2002 - 2003

September

Philosophy Talks

Sep. 27th, '02 at 4:30pm in Humanities 213
Joel Smith, Skidmore College
Comparing European Existentialism and Japanese Buddhism: Human Insufficiency in Shinran and Kierkegaard

October

Philosophy Talks

Oct. 1st, '02 at 12:00pm in Humanities Lounge
Herman Paul, University of Groningen, Netherlands
The Humanistic Background of Hayden White's Philosophy of History

Oct. 4th, '02 at 4:30pm in Humanities 213
Laura Weed, College of St. Rose
Quine and Chinese Philosophy: Relativity, Indeterminacy, Anti-essentialism

Oct. 11th, '02 at 4:30pm in Olin 115
Richard Sorabji, University of Oxford
Personal Identity: Antiquity, the Lockean Revolution, and Parfit

Oct. 25th, '02 at 4:30pm in Humanities 117
Randall Curren, University of Rochester
The Structure of Socratic Ethics

November

Philosophy Talks

Nov. 1st, '02 at 4:30pm in Humanities 213
John Blanchard, The New School for Social Research
On Parmenides and Plato’s Socrates

Nov. 8th, '02 at 4:30pm in Old Chapel
Fred Dretske, Duke University
Change Blindness: Where Philosophy and Psychology Intersect

January

Philosophy Talks

Jan. 24th, '03 at 4:30pm in Humanities 213
Rachel Cohon, University of Albany
Hume on Promises and the Peculiar Act of the Mind

Jan. 31st, '03 at 4:30pm in Humanities 213
Roy Sorenson, Dartmouth College
Paradoxes Without Absurd Conclusions

February

Philosophy Talks

Feb. 21st, '03 at 4:30pm in Humanities 213
Daniel Nolan, Syracuse University
Fictionalist Attitudes About Fictional Matters

Feb. 28th, '03 at 4:30pm in Humanities 213
Regina Kreide, University of Frankfurt
Human Rights and Its Critics

Philosophical Café

Feb. 12th, '03 at 7:00pm in Humanities Lounge; 2nd Floor
Stanley Kaminsky
Experience & Reality

“What is truth?” (No, no, that won’t do at all—way too broad. Try again.)
“What is the nature of our experience?”
(No, still much too broad. Narrow it down again.)
“What is the nature of our immediate sensory and perceptual experience?”
(Still too broad. Focus!)
“What is the relationship between our immediate sensory and perceptual experience and reality?”
(Better, but a bit bloodless. How about,)
“How does your immediate sensory and perceptual experience connect to reality?
“Might you be in the Matrix?
“If you’re the One, are you the only one?
“Are you all alone?
“Is there an external reality?
“Is it made of matter?
“Does it matter?”

Led by
Stanley Kaminsky
B.A. in Philosophy at Union College,
Ph.D. from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor,
Professor of Philosophy at Union College, 1980-1991,
Research Fellow at Brown University,
Computer Programmer/Analyst in the real(?) world

March

Philosophical Café

Mar. 12th, '03 at 7:00pm in Humanities Lounge; 2nd Floor
Peter Lupu, Tufts University
Freedom & Determinism

Is there a problem about free will? I suggest that there are two. First, the problem of free will vs. physical determinism: On the one hand, free will is presupposed by our very conception of ourselves and of human society at large, by our notion of moral agency, by social institutions such as our legal system, and by the character of our interpersonal relations. On the other hand, our conception of the physical world is that all objects are subsumed under physical law and, hence, that the behavior of physical objects is a function of laws and initial conditions. Can we reconcile these two conceptions in our own case? The second problem about free will is that of free will vs. psychological determinism: Can we freely choose psychological attitudes such as belief, desire, wants, hopes etc., or deliberately go against principles of rationality, such as logic, epistemic confirmation, decision theory etc.? If we accept a psychological model of explaining action, then it appears that we accept psychological determinism and, hence, are not free. Can we reconcile this with our being free?

April

Philosophical Café

Apr. 9th, '03 at 7:00pm in Humanities Lounge; 2nd Floor
Robert Baker, Professor of Philosophy & Director of the Bioethics Center, Union College
Everything You Always Wanted to Ask About Bioethics but Never Had the Chance To

Assisted Suicide, Cloning, Euthanasia, Genetic Engineering, Stem Cells, Xenografts

Why did they name the first cloned sheep "Dolly"?

How come the doctors at Duke cannot spell?

How come I can get my bank balance from an ATM anywhere in the world, but my doctor cannot get the records of my operation from the hospital?

Special Events

Apr. 30th, '03 - May 2nd at 12:00am
Spencer-Leavitt Lecture Series: East/West Perspectives on Consciousness

More details here

May

Philosophy Talks

May. 28th, '03 at 12:15pm in Humanities Lounge
Chalmers Clark, Institute for Ethics, American Medical Association
In Harm’s Way: Doctors’ Duty to Treat in the Era of AIDS, Bioterrorism and SARS

Philosophical Café

May. 14th, '03 at 7:00pm in Humanities Lounge; 2nd Floor
Bart Gruzalski, Directory, Pacific Center for Sustainable Living
Nonviolence and Terrorism

Current discussions of military action began with the events of 9/11.
Assuming that (i) the events of September 11th were horrific, a terrible atrocity, and are to be fully condemned, and that (ii) the goal for which we are striving is a safer world with as little violence in it as possible, we will discuss the question: Should we proceed violently or nonviolently?

"What's needed ... a unified, unifying Pearl Harbor soul of purple American fury—a ruthless indignation that doesn't leak away in a week or two... A policy of focused brutality."
—Time Magazine columnist Lance Morrow, hours after the attacks of 9/11

"Throughout the globe the United States is becoming associated with the unjustified use of force. The president's disregard for views in other nations, borne out by his neglect of public diplomacy, is giving birth to an anti-American century."
— Senior Foreign Service Member John Brown, in his letter of resignation to Secretary of State Colin Powell, March 19, 2003