2015 IN REVIEW

philosophyNORTHWESTERN

Inside Message from the Chair

Undergraduate Activities 3 The Department of has enjoyed another vibrant year. As documented in this newsletter, our faculty and students were stellar in their achievements during Lectures, Workshops, 2014–15, and the department was unstinting in its support of them. And we Conferences, and continued to offer a variety of cocurricular events open to the whole community, Other Events 6 including workshops, reading groups, conferences, and other academic activities.

Alumni News 10 We recognize student excellence each year by conferring five different undergradu- ate prizes in addition to departmental honors (see page 3). This year, 11 under- Noteworthy 12 graduates received recognition. Philosophyfest, an Faculty News 16 annual celebration of students who write senior theses in philosophy, attracted a large turnout. The Undergraduate Philosophy Society was characteristi- cally active all year long, as was the group Women into Philosophy (WiPhi). The 2014–15 Distinguished Alumni Lecture featured Jim Berra (see page 11), and we again presented the Inclusiveness Lecture and the Bussey Lecture. In addition, as the home of the Brady Program in Ethics and Civic Life, the department sponsored its annual Distinguished Visiting Professor Lecture Series, this year featuring three Department chair Sandy Goldberg lectures by Professor Helga Varden ( of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) on topics in ethics, political philosophy, and civic engagement (see page 3). We also hosted the Sawyer Seminar, a yearlong interdisciplinary seminar on social epistemol- ogy, sponsored by the Mellon Foundation; it addressed issues ranging from the nature of trust, collective knowledge, and expertise and disagreement to the prospects and pitfalls of group decision making (see page 9).

I would like to underscore the successes, both academic and professional, of our philosophy majors: they continue to deliver papers at conferences, participate in research, and pursue challenging and rewarding educational and career opportunities after graduation.

Continued on page 2 1 philosophyNORTHWESTERN Message from the Chair, continued

Department of Philosophy We continue to think of ways to improve our students’ experience in the Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg department and to enhance the inherent value of a philosophy degree. of Arts and Sciences These include • sustaining the vigor of the undergraduate philosophy major through 1860 Campus Drive department support for the Undergraduate Philosophy Society, expansion Evanston, Illinois 60208-2214 of undergraduate research opportunities, and the tradition of giving Phone 847-491-3656 philosophy department T-shirts to all majors Fax 847-491-2547 • acknowledging students for superlative philosophical work through awards and other forms of recognition Connect with Us on the Web • continuing to insist on excellence in undergraduate scholarship so that in www.philosophy.northwestern.edu Facebook and LinkedIn the eyes of prospective employers, a Northwestern BA in philosophy will Search for “Department of Philosophy, always signify the ability to assess complex issues from all sides and to Northwestern University” communicate well in speech and writing Twitter @NUPhilosophy • renewing our commitment to support each of the increasing number of our students who present at national and international venues We Want to Hear from You • providing a greater variety of both lower- and upper-division courses so Please email any personal that students can delve deeply into philosophical topics that capture their or professional updates or stories imagination about your time at Northwestern • connecting our majors to alumni and professional networks that can to [email protected] help them land on their feet after college with “newsletter item” in the • creating more opportunities for faculty and majors to interact and subject line. philosophize in informal settings

Northwestern University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action educator and employer. The continued generosity of our alumni has enabled us to make this department © 2015 Northwestern University. All rights an active, energetic, and welcoming environment. Gifts specifically earmarked reserved. Produced by University Relations. for the philosophy department are used wholly to benefit our students and pro- 7-15/PDF/RM-KP/1908-1 grams. A gift of $1,000, $500, $100, or even $25 makes a considerable difference; these contributions accumulate and can be used immediately for our students.

Thank you for your continuing friendship with the philosophy department and for your ongoing commitment to Northwestern.

Sincerely,

Sanford (Sandy) Goldberg Professor and chair

P.S. If you would like to make a gift online, please visit us at www.giving .northwestern.edu. You may also phone in a contribution to the development office at 847-467-3737.

2 Undergraduate Activities

Northwestern Undergraduate undergraduate program, housed in the Undergraduate Prizes Awarded Philosophy Society philosophy department, that aims to help This year’s undergraduate prize winners Philosophy majors and students with undergraduates become reflective, cos- were announced in June. philosophical interests met weekly at mopolitan, and resourceful democratic Anna Preston won the Herder Prize the Celtic Knot in Evanston to discuss citizens. During their sophomore year, for the best paper written by a student a wide range of topics—from aesthetics, students take seminars that ground them in an introductory philosophy course epistemology, critical theory, and in moral and political philosophy; they for “Responsibility and Duty.” Jonathan study abroad in their junior Kramer-Roach received the Brentano year; and as seniors they apply Prize for the best paper written in an what they have learned to a upper-level philosophy course for “Refer- service project in Evanston. ent Theory, or Is There a Better Solution to Professor Richard Kraut has the Paradox of Fiction?” served as Brady Program Mariam Al Askari and Jake Romm director since 2013, and Kyla shared the David Hull Prize for best senior Ebels-Duggan and Mark thesis. Al Askari’s thesis was titled “Global- Sheldon serve on the faculty ization and Cosmopolitanism since Kant: advisory board. During 2015, A Paradoxical Relationship,” and Romm’s second-year philosophy grad- “Kafka and the Incomprehensible: A Para- uate student William Cochran dox of Interpretation and Its Resolution.” Philnight faculty presenters (from left): Axel Mueller, began a three-year term as Al Askari and Romm also both garnered Mark Alznauer, Rachel Zuckert, Charles Mills a mentor for newly admitted Brady honors with distinction. other fields of philosophy to thought Scholars. In addition to pursuing its cus- Also receiving honors in philosophy experiments, “life” philosophy, and tomary seminars and senior projects, the were Jacqueline Torgerson and Mara Weber. existentialism. Department chair Sandy Brady Program hosted Distinguished Torgerson’s thesis was “The Liberating Goldberg led a NUPS discussion in Visiting Professor Helga Varden (UIUC), Consciousness of Radical Hip-Hop: Going June 2014 that focused on the value of who taught Beyond the Culture Industry,” and Weber’s philosophy itself. At NUPS’s Philnight courses and “Gendering Violation: Political Paradoxes 2015, held on March 4 at Locy Hall and gave a series of the Violence Against Women Act.” emceed by Professor Goldberg, phi- of February Emily Moorman received this year’s losophy faculty presented four 10–15 and March Stephen Toulmin Prize for the best GPA in minute talks that reflected the diversity lectures on philosophy (in combination with the most of interests in the department. The talks “Human credits) for a graduating philosophy major. addressed the subjects of race, scientific Nature and Mara Weber won the Lula A. Peterson knowledge, mysticism, and the nature of Freedom: Prize for exemplary citizenship. The prize concepts and were followed by a Q&A. A Kantian Helga Varden goes to honors students who have spurred The appreciative audience that packed Engagement.” The Brady Distinguished positive atmospheric and social changes in Locy Hall was then treated to pizza. Visiting Professor for 2015–16 was also the department. Weber was recognized for selected: David Killoren, a 2012 Univer- her untiring, exemplary, and exception- Brady Program in Ethics and Civic Life sity of Wisconsin PhD who is currently ally effective leadership in WiPhi as well as Established in 2008 in consultation with in a postdoctoral position as the Ethics the organization of the undergraduate-led Professor Laurie Zoloth (religious stud- Fellow in the Jackson Family Center Workshop in Critical Theory. ies) and funded by a generous donation for Ethics and Values at Coastal Carolina Ken-Terika Zellner and Emily from alumna and Northwestern trustee University. Moorman received the Ruth Barcan Deborah Brady and her husband, Larry Marcus Award for tutoring in formal logic, Brady, the Brady Program is a three-year Moorman for the second straight year.

