Philosophy 2009-2010
Overview
What our students share is an interest in reading and talking about philosophy, both in and out of the classroom, in the undergraduate philosophy club, in informal student-faculty lunches, at the philosophical cafes, and at departmental colloquia.
Philosophy classes are relatively small (between 10 and 25 students). Many are taught using either a seminar or a lecture-discussion format. Students can take as their first course either a Freshman Seminar (in which they discuss a different issue each week) or one of our lecture-discussion courses: Ethics, Logic and Critical Thinking, or Art, Media and Society.
Alternatively, the department offers a three-term sequence of courses that surveys the history of Western philosophy from the Pre-Socratics to the Post-Moderns. These courses engage students in discussions of the basic texts of the Western philosophical tradition from its origins in the ancient and medieval world, through its development as the basis of modern thought in the 16th and 17th centuries, to the Enlightenment in the 18th century, and to Romanticism and Post-Modernism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Historical introductions to American and to Asian philosophy are also offered.
First-year students might want to consider taking Phl 120, Professor Martin’s small, discussion-oriented first-year seminar in philosophy. Another choice would be Phl 105, Professor Wunderlich’s Moral Problems course. Either would be a good introduction to philosophy.
Students who have completed an introductory course are welcome to take more advanced courses, including those involving the philosophical studies of art, biomedical ethics, education, the environment, language, law, medicine, mind, politics, religion, and science. Intermediate and advanced courses and seminars are regularly offered in the history of various eras and movements in Eastern and Western Philosophy — including analytic philosophy, existentialism, phenomenology, and post-modernism. Advanced courses and seminars are also offered in epistemology, ethical theory, logic, and metaphysics.
The Philosophy Department offers a minor (five courses), an interdisciplinary major (seven courses), and a major (11 courses). All majors and interdepartmental majors participate in the seminar on new directions in philosophy, which develops their skills in researching and writing philosophy and prepares them to participate in departmental colloquia. Every year several majors and interdepartmental majors present papers at Union’s Steinmetz Symposium and at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. All students are encouraged to contribute to the independent and student-run philosophy journal, Ephemeris. The department also sends a team to compete in the Ethics Bowl, a national competition focused on moral issues.
Philosophy is not only intrinsically interesting and important, but practical too. Nationwide studies show that majors do exceptionally well on the GRE, the LSAT, and the GMAT. On the GRE, philosophy majors tend to have the highest mean verbal score of students in all majors. The mean LSAT for philosophy majors tends to be higher than it is for both political science and pre-law majors and is among the highest for all humanities and social science majors. Even on the GMAT, philosophy majors scored higher on recently administered tests than any type of business major (accounting, finance, management, etc.) with mean scores in first or second place if you exclude science majors, fourth or fifth if you include science majors. The study of philosophy conveys some skills that make for success.
FACULTY
Professor Robert Baker graduated with honors from C.C.N.Y., earned a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, and had a one-year postdoctoral fellowship at Albany Medical College. His areas of specialization are ethics, medical ethics, and the history of medical ethics. He has written, co-written, or co-edited more than 40 books, articles, and government reports - including Legislating Medical Ethics (with M. Strosberg) and The American Medical Ethics Revolution (with A. Caplan, L. Emanuel, and S. Latham).
Associate Professor Felmon John Davis, received his B.A. (cum laude) from Haverford College and his Ph.D. from Princeton University. His research centers on contemporary moral theory, philosophy of mind and action, metaphysics, and social theory. He is working on analytical approaches to the concepts of truth and validity in “discourse ethics” as developed by Juergen Habermas.
Professor Raymond Martin received his B.A. from Ohio State University and his Ph. D. from the University of Rochester, He is the author of numerous books and articles, including The Naturalization of the Soul (2000), Self-Concern (1998), and The Rise and Fall of Soul and Self (2006). His interests are primarily in personal identity theory and the history of ideas. He has a secondary interest in philosophy of religion.
Professor Linda E. Patrik graduated cum laude from Carleton College and received her doctorate from Northwestern University. At Union for over three decades, she was involved in the early development of the Women Studies Program and the Religious Studies Program. Her earlier research focused on 20th Century Continental philosophy and the philosophy of art. Her current research is on Buddhist philosophy. Recent grants include an ASIANetwork Faculty/Student research grant to study gender in Japan and a Contemplative Mind in Society grant to develop a course on non-profit organizations involved in social justice work. She also works with Tibetan monks on preserving the Tibetan canon.
Visiting Assistant Professor Mark Wunderlich received his B.A. (magna cum laude in mathematics) from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona. His philosophical interests include ethical theory and epistemology. During 2008-09, he will coach Union’s Ethics Bowl Team, which will compete with teams from around the nation.
Visiting Assistant Professor James Walker received his B.A. from the University of Rochester and his Ph.D. from the University at Albany. A specialist in epistemology and the history of early modern and 19th-century German, his main focus of research is on Hegel’s response to the meta-critical Skepticism in The Phenomenology of Spirit.
Assistant Professor Lisa Warenski received her B.A. (cum laude) from Wellesley College, her M.A. from New York University, and her Ph.D. (with honors) from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. A former dancer and choreographer, Professor Warenski’s teaching and research interests are concentrated in epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of science. She is working on several projects in the epistemology of logic.
The department chair, Associate Professor Leo Zaibert, received his J.D. from Universidad Santa Maria in Venezuela and his Ph.D from SUNY Buffalo. His research interests are in the philosophy of law, ethics, and political philosophy. He has published widely in these areas. Above all, he is interested in our responses to wrongdoing; and among these possible responses he has focused upon punishment and forgiveness.
GUEST SPEAKERS
Under the aegis of the Spencer-Leavitt Visiting Professorship, the department regularly hosts visits by leading philosophers. Recently these speakers have included Professors Anthony Appiah (Harvard) and Laurence Thomas (Syracuse) speaking on personal, ethnic and racial identity; Professor David Gauthier (Pittsburgh) speaking on ethics and rationality; and Professor Robert Nozick (Harvard) speaking on objectivity. Other speakers in recent years have included Kristin Schrader-Frenchette and Holmes Rolston III, founders of environmental ethics; Bruce Aune (on Kant’s ethics); Arthur Danto (on the artist’s world); Jay Garfield (on cognitive science); Philip Quinn (on proofs of God’s existence); and Richard Taylor (on metaphysics and the meaning of life). In 1997, the department welcomed Professor Juergen Habermas (Frankfurt); in 1998, Professors Will Kymlicka and Jeremy Waldron; in 1999, Professor Susan Haack; in 2000, Professor Hilary Putnam; in 2001, Robert Audi; in 2002, Richard Sorabji; in 2003, Sydney Shoemaker and Dan Garber; in 2004, Jerry Fodor and Christine Korsgaard; in 2005, Galen Strawson; and in 2007, Susan Haack.
DEPARTMENT WEB SITE
For more information on the Department of Philosophy’s programs and activities, visit the Departmental website.