Spring 2009

The History and Philosoph of Science Lecture Series welcomed Professor Sahotra Sarkar (Texas) on April 30th. Dr. Sarkar presented "Heredity before Genetics: The Significance of the Environment" at 2:30 in The Whitewater Room of the UI Commons.

The 12th Annual Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference on the theme "The Environment" was held on the UI/WSU campus from May 1st–3rd and brought to campus leading scholars in environmental philosophy.

Brent Knapp presented his MA thesis, "Nature, Wilderness and the Environmental Threat from Social Constructivism" on Wednesday, Aprill 22 at 4pm in TLC 147.

Justin Jeffrey (UI) will presented "Contextualism About Intrinsic Value" at the WSU-UI colloquium Friday, April 24th at 3:30 in Bryan 324(at WSU).

Brian S. Hughes, director of Social Media at the Teacher's College, Columbia University presented "Challenges on the Horizon for Scholarly Attribution: A Lesson from the Copyright Wars" on Friday, April 17th at 3:30 in Albertson 101.

Professor Lind and graduate students, Zachary Johnson and Brandon Rowley went to University of Montana for the 2nd Annual Montana-Idaho graduate Student Colloquium in Environmental Philosophy on April 18th. Click here for more details on the presentations.

Jason Johnstone-Yellin, along with Larry Forney and Eva Top of Biology, went to Casa Pueblo de Adjuntas, University of Puerto Rico on April 4th to teach a 3 day workshop on Microbial Ecology and Global Bioethics.

Michael O'Rourke (UI) presented "The Epistemology of Cross-Disciplinary Research" at the WSU-UI colloquium Friday, April 3rd at 3:30 in the Bundy Reading Room, Avery Hall (at WSU).

Matt Stichter (WSU), presented "On Virtue Epistemology" at 3:30 in TLC 22. Friday, March 27th, as part of the Spring Colloquium Series.

UI welcomed Stephen Crowley (BSU), Friday, March 6th, as part of the Spring Colloquium Series. Dr. Crowley presented "Sheep or Goat? How might we tell good philosophical intuitions" at 3:30 in Albertson 101.

UI welcomed Aaron Bunch (WSU), Friday, February 27th, as part of the Spring Colloquium Series. Dr. Bunch presented: "I Am My Body: The Relation Between Mind and Body in Kant's Account of Self-regarding Duties".

Professor Slater sat on the Evolution, Science, and Society panel discussion on February 17th at 7PM in CUE 203, as part of Darwin Week, a celebration of Darwin's 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Origin of Species, February 17th-19th.

On Thursday Feb 5, as part of the National Teach-In on global warming, Jason Johnstone-Yellin sat on a panel that responded to the question: "What Motivates Action?" He writes, "One problem we face in motivating action is overcoming the dichotomy between "them" and "us." I presented one or two strategies that I use in my CORE classroom for overcoming this problem."

 

 

Fall 2008

Professor Matthew Slater gave a talk on the classification of biological macromolecules at the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association in Pittsburgh — his paper is forthcoming in Philosophy of Science — and co-organized a well-received symposium on the interpretation of evolutionary theory with Chris Haufe.

Professor Lind recently traveled to New Zealand and Australia to present a number of invited programs and workshops for judges and lawyers.  Lind gave three one-day workshops on The Use of Formal Logic for Effective Advocacy to groups of New Zealand lawyers.  Sponsored by the New Zealand Law Society, the workshops were in Auckland (September 1, and 2) and Wellington (September 8).  On September 4-5 in Auckland, and again September 11-12 in Melbourne, Australia, Lind presented a 16-hour program titled Ethics & Obligation in Judicial Decision Making -- An Exploration through Literature, Philosophy & Caselaw.  The programs were sponsored by the New Zealand Institute for Judicial Studies and the Judicial College of Victoria.  The New Zealand Institute for Judicial Studies also invited Lind to present a two-day program on Logic & Legal Reasoning in Judicial Decision Making, September 15-16, in Auckland.  On September 17, Lind gave an invited talk, Teaching Legal Ethics through Literature and Philosophy, to the law faculty at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.

Professor Ned Hall, a philosopher of science at Harvard University offered the first Lectures in the History and Philosophy of Science.

