PHILOSOPHY 2019 Newsletter

Please join us for the 2019 Fall Welcome Reception!

Tuesday, September 24th (4:30 to 6:30pm) at Tower Inn.

Students, alumni, friends – all are welcome!

2019 Highlights

Five Philosophy MA students were accepted to Doctoral programs or Law School

this year

The sixth issue of our undergraduate journal,

Acta Cogitata, was published with new cover art created by

EMU students

The Undergraduate Conference in Philosophy

once again set a new attendance record in 2019

Keep reading for more details and other exciting news from

EMU Philosophy, our students, and our alumni!

Undergraduate Conference in Philosophy This year was the 9th year of Eastern Michigan University’s international undergraduate conference in philosophy. Undergraduate philosophers from around the globe convened for our two day conference. Featuring papers from across the philosophical landscape, the conference offered some of our newest philosophers an opportunity to showcase their skills, build on their own creative work, and learn and construct philosophical knowledge together. This year set a new record for attendance, and the conference continues to grow.

The conference is run by a faculty and student team, who work together to ensure that the conference continues to improve and offer a high quality experience for conference goers. This year’s organizers, Sarah Bruckler, Brian Bellinger, Lauren Williams, Natalie Anderson, Morgen Barroso, Ben Magee, Dr. Laura McMahon, and Dr. John Koolage, were extremely pleased to build on the work of the previous years’ teams. Dr. Kirsten Jacobson of University of Maine provided the keynote talk and an opportunity to think about our own mortality and the nature of photography. EMU students Lauren Williams, Blake Trinske, Natalie Anderson, and Vanessa Thorburn, presented their own novel work. EMU students also served as commenters on papers, facilitating discussion that offers transformative feedback to presenters; Blake Trinske, Joe Longo, Domenic Dame, Nolan Cook, Leah Higgins, Ethan Smith, and Jonah Ahuvia served in this role. EMU UCiP is thankful to all its participants!

Acta Cogitata

Our undergraduate journal, Acta Cogitata, features creative work from undergraduate students from across the globe. This year’s student editor, Áine Keefer, added some new style to the journal, including art work from EMU students! Our own Katelyn Pyles’ paper, “Confrontations with Death: A Zhuangzian Approach to Mortality,” appears in this, the sixth, edition of the journal. Read more here: https://commons.emich.edu/ac/all_issues.html

Philosophy Club Over the last year, the Philosophy Club at EMU has provided a forum for philosophical inquiry and supported student success through semi-regular, discussion-based meetings. Members met to discuss a wide range of contemporary philosophical topics relevant to their lives and research interests. Throughout the Fall semester, the Philosophy Club partnered with the University Writing Center to host targeted workshops for undergraduate students in philosophy classes. These workshops covered reading in philosophy, structuring argumentative papers, and incorporating evidence. Our final workshop covered the differences between analytical, critical, and evaluative review and provided students with an opportunity for peer review of their final paper assignments. In addition the meetings and workshops, the Philosophy Club lent its support to the annual Undergraduate Conference in Philosophy by securing additional funding from Student Government, staffing the UCiP, and hosting the annual UCiP Meet & Greet event.

Philosophy Speaker Series The Speaker Series Committee (Mike Doan (chair), Laura McMahon, Michael Scoville, and John Koolage) invited a diverse group of philosophers from across North America and – for the first time – highlighted the work of one of our advanced MA students (Eva Chrysochoou) for our 2018-19 lecture series. Talks were also given by Dr. Kristin Andrews (York), Dr. Kym Maclaren (Ryerson), Dr. Dan Lowe (Michigan), and Dr. Doan himself.

Be sure to check out the Philosophy Speaker Series page for information on upcoming talks, all of which are free and open to the public. We hope to see you at one of the 2019-2020 talks!

Scholarship and Philosophy Prize Recipients The Philosophy Prize is given annually to our most outstanding graduating senior(s).

• 2019 Recipients: Blake Trinske and Lauren Williams The George Rhodes Endowed Scholarship was created in memory of a philosophy major who passed away while he was an EMU student and is awarded annually to an outstanding philosophy major.

• 2019 Recipient: Brynn Ritchey The Sophia Endowed Scholarship was established by Professors Kate Mehuron, Jill Dieterle, and Margaret Crouch and is awarded annually to an outstanding philosophy major or minor.

