17th annual Pacific University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference
April 19-20, 2013
Schedule Overview:
Friday, April 19 (Registration and banquet in the UCC church next to Pacific's campus, on the corner of College Way and 21st Avenue)
- 4:00-6:00pm Registration
- 6:00-7:30pm Conference banquet
Saturday, April 20 (Registration and all student paper sessions in Marsh Hall; meals are in the UCC church)
- 7:00-8:00am Breakfast (UCC church)
- 8:00-9:00am Registration (Marsh Hall, second floor lobby)
- 8:00-9:30am Paper Session #1
- 9:45-11:15am Paper Session #2
- 11:30am-1:00pm Keynote presentation by Peter Kivy (Rutgers University) "Facts from Fictions"
- 1:00-2:00pm Lunch (UCC church)
- 2:00-4:15pm Paper Session #3
- 4:30-6:45pm Paper Session #4
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Full schedule
8:00-9:30 Paper Session #1
WITTGENSTEIN'S TRACTATUS (Marsh LL21)
Sabina Bremner (University of Chicago), "The Underlying Tension of the Tractatus"
Tyler Lutz (University of Chicago), "Skirting the Singularity: Metalinguistic Regresses in the Tractatus"
Chair: Sanjeev Verma (Reed College)
LITERATURE/WRITING (Marsh LL5)
Ben Brewer (Pacific University), "Unsaying Non-Knowledge"
Chair: Max Henkel (Carlton College)
HAPPINESS (Marsh 101)
Nathan Klatt (University of Nebraska at Kearney), "Vocation and the Individual"
Chair: Stephen Marrone (University of Chicago)
INFORMED CONSENT (Marsh 106)
Andrew Molas (University of Toronto), "Discussing the Issue of Informed Consent in Relation to Surrogacy Contracts"
Christine Skrzat (St. Michael's College), "Autonomy Issues Among Elderly Patients: The Authenticity of Informed Consent"
Chair: Megan Ujakovich-Gomez (Pacific University)
SYDNEY SHOEMAKER (Marsh 201)
Sophie Dandelet (University of California, Berkeley), "The Zombie Lives: Why Shoemaker's Argument Against the Possibility of Philosophical Zombies Isn't Cogent"
Michael Pratt (Grand Valley State University), "Redefining the Class of Qualitative States: A Reply to Shoemaker"
Chair: Kayla Ritchie (University of Washington)
BERKELEY/HUME (Marsh 206)
Jordan Rowley (Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo), "A Rehabilitation of Berkeley's Criticism of the Calculus"
Matthew Elkin (Knox College), "Hume's New Philosophy of Man"
Chair: Gourav Krishna Nandi (Montana State University)
INDIAN PHILOSOPHY (Marsh 207)
Brice Ezell (George Fox University), "Only Utter Darkness Can Be Likened to Light: A Comparative Analysis of Deathspell Omega's Metaphysical Satanism and the Cārvāka Darśana"
Luke Petach (George Fox University), "The Vedic Order: A Foucauldian Framework of Interpretation for Indian Philosophy"
Chair: Sterling Hall (University of Nevado, Reno)
RELIGION & SOCIETY (Marsh 212)
Matthew Hernandez (Portland State University), "On the Influence of Custom: An Explanation for Religious Belief"
Gerard Land (Youngstown State University), "Resistence Is Futile"
Chair: Fabio Lampert (St. Benedict's College)
EXPLANATION (Marsh 213)
Aaron Salomon (Reed College), "Where Is the Limit to Abduction's Explanatory Power?"