Professor Nick Gier (Emeritus at UI) presented "Aristotle and Confucius: Comparative Virtue Ethics" on Wednesday, October 29th at 3:45 in TLC 032. For other upcoming events, check out the UI/WSU Colloquium Series for 2008–2009.

Joseph Keim Campbell of Washington State University kicked off the UI/WSU Colloquium Series for 2008–2009 with "The Free Will Crisis" on October 3rd at 3:30 PM in TLC 032.

The 47th Annual Potter Memorial Lecture and the Philip C. Holland Lecture series presented Daniel C. Dennett, Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy and Co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. Dr. Dennett deliverd the lecture, "From Animal to Person: How Cultural Evolution Builds Human Minds" on Thursday, September 11 at 7:30 in Todd Hall Auditorium 116 at Washington State University. To view the lecture, click here.

 

spring 2008

The 1st Annual Univerisity of Idaho/University of Montana Graduate Student Colloquium was held on April 19th, from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm in the Crest Room of the University of Idaho Commons. Two graduate students from Univeristy of Montana, one from University of Idaho and one from Washington State University presented papers on environmental philosophy. Check out the events page for more details.

The 11th Annual Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference (March 15–17th) brought many excellent philosophers to campus. Some photos are available here. Stay tuned for an announcement about the 12th Annual INPC!

The 46th Annual Potter Memorial Lecture was held on Tuesday, March 4th. Bernard Rollins, from Colorado State University, presented.

The UI/WSU Philosophy Colloquium for Spring 2008 opened on January 17. Andrew Light presented "Deep Moral Disagreements: From Biotechnology to Nanotechnology" on Februrary 22nd at 3:30. Check out the events page for more details and upcoming lectures.

 

Fall 2007

Joseph Keim Campbell presented "Strawson's Free Will Skepticism" on October 24th at the University of Idaho.

Matthew Slater presented "Pluto and the Platypus: Tales of an Odd Ball and an Odd Duck" in the University Interdiciplinary Colloquium on Tuesday, October 23rd.

The Philosophy Department sent several people to the 59th annual Northwest Philosophy Conference (October 5–6), at Lewis & Clark College. Stacey Barron presented a paper entitled "Confucious and the Cultivated Self as Art Object" and Tony Pierce presented "Time & Responsibility". Professor Matthew Slater presented "Modes of Macromolecular Classification".

Michael W. Myers of Washington State University gave the first colloquium talk of the semester on September 12th at 3:45 PM (Morrill 302). This was followed by a Faculty and Graduate Student Mixer at Patty's Mexican Kitchen.

The Philosophy Department welcomes Dr. Joseph Cannon (Ph.D., Northwestern) as a visiting assistant professor. Professor Cannon's research and teaching centers on Kant, Aesthetics, and the History of Philosophy.

 

April 2007

Ryan Lewis presented "Memory: A Bergsonian Perspective" for the GSPC on Thursday, April 26th.


Achille Varzi

Eminent Philosopher Hubert Dreyfus (University of California, Berkeley) delivered a lecture entitled "Is Meaning Possible in Disembodied Cyberspace" this Thursday (the 19th) at 7:30PM in AgSci #106. The event was sponsored by the Department of Architecture and Interior Design with support from the Department of Philosophy.

Michael O'Rourke presented "Reference and Referring" at 3:30 on Friday, April 20th in the Bundy Reading Room (Avery Hall) at WSU as part of the WSU-UI Colloquium Series.

Michael Myers of WSU presented "A Coug Takes On the Fighting Irish: Myers on Plantinga and Van Inwagen, on Pluralism and Critical Studies Respectively" at WSU on April 13th as part of the WSU-UI Colloquium Series.

Professor Achille Varzi (Columbia) presented the 2007 Francis Seaman Lecture on Friday, April 6th — entitled, "The Perilous Bridge Between Logic and Metaphysics: Beware of the Gaps!".

Philip Blackmarr presented "Nietzsche's Bioethics: A study of Euthanasia in the U.S." as part of the GSPC on April 5th.

January–March 2007

Aaron Bunch (of WSU) gave a paper entitled "Executing the Queen: The Allegorical Kant-Critique in Schiller's Maria Stuart" at UI on March 23rd as part of the WSU-UI Colloquium Series.