• 2019 Recipient: Sam Nesbitt The Esther Walker Barnard Endowed Scholarship was established by a supporter of the Department of History & Philosophy and is awarded annually to an outstanding philosophy major.

• 2019 Recipient: Natalie Anderson The Friends of History & Philosophy Endowed Scholarship was created by faculty and friends of the department and is awarded bi-annually to an outstanding philosophy major.

• 2019 Recipient: Matthew Wheeler The Graduate Philosophy Prize is given annually to our most outstanding graduating MA student(s).

• 2019 Recipients: Sarah Bruckler and Eva Chrysochoou The Stephen G. Cassar Memorial Endowed Scholarship was created by Professor George Cassar in honor of his brother and is awarded annually to an outstanding philosophy MA student.

• 2019 Recipient: Benjamin Magee

Student Accomplishments Natalie Anderson presented “A Bayesian Justification for Movement in Pedagogic Practices” at the 2019 EMU Undergraduate Symposium. Morgen Barroso earned her MA in Philosophy and was accepted to several law schools. She has decided to attend the University of Connecticut Law School. She presented “Passion: The Catalyst for the Realization (or Lack Thereof) of Justice in Society” at the 2019 EMU Graduate Research Conference. Bradley Birkle presented “A Comparison of Scientific Pluralism and Taoist Synchronicity” at the 2019 EMU Undergraduate Symposium. Sarah Bruckler was accepted to PhD programs in philosophy at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Wisconsin Madison and has decided to attend UIUC. Her paper, “The Effect of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) on the Human Skeleton,” was accepted as a poster presentation at the 88th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA) in Cleveland, Ohio. Eva Chrysochoou was accepted to PhD programs in philosophy at Temple University, University of Guelph, Vanderbilt University, and Duquesne University. She has decided to attend Duquesne. She presented “The Authentic Self as Anticipatory Resoluteness” at the 2019 EMU Graduate Research Conference. Andrew Kesler’s paper, “Accounting for Willful Hermeneutical Ignorance” was accepted for publication in Compos Mentis: Undergraduate Journal of Cognition and Neuroethics (volume 7, issue 1). Ryan LeMasters earned his MA in Philosophy and is currently in the Comparative Religion doctoral program at Western Michigan University. Robert Scheuer presented his paper, “Dialogical Agitation: The Role of a Revolutionary Leader,” at the University of Windsor Critical Reflections Philosophy Conference. Kenneth Snavely was accepted with funding to the University of Colorado at Boulder and Washington & Lee Law Schools. He has decided to go to Washington & Lee. Carl Wauer presented a paper at the UM Flint Center for Cognition and Neuroethics Mind and Brain Conference in September 2018. He also presented “Intuition and Game AI” at the 2019 EMU Graduate Research Conference.

Lauren Williams won the Donald Drummond Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Paper from Women’s and Gender Studies for “Self-Identification: Negotiative Theory or First-Person Authority?”, which she also presented at the 2019 EMU Undergraduate Symposium. A version of this paper will be published in Acta Cogitata. Lauren also won the Distinguished Student in Jewish Studies Award. This fall, she will begin EMU’s Philosophy MA program. Aiden Zamzow was accepted to the Clinical Psychology doctoral program at Wayne State University. He received the Lloyd-Russell Prize for Outstanding Paper on Gender or Sexuality from Women’s and Gender Studies for his paper, “Is it Ever Morally Permissible to Out a Closeted Gay Person?,” which he also presented at the 2019 EMU Graduate Research Conference.

Updates from Alumni Mohammed Abouzahr writes, “Writing software in the industry is like writing a cohesive several hundred-thousand line treatise over a couple of decades with a changing group of a dozen people. Code is less than worthless if we can't understand, modify, test, and debug it. The most important skills are those I learned studying philosophy: specifying and minimizing assumptions, clarifying terms, understanding how different notions relate, and so forth. Philosophy has given me the tools I need to create great software at ITHAKA (JSTOR) used by countless students and researchers every day.” After majoring in Philosophy and getting his bachelor's degree from EMU, Eric Arbour learned to code and is now a professional web developer. He writes, “Studying philosophy helped me form a deep understanding of argument structure and logical reasoning. These abilities allow me to quickly grasp computer science concepts and have aided me in becoming a better developer.” Rachel Bentley completed an MBA from WSU in 2014. She writes, “After a logistics job a couple short term contracts, I recently acquired a job working as an analyst for a law firm. I also support development and implementation of information technology utilized for building efficiencies into their business processes. Even though it is primarily an information systems/technology development position, my ability to learn and apply this technology as well as improving processes is based in my strong background in logic and deciphering various philosophies. I really wish I had pushed harder to develop my career before going back to school for a higher degree, because I now recognize the wealth of skills I had already developed from my undergraduate education at EMU. Better late than never!”