3 PhilFEST Draws Attention of Philosophy is it thanks to the gradually increasing Pyrros Rubanis Enthusiasts from Local High Schools flows of information, bodies, and capital Adviser: Mark Alznauer across the globe (i.e., globalization)? A “Ajax was a better man than Odysseus.” According to students, PhilFEST is one natural and not entirely false response “Pixar makes better movies than of the department’s major festive events. to these three questions would be that Godard.” It is difficult to see how life According to department rules, it is yes, globalization is in fact a means to could be meaningful or interesting with- the oral examination for honors students, the cosmopolitan end goal, and that out such opinions of evaluation and taste. who give 10-minute presentations of cosmopolitanism is the eventual effect This presentation attempts to explore their research. According to the specta- of globalization. I question this relation- the depths of such judgments about art, tors, it is an amazing showcase of the ship between globalization, as the current and how they are connected to morality. level of undergraduate research in our phenomenon, and cosmopolitanism as Using Tolstoy’s “What is art?” as a guide, department. ideal, however, in order to reveal ways the paper rejects trivial views of art With the support of the Northwest- in which the former actually complicates and comes to understand it as a funda- ern Undergraduate Philosophical Society, the latter. Our objective will then be to mental mode of communication between the sixth annual PhilFEST welcomed retrieve and recontextualize the cosmo- individuals and societies. I explore exactly guests from philosophy clubs at two politan narrative in the more immediate what it means to evaluate an artwork, regional high schools, Adlai E. Stevenson and meaningful present. and what such evaluation says about the and Hinsdale Central, on April 22. evaluators. The paper concludes with Presenters Mariam Al Askari, Jake Jake Romm Tolstoy’s recommendations for the proper Romm, Pyrros Rubanis (president of Adviser: Rachel Zuckert spirit of art and why adopting his para- NUPS), Jacqueline Torgerson, Kaela This paper aims to make the incom- digm of universal brotherhood might be Walker, and Mara Weber spoke before prehensibility in/of Kafka’s work com- a wise choice. an audience of about 40 people. prehensible. First, I analyze the formal Their presentations were followed by elements of Kafka’s writing that prompt Jacqueline Torgerson an engaging, lively Q&A session and us towards interpretation—primarily, Adviser: Rachel Zuckert continued as an informal conversation allegorical interpretation. Then I examine I studied contemporary radical hip-hop until late in the evening over drinks an attractive interpretation of Kafka— in relation to Adorno’s conception of the and snacks at a reception with that his work is both incomprehensible culture industry. I analyzed the history “philoso-FREE pizza.” itself and about that very incomprehen- of hip-hop in the United States in order

sibility. This interpretation, however, is to argue that while mainstream hip-hop Following are the students’ summaries incoherent and untenable, as I show is commoditized and may be considered of their research projects: using Guy Sircello’s essay on the a part of the culture industry, one can-

sublime. Finally, I examine Adorno’s not ignore the radical, oppositional, and Mariam Al Askari interpretation of Kafka’s work as a work- critical independent hip-hop movements Adviser: Charles Mills able alternative to the incoherent thesis that encourage a disruptive and liberat- Cosmopolitanism is the ideal of world of incomprehensibility. This is not an ing, rather than passive and conforming, existence, freedom, and peaceful coop- endorsement of Adorno’s work, but consciousness in those who engage with eration between all human beings. It is rather an endorsement of the framework them. I argue that radical hip-hop can- fulfilled at a global level. Does this mean that he provides us. not be limited to the scope of Adorno’s that the current process of globalization analysis because he fails to recognize is getting us closer to the cosmopolitan the effect popular culture can have on ideal? Are we slowly but surely work- identity formation. I learned that many ing toward cosmopolitanism? And if so,

4 hip-hop artists and listeners think criti- distinctions of the internal/external. PhilFEST student presenters (from left): Pyrros Rubanis, cally and self-reflexively about the nega- I conclude that by giving equal Kaela Walker, Jake Romm, Mara Weber, Mariam Al Askari, Jacqueline Torgerson tive and positive effects of culture on realities to the internal and external, identity formation. Ultimately, contem- tragedy unproblematically answers our porary experimental hip-hop movements initial question by saying: Both. in the United States may constitute a form of critical theory, rather than mass Mara Weber art, through content and form Adviser: Penelope Deutscher The Violence against Women Act was Kaela Walker enacted with the intent of establishing a Adviser: John Wynne right to be free of violence motivated Are we agents or are we victims? by gender. However, in assuming a para- This is a question that has troubled phi- digmatic model of gendered violence losophers, artists, theologians, scientists, that figures victims as female and perpe- and laypeople for centuries—making trators as male, the legislators responsible it difficult to understand the nature of for VAWA have incurred harms subjective beings in an objective reality for several types of nonparadigmatic and the often dissonant forces of acting victims and women as a whole. Rights and being acted upon. I discuss ancient paradoxes prove a useful device for tragedy (i.e., fifth-century BCE Athenian revealing these concealed costs, and the dramatic poetry) and explore why it is intractability of paradoxes also illuminates an art form that addresses this issue the structural limitations of addressing uniquely through its form and features. identity and redressing injury through I explore the role of three features—fate, the law. language, and time—used to collapse

