Justin Solum’s talk: next week!

Justin Solum, a recent philosophy grad, will be visiting USU and presenting a lecture on “action theory” – this is where psychology hooks up with human actions we regard as morally praiseworthy or blameworthy. His talk is entitled “Deviant Causal Chains in Action Theory,” and he’s always a fun guy to talk philosophy with. It is scheduled for next Tuesday, December 6th, 3:00 p.m., in Main 227. All are welcome!

Congratulations, USU Ethics Bowl teams!

USU competed in the regional Ethics Bowl tournament last Saturday, and both of our teams did exceedingly well. It was Team B’s first appearance in a tournament, and they were strong right out of the gate. Team A narrowly missed the second-place slot. Congratulations to all the students who worked so hard, and competed so well!

Spring schedule change

CORRECTION: Turns out we’re able to switch 2200 and 4300 so that the original flyer and online postings for Spring 2017 are correct. The few students who are already enrolled will be contacted.

The flyer we’ve circulated and posted advertising the philosophy classes to be offered in the spring wrongly switches the times of two classes: PHIL 2200 (Logic) will meet T/Th 12:00-1:15, and PHIL 4300 (Epistemology) will meet T/Th 3:00-4:15. Unfortunately, this means students will have to choose between taking Justin Clark’s Virtue Ethics seminar, and taking Huenemann’s Epistemology. If you’re caught in the conflict, talk with one of the professors – they may be able to offer some helpful advice.

Movie night: “Ex Machina,” 11/15

Next Tuesday, at 7 p.m., in Main 119, we will be viewing the film Ex Machina (rated R). It’s about artificial intelligence, and the Turing test (figuring out if a machine is conscious by having a conversation with it). It’s an amazing film, with intelligence, love, trust, suspicion, betrayal, and some violence. All are welcome to see the film and join in discussion afterward!