Chair: Nicholas Havrilla (Portland State University)
FUNCTIONALISM (Marsh 214)
Yolanda Walker (Humboldt State University), "Machine Functionalism: Brains as Computing Machines"
Chair: Joseph Alzagatiti (University of California, Los Angeles)
9:45-11:15 Paper Session #2
HEIDEGGER (Marsh LL21)
Anthony Cilluffo (University of South Florida), "Self and Society: The Importance of Others to Us"
Stephen Marrone (University of Chicago), "Losing the Forest for the Trees: The Parallel Aims of Heidegger and Ordinary Language Philosophy"
Chair: Joel Morrow (Pacific University)
ARISTOTLE (Marsh LL5)
Max Henkel (Carleton College), "Aristotle and the Search for Propositional Truth Claims in Literature"
Chair: Gerard Land (Youngstown State University)
FOUR-DIMENSIONALISM (Marsh 101)
Aaron Arinder (University of Missouri), "Possible Problems with Four-Dimensionalism and a Possible Solution"
Charles Reinhardt (University of St. Thomas), "Aristotle, Augustine, and Four-Dimensionalism: A View of Time"
Chair: Reyes Espinoza (University of Texas at El Paso)
ENVIRONMENTAL PHILOSOPHY (Marsh 106)
Lucas Aguirre (University of San Francisco), "Bergson's Environment: Towards an Ecological Understanding"
Chelsea Richardson (Marist College), "A Critique of Modern Agriculture and Its Effects on Personhood"
Chair: Colton Markham (Pacific University)
RELIGION/SOCIAL-POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (Marsh 201)
Fabio Lampert (St. Benedict's College), "Can We Believe Without Sufficient Evidence? The James/Clifford Quarrel and the Response of Alvin Plantinga"
Kevin Thurston (Georgia State University), "Money, Market, and State: Dichotomizing Forums for Private and Political Speech"
Chair: Matthew Hernandez (Portland State University)
PHILOSOPHY OF TIME (Marsh 206)
Thomas Hall (Western Washington University), "The Nowhere Argument"
Chair: Dzintra Ullis (Portland State University)
EMBODIMENT (Marsh 207)
Katharine Henshaw (University of California, Riverside), "Embodied Art: A Merleau-Pontian Improvisation of Being in Theatre" (Honorable Mention Paper)
Jennifer Kaufman (Knox College), "The Body in Phaedo and Thus Spoke Zarathustra"
Chair: Eric Chunn (Portland State University)
ONTOLOGY (Marsh 212)
Jordan Ueberroth (Michigan State University), "Possible Parthood and Modal-Mereological Composition" (Best Paper)
Chair: Brendan Dwyer (Willamette University)
NEWTON/DARWIN (Marsh 213)
Joseph Alzagatiti (University of California, Los Angeles), "Darwin's Rough Cup of Tea: The Problematic Metaphysical Assumptions in the Marcroevolutionary Paradigm"
Chair: Tim Hastie (Pacific University)
RELIGION (Marsh 214)
Thien-Tin Le (California State University, Bakersfield), "Pascal's Wager and Pragmatic Agnosticism"
Vincent Calabrese (McGill University), "Blake's Aesthetic Theology"
Chair: Hillary Uldricks (Grand Valley State University)
11:30-1:00 Keynote Presentation
Peter Kivy (Rutgers University), "Facts from Fictions"
1:00-2:00 Lunch
2:00-4:15 Paper Session #3
BEAUVOIR (Marsh LL21)
Brendan Dwyer (Willamette University), "The Pursuit of Power: Transcendence and Oppression"
Hillary Uldricks (Grand Valley State University), "Beauvoir Contra Sartre: Inter-Subjective Existentialist Ethics as a Critique to Hyper-Individuality"
Chair: Sabina Bremner (University of Chicago)
KANT (Marsh LL5)
Gilbert Enenajor (Trent University), "Kant's Implicit Suggestion of the Negative Formulation of Duty"
Edward Joseph Ershbock (Portland State University), "Unique Historical Entities: The Ethics of Extinction in Code and Essence"
Allison Ross (University of Washington), "Contemplating Kant's Ethical Conundrum: An Intersectional Approach to Autonomous Moral Decision-Making"
Chair: Mark McGinn (Webster University)
SOCIAL/POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY(Marsh 101)
Paul Baran (University of Tampa), "Defense of Rawls: Response to Brock"
James Dunn (Western Washington University), "The Loss of Liberty"
Amena Mansoor (University of San Francisco), "Restorative Justice Is a Form of Rehabilitative Justice"
Chair: Richard Van Barriger (Portland State University)
PHILOSOPHY OF MIND (Marsh 106)
Jay Winn (Portland State University), "Memory as Motion: A Perceptual Account of Memory"
David Gilstrap (Humboldt State University), "Philosophy of Mind: (Psycho-)Functionalism"
Chair: Jamale Nagi (Portland State University)
NIETZSCHE (Marsh 201)
Zachary Gittrich (DePaul University), "Nietzsche's Down Going"
Andrej Markovčič (University of Washington), "A Reconciliation of Nietzsche's Call to Action and Rejection of the Will"
Melissa Sagendorph (Salem State University), "The Absence and Becoming of God"
Chair: Aaron Leonardi (Humboldt State University)
GENDER (Marsh 206)
Mary Beall (Carroll College), "An Examination of Freedom and Gender"
Calvin Nixon II (Marquette University), "Judith Butler: Living Gender Authentically in Ambiguity and Freedom"
Zachariah Dozier (Central Washington University), "A Transgender Past: The Right to Personal and Perceived Gender Identity"
Chair: Robert Moser (Central Washington University)
EPISTEMOLOGY (Marsh 207)
Kyle Beloin (Northern Arizona University), "Contextualism: The Relative Truth Behind Everyday Knowledge"
Gregory Blakemore (Portland State University), "Re-examining Enactivism"
Aaron Flaster (Lewis & Clark College), "The Problem of the Criterion and Sosa's Virtue Epistemology" (Honorable Mention Paper)
Chair: Zachary Murphy (University of Michigan-Flint)
WITTGENSTEIN (Marsh 212)
Laurent Goyette-Levac (McGill University), "Wittgenstein between Scylla and Charybdis"
Spencer Kingman Graham (Knox College), "Philosophical Investigations as Aphoristic Rhizome: A Wittgensteinian Way of Life"
Christina Strynatka (York University), "Penelope Maddy's Second Philosophy: Another Interpretation of Logical Truth"
Chair: Sebastian Orlander (Miami University)
SOCIAL/POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (Marsh 213)
Travis Dandy (University of Oregon), "Distribution, Oppression, and Empowerment in Relation to the Suicide Crisis in the Global South"
Stephen Clarke (University of Guelph), "The Panopticon of the Public Protest: Technology and Surveillance"
Greg Yanke (Arizona State University), "Paying for Past Sins: Climate Change and Compensatory Justice"
Chair: Numair Khaled (Humboldt State University)
BIOETHICS (Marsh 214)
Rachel Siden (University of Massachusetts), "When Is a Suicide Good?"
