Classes for Spring 2019

Here they are!

Phil Sp 2019 (1)

A couple of notes. First, we’re trying a once-a-week evening class (Philosophy and Pop Culture, PHIL 3990). The topic this time is “Documentary, Truth, and Representation”. The longer class period should allow for watching more of the films and having more time for discussion.

Second, we now have a Philosophy Capstone Seminar (PHIL 4990). This is a class you should take when you are finishing up your degree. The pre-req is 21 credits in Philosophy (7 classes) – but since this is new, I’m not sure if we’ve set the bar too high. So if you’re far along, but not that far along, and want to take the class, feel free to talk with me (Huenemann) and we’ll determine if it’s right for you.

Philosophy conference at U Utah, Friday

From our colleagues at the University of Utah:

This Friday is the annual Intermountain West [Graduate] Student Philosophy Conference! By popular demand, we’ve shortened it to just one day, and this has also allowed us to provide a more focused topic for the talks. This year, we have four graduate students presenting on the topic “Bioethics and Decision Making”. Thi Nguyen from Utah Valley University will be our keynote speaker, presenting his talk “Games, Gamification, and Value Capture”.

The student presentations will begin at 10 am in the Tanner Library, with a break at 12 for lunch. The keynote will begin at 3pm in the Tanner Library. Please see the attached program for more detailed information, including presentation titles.

Program IWSPC 18–Agenda

Writing group for grad school in philosophy

From our colleagues at the U of Utah:
To whom it may concern,
Forward to all interested (we wanted to get this up and running after fall break).
Announcing, in conjunction w/ The University of Utah Philosophy Club, the formation of an online writing sample review group for Utah undergraduates considering applying to grad school in philosophy in the near future (say, next 1-3 years).
Here’s the pitch:
Every philosophy graduate school application requires a writing sample. A writing sample is a 12-20pp. paper. It answers the request, “Can you write us a paper that shows that you have the potential to produce promising work in our program?” It is the most important part of the philosophy graduate school application. It is also the component of your application which, even if you plan to apply in just a few months, at this time you still can have a lot of influence over. Now, most people use a paper they have written for a class as the basis of their writing sample. But if you take the writing sample seriously (as you should), you could get on board right now (by the first deadline) and have workshopped a world-class paper ready for grad school applications by the beginning of December 2018, once the first wave of application deadlines arrives.
If you’re a Utah student wanting to go to grad school in philosophy, your existing pool of classmates you can peer review papers with is small. The formation of this writing sample review group is a way to basically get in touch with everyone in the state who might potentially be interested in forming an online-based peer review group. It is the 21st century: being productive on serious projects means using Google Drive, Discord, etc., so those are the platforms we’ll use. Whether you’re considering reviewing others’ papers (since you’re a few years out from applying yourself), or want help on yours…
Get involved at http://UtahWritingSampleGroup.blogspot.com, join our Discord at https://discord.gg/3nDud7V, and forward any questions to Melvin at u1171989@utah.edu
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See attached flyer. Recommended as poster or as flyer to hand out in classes
Best,

Melvin Davila Martinez
Philosophy, senior, The U
u1171989@utah.edu