2019 is the 25th anniversary of Dave Coverly’s syndicated cartoon panel, Speed Bump, which runs in about 400 newspapers/websites internationally, including The Washington Post, The LA Times, and The Detroit Free Press. In conjunction with the anniversary, IDW Publishing will be releasing a full color, hardcover retrospective, while Editions Caurette will be publishing four Speed Bump book collections in French for the European market beginning this September. Also, Macmillan will be publishing a collection of his cat cartoons, Cats Are People, Too, which is a follow up to the book of his dog cartoons, Dogs Are People, Too, which came out in 2017.He writes, “It should be noted that Speed Bump began as a panel in the Eastern Echo called Freen. With any luck, none of those cartoons can be found on the internet.” Maxwell Czerniawski reports that “EMU's philosophy department taught me both the 'how' and the 'why' of thinking rigorously. The 'how' has of course been indispensable in my career as an attorney. Yet the 'why' may be even more important -- it's what pushes me to assess the value of what I do and the importance of pursuing the good life.” James Keller joined the Navy about six months after graduation and went to special forces training program in the Navy called BUD/S. He writes, “it was the same spirited energy that led me to philosophy that led me to the Navy.“ While Roy Mackenzie didn’t begin his undergraduate education at Eastern Michigan University as a philosophy major, he says, “I’m very glad that I finished as one. Studying philosophy helped me grow both personally and professionally, thanks in no small part to the outstanding instruction and mentorship of the department faculty. Ethics and moral theory made me a more thoughtful and compassionate person, while critical reasoning and logic taught me how to structure cogent arguments, express my thoughts clearly, and engage in meaningful dialogue on a variety of difficult topics. As a library professional, these skills are invaluable to the work I do every day. Studying philosophy taught me how to think and inspired me to a field where I am able to help others in their pursuit of knowledge. It’s no exaggeration to say that I would not be who I am today if not for my experiences in the Philosophy program at EMU.” Kevin Mager presented the second chapter of his MA thesis, "Expression and Knowledge" at the conferenced Figuring Existence at Oxford University. His paper "Being-in-a-World" was just accepted to the Eastern APA!

EMU PHILOSOPHY ALUMNI: We always love hearing from you. Tell us what you are doing!

Send us your news and we will include it in next year’s newsletter. Send updates to Peter Higgins at phiggin1@emich.edu

Faculty News Brian Bruya was on sabbatical for the 2018-19 school year. His sabbatical project was the minor issue of challenging the reigning paradigm of attention in the cognitive sciences. He and his collaborator, Yi-yuan Tang at Texas Tech, have published two theoretical articles on the topic and began the process of conducting pilot studies to assess the best ways to empirically verify that there is such a thing as effortless attention. This past year, Brian published two articles in his series on fostering wisdom in the classroom (co-authored with Monika Ardelt). Brian also published a festschrift volume for the great sinologist and philosopher Donald Munro (co-edited with Yanming An). He published a third translation in Princeton University Press' Illustrated Library of Chinese Classics—The Way of Nature, a comic book version of the Zhuangzi!—and also a translation of a book of literary essays on the revival of traditional arts and crafts in China. He spent the sabbatical year as Visiting Scholar at Shandong University in China, where he gave a series of four presentations on the relevance of ancient Chinese concepts to contemporary cutting edge fields. He also gave a conference talk in Hong Kong on the Dialogues of Confucius. Brian missed teaching and is looking forward to getting back into the classroom, but for the coming year he will be in a classroom in Taiwan, as he will be a Fulbright Scholar at National Taiwan University. Brian continued to serve as Chair of the American Philosophical Association Committee on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies and as member of the American Philosophical Association Committee on Inclusiveness in the

Profession. He had a blast traveling to various places in China and witnessing first-hand the revival of traditional culture alongside nifty socio-technological advances, such as bullet trains and a largely cashless society.