Sanjeev Verma (Reed College), "Agency: Killing and Letting Die"
Chair: Christine Skrzat (St. Michael's College)
4:30-6:45 Paper Session #4
THE SELF (Marsh LL21)
Phil Desrosiers (Carleton University), "On the Authentication of the Self"
Olga Saniukovich (University of South Florida), "Romanticism vs. Kierkegaard's Rotation Method: Which Is the Better Method to Self-Discovery?"
Michael Cantwell (Vancouver Island University), "The Deceptive Paradox: Self-Deception"
Chair: Ashlee Godwin (Central Washington University)
ONTOLOGY (Marsh LL5)
Sam Gomes (Humboldt State University), "It's All In Your Head"
Christopher Pillsbury (Humboldt State University), "The Problem of Non-Being"
John Budding (Knox College), "Speaking the Truth about Sherlock Holmes"
Chair: Aaron Salomon (Reed College)
PHILOSOPHY OF MIND (Marsh 101)
Sterling Hall (University of Nevada, Reno), "The Immateriality of Consciousness and the Immanence of Thought: How Emergence Forces Us to Rethink Metaphysics"
Vladimir Chlouba (Coonecticut College), "On the Inevitable Internalization of the External in the Process of Metaphysical Inquiry"
Chair: Michael Trujillo (Oregon State University)
METAPHYSICS (Marsh 106)
Michelle Bonapace-Potvin (University of North Dakota), "Is History Real?"
Zachary Garrett (Willamette University), "An Explanation of Complete Colocation of Indiscernibles"
Chair: Thomas Hall (Western Washington University)
SCIENCE/SCHEMES (Marsh 201)
Nicholas Havrilla (Portland State University), "Novel Predictions: From Empiricism to Unificationism"
Philip Yaure (University of Chicago), "Evolutionary Ethics and the Moral Skeptic"
Chair: Maxwell Davis (Central Washington University)
PRAGMATISM (Marsh 206)
Mark McGinn (Webster University), "Instrumentalism and Poetic Thinking: A Critique of Dewey's Logic of Thought"
Richard Van Barriger (Portland State University), "Idealism and Pragmatism: 'Transcending Validity Claims' in Habermas's Democratic Society"
Chair: Casey Tran (Humboldt State University)
SOCIAL/POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (Marsh 207)
Ric Heise (Alma College), "A Critical Reflection on the Federal Scheduling of Cannabis: The Madness about Reefer"
Zachary Murphy (University of Michigan-Flint), "Education: An Additional Role of the State in Abating Poverty within Hegel's Philosophy of Right"
Jason Scherer (McMaster University), "Circumstantial Violence and The Other: An Application of J.P. Sartre's Other in Social Violence"
Chair: Travis Dandy (University of Oregon)
CONSCIENCE/ETHICS (Marsh 212)
Carly Havener (University of Nebraska at Kearney), "The Truly Extraordinary Man: An Examination of Conscience in The Fall and Crime and Punishment"
Sebastian Orlander (Miami University), "Value Theory for Virtue Ethics: Rational, Objective, and Human Criteria"
Chair: Aaron Arinder (University of Missouri)
GENDER (Marsh 213)
Neema Jyothiprakash (University of San Francisco), "Gender and Division in Primitive Society"
Aurora Laybourn-Candish (University of Oregon), "Ambiguity in Suspended Moments: The Subversive Image of Sacher Mosoch's Cruel Heroines"
Valeria Levkovskaya (University of Oregon), "The Living Mannequin: Woman into Sex Object"
Chair: Zachary Gittrich (DePaul University)
ETHICS (Marsh 214)
Abigail DeHart (Grand Valley State University), "Bernard Mandeville's Fable of the Bees: A Reappraisal"
Reyes Espinoza (University of Texas at El Paso), "Railton's Moral Properties and Sinclair's Critique of Them" (Honorable Mention Paper)
Donny Ha (California State University, Fullerton), "Emotion, Empathy, and the Question of Moral Motivation"
Chair: Aaron Flaster (Lewis & Clark College)