CAS News

Philosophy

John Martin Fischer Lecture

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From UPBEAT

John Martin Fischer, distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of California at Riverside, will present a lecture,“Would You Choose to Live Forever?,” on Thursday, February 28, at 4 p.m., in Buckley Center room 163. His talk is free and open to faculty, staff, students, and the public.

Fischer serves as president of the American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, and is also project leader for The Immortality Project, an interdisciplinary research effort on various aspects of belief in immortality, backed by a $5 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

Abstract for the Lecture: “I discuss certain arguments presented by philosophers who might be described as ‘immortality curmudgeons.’ The immortality curmudgeons argue that, for various reasons, immortal life could not be appealing to any human being. I will argue that immortality, in the sense of living forever and not dying, could be choice-worthy for human beings like us. I will consider various objections put forward by the Immortality curmudgeons, and I will see how to reply on behalf of the immortality optimists.”

For more information contact Andrew Eshleman, philosophy, at 7317 or eshleman@up.edu.

Faith and Intellectual Life Discussion

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From UPBEAT

The next meeting of the Faith and Intellectual Life Discussion Group is Friday, February 8 in the Murphy Conference Room, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. The group’s reading is an excerpt from William Harmless’s book Mystics: Mystic as Multimedia Artist: Hildegard of Bingen, and is available on
electronic reserve under Karen Eifler and Norah Martin. The group will also be watching a three minute Pixar short film,“Knick Knack,” which is
available online at http://tinyurl.com/37vhl6f. As always, all are welcome and refreshments will be served.

Questions? Contact Karen Eifler, education, at eifler@up.edu.

Earth Care Summit

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Please join us on January 28, 2013, 5:30-8:45pm at St. Andrew Lutheran Church. Be inspired by speakers and each other, and enjoy a seasonal dinner with old and new friends. With the theme “Living Waters,” the Summit will explore the theoretical water issues we are facing on global, regional and local levels, and provide practical ideas on how to address the issues at home and in your congregation. Click here for more information.

Sara Doran, Philosophy Alumnus

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“During my time as a philosophy student, I encountered a department brimming with passionate, engaging, diverse, and accessible professors who shared, perhaps, only two things in common: a shameless encouragement of intellectual curiosity and a sincere dedication to their students. No question, it seemed, was insignificant, and no topic was off-limits. This couldn’t have been a more empowering or engaging environment, fostering the organic development of critical analytic skills through the formulation of questions, synthesis of arguments, personal reflection, and utilization of formal logic.

Equally significant has been the way my professors have partnered with me to help me reach my goals after graduation. Since then, I’ve found my professors eager to come to my aid as I applied to law school and needed letters of recommendation written on my behalf. This autumn I will be attending Harvard Law School, an accomplishment I owe in part to the dedicated faculty who helped facilitate my success both as an undergrad and as an alumnus; I couldn’t be more grateful for the tools they’ve given me and their unyielding support.”

Sara Doran ’11

New Hellenistic Studies Professorship

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PROFESSOR ALEX SANTANA NAMED FIRST HOLDER OF HELLENISTIC STUDIES PROFESSORSHIP

Philosophy Associate Professor Alex Santana has been named the first holder of the E. John Runmpakis professorship in Hellenic Studies.  The mission of the professorship is to promote the study of the influence of Greek culture on western civilization through programs within both the university and the wider community.  The professorship is funded with a stipend and operating expenses through the generosity of Mr. E. John Rumpakis.

Philosophy Welcome

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Philosophy plays a central role in a liberal arts education, as an integrating discipline across the curriculum. Training in philosophy develops the student’s ability to explore and critically reflect upon the most fundamental questions about human beings and society, the universe, and God. By focusing on its own history, philosophy acquaints students with the intellectual foundations of Western civilization. By enabling students to become reflective, critical and articulate about their own beliefs and values, philosophy makes an essential contribution to the education of individuals, whatever their vocational plans, and to the development of the community.

The major aims of the Department of Philosophy are:

  • To contribute to the general education of students through our place in the core curriculum.
  • To provide majors with a grounding in the history of philosophy, and a wide range of contemporary approaches and sub-disciplines, sufficient to prepare them for graduate studies.
  • To be active and successful scholars whose work, both as teachers and researchers, commands the respect of our peers.

University of Portland is a particularly good place to study philosophy. Our Philosophy Department has nine full time faculty members. That is many more philosophy professors than you will find at many comparably sized colleges and universities. A larger faculty means that we can offer students a greater diversity of philosophical areas, styles, and perspectives. We have specialists in Asian Philosophy, Latino Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy, Socio-Political Philosophy, Modern Philosophy, and many other areas and perspectives. We also have faculty representing the Anglo-American tradition, the Continental Tradition, and the American Pragmatic tradition. Our faculty members have written books and articles on David Hume, on Freud and Philosophy, on Bioethics, on feminist ethics, on Personal Identity and on Heidegger, amongst other things. We work with students on independent studies and theses in their areas of interest in addition to teaching a wide range of classes. Philosophy classes are small enough that there can be a great deal of discussion and your professors will get to know you. Additionally, there is a lot of opportunity for philosophy outside of the classroom. The Philosophy Club and our chapter of Phi Sigma Tau, the international honor society for philosophy, regularly sponsor events for students. A number of our majors have presented at least once, and some more than once, at undergraduate philosophy conferences.

Our philosophy majors who want to go on to graduate school often go to high-ranking philosophy graduate programs with full funding. Among the PhD programs to which our recent philosophy majors have gone are: University of North Carolina, Boston College, University of Toronto, Indiana University, Emory University, and Purdue University. Some philosophy students have gone on to law school, to graduate study in biology, to medical school, to graduate study in counseling, and to graduate study in psychology. Philosophy graduates are also now working for business, the non-profit sector, K-12 education, and in the political realm.

We invite you to explore our programs, and to contact us if we can answer any further questions for you.

Sincerely,

Andrew Eshleman
Chair, Philosophy Department
eshleman@up.edu

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