5 Lectures, Workshops, Conferences, and Other Events

Inclusiveness Lecture (Northwestern) and Mark Alznauer As usual, the conference included two key- The Climate Committee this year (Northwestern). Brunkhorst responded note addresses; this year’s keynote speakers welcomed Eduardo Mendieta (Stony to their comments, stimulating engaging were Frances Kamm (Harvard) and Joseph Brook University) to speak at its annual conversations among all participants. Raz (Columbia Law). In addition, there Inclusiveness Lecture. His topic was Northwestern students had the were five talks by faculty and four by grad- “The Costs of Skin: On the Advan- opportunity to ask Brunkhorst questions uate students on themes ranging from the tages and Disadvantage of Race for about his work over lunch. limits of personal integrity to Rousseau’s Philosophy.” The event was hosted by the philoso- theory of political domination. phy department and the Center for Global The conference brings together some Culture and Communication in the of the most exciting scholars working School of Communication, with generous on moral and political philosophy at vari- support from the Alice Kaplan Institute ous stages of their careers. The event was for the Humanities and other sponsors. organized by professors Kyla Ebels- The workshop series aims to bring to Duggan, Richard Kraut, and Stephen Northwestern distinguished critical theo- White, along with several graduate students. rists who have recently published a major For more information about the confer- work in English for in-depth discussion ence, as well as past programs, please visit with experts in the field, interested faculty, www.philosophy.northwestern.edu and students. A reading group of faculty /community/nustep. and students from several departments, including philosophy, law, , WiPhi Inclusiveness Lecture presenter Eduardo Mendieta and communication studies, met to pre- Women in Philosophy held its regular The Climate Committee aims to pare for the workshop. biweekly meetings and sponsored two raise awareness of the challenges faced larger public events during 2014–15, a by underrepresented and marginalized NUSTEP Conference WiPhi-Frankfurt Exchange and the groups in philosophy, as well as to The ninth annual conference of the Gertrude Bussey Lecture. work to ensure that the community is Northwestern University Society for the Assisted by Professor Penelope welcoming and inclusive for these Theory of Ethics and Politics took place Deutscher, WiPhi connected with mem- groups. for three days in May and included a host bers of a women’s philosophy group from of excellent presenters, commentators, the University of Frankfurt and organized Critical Theory in Critical Times and attendees from around the country. discussions of their research as well as an Workshop The first Critical Theory in Critical Times Annual Workshop in February brought in Hauke Brunkhorst, author of Critical Theory of Legal Revolutions (Bloomsbury, 2014). Brunkhorst’s complex book analyzes the development of modern law through several legal revolutions from the 12th century to the present day. Four commentators were invited to the workshop to discuss this work from the perspective of their disciplines: Michel Geyer (), Regina Kreide (Giessen, Germany), Joshua Kleinfeld Philosophy graduate student Abigail Bruxvoort addresses NUSTEP attendees.

6 during her visit for the Gender and about nihilism. The Katsafanas and Vulnerabilities Conference. Finally, the Berntein talks were also supported by the group invited Daniela Vallega-Neu Kaplan Institute for the Humanities. (Oregon) to speak on phenomenology, The consortium’s annual workshop temporality, and embodiment. focused on German Romanticism, with Philosophy PhD candidate talks by Maria Acosta and Elizabeth Bussey Lecture presenter Susan Wolf Morganna Lambeth did a stellar job Millàn Brusslan of DePaul University, exchange about the challenges that face organizing the workshop this year. Karl Ameriks of the University of Notre women in philosophy in both the Graduate students Daniel Trujillo and Dame, and Guy Elgat (PhD Northwestern), American and the German contexts. Hao Liang will direct the workshop who teaches at the School of the Art Insti- The Gertrude Bussey Lecture, during the 2015–16 academic year. tute in Chicago. Graduate students from WiPhi’s main event every year, brought The workshop is sponsored by the Alice area institutions offered comments. in Susan Wolf of the University of Kaplan Institute North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A for the Humani- prominent moral philosopher, Wolf ties, the Department gave a public lecture to a packed room of Philosophy, and on “Moral Character and Responsibility.” other departments. English and philosophy major Faculty and graduate Katherine Poland was named WiPhi students at North- president for 2015–16. western, Loyola, and DePaul Afterlife of Phenomenology participate. Research Workshop In its fourth year, the Afterlife of The Chicago Area Phenomenology Research Workshop Consortium in German Philosophy considered how phenomenology has German philosophy consortium presenter Paul allowed us to revisit the work of The Chicago Area Consortium in Katsafanas with Professor Rachel Zuckert philosophers who predated pheno- German Philosophy sponsored three menology and to reinterpret their visiting speakers and its annual work- Northwestern Epistemology Brownbag thought in light of phenomenology. In shop. A collaboration spearheaded In its sixth year, the Northwestern Episte- particular, the workshop considered the by the Northwestern philosophy mology Brownbag showcased the new work relationships between phenomenology department, the consortium sponsors of established and emerging epistemologists and transcendental idealism, neo-Kan- events on a wide range of German from all around the world. tianism, and hermeneutics. philosophical figures at various Highlights from this year include Julia To discuss these topics, the institutions in the Chicago area. Staffel (Washington University in St. Louis) work-shop hosted William Blattner Jay Bernstein, Distinguished discussing attitudes in active reasoning, Bob (Georgetown), Ingvild Torsen (Oslo), University Professor at the New Simpson (Monash) defending epistemic per- Samantha Matherne (UCSC), and School of Social Research, came to missivism, Boaz Miller (Tel Aviv) and Isaac Rudolf Makkreel (Emory). The group Northwestern to give three talks on Record (Toronto) providing a framework also collaborated with the German Adorno and modernism, Hegel, and for knowledge from instruments, and Blake Philosophy Consortium to organize a Hannah Arendt. Lisa Shabel of Ohio Roeber (Notre Dame) raising a new chal- graduate student workshop with visiting State University spoke at Loyola lenge for purists. speaker Jay Bernstein (New School of University Chicago on Kant’s theory Epistemology Brownbags are held from Social Research) and with the Critical of mathematical knowledge. Paul noon to 1:30 p.m. Wednesdays throughout Theory Cluster to hold a workshop Katsafanas of University spoke at the academic year. Everyone is welcome. with Ann Murphy (New Mexico) Northwestern on Nietzsche’s concerns 7 Kant’s views of women. Amanda Greene (Chicago Law) proposed a new theory of political legitimacy. Robert Simpson (Chicago Law and Monash) offered a paper about free speech.

