USUPhilosophy

Are you interested in joining Phi Sigma Tau, the national honor society in philosophy? To do so you must have taken three classes in philosophy (or be completing them now), and have a “B” average in them. If you are interested, please send a note expressing your interest to me (charlie.huenemann@usu.edu), making sure to include the word “vertiginous”. Please let me know by Monday, April 1.

Joining costs $25, which is sent to the national office. You get a certificate. We will have an amusing dinner and initiation ceremony at the end of April.

We want to congratulate the following students for their superlative achievements, recognized at yesterday’s annual Chass Awards Ceremony: (pictured left-to-right) Miranda Judson (Philosophy & English), Interdisciplinary Student of the Year; Zack Zito (Physics, Math, & Philosophy), Undergraduate Scholar of the Year; Jack Leonard (Philosophy & Computer Science), USU Philosophy Club President and Philosophy Student of the Year; and Preston Waddoups (English & Philosophy), CHaSS Valedictorian!
#USUPhilosophyProud

We are happy to welcome Dr. Michael Otteson as our newest Assistant Professor of Philosophy! Dr. Otteson is a specialist in ancient philosophy, but he also has a broad reach across many areas of philosophy. Those of you who have been his students know his dedication, his focus, and his concern for students to learn important skills and content. We are happy to be improved by adding him to our faculty!

From President Jack –

First, tomorrow [THAT MEANS TODAY, WEDNESDAY] we will be meeting at Old Main 201 from 4:30 PM-5:30 PM for an informal discussion! The topic will be Artificial Intelligence. We will discuss the question: What can’t computers do?

To start the discussion and to gauge people’s intuitions, I will give everyone some time to create a two column list: the first column, a list of everything they think they know computers can’t do, the second, a list of some of the most surprising or profound things they think computers have done. Then we’ll compare lists, see if there are any discrepancies, and discuss from there.

Here are some short resources (a very short article and a 8 min YouTube video) that help explain what a few philosophers have thought computers can’t do.

https://1000wordphilosophy.com/2014/03/03/intentionality/

https://youtu.be/B6Oigy1i3W4?si=w8yI8Pv6Q-wKlIHn

Second, our first meeting after spring break will be a panel discussion about philosophy as the best second major. The panel will consist of current students who are double majors. If you are a double philosophy major and are interested in being on the panel please email me. If you have had an experience where studying philosophy has helped you understand or care about your other classes, we’d love to hear from you!