USUPhilosophy

Kent was the first philosopher at USU, and he retired just this past spring. A retirement party is being held for him this Wednesday, 3:30-5, in the Colony rooms at the TSC. Drop by to celebrate the career of this philosopher, who has done more for the Philosophy program at USU than any other single individual.

What if we don’t, but it’s hard to live with that fact? Read an interesting interview with Galen Strawson here. A representative quote:

No one can be ultimately deserving of praise or blame for anything. It’s not possible. This is very very hard to swallow, but that’s how it is. Ultimately, it all comes down to luck: luck—good or bad—in being born the way we are, luck—good or bad—in what then happens to shape us. We can’t be ultimately responsible for how we are in such a way as to have absolute, buck-stopping responsibility for what we do. At the same time, it seems we can’t help believing that we do have absolute buck-stopping responsibility.

The Carnival is a “web conference” (meaning, some host blog with a lot of links to philosophical postings on the web) which occurs every few weeks. The current one, found here, has some fun and interesting posts.

Not a philosophical event, but philosophers who are also interested in religious studies might consider attending the annual Leonard Arrington Mormon History Lecture.  This year:

Presenter: Kathleen Flake, professor of American religious history in the Divinity School and Graduate Department at Vanderbilt University (TN).

Title: The Emotional and Priestly Logic of Plural Marriage.

Where/When: Thurs Oct 1, 7pm, Logan Tabernacle (50 N Main St)

This just brought to my attention. Looks like the end is on 9/28. Be prepared!