WIPHICA Women in Philosophy Chicagoland, or WIPHICA, was initiated in 2014 by Northwestern graduate students who wanted to do more to address the prob- lem of women’s underrepresentation in Epistemology Brownbag presenters Mark Satta (Purdue) and Lauren Woomer (Michigan State) philosophy. Modeled after similar groups at PhLing Workgroup Practical Philosophy Workshop This year the Philosophy and Linguistics In its fifth year the Practical Philosophy universities such as MIT and others, and Workgroup welcomed philosophers and Workshop featured speakers from all over funded by a community building grant linguists from throughout the region and the Chicago area. The workshop provides from the at North- the world to present their work. a means to get constructive feedback on western, the proposal was for a project Nate Charlow (Toronto) discussed unpublished work and allows the North- to reach out to all women working in problems that arise in attempting to western community to hear and engage philosophy in the Chicago area, creating give a model-theoretic account of the with new ideas in moral and political a thriving, supportive intellectual com- semantics of imperatives. Alexis Wellwood thought. munity by providing the opportunity (Northwestern) gave an analysis of the Marya Schechtman (UIC) discussed for women philosophers to present their semantics of comparative sentences. her recent essay on love. Stephen White works in progress. Thus far, women from Anastasia Giannakidou (Chicago) argued (Northwestern) workshopped a paper several universities, including Loyola, that universal epistemic modals are weak on responsibility and luck egalitarian- DePaul, the University of Illinois at in that they are nonveridical and strong ism. Helga Varden (Illinois) presented on Chicago, the , and in that they are biased. David Etlin Northwestern, have joined. (LMU Munich) argued that the sorites WIPHICA meets monthly to hear paradox of vagueness is an instance of the presentations by professional women money pump problem in decision theory philosophers in an inclusive and support- and considered how a semantics of vague ive environment. predicates might deal with this. Fabrizio In addition to meetings, WIPHICA Cariani (Northwestern) defended an this year hosted a teatime with Sandra objection to relativism about epistemic Laugier (Sorbonne/Johns Hopkins), who modals, commonly thought to fail. Aidan was visiting Northwestern for the Gray (UIC) brought an objection to “Gender and Vulnerabilities” graduate- predicativism about names. Finally, faculty workshop.” Casey Johnson (UConn) highlighted problems in taking an objective approach to illocutionary force, recommending Practical Philosophy Workshop participant instead a perspective-dependent account. Stephen White

8 Sawyer Seminar Engages Top Social Epistemologists

This year’s Sawyer Seminar comprised four interdisciplinary Kopec was the Mellon Sawyer Seminar postdoc this conferences on topics in social epistemology that brought year. In the course of the year, he published an article on together experts in fields ranging from philosophy, his- the biology of race and another on the so-called “Unique- tory, and political science to , public policy, and ness Thesis”; submitted papers on group rationality, epistemic education and from universities all over the English-speaking instrumentalism, and rational permissiveness; and found the world. The seminar was hosted by the philosophy depart- time to write the first chapter of his book project on group ment and sponsored by the Mellon Foundation. rationality. He delivered a Klopsteg Lecture for Northwest- Each conference concerned a distinct theme in social ern’s Science in Human Culture Program and gave talks at epistemology: collective knowledge; group deliberation; the University of Colorado Boulder, Concordia University the nature of trust; and expertise and disagreement. Dis- in Montreal, the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, cussed were such topics as pitfalls of group decision making St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and the American Philosoph- (including group polarization), trust in experts in science ical Association Central Division meeting. These talks were and culture (with a focus on wine critics), and what trust is on such topics as the nature of epistemic rationality, the for a collective (such as a business or an institution like the effects of economic models on climate negotiations, the use Supreme Court). of racial identifiers in law enforcement, and techniques for The Sawyer Seminar program was administered by the inclusive pedagogy. Kopec team-taught the undergraduate five principal investigators on the grant: Sandy Goldberg, course Climate Change and Sustainability with a geologist Jennifer Lackey, and Fabrizio Cariani from philosophy; Steve and an economist and ran a graduate seminar on the science Epstein from sociology; and Center for Connected Learn- of rationality and group decision making. Most important, he ing and Computer-Based Modeling director Uri Wilensky said, he was able to engage with and learn from some of the from computer science and learning sciences. Also part of very best social epistemologists in the world. In June he began the group were postdoctoral fellow Matthew Kopec (PhD, work as a research fellow at the Centre for Applied Philoso- Wisconsin) and predoctoral fellows Casey Johnson (UConn) phy and Public Ethics in Canberra, Australia. and Nick Leonard (Northwestern).

Postdoctoral fellow Matthew Kopec presents during the Sawyer Seminar conference on “The Epistemic Value of (Group) Deliberation.”

9 Alumni News

Daniel Olson’s Post-Northwestern Odyssey

Daniel Olson ’14 graduated with honors with distinction in my time there was cut short by the burgeoning Ebola crisis, philosophy and decided to forego excellent opportunities to move right which prompted the Peace Corps to evacuate us after only on to graduate school and instead joined the Peace Corps. He thought two months in the country. It ended up being a prescient he’d be doing volunteer work in Sierra Leone, but his stay was cut move—at the time of our evacuation, the Ebola crisis was short by the Ebola crisis. Here is Olson’s brief account of his first year already the worst outbreak of its kind in history, with nearly after graduation. 1,000 confirmed cases in Sierra Leone alone. That number has since risen to more than 12,000, and the crisis is by no On June 18, 2014, two days before my official graduation means over. from Northwestern, I joined 54 other volunteers on a flight After coming home I was forced to reevaluate my to Sierra Leone, where I hoped to spend two years working future plans and decided to apply to graduate programs in with the Peace Corps. I was slated to teach English and math philosophy. The faculty at Northwestern assisted greatly in a secondary school in Yamandu, a village of a few thousand with letter writing and application advice, helping me to people. be much more successful in admissions than I anticipated. Perhaps surprisingly, I ended up discussing philosophy I’m excited to be entering Ohio State in the fall for a PhD more than my official subjects with locals. Even in a strikingly and hope to focus on the history of analytic philosophy different religious culture, the Euthyphro dilemma has force; and the philosophy of logic/math. general arguments for animal rights, less so. Unfortunately,

