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Philosophy Newsletter PHILOSOPHY NEWSLETTER A Newsletter Published by the Department of Philosophy The University of Oklahoma Norman, Oklahoma 73019-2006 (405) 325-6324 Number9 http://www.ou.edu/ouphil/ Summer 2003 GREETINGS FROM THE CHAIR Welcome to the latest installment of the annual newsletter of the Department of Philosophy. As you know this has been a difficult year economically for higher education. Nevertheless, the Department continues to flourish. We continued our active colloquium series (with colloquia or department meetings nearly every Friday – sounds like fun, doesn’t it?). We hosted our seventh David Ross Boyd lecture, with Bas C. van Fraassen from Princeton University as our distinguished lecturer, and the seventh annual undergraduate colloquium, with C.D.C. Reeve of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as our keynote speaker. We continued our pilot program to improve the philosophical writing skills of our undergraduate majors and we were able to offer the first of what we hope will be many graduate fellowships, which provide one year free of teaching responsibility during the course of one’s fellowship tenure. The Department awarded more than 14 B.A.’s in philosophy and ethics and religion, four M.A.’s and three Ph.D.’s. Moreover, the faculty continues to be extremely productive in their research. Over 20 articles or book chapters appeared in print in 2002, one new book by Adam Morton, and one new collection of essays by Linda Zagzebski came out this year. On the downside, we lost Chris Stephens to the University of British Columbia last fall. While we were sorry to see Chris go, we wish him well in his new digs. On the upside, as a result of Chris’ departure and some faculty leaves, we were able to attract three extremely bright and capable visiting assistant professors: Steve Ellis (Ph.D. Rutgers), Dan Farnham (Ph.D. Arizona), and Sean Allen-Hermanson (PH.D. Toronto). We are thrilled that they were able to join the department last fall. In the spring we will be hosted our eighth annual undergraduate colloquium, with William Wainwright of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee as the keynote speaker. The undergraduate submissions were excellent and we enjoyed another invigorating colloquium. We are extremely grateful for the hard work of the many undergraduate and graduate students – past and present – who have contributed to this flourishing colloquium. This coming year promises to be exciting as well. We will be welcoming the arrival of new and exciting graduate and undergraduate students, attending stimulating colloquia, and much, much more. As you can see this is an exciting time in the life of the program, and we have no intention of sitting still – whatever the economic outlook. Finally, I would like to thank all our alumni who have responded to our previous newsletters and various questionnaires. A special “thank you” goes to those of you who have contributed financially to the department. It is important, however, to hear from all of you, especially as we try continually to improve our program. The Philosophy Department has a Web site at http://www.ou.edu/ouphil Among other things, the site has an on-line form alumni can fill out to provide information about themselves. Please, let us know how you are doing! Hugh H. Benson, Chair GREETINGS FROM THE DEAN Higher education in the United States has always been built on the foundation of a liberal education. A liberal education liberates people from ignorance, prejudice and fear and gives them the ability to understand the world and the power to change it for the better. Liberal education has always been at the center of an OU education as well, exemplified by the establishment in 1892 of the College of Liberal Arts as the very first college at the University of Oklahoma. Never in the history of our country has liberal education been more important than it is today and more deserving of support from those who care about the future of our country. Events in the news remind us daily of how important it is to prepare our young people to succeed in a world where the merchants of ignorance, greed, prejudice and fear are making a strong bid for ascendancy. As we seek to combat terrorism, we also need to understand its root causes and to find ways to make common cause with people of different nationalities, religions, cultures and races around the globe who cherish freedom and peace as much as we do. To defeat those who seek to divide us on the basis of our differences, we must work even harder to develop an understanding of the commonality that exists among people from different cultures and religions. These concerns motivate several initiatives in the college. The new School of International and Area Studies is bringing together faculty and courses from a wide spectrum of disciplines to provide students with a broad