhumanities.org or call 801-359-9670. For more information regarding the
P.E.O. Sisterhood, call 435-752-5438.

I would like to welcome all applications to join our chapter of Phi Sigma Tau, a national honor society in philosophy. To join Phi Sigma Tau, you need to meet the following requirements:

• You must have completed 1.5 semesters at USU;
• You must have a 3.3 cumulative GPA;
• You must have completed (or are now completing) three Philosophy classes;
• You must have a B average in your Philosophy classes.

Note that you need not be a minor or major in Philosophy. If you are interested, please send Huenemann a note with your A number. Our gala dinner of induction will be held in April.

Here is an interesting review of a survey of continental thought. The review offers some criticism, but on the whole seems favorable. I was taken by this account of the book’s unifying theme:

McCumber sets continental philosophy up against what he calls “traditional philosophy,” by which he understands, following Heidegger, “philosophy that locates true reality in an atemporal domain” (4). “Traditional philosophy” — whether in the form of Parmenidean Being, Platonic Forms, Aristotelian essences, Kantian transcendental structures of the human mind, or the logically manipulated world of propositions — places what is ultimately real in some timeless and unchanging realm. Continental philosophy, however, understands itself to be firmly situated within time and history while trying to understand things and actions that are themselves equally so situated within the temporal realm.

This intrigues me, but I think contemporary non-continental philosophers – specifically, philosophical naturalists – would scratch their collective heads and say, “Huh? You mean we’re locating true reality in an atemporal domain?” Indeed, anyone “non-continentalists” after and including the logical positivists would fight against that characterization. Of course, maybe they’re still going atemporal, despite their protestations, but the fact that they don’t want to be characterized in that way makes me think McCumber’s claim can’t be marking the deep division that exists today between the two camps. I keep thinking it has to do more with methodology (and probably politics) than with a specific content claims.

We have been discussing the possibility of starting an online undergraduate philosophy journal. None of the details have been worked out, but the basic idea is for a small number of students, under the guidance of the faculty, to solicit undergraduate papers nationwide, run them through some kind of evaluation process, and load the selected papers onto an online journal, which will be run and maintained by our USU Library go-to person, Andy Wesolek.

The main benefit for doing this, apart from a bit of publicity, is that the process of evaluating other people’s attempts at philosophical work can be very instructive. One gains some critical and editorial skills that can then be turned back upon one’s own work. It also would be a bit of fun.

Any comments or thoughts about this? Anyone interested in helping out? Is anyone working on a paper, perhaps for an undergraduate conference, which could conceivably be submitted to the journal? Any ideas for a name for the journal?