Thursday, March 27

6:00-8:00pm:

Welcome Pizza Party

Philosophy Department (Smith Hall 501 & 525)

Friday, March 29

8:30am

Continental Breakfast (Moran Lounge)

9:00am

Welcome

Prof. Karsten Stueber, Chair, Department of Philosophy
Prof. Margaret Freije, Vice-President of Academic Affairs
and Dean of the College

9:15am - 10:45am

Divinity & Morality

Chair: Professor Andrea Borghini
Kalina Yingnan Deng (Wellesley College) “Fundamentally Moral: A Philosophical Defense of Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr. and Morgan v. Hennigan”--9:15 am
David Birkdale (Fordham University) “Synderesis and Anamnesis: Synthesizing Aquinas and Newman on Conscience”--9:45am
Ben Markley (Boston College )"Comparing Ontological Commitments in Ideal Observer and Divine Command Metaethics"--10:15am

10:45am

Coffee Break (Moran Lounge)

11:15am-12:15pm

Discussing the Rationality of Religious Belief

Chair: Professor John Manoussakis
Andrew Rogers (Kansas State University) “The Incoherence of Divine Probabilistic Foreknowledge” --11:15am
Sean McCormick (Cleveland State University) “Knowledge of the Divine: Arguments For and Against Reliability of Religious Experience”--11:45am

12:30-2:00pm

Lunch

2:00pm – 3:00pm

Mind, Perception & Knowledge

Chair: Professor Lawrence Cahoone
Seth Schimmel (University of Pennsylvania) “Roy Wood Sellar’s Critical Direct Realism” –2:00 pm
Matthew Bailey (Northwestern Missouri State University) “Neural Niceties: A Critique of Non-Reductive Physicalism as a Solution to the Mind/Body Problem”--2:30 pm

3:00-4:00pm

Art, Morality & The Social Sphere

Chair: Professor Carolyn Richardson
Kenneth Alba (Southern Connecticut State University) “Thaw the Frozen River: Nietzsche’s Return to the Greeks”-- 3:00pm
Eric Marturano (Boston College) “Inauthenticity in the Panopticon of Social Media"--3:30pm

4:00pm

Coffee Break (Moran Lounge)

5:00pm

Keynote Address

Owen Flanagan

(James B. Duke Professor, Duke University)

“Variety of Moral Possibility”

Abstract: Socrates's question is "How ought one to live?" Or perhaps it is a question about how "I" or "we," and not just "anyone" ought to live. Contemporary people have resources from anthropology and cross-cultural philosophy that can help us explore the space of human possibilities, think about radically different ways of living, and thus about how "one," "I, or "we" ought to live. Some say that philosophy is supposed to provide universals and that paying attention to anthropology and cross-cultural philosophy is to court relativism, to undermine confidence, and all sorts of other naughty things. I make a case for cross-cultural philosophy and discuss whether and how it might make us more humble and tolerant, as well as provide rich resources for moral reflection and deep social critique.

6:30pm

Conference Dinner

Saturday, March 29

9:00am

Continental Breakfast (Moran Lounge)

9:30 – 11:00 am

Philosophy, Cosmology & The Arts

Chair: Professor Kendy Hess
Michael Lodato (College of the Holy Cross)
“Philosophy, Cosmology and the Universe from Nothing”- - 9:30am
Themal Ellawala (Clark University)
“Theater and Ethics: Descriptive and Prescriptive”--10:00am
Carla Rodriguez (Autonomous University of Madrid/Skidmore College)
“Understanding Emotions: A Musical Approach” --10:30am

11:00-11:30am

Coffee Break (Moran Lounge)

11:30-12:30

Vernunft!

Chair: Professor Joseph Lawrence
Gabrielle McNamara (Sacred Heart University) “The Role of A Philosopher” --11:30pm
Tim Nowak (College of the Holy Cross) “What is Research?” --12:00pm

12:30-2:00pm

Lunch

End of Conference