Dr. Patrick Bondy
Epistemology, reasons, disagreement
This papers identifies three related kinds of skeptical challenges to the possibility or the reality of human knowledge. These challenges all proceed by describing possible scenarios in which a powerful and deceptive entity, a philosophical demon, does its best to deceive its victims about some or all of the things that they think they know. The difficulty of ruling out the existence of this kind of deception poses a challenge to our claim to have knowledge of the world around us. What I call the "Prime Evils" are three philosophical demons that pose the most serious challenges to the possibility of knowledge. The paper describes a way to understand knowledge and justified belief that I think handles these demons well enough.
Deeply Disagreeing with Myself: Synchronic Intrapersonal Deep DisagreementDeep disagreements are normally deep-seated disagreements, that bottom out in conflicting fundamental frameworks for thinking about and acting in the world. Such disagreements are notoriously difficult to rationally resolve; and they are generally conceived as taking place between different people. This paper argues that deep disagreements with oneself are also possible; and that some resources for dealing with interpersonal deep disagreements might be applicable in the intrapersonal cases, too.
The Epistemic Norm of Inference and Non-Epistemic Reasons for BeliefSome philosophers hold that only evidence (epistemic reasons) can count as a reason for holding a belief; others hold that practical considerations (non-epistemic reasons) can also be reasons for holding beliefs. For those who hold that there are non-epistemic reasons for belief, a puzzle arises: it seems that any good reason for belief should be able to be used as a premise in an argument for that belief; but non-epistemic reasons for a belief are clearly not good premises to use in an argument for that belief. This paper addresses this challenge, defending the existence of non-epistemic reasons for belief, and proposing a different understanding of the kind of argument in which non-epistemic reasons for belief appear.
Dr. Jeffrey Hershfield
Philosophy of Sex and Love, Philosophy of Language, Analytic Philosophy
Irving Singer has defended the thesis that the "fine gold thread" of love, its sine qua non, is the bestowal of value by the lover on the beloved, even in those cases where the love itself is grounded in a positive appraisal of the beloved's attributes. He suggests that bestowal is a matter of elevating the importance of the beloved and his or her needs and interests above their appraised merit. I argue that love's bestowal is principally effected through speech acts of the kind that John Searle refers to as _Status Function Declarations_, the very same linguistic mechanism by which, according to him, all of social or institutional reality is created. On this picture, the roles of lover and beloved are shown to be status functions constituted by a deontology that delineates the partiality of the former towards the latter.
Much of our teaching and scholarship engages with non-Western philosophical topics and perspectives, including Asian, indigenous, LatinX, and African philosophy and global issues.
Dr. Xiufen Lu
Chinese Philosophy, political philosophy, philosophy of religion
Research into the history, theoretical foundations, normativity, and methods in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM) is one of our great strengths as a department. Here is a very brief sketch of what we do.
Dr. Susan G Sterrett
History and Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of AI, Models & Analogies in Science
Dr. Brian Hepburn
Engineering Ethics, The History and Philosophy of the Physical Sciences in the 20th
Century, Early Modern Philosophy
Dr. Susan VH Castro
Philosophy of Medicine, Cyberethics and Ethics of AI, Humor
The Department of Philosophy takes seriously its mission to be an educational and
cultural driver for the community at large. Here are a few highlights.
Ethics and Epistemology for Professionals
The Department of Philosophy provides a bridge between academic and professional ethics
and the real world of employment. With a special emphasis on real-world situations,
our course offerings cover essential frameworks for professionals who must make difficult
decisions with ethical implications over the courses of their careers.
Selected CME and other Continuing Education
Lifelong learning classes for seniors 65+
For our students, the Philosophy Department currently offers four stackable concentrations that help students develop high demand skill sets.