10 Distinguished Alumni Lecturer Jim Berra: “It’s not what you know that matters . . . it’s how you think”

Returning to campus in May as the fifth annual Distinguished Raised in a suburb of Minneapolis, Berra grew up an avid Alumni Lecturer, Jim Berra ’94 focused on the utility of his reader interested in economics, history, and technology and a philosophy degree and described his trajectory to becoming lover of sports. On arriving to Northwestern in fall 1990 not the chief marketing officer for Carnival Cruise Line in a talk knowing what he wanted to study, he enrolled in a freshman entitled “Putting Your Philosophy Degree to Work.” seminar on German authors. That course, with its “million-dollar The Distinguished Alumni Lecture series brings one of conversations” and spectacular reading list (including Goethe and the department’s alumni back to campus each year to talk to Hesse), turned him on to the delights of philosophical reflection. students, staff, and faculty about the value of the undergraduate Midway through his time at Northwestern, Berra decided he philosophy degree after college. would go to law school after graduation—a decision that he later Reflecting on the decisions he makes and the discussions viewed as a mistake. He told the audience that he had blinders on in which he participates in the world of marketing and busi- from the time the decision was made until he enrolled in the law ness, Berra saw many virtues in his in school at Washington University in St. Louis and quickly realized philosophy. He calls on a variety of skills honed in philosophy that the law was not for him. Leaving after only one semester, courses: the ability to critique favored views, the capacity for Berra returned to Evanston, slept on the couches of friends who were still in town, and used his time to do what in retrospect he wished he had done while in college: explore career options. He was very fortunate, Berra said, to land a job with the Hyatt Corporation within months after returning to Evanston. The tools he had developed in college—especially the ability to analyze com- plicated materials and to think creatively—were Daniel Olson’s put to use. He recalled weighing in on the question of whether the Hyatt Company ought to purchase Post-Northwestern Odyssey the Hyatt.com web domain. (At the time the web’s future was uncertain, so it was unclear whether the investment would be worth it.) He was pleased to report that he recommended in favor of the investment. In 1998 Berra moved from the Hyatt Cor- poration to resorts and hotel operator Starwood, where he worked on loyalty programs, building brand equity, and developing new hotel chains such as the W Hotels. He became the youngest senior vice president in the history of the company. He Sandy Goldberg (left) with Jim Berra and Berra’s son, Jake, and his wife, Serena met his future wife, Serena, there, and they became healthy skepticism, the confidence to offer dissenting opinions, parents with the birth of their son, Jake, in 2008. That same year the ability to speak and write clearly and effectively, the com- the opportunity at Carnival Cruise Line became available, and the fort to operate in ambiguous contexts, and the capacity for family moved to Miami, their current location. clear and systematic thought on complex issues. When he hires people these days, he looks for these qualities as well as an ability to collaborate and a clearheaded sense of one’s own weaknesses. He told philosophy majors that it is not what you know on graduation day, but rather how you think, that is most important to prospective employers.

11 Noteworthy

PhD Student Kathryn Pogin’s Op-Ed Praised Faculty Member Jennifer Lackey Receives Lebowitz Prize Kathryn Pogin has received a prize from the American Philo- Professor Jennifer Lackey, together with Alvin Goldman of sophical Association for one of the five best op-ed pieces writ- Rutgers, received this year’s Dr. Martin R. Lebowitz and Eve ten by a philosopher. Her op-ed in the Huffington Post, titled Lewellis Lebowitz Prize from the Phi Beta Kappa Society and “Notre Dame Healthcare and ‘Sincere Religious Belief,’” argues the American Philosophical Association. that Notre Dame’s unwillingness to provide comprehensive Ten years after receiving the 2005 Young Epistemologist healthcare to women is a bigger challenge to its religious char- Prize, Lackey received the Lebowitz Prize in recognition of acter than compliance with the law. achievement and excellence Interestingly, Pogin chooses to argue for this conclusion on in philosophical thought Notre Dame’s own terms. Rather than defending comprehen- on the topic of social epis- sive healthcare on general moral, political, or practical grounds, temology. The latter prize for instance, Pogin shows that the Catholic moral teachings so is awarded to two philoso- central to Notre Dame’s identity require it. “Truly living out phers with contrasting views our Catholic mission requires we address this inequality, not on one topic. Professors attempt to legally defend our ‘right’ to it on religious grounds,” Lackey and Goldman will says Pogin, who started her PhD studies at Notre Dame. When give Lebowitz Symposium asked why she chose this argumentative strategy, Pogin responds lectures at the 2016 Eastern that it is “more productive to try to meet people on their own meeting of the American terms” when possible. Philosophical Association. Philosophy has seen increased engagement with the Goldman will present on broader public; from publishing pieces in The Stone to serv- the social dimensions of cognition, and Lackey will focus on ing on the APA’s Committee on Public Philosophy, more and the epistemic properties of group entities. They plan for their more philosophers are using their talents and time to make an symposium lectures to be contrasting but collaborative instead impact in the nonacademic world. Winning submissions in the of modeling a more traditional debate. APA competition, according to the organization’s website, “will Lackey’s and Goldman’s collaborative relationship is partly call public attention, either directly or indirectly, to the value a function of their shared commitment to social epistemol- of philosophical thinking. The pieces will be judged in terms ogy. Lackey has been conducting research in social epistemol- of their success as examples of public philosophy and should ogy throughout her philosophical career since her dissertation, be accessible to the general public, focused on important topics Rationality, Defeaters, and Testimony, and she’s grown more appre- of public concern, and characterized by sound reasoning.” It is ciative of the ways in which her work might speak to those significant that Pogin’s piece, written while she was a graduate outside the philosophy seminar room. While the connection student still enrolled in coursework, was chosen for recognition between theory and issues of broad public concern can seem in a competition open to all philosophers. opaque for some areas of epistemology, social epistemology can Pogin has finished her first year in the Northwestern PhD inform our everyday lives and intersect with other disciplines program, having transferred here after spending three years at in many ways. For example, Lackey cotaught an epistemology Notre Dame. Her primary areas of interest are in epistemology seminar that brought together World War II and the Holocaust and feminist philosophy. She became interested in philoso- testimony as well as a legal perspective on testimony from phy during a family event at the house of her father’s cousin, someone who had worked with rape survivors in Rwanda. Eleonore Stump, the Robert J. Henle Professor of Philosophy at Lackey says the culture in philosophy has changed since Saint Louis University. Stump opened up her library to Pogin, her days as a graduate student; now engagement with the public who was bored at the event. Browsing through the philosophy sphere, the accessibility of one’s work, and interdisciplinary books on those bookshelves left a lasting mark on Pogin. connection are more valued and encouraged. She is happy to Jennifer Lackey interviewed Pogin for this profile. see the field’s new connections with matters of public concern. Kathryn Pogin wrote this profile of Lackey.