Brian Coffey spent much of his time and energy last year searching for a house (he ended up buying a beautiful place in Ypsilanti), and teaching two classes he had never taught before (Philosophy of Law and Modern Philosophy). Both classes were a great success in our source’s humble opinion. He was also was accepted as a member of The Mellon Philosophy as a Way of Life Network and attended the group's inaugural workshop this summer. The network is sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the University of Notre Dame, and consists of philosophers from all over the world working together to create and share resources and teaching materials related to teaching philosophy as a way of life.

Jill Dieterle’s paper “Disability Nominalism” was accepted for publication in the forthcoming volume The Philosophy of Disability: New Perspectives (Rowman & Littlefield International). Her paper “Autonomous Food Choice” was accepted for presentation at the 2019 meeting of the Association for the Study of Food and Society. Jill stepped down as the Chair of the Philosophy Section effective January 2019, but she continues as the Undergraduate Advisor for the Philosophy Program. She will be on sabbatical in Fall 2019, working on a project involving food choice. Jill is serving as the mentor and advisor for Leah Higgins’ Honors Thesis. Jill and Leah have been granted an Undergraduate Research Stimulus Award for Summer 2019.

Michael Doan published “Resisting Structural Epistemic Injustice” in Feminist Philosophy Quarterly (2018)

and “For an Impure, Antiauthoritarian Ethics," in the APA Newsletter on Feminism (2018). He has several pieces forthcoming in 2019, including a chapter in the Routledge Handbook of Collective Responsibility called “Collective Inaction and Collective Epistemic Agency,” and a chapter in Geographies of Neoliberal Indifference: Environmental Racism in Flint and Beyond called “Waging Love from Detroit to Flint.” Professor Doan has been invited to give a keynote address at the Philosophy of the City Conference on October 3-5, 2019 at the University of Detroit Mercy. He will also present on two panels at the Public Philosophy Network Conference on October 17-19 at Michigan State University. Professor Doan serves as a Board Member of the James & Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, as a Coordinating Committee Member for the Detroit Independent Freedom Schools Movement (DIFS), and as a member of Detroiters Resisting Emergency Management (D-REM).

Peter Higgins became Chair of the Philosophy Section in January upon return from a glamorous year and a half as interim Department Head of Women’s and Gender Studies. He published “The Rights and Duties of Immigrants in Liberal Societies” in Philosophy Compass (November 2018) and “Three Hypotheses for Explaining the So-Called Oppression of Men” in Feminist Philosophy Quarterly (July 2019). His review of Javier Hidalgo’s Unjust Borders: Individuals and the Ethics of Immigration is forthcoming in Ethics & International Affairs. In teaching news, he offered a new course, Global Justice, Philosophy’s first cross-listed course with Political Science. Finally, Peter made this beautiful newsletter.

John Koolage, with Danielle Clevenger, published “Undergrad- uate Conferences as High Impact Practices with an Impact on Gender Parity” in Teaching Philosophy. This paper is the culmination of several

years of work and will hopefully have an impact on an expanding practice in our discipline. He also presented new work in both philosophy of science and the scholarship of teaching and learning, including “Engaging Global Climate Change via Pop-up Learning Community” (with Amy Johnson and Danielle Clevenger), “Epistemic Privilege and the Sciences,” and “Debunking the Dark Side of Academic Leadership” (with Lisa Hanasono and Leanne VandeCreek). He also served as a panel participant for a discussion of An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power at University of Toledo and a discussion of scientific and religious worldviews here at EMU. He won two grants, one from the Mid-American Conference and the other from Bringing Theory to Practice. Dr. Koolage taught philosophy of science and philosophy of the life sciences, exploring questions regarding scientific pluralism and epistemology, scientific objectivity, cognitive science and animals, and lessons from the historical sciences. Also, he was pleased to rediscover his love of dinosaurs and paleontology. Overall, he reports that it was an intellectually rewarding year. Dr. Koolage continued to serve EMU as the Director of General Education, helping to ensure that students receive a liberal arts education and meaningful bachelor’s degrees, both extremely worthwhile efforts to his mind.

