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Curriculum Vitae Fall 2014

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Curriculum Vitae Fall 2014 James C. Olsen ! Georgetown University 43260 Tumbletree Terr Department of Philosophy Broadlands, VA 20148 202.687.7487 [email protected] CURRENT POSITION Researcher, Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship, Georgetown University (2013 - present) ! Adjunct Faculty, Georgetown University (2013 - present) EDUCATION !Georgetown University (2006-2013), PhD in Philosophy (September 2013) Dissertation: “Mind, Body, and World: Resolving the Dreyfus-McDowell Debate.” ! Committee: William Blattner (Chair), Mark Lance, and Mark A. Wrathall (UC Riverside) Dissertation Abstract: Hubert Dreyfus has claimed that our situated, skillful and embodied engagement with the world (skillful coping) is an intentional, personal-level phenomena that serves as a ground for conceptual activity. John McDowell has responded by claiming that skillful coping is pervasively conceptual and by dismissing the relevance of the normative phenomena to which Dreyfus calls attention. I argue that a more careful analysis of both reflective and unreflective experience reveals that possessing conceptual capacities—no less than possessing skillful, action-oriented bodies— changes the nature and content of perception. Consequently, while Dreyfus is right to insist on the relevance of our skillful and unreflective bodily practices, he misunderstands the relationship between coping and language specifically, and hence between coping and conceptuality more generally. This leaves him with a problematic dualism in the nature of human experience and understanding. On the other hand, while McDowell is correct to assert the pervasively conceptual nature of human experience, he lacks a phenomenologically plausible explanation of how conceptual capacities are operative even in unreflective activity, and likewise misses the intimate connection between coping, unreflective social norms, and conceptuality. In light of these arguments I provide a unique contribution to the broader debate over nonconceptual content and embodied perception, and provide a detailed phenomenology and analysis of language and ! skillful coping. George Washington University (2003-2005), M.A. in International Affairs; concentrations: Middle East; Conflict Resolution, 2005 ! Brigham Young University (2000-2003), B.A. in Philosophy Magna cum Laude AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION !Phenomenology and Philosophy of Perception AREAS OF CONCENTRATION !Environmental Ethics, Political Philosophy James C. Olsen, CV FURTHER AREAS OF TEACHING COMPETENCE ! Philosophy of Language, Existentialism PRESENTATIONS “Environmental Stewardship: A New Look at an Old Concept,” School of Foreign Service, ! Qatar; December 2012 “Charles Taylor on Closed World Structures,” Faith and Knowledge Conference, Duke ! University; February 2011 “The Embodied Mind: Phenomenology and the Modern Rationalist Paradigm,” Brigham ! Young University; February 2010 “Words as Things that Do: Pragmatist Insights into the Nature of Language,” Brigham ! Young University; October 2008 TEACHING EXPERIENCE Courses designed and taught: Perception; Georgetown University Fall 2013 Social and Political Philosophy; Georgetown University Fall 2013 Ethics: Environmental Politics; Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service in Qatar Fall 2012, Summer 2013 Environmental Ethics; Georgetown University Spring 2015 (two sections), Spring 2014 (two sections) Global Justice; Georgetown University Fall 2014 (two sections), Spring 2014 Global Justice; Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service in Qatar Summer 2012 Introduction to Ethics; Brigham Young University Winter 2009, Winter 2010 The History of Modern Philosophy; Brigham Young University ! Fall 2009, Winter 2010 Teaching Assistant with Discussion Sections: Political and Social Thought; Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service Qatar, Spring 2012, Spring 2013 Political and Social Thought; Georgetown University, Fall 2008 Ethics/Globalization/Development; Georgetown University, Spring 2008 Intro to Philosophy: Ethics of Responsibility and Respect; Georgetown University, Fall 2007 ! Intro to Philosophy: Aristotle, Aquinas and Kant; Georgetown University, Spring 2007 James C. Olsen, CV Other Teaching Assistant Experience International Relations; Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service Qatar, Fall 2011 Intro to Philosophy: I and the Other; Georgetown University, Fall 2006 Intro to Philosophy Through Film and Literature; Brigham Young University, Spring 2002 History of Modern Philosophy; Brigham Young University, Spring 2001 & 2003, Fall 2001 ! History of Ancient Philosophy; Brigham Young University, Fall 2002 ACADEMIC AWARDS School of Foreign Service in Qatar Research Fellowship 2011-2012, 2012-2013 Political and Social Thought Teaching Fellowship 2008-2009 Engelhard Teaching Fellowship 2007 Philosophy Department Fellowship 2006-2013 ! Elliott School Merit Fellowship 2003-2005 GRADUATE COURSEWORK IN PHILOSOPHY: Ethics Proseminar (Mark Murphy) A Social Pragmatist Approach to the Philosophy of Language (Mark Lance) Contemporary Political Philosophy (Judith Lichtenberg) Middle Heidegger (William Blattner) Environmental Ethics (audit – Virginia Ashby Sharpe) Hegel: Phenomenology of Spirit (Terry Pinkard) Epistemology Proseminar (Mark Lance) Topics in Pragmatist Epistemology (William Blattner) Existentialism (Frank Ambrosio) Topics in Philosophical Logic (Steven Kuhn) Greek Political Thought (Gerald Mara) Political Theory (Patrick Deneen) Metaphysics Proseminar (Alex Pruss) Philosophy of Language: Indexical Meaning of Thought (Wayne Davis) Heidegger: Being and Time (William Blattner) Symbolic Logic (Steven Kuhn) Theory of International Relations (Elliot Posner) ! Michel Foucault’s Political Thought (Elliot Posner) *Participant in the Phenomenology Reading Group, University of California San Diego ! Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 LANGUAGES STUDIED: French: High intermediate Hebrew: Intermediate ! Arabic: Low intermediate RELEVANT WORK: James C. Olsen, CV Assisted in editing Challenging Moral Particularism Eds. Matjaz Potrc, Vojko Strahovnik and Mark Lance Assisted in editing Religion After Metaphysics Ed. Mark A. Wrathall Program Analyst, U.S. Department of State, 3.5 years Included Presidential Advance trips to Latvia and Panama Executive Assistant, Washington Workshops, 1 year ! Held workshops on U.S. government for students from all over the world !REFERENCES: William Blattner Department of Philosophy Georgetown University [email protected] !202.687.4528 Marc Lance Department of Philosophy Georgetown University [email protected] !202.687.7487 Mark Wrathall Department of Philosophy University of California, Riverside [email protected] !951.827.1503 Karl Widerquist (teaching reference) School of Foreign Service in Qatar Georgetown University [email protected] .
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