Recent Philosophy Events at WSU
2021
Perspectives: Reestablishing Reality
Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Spring Lecture Series
Dr. Susan G. Sterrett
Curtis D. Gridley Distinguished Professor of History and Philosophy of Science, Wichita State University
"Science and Bias" (Wednesday, May 11, 2021)
Distinguished Speaker Series
Dr. Kathryn Tabb
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Bard College
"Reasoning with the Mad: On Charles Darwin's Strange Debt to John Locke” (Thursday, April 22, 3:30 PM)
"John Locke on Persons and Punishment” (Thursday, April 29, 3:30 PM)
2020
What Equations Don’t Say
Online Workshop July 30, 2020 (password: Equations)
Dr. Lydia Patton
Professor of Philosophy and Affiliate in the Department of Science, Technology, and Society, Viginia Tech
"Fishbones, Wheels, Eyes, and Butterflies: A Heuristic Account of Models and Simulations”
Dr. Colin McLarty
Truman P Handy Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Mathematics, Case Western Reserve University
"Fluid Motion for Philosophers of Mathematics"
Dr. Erik Curiel
Assistant Professor, Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy; Senior Research Fellow, Black Hole Initiative, Harvard University; Research Fellow, Smithsonian Astrophysical Laboratory
“What To Do When You Can’t Solve Equations”
Dr. Susan G. Sterrett
Curtis D Gridley Professor of History & Philosophy of Science, Wichita State University
“How Mathematics Figures Differently in Exact Solutions, Approximations, Simulations, and Experimental Physical Models“
We regret that due to COVID-19 our distinguished lectures for 2020 were cancelled.
Distinguished Lecture in the History of Philosophy
Dr. Kathryn Tabb
Assistant Professor, Bard College
Distinguished Lecture in Philosophy of Psychology
Dr. Carl Craver
Professor of Philosophy and Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis
2019
Dr. Sheri Wells-Jensen
Associate Professor of Linguistics, Bowling Green State University
“Cripping the Trip to Space: How Disabled Astronauts Will Save Space Colonization” November 14, 2019
Dr. Kelly C. Smith
Associate Professor of Philosophy & Biological Sciences, Clemsen University
"One Religion Please, Hold the God: Complexity, Natural 'Religion' and the Prospect of a Universal Ethic" November 13, 2019
WSI Space Exploration Lecture Series
November 7, 2019
Lawyer Christopher McHugh, spoke about a legal case involving Apollo lunar samples.
November 10-15, 2019
WSU hosted a major, NASA-funded interstellar research conference: The Sixth Interstellar Symposium and Interstellar Propulsion Workshop featuring cutting-edge research on advanced propulsion concepts, interdisciplinary discussions of interstellar travel, and a science fiction author panel. Visit the conference website for more information: https://tviw.us/tviw-2019/
Through November 17, 2019
WSU hosted the Lowell Nesbitt: Apollo 1969 art exhibit in the John Bardo Center. This installation was made possible by the Ulrich Museum of Art. https://www.facebook.com/events/2392342870881134/
Conference celebrating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the 60th anniversary
of NASA
October 19, 2019
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Roger D. Launius, former NASA Chief Historian
Funded by a grant from the NASA Kansas Space Grant Consortium. For more information, please contact James.Schwartz@wichita.edu.
Dr. Carl Craver
Washington University, St. Louis
Distinguished Lectures in the Philosophy of Psychology 2019
"Living with Memory: Can Individuals with Amnesia Consent?" April 18, 2019
"Gloomy Prospects and Roller Coasters: Finding Coherence in Genome Wide Association Studies of Psychiatric Disorders" April 19, 2019
Dr. Noell Birondo
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Wichita State University
"Aristotle and Aztec Human Sacrifice" April 11, 2019
February 9, 2019: The WSU Department of Philosophy hosted the
Annual Meeting of the Kansas Philosophical Society
Introduction: Susan Sterrett, Wichita State University
Welcome address: Andrew Hippisley, Dean of the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Wichita
State University
Session 1
Chair: Jim McBain, Pittsburg State University
"Fake News on Social Media: Eliminating a Uniquely Noxious Market" Megan Joanna Fritts and Frank Cabrera, Kansas State University
"On the Contractualist Case for Eating Meat" Keith Harris, University of Missouri
Session 2
Chair: Jim Schwartz, Wichita State University
"Self-Reflexive Cognitive Bias" Joshua Mugg, Park University and Muhammad Ali Khalidi, York University
"Confucian Ethics and the Challenge of Gender" Dennis Arjo, Johnson County Community College
Session 3
Chair: Patrick Bondy, Wichita State University
"Epistemic Injustice in Aristotelian Ethics" Noell Birondo, Wichita State University
"Knowing Disability Transactionally: A Pragmatist Response to Epistemic Injustice" Sarah Woolwine, University of Central Oklahoma
Keynote Address
Chair: Susan Sterrett, Wichita State University
"The Mnemonic Puzzle" Sarah Robins, University of Kansas
2018
Dr. Jacob Goodson
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Southwestern College
“First, We Laugh; Then, We Think Its Funny” October 26, 2018
Dr. Mary Domski
Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of New Mexico
Distinguished Lectures in the History of Philosophy
"Descartes on Imagination, Truth, and Knowledge" April 26, 2018
"Induction, Deduction, and Truth in Newton's Principia" April 27, 2018
2017
Dr. Robert Cummins
Professor Emeritus, University of California, Davis
Distinguished Lectures in Philosophy of Psychology 2017
"Neuroscience, Psychology, Reduction, and Functional Analysis" April 5, 2017
"Representation in Kant's Aesthetic" April 6, 2017
2016
Craig Macy, J.D.