understanding of global politics and culture. The new European Union Center is bringing speakers to share with our faculty and students a European perspective on the global concerns we share in common. The new Religious Studies Program, started in direct response to the events of September 11, is providing a forum for faculty and students to study the various ways in which religion has guided the development of human history and civilization and to develop an understanding of the world’s religious traditions. As we seek to rebuild our economy and overcome the shocks caused by the numerous corporate scandals we need to find a better way to provide our professionals with a moral compass and an ethical framework that places primary importance on avoiding doing harm to others. Although we will never be able to guarantee that our graduates will always do what is right, we can at least expect that they have the ability to understand the ethical issues involved in the choices they make. Education, when grounded in the liberal arts and sciences, is a powerful weapon against the evils that threaten us today. When the very things that hold our civilization together are under attack, our counterattack must be launched from a strong position of knowledge and understanding of the people and world around us that is the product of a liberal education. With your support and help, we in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oklahoma will continue to do our part to help liberate all of humankind from the shackles of ignorance and fear and make the world a place where we and future generations can live and prosper in peace and freedom. Paul B. Bell Jr., Dean, College of Arts and Sciences RELIGIOUS STUDIES PROGRAM Beginning fall 2002, OU students have been able to pursue a major or minor in religious studies. Students are flocking to it, and the program currently has just over 50 majors. This is a cooperative venture of several departments, offering more than 50 courses across the campus. Philosophy plays a central role by providing Manyul Im and Linda Zagzebski as core faculty. Tom Boyd and his wife, Barbara, returned to the university to assist in starting the program. Professor Boyd teaches two courses per semester, while pretending to be retired. NEW ARRIVALS We are delighted to welcome some messengers from the land of the forms, who may eventually remember more truths than the rest of us seem to. Dashiell T'aeryun Im-Haas arrived on December 30, greeted by Manyul Im and Beth Haas. Jack Montgomery Johnson arrived January 6, to the delight of Steve Johnson. Lily Sophia Butler made it to this realm on January 13, to the amazement (“the most amazing thing I've ever seen”) of Jesse and Julie Butler. OUR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS The following students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy or ethics and religion during the 2002 calendar year: Christopher Bahr, Jason Boyle, Brian Carrigan, Stacy Dean, Nicholas Dubriwny, Christopher Farley, Jamie Hardy, Adreanne Hoggard, Anthony McCarty, Aaron Racz, Mary Stanaszek, David Thompson, Andrew Wheatley, and Rodney Yancy. Our majors are a smart and hard-working bunch. Forty of the 52 Philosophy and Ethics and Religion majors made the Dean’s or the President’s Honor Roll in the Fall or Spring Semester, 18 of them in both semesters. Stefanie Collins was president of Amnesty International and organized vigils and protests against the death penalty. She had a summer internship in Washington with the East Timor Action Network, and also was a reader in “The Vagina Monologues” last February. Nathan Foell was an Ewing Fellow in Washington during the summer, working as an intern with Congressman Brad Carson. Nathan wrote a weekly opinion column for the OU Daily last Spring, and in the Fall he won the moot court competition at the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Legislature. Brett Gilland studied at Aberdeen in Scotland in 2002-03, and recommends the experience highly. He plans to return to Scotland to get certified to teach math and religious or ethical studies at the secondary (high) school level. He also won the Herbert and Lela Mitchell Berlin Scholarship. Akinkunle Owoso is a Carl Albert Fellow, and will continue at OU next year in the College of Medicine. Jason Seay presented a paper, “Propositional Attribution and the Artificial Self: An Alternative View of Personal Identity” at the Pacific University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference. He also gave the same paper at two other conferences. OUR GRADUATE STUDENTS Three students graduated with a Ph.D. during 2002: Brint Montgomery, Thomas “T.J.” Singleton, Jr., and Scott Stearman. Brint is now teaching at Southern Nazarene University, T.J. is teaching at Spring Hill College, and Scott has recently moved from France to be pastor at Kirkwood Baptist Church in St.
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