12 Faculty Member Penelope Deutscher to Set Up semester as an undergraduate, however, I took a course on Critical Theory Consortium critical theory offered by the fine arts department. This Northwestern and the University of California, Berkeley, have course, which included readings from Marx, Freud, Roland been awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Institutional Barthes, and Paul Feyerabend, enabled me to begin framing Program Grant to develop the newly constituted International meaningful questions about the significance and function Consortium for Critical Theory Programs. of art in the contemporary world—questions that have stood Professor Penelope Deutscher, codirector of Northwest- at the forefront of all of my intellectual endeavors since. ern’s Critical Theory Cluster, and Professor Judith Butler, After spending a few postcollege years as an artist, I cofounder of UC Berkeley’s Program in Critical Theory, are earned an MA from American University’s Ethics, Peace, and the principal investigators. The project will encompass both the Global Affairs Program, which combines studies in philoso- European traditions and the global range of critical theories phy and international studies. There I worked on the rela- whose innovations speak to historical, contemporary, and eco- tions among art, ethics, and democratic theory while also nomic conditions traversing filling in many of the holes in my knowledge of the history different parts of the world. of philosophy. At a time when the value As a doctoral student at Northwestern, I have continued of the humanities is being my research in aesthetics while broadening my philosophical questioned, the ICCTP will interests. My dissertation focuses on the relationship between promote the importance of metaphysics and aesthetics in the work of 20th-century critical inquiry to the life of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. I argue that the impor- the university. tance of art for Deleuze lies in its power to make us sense The consortium first the most basic components of sensation itself. For instance, will establish a multilingual when we look at a painting, we are not just experiencing website, providing informa- an object—a piece of canvas, say, covered with dried tion on undergraduate and oil paint and depicting graduate programs in critical a scene or presenting theory, research clusters, centers, and institutes, as well as an an abstract composition; online critical theory library. Under Northwestern’s direction, more fundamentally, we the project then will be concerned with critical theory program are experiencing a development, including curricula, networking and program complex network of innovations, and options for establishing academic and research intersecting chromatic, programs adaptable to different institutional environments. tonal, textural, spatial, and It will establish a forum for further forms of exchange, even temporal differences nationally and internationally, between existing and new that together constitute programs. The consortium also aims to facilitate new research the painting as it appears collaborations and exchanges between faculty and students. to us. Deleuze calls these fundamental, intersecting differences “intensities,” and PhD Student David Johnson Combines he argues that they underlie and make up all of our sensory Art and Philosophy Interests experience. In our day-to-day lives, these intensities go Current graduate student David Johnson, who received the inaugural unnoticed by us because we instead pay attention to the Dissertation Fellowship from the American Society for Aesthetics, dis- large-scale phenomena that they compose, such as people cusses his career in philosophy so far. and objects. Following Deleuze, I argue that art is unique among I came to philosophy late. As an undergraduate at phenomena because it enables us to sense these normally Carnegie Mellon University I studied fine art with an insensible intensities on which our experience rests and emphasis on painting and printmaking. I took only one proper thus offers us a profound glimpse into the basic structure of philosophy class—an applied ethics course, which at the time I found interesting but not particularly inspiring. In my final

13 Noteworthy, continued reality. In the course of the dissertation, I discuss a number of decided to major in philosophy—with a double major in works of art, including paintings and works on paper by Jean math—because of the encouragement of her logic TA, philoso- Auguste Dominique Ingres, Francis Bacon, and Bridget Riley phy graduate student Dan Skibra. and films by Alfred Hitchcock, Alain Resnais, and David For Moorman, work in math and philosophy fit together Cronenberg. perfectly: “They hit the exact same part of my brain.” As she The Department of Philosophy has provided an enor- points out, logic is itself math, and the most theoretical parts of mously encouraging and rigorous environment in which to mathematics, in which she is primarily interested, “are philoso- pursue my research. The diversity of philosophical approaches phy because they show you a big picture of the world.” She among the faculty and graduate students has been immensely remembers a professor noting, “Galois theory shows that every- enriching. My dissertation committee—Penelope Deutscher, thing is right with the world”—and she agrees. Work in math- Rachel Zuckert, and Alessia Ricciardi (Department of French ematics has also helped her hone her skills in philosophy: Her and Italian)—has been tremendously supportive, both of my professors always comment on the organization of her papers, academic work and of my professional development. I was and she thinks that skill developed from doing many math able to spend my third year studying in France with the problems and putting together proofs, where you have to make Program in Critical Theory, and I had the opportunity to sure that everything is in the proper order. Both philosophy and serve for two years as coconvener of the Afterlife of Phenom- math are about structured arguments or proofs, and well-made enology Research Workshop. With the support of the depart- proofs, she believes, are “beautiful.” ment, I also recently won the American Society for Aesthetics As winner of the Barcan Marcus Prize, Moorman for two Dissertation Fellowship, which will assist me greatly in the years has tutored logic, a part of philosophy with which she is final stages of my doctorate. fascinated. She took the full three-course sequence in logic and found tutoring the subject rewarding, especially in the second Graduating Senior Emily Moorman Wins Toulmin Award year, when she and the other tutor helped the students to teach Emily Moorman ’15 is this year’s winner of the Stephen one another. She was frustrated, though, in trying to increase Toulmin Award to the graduating senior with the highest the interest in logic among students who were there to satisfy GPA in philosophy. A double major in distribution or major requirements and to math and philosophy, Moorman is also a foster a belief in logic’s accessibility to two-time winner of the Ruth Barcan everyone, not just those with a purported Marcus Logic Award. special talent. (“Don’t give up!” she advises.) Moorman arrived at Northwestern Moorman’s interests in philosophy are already interested in philosophy: She had wider than in logic. She has serious interests taken philosophy classes at summer camps in feminism, though regretting that she after the eighth and ninth grades and couldn’t fit in a course in it, and has enjoyed found philosophy more interesting than discussions on the subject in WiPhi meet- anything she had yet studied. Maybe phi- ings. A moral philosophy class on partiality losophy also had the appeal of the forbid- this past winter quarter called into question den for her, she says, since her high school many of the moral tenets taken for granted did not offer any philosophy classes and in her Catholic education and raised doubts “quickly squashed” a philosophy club she for her about the nature of moral action. and a friend from debate wanted to form. Now every day she thinks about whether She felt she was being told that “philoso- it’s good to act in this or that way, whether phy is bad because it leads you to ask questions.” Her interest she’s being impartial or not, whether is it good to reflect upon in philosophy was considerably strengthened, however, by what you are doing—or is that alienation? the Introduction to Metaphysics course she took early on at Currently searching for jobs, Moorman is open to a lot Northwestern. Different from the previous philosophy classes of possibilities. She is thinking about grad school in the future she had taken, it made her realize that “there are so many but wants to take a year or so to make sure it’s for her— things that philosophy can be.” In her sophomore year, she and to decide whether to pursue math or philosophy further.

14 Graduating Senior Jake Romm Touts the Benefits class. The paper runs through the progression of Hegel’s account of Presenting at Conferences of symbolic art—first establishing the basic terms of the sign, Over his final two quarters at Northwestern, Jake Romm ’15 received leading into sublime art, then finally to the symbolic. Hegel’s financial support from the philosophy department that allowed him to assertion that symbolic art is deficient provides, by virtue of present at two graduate philosophy conferences—at the University of negation, an insight into what his ideal art might look like. Memphis and at Louisiana State University. He offers the following I found the atmosphere at the LSU conference to be thoughts on his experiences. incredibly welcoming and engaging. All the papers were inter- esting, and the discussions continued from the conference room The Memphis conference, titled “Beyond Bars: The Future of into the postconference bars and restaurants. Prisons,” focused on alternative approaches to incarceration Traveling to conferences is an experience I’d recommend and punishment. I presented a paper written for Professor Mark to any undergraduate. The applications are easy and, aside from Alznauer’s advanced critical theory class writing the abstracts, any undergraduate here on Christoph Menke’s essay on the has already done the work. Eichmann trial, “At the brink of law.” That these were graduate-level confer- My essay examines what it means to be ences made the experience better. The reason an “enemy of humanity” and the impli- to attend such conferences as an undergraduate cations and justifications of Menke’s is to learn, and the best way to learn is from argument that the only thing that the engaging with people who know significantly Jerusalem court could do was to sus- more than you do. pend law in order to reinforce it so as to appeal to justice—something that exists in relation to, but separately from, the form of law. It was both fulfilling and humbling to be given the opportunity to take part in a conversation with accomplished students and professors about one of the world’s more pressing issues. Even more rewarding was being exposed to so many surprising opinions and philosophical ideas. The prison abolitionist movement was prominently represented, and advo- cates for radical restorative justice were present as well (some on the nicer side, and some with a more violent, Nietzschean take). It was a bit of a culture shock but an illuminating one. The second conference, at LSU, had no theme, so papers were presented across a wide array of topics, from thought experiments about color fields to an endorsement of pessimism. My paper on Hegel’s account of symbolic art had been written for Professor Rachel Zuckert’s Aesthetics of Hegel and Adorno

15 Faculty News

Mark Alznauer’s book Hegel’s Theory of many talks she gave.) Cariani also held a Kyla Ebels-Duggan visited the Centre for Responsibility has just come out from seminar meeting at Rutgers University Ethics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs at Cambridge University Press. He is coedit- on some of his work. At Northwestern the University of St. Andrews in Scot- ing a collection of essays, Theories of Action he taught the courses Decision Theory, land in spring 2014 to work on a project and Morality, with José Torralba (Navarra). Logic, and Philosophy of Language, and about Kantian views of moral psychol- Last fall he hosted the Hegel Society of he is currently supervising two senior ogy and virtue and associated accounts America’s biannual conference, whose theses and one Undergraduate Research of moral development and moral educa- theme was “Hegel without Metaphysics?” Grant. He was on the program com- tion. In addition to the time to write, He is starting work on a book on Hegel’s mittee for the 2015 Central Division Ebels-Duggan enjoyed getting to know philosophy of spirit in general, and he meeting of the American Philosophi- members of the St. Andrews philosophy taught a winter graduate course on the cal Association. During the meeting he department, hiking along the Fife Coastal topic. His essay on the role of Geist in found himself enjoying the thought that Trail, eating fish and chips rumored to be the Phenomenology of Spirit will be this was a party he had helped to throw. the best in Scotland, and living in a included in the Oxford Handbook of Hegel, He also tried to get his little one to beautiful medieval town. She and her and he is beginning to present what he referee some APA submissions, but she family are pining for a chance to return. hopes will be chapters at various confer- wouldn’t have it, opting for toys instead. She has spent much of the 2014–15 ences. He also won a fellowship for academic year thinking about desires: What are they? What role, if any, do they 2015–16 through the Kaplan Institute Penelope Deutscher completed her book play in action? Is there an important dif- for the Humanities. Foucault’s Children: Death, Reproduction, ference between acting from desire and and Biopolitics, to be published by Colum- acting from a judgment about what Fabrizio Cariani, having found it possible bia University Press. She served as codi- to do? Are our desires partly constitutive to take care of his infant daughter and do rector of Northwestern’s Critical Theory of our character, or is it better to think philosophy at the same time, completed Cluster and, in that capacity, was awarded of character as concerning what we do five articles on topics such as the mean- an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant in the face of our desires? How should ing of “ought,” how to understand our to collaborate with Judith Butler of the our understanding of desire inform our thought and talk about the future, and University of California, Berkeley, on an approaches to moral education, and how how to think about what groups should initiative to establish the International should our approaches to moral educa- believe. “Conditionals, Context and the Consortium for Critical Theory Pro- tion inform our understanding of desires? Suppression Effect,” Cariani’s first grams (see article on page 13). She was What does Kant think about this? Ebels- foray into experimental semantics (with also awarded a senior fellowship by the Duggan presented a paper dealing with coauthor Lance Rips of Northwestern’s IFK (Internationales Forschungszentrum several of these questions in Vancouver psychology department), was accepted Kulturwissenschaften), Vienna, and a vis- and Knoxville this past fall, taught a grad- for publication in the journal Cognitive iting international professorship by the uate seminar on them in the winter, and Science. He also published articles in Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany. tried to suppress the complications that Pacific Philosophical Quarterly and in a col- they might cause to her already challeng- lection of essays edited by Jennifer Lackey. ing undergraduate class in Kantian Ethics He gave talks at the University of Chicago, in the spring. This past winter she was the University of Michigan, the Uni- awarded a research fellowship that will versity of St. Andrews, Leeds University, allow her to think still more in 2015–16 and various international workshops. about desire and to put these thoughts (Baby Cariani would not disclose how into book form.

16 Sean Ebels-Duggan taught courses in Richard Kraut’s research in 2014 was of Philosophical Studies, epistemology logic and a first-year undergraduate commissioned by an Italian publisher subject editor for the Stanford Encyclopedia seminar that, like Seinfeld, was about and translated by the press into Italian. of Philosophy, and editorial board member everything and nothing at the same time. “La democrazia greca” and “Introduzione of several epistemology journals. She was But it gave him an excuse to investigate alla Politica di Aristotele” appeared in the keynote speaker at conferences in the work of authors such as Anthony Aristotele Politicia. The first is an introduc- Indiana, Missouri, Texas, and Nebraska. Appiah, Boethius, Raimond Gaita, and tion to democratic and antidemocratic She also has presented or will present her Thomas Merton, whom he doesn’t get thought in the ancient Greek world and work at various locations in the United to read as part of his usual research. He its relevance to contemporary democratic States, as well as in Barcelona, Spain; published (with Sean Walsh of UC theory. The second essay develops the Melbourne, Australia; Mainz, Germany; Irvine) a paper in the Review of Symbolic themes of the first and applies them to St. Andrews, Scotland; Nijmegen, the Logic and has continued to work in logic Aristotle. Original drafts written in Eng- Netherlands; Phuket, Thailand; Oxford, on classifying abstraction principles in lish are available at www.philosophy Southampton, and Warwick, England; Fregean philosophy of mathematics. .northwestern.edu/people/faculty Helsinki, Finland; Osnabrueck, Germany; He has been thinking lately that Quine /kraut.html. In February his book and Leuven, Belgium. is wrong that to be is to be the value of Against Absolute Goodness was the subject a bound variable, and also that he will of a session of the American Philosophi- Cristina Lafont taught courses on human never be more than hopeless at juggling. cal Association’s Central Division meet- rights, democracy after globalization, and ing, where he replied to two prominent Habermas’s philosophy and was named to Sandy Goldberg spent the year think- critics: Talbot Brewer (Virginia) and the Faculty Honor Roll by students. Her ing about, and delivering lectures on, Nomy Arpaly (Brown). research appeared in several journals and the variety of ways one can fail to be collected volumes, including “Human a responsible member of a knowledge Jennifer Lackey won (with Alvin I. Rights, Sovereignty, and the Responsibility community. The result was a series of Goldman) the Dr. Martin R. Lebowitz to Protect” in Constellations and “Religion talks and several articles on such topics and Eve Lewellis Lebowitz Prize for in the Public Sphere” in Europa mit oder as what one should have known, what Philosophical Achievement and Contri- ohne Religion? (Vienna University Press). evidence one should have had, what bution and was a fellow at the Kaplan She gave talks at conferences in Lima, inquiries one should have performed, Institute for the Humanities. She served Rio de Janeiro, Yale University, The New and what one should have told others. her first year as an elected at-large School, the University of Virginia, and He aims to turn these talks and papers member of the Board of Officers for elsewhere. She also organized (with Dilip into a book, where he eagerly anticipates the American Philosophical Association Gaonkar of Northwestern’s School of being deeply depressed by the variety and chairs the program committee for Communication) the first Critical Theory of ways he has fallen short in his own the APA’s 2016 Central Division meet- in Critical Times Annual Workshop on knowledge communities. ing. She is currently writing a book, Hauke Brunkhorst’s book Critical Theory The Epistemology of Groups, and edited of Legal Revolutions. She is very happy that Collective Epistemology, both with Oxford her book The Linguistic Turn in Hermeneutic University Press. She published papers Philosophy is being translated into Chinese on testimony, group epistemic states, (although she won’t be able to check the religious epistemology, assertion, and lies. accuracy of the translation). She continues to serve as editor-in-chief of Episteme: A Journal of Individual and Social Epistemology, associate editor

17 Faculty News, continued

Charles Mills published essays on the Baron Reed gave papers in St. Andrews on May 2, he gave the commencement “materiality” of race, the “whiteness” (Scotland), Melbourne (Australia), New address at Shimer College, where he pro- of the temporality underlying Rawlsian Mexico, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and vided a defense—not based in utility or ideal theory, Kant and race, and Sally Georgia. He published papers on skepti- politics—of a liberal arts education. Haslanger’s Resisting Reality. With Robert cism and the source of epistemic reasons. Gooding-Williams, he coedited a special He was chair of the graduate admissions Gregory Ward was delighted to have issue of the Du Bois Review that brought committee and is currently the depart- his long-standing association with the together nine philosophers and political ment’s Faculty Senate representative. philosophy department formalized by theorists writing on the subject of “Race Weinberg College with a (renewable) in a ‘Postracial’ Epoch.” He gave various Kenneth Seeskin has been on sabbatical three-year courtesy appointment that presentations at campuses and confer- in 2014–15. He has finished up a num- runs through 2017. He regularly teaches ences on such topics as black radical ber of articles for anthologies, includ- courses in the philosophy of language, liberalism, decolonizing Western political ing “Monotheism at Bay: The Gods of with special interests in pragmatic theory philosophy, intersectionality, and racial Maimonides and Spinoza,” “What the and reference. This past year he launched equality, including several talks in August Hebrew Bible Can/Cannot Teach Us a 200-level course, Language and Gender, at universities in South Africa. about God,” “No One Can See My Face through the Gender and Sexuality Stud- and Live,” and “Shlomo Pines and the ies Program; the course is being adapted Axel Mueller taught pragmatism and the Rediscovery of Maimonides in Contem- to satisfy the proposed social inequali- philosophy of science and continued to porary Philosophy.” He is also putting ties and diversity requirement currently serve as fellowship liaison, director of finishing touches on a new book on the under discussion in Weinberg. With undergraduate studies, and faculty point philosophy of religion. 2012 Northwestern philosophy PhD person for organizations including WiPhi Ryan Doran, he gave talks and published and WIPHICA. He was invited to partic- Mark Sheldon presented three talks: “A articles on the various uses of English ipate in several of the department’s inter- Model for Interinstitutional Coopera- demonstratives. He also gave a number national workshops on feminist topics, tion for an Online Consortium in Rela- of invited talks and participated in col- social epistemology, and critical theory. tion to Academic Integrity Issues” at the loquia throughout the year, including a He appeared at a number of confer- International Center for Academic Integ- keynote address at the conference of the ences and presented some of his work on rity conference in Jacksonville, Florida; American Pragmatics Association, held supranational legitimacy at a conference “Students’ Views of Academic Integrity at UCLA in October, as well as three in Rio de Janeiro (from which he almost and Its Moral and Conceptual Basis” other keynote addresses at various did not return). He finished his research at the ICAI’s conference in Vancouver; linguistics symposia. In his (nonexistent) project on—and against—Brandom’s and “Ethical Issues in the Allocation free time, when he isn’t preoccupied by inferentialist semantics (to appear in a of Resources” at the School of Public linguistics and/or philosophy, he can journal on semiotics and semantics) and Health of the University of Illinois at be found playing competitive bridge as has papers on supranational legitimacy Chicago. He served on the Native Amer- an American Contract Bridge League life forthcoming in German and Brazilian ican Outreach and Inclusion Task Force master. specialized volumes. He is currently pol- at Northwestern and chaired the Board ishing his research on peace and Kant’s of Ethics for the city of Evanston. He skepticism for publication, which he also serves as coeditor of the American claims is neither peaceful nor producing Philosophical Association’s Newsletter on conviction. Philosophy and Medicine, a position he has held for a number of years. Finally,

18 Stephen White developed two new undergraduate courses—one for phi- losophy majors, titled Impartiality and the Moral Point of View, and a first-year seminar, Love and Money. He also taught a graduate seminar on the ethics of interaction that focused on the distinc- tive moral issues that arise in the context of cooperative and not-so-cooperative endeavors we pursue together with other people. He delivered papers at several conferences and workshops