B.A. Wichita State University, J.D. Harvard University
"Dangerous Brains: The Convergence of NeuroScience, Philosophy, and Law" September 29, 2016
2015
Dr. Jim Tabery
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, and Philosophy, University of Utah
Fall 2015
Dr. Noell Birondo
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Wichita State University
"Virtue and Prejudice: Giving and Taking Reasons" May 8, 2015
Iulia Mihai
Ph.D. Student, Ghent University
"Determinism and Continuity: Irregular Vibrations of the String" April 28, 2015
Dr. Sarah H. Woolwine (co-author Dr. Eva M. Dadlez)
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Central Oklahoma
"Gender and Moral Virtue in Kant's Critique of Judgment: The Third Critique as a Template for Identifying Femiine Deficit' April 20, 2015
Shocker Philosophy Conference
Organizer and Chair: Tyler Hiebert
Hannah Erickson, "Philosohical Elucidations in the Application of Eudaimonia"
Ben Porter, "Power and Pleasure in Locke"
Shawn Odom, "Figuring Math"
Stephen Grillot, "How Emotion Shows Us the Way and Reason Leads Us Astray"
Joseph Sellers, "Issues Involving Sexual Use"
Dr. James Schwartz
Fairmount Lecturer in Philosophy, Wichita State University
"Why Should Philosophers Care about Space Exploration?" March 11, 2015
2014
Dr. Peter Spirtes
Professor, Center for Automated Learning and Discovery, Professor of Philosophy, Carnegie Mellon University
“A Framework for Causal Discovery from Experimental and non-Experimental Data” November 13, 2014
Sponsored by the WSU Departments of Philosophy; Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; and Mathematics, Statistics, and Physics
Dr. Alison Jaggar
UC Boulder College Professor of Distinction, Philosophy and Women and Gender Studies Research Coordinator, University of Oslo Center for the Study of Mind in Nature Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Birmingham, UK
"Measuring Gendered Poverty: Methodology and Morality" October 17, 2014
Sponsored by the WSU Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Department of Philosophy, and the Center for Women’s Studies
Dr. Susan G. Sterrett
Curtis D. Gridley Distinguished Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science, Wichita State University
Curtis D. Gridley Distinguished Lecture in the History and Philosophy of Science
"The Use of Analogy in the Works of Darwin, Einstein and Turing" October 14, 2014
Dr. James Schwartz
Fairmount Lecturer in Philosophy, Wichita State University
"Unfinished Business: The Burgess-Rosen Objection to Nominalism" January 29, 2014
2013
Dr. Susan V.H. Castro
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Wichita State University
"The Metacognitive Character of Kant's Formula of Universal Law of Nature: Acting "as if" and Autonoetic Mental Time Travel" Septemer 19, 2013
Dr. Lawrence Pasternack
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Oklahoma State University
"The Many Gods Objection to Pascal’s Wager: A Decision Theoretic Response" April 11, 2013
"Kant’s Touchstone of Communicability and the Public Use of Reason" April 12, 2013
2012
31st Annual Meeting of the Kansas Philosophical Society
February 18, 2012 at Wichita State University
“Agent-Centered Epistemic Deontologism” Gregory Stoutenburg, University of Iowa
Commentator: Patrick Epley, University of Oklahoma
“Liar-Like Paradox and Metalanguage Features” Klaus Ladstaetter, Washburn University
Commentator: Tim Murphy, Fort Hays State University
“Phenomenal Information and the Ability Hypothesis” Ian Harmon, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Commentator: Dennis Arjo, Johnson County Community College