Laura McMahon published two journal articles: “Freedom as (Self-)Expression: Natality and the Temporality of Action in Merleau-Ponty and Arendt” in The Southern Journal of Philosophy (2019) and “(Un)Healthy Systems: Merleau-Ponty, Dewey, and the Dynamic Equilibrium Between Self and Environment” in The Journal of Speculative Philosophy (2018). She also published a review of Don Beith’s The Birth of Sense: Generative Passivity in Merleau-Ponty’s Philosophy (Ohio UP, 2018) in Environmental Philosophy Vol. 16, no. 1 (2019) and a review of Judith Wambacq’s Thinking Between Deleuze and Merleau-Ponty (Ohio UP, 2017) in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (online 2018). Professor McMahon gave four invited talks, including one on Merleau-Ponty and Feminist Object Relations Theory as part of EMU’s Women’s and Gender Studies Speaker Series in Fall 2018, and a second on resources in Merleau-Ponty’s thought for understanding political transformation as part of Northern Arizona University’s Philosophy Department Colloquium Series in Winter 2019. She also presented a paper – drawn from the first chapter of her manuscript in progress – at the Canadian Society for Continental Philosophy in Fall 2018, entitled “On Vulnerability and Security: Syncretic Experience, Recognition, and the Intercorporeal Formation of Selfhood in Merleau-Ponty.”

In Winter 2019, Professor McMahon was on a Faculty Research Fellowship, during which time she made significant progress on her book manuscript, tentatively entitled Essential Insecurity: Identity, Freedom, and Politics in Merleau-Ponty’s Philosophy.

Kate Mehuron returned to faculty from her administrative leave the previous year. It was glorious to be teaching again and focused on philosophical writing. For the first time, she offered the graduate course Contemporary Philosophical Prac- tices, which encapsulated much of her applied research in philosophical counseling methods and also key critical issues on the topic of mental health diagnostic systems. She developed the undergraduate

interdisciplinary course Gender, World Religions and Social Justice which will be offered for the first time in Winter 2020. She eagerly anticipates teaching this course, because interdisciplinary inquiry is one of Kate’s preferred activities in teaching, comparative religion is one of her areas of competency, and social justice issues facing women in organized religions are pressing. In June, Kate presented “Neurophenomenology: what it can explain about traumatic memory” at the International Conference on Phenomenology of Medicine and Bioethics in Stockholm, Sweden. Once finished with her work in Sweden, Kate took the opportunity to tour parts of Iceland, Norway, and Denmark, taking special interest in landscapes and egalitarian cultures. In the fall, Kate presented “Memory Reconsolidation: Hope for a Terminal Analysis?” for the Center for Cognition and Neuroethics Mind and Brain Conference at the University of Michigan-Flint. She has been an academic candidate at the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute for three years, and is on schedule to receive her Certificate as an Academic Psychoanalyst within the next two years. This course of study has nourished her scholarly development in the areas of psychoanalysis and neurophenomenology. Lastly, Kate published “Dementia: displacing the philosophical and neurocognitive deficit model” in Philosophical Practice (2018) 13:2. Subsequently she has been invited to publish a revised version of this paper in the forthcoming book Living with Dementia: Neuroethical Issues in International Perspectives, under contract by Springer Nature. Her work on the neuroethics of dementia was stimulated by her care for her now-deceased father. These publications felicitously dovetail with the new EMU Critical Disability Studies Program. Kate is pleased to become an active faculty member in this new interdisciplinary program and aims to contribute her expertise and assistance to it in the immediate future.

Michael Scoville received a Faculty Research Fellowship and was on leave from teaching in winter 2019 term. During that time he focused his research on recent theorizing about value, evaluative attitudes, and the relation between values and reasons. He is currently working on an essay regarding the structure and distinctiveness of valuing as a practical attitude. The essay is part of a larger research project concerning the perspectival or agent-relative aspects of practical thought. Dr. Scoville is also engaged in a research project on the ethical aspects of climate change. Both areas of research will inform Dr. Scoville’s teaching next year, notably, his fall ethical theory course (PHIL 420W/520) and his winter environmental philosophy course (PHIL 429W/529). In addition to his research and teaching, Dr. Scoville will continue next year in his role as co-coordinator of the interdisciplinary Environmental Science and Society (ENVI) program at EMU.

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Supporting EMU Philosophy Find out how to give to our student scholarship and prize funds at the links below.

Stephen G. Cassar Memorial Endowed Scholarship in Philosophy

Sophia Philosophy Endowed Scholarship

George Rhodes Endowed Scholarship

Esther Walker Barnard Endowed History and Philosophy Scholarship

Friends of History and Philosophy Endowed Scholarship

Philosophy Prize

You can find more information about each of our scholarships here: https://www.emich.edu/historyphilosophy/philosophy/scholarships/index.php