Stacey Barron presented "Without Museum Glass: A Brief Metaphysics of Art as Process" as part of the GSPC on Thursday 3/22, 12:30–1:30. She will also present the paper at the end of the month at the Spring Philosophy Conference at Gonzaga University.

Basketball and Philosophy

Basketball and Philosophy is now on the shelves (with a chapter on "Playing for the Same Team Again" co-written by Matthew Slater and Achille Varzi)

Ian O'Loughlin will present a paper entitled "Describing the Unspeakable and Demonstrating the Unprovable: Wittgenstein, Gödel, and the Metamathematics that Wasn't" at the 2nd International Conference on Philosophy to be held in Athens, Greece on June 4–5, 2007. 

Jennifer Stephens presented a paper entitled "Critical Language: A Wittgensteinian Response to the Endangered Species Act’s Critical Habitat Designation" at the Uehiro Cross Currents Philosophy Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii on March 23rd.

Jamal Lyksett and Todd Trembley presented "Between the Necessity and Violence of Community: De/Construction and the Community to Come" as part of the GSPC on Thursday, March 1st; they also presented the paper at the Social Inquiry: Constructing the Political conference at Loyola University in Chicago on March 17th.

Ian O'Loughlin presented "Describing the Unspeakable and Demonstrating the Unprovable: Wittgenstein, Gödel, and the Metamathematics that Wasn't" on February 15th as part of the GSPC.

December 2006

Both Michael O'Rourke and Jason Johnstone-Yellin won awards for being Inspirational Faculty. Congratulations!

November 2006

Douglas Lind, Professor of Philosophy and Chair, delivered a two-day short course on Decision Drafting and Legal Analysis in Astana, Kazakhstan, November 16-17, 2006. Sponsored by USAID and the Kazakhstan Institute of Justice, the course was presented at the Institute of Justice building at the Kazakhstan Academy of Public Administration. Participants included nearly fifty current Kazakh judges, including justices of the Supreme Court, and several faculty and students at the Institute of Justice.

Monty Python and Philosophy

Majors and affiliates enjoyed a department potluck on November 6th before laughing their pants off in Gary Hardcastle's talk on "Philosophy and Monty Python" (transcript from earlier talk). If you missed it, you missed out. But you can still get his book, Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think.

Professor Slater gave a paper on the explanatory utility of biological taxa at the Northwest Philosophy Conference on November 5th.

Professor Emeritus Nick Gier gave a talk entitled "Was Gandhi a Tantric?" at Rice University in November, 2006.  He also learned that Asian Philosophy will publish "Hebrew and Buddhist Selves: A Constructive Postmodern Proposal" in its March, 2007 issue.  Gier co-authored the article with Johnson Petta, who is finishing is Ph.D. in psychology of religion at the University of Denver. His article "Non-Violence as a Civic Virtue: Gandhi as a Reformed Liberal," will be reprinted in The Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi for the Twenty-First Century, ed. Douglas Allen (Lexington Press, 2007).  It had originally appeared in International Journal of Hindu Studies 7 (2003), pp. 75-98.

October 2006

Dr. Chris Haufe (Center for Philosophy of Biology, Duke University) spoke critically on evolutionary psychology as part of the WSU-UI Colloquium Series on Tuesday, October 31st.

Professor Michael Nelson presented a talk entitled “Can a Commitment to Empathy and Consistency Deliver an Environmental Ethic Worth Wanting?" to the Department of Philosophy and the Spring Creek Project for Nature, Ideas, and the Written Word, Oregon State University. He has two papers out soon: “The Normative Dimension and Legal Meaning of Endangered and Recovery in the U.S. Endangered Species Act” with John Vucetich and Michael Phillips, Conservation Biology 20/5 (Oct. 2006), pp. 1383-90 and “Mountain Thinking: A Howl for Environmental Ethics,” ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, 13.1 (Winter 2006), pp. 203-07.

Michael Metzler presented "What Mary Really Discovered" at the Florida State Graduate Conference on the 28th.

Professor Slater recently presented a paper to the Duke Center for Philosophy of Biology

September 2006

Professor Nelson spoke at the WSU-UI Colloquium Series on Friday, September 28th. He also gave a talk entitled “Wildlife Conservation, Economic Growth and Development, and the Philosophy of Aldo Leopold: Appling Leopold’s Thought to Contemporary Issues" for The Wildlife Society conference, Anchorage, AK.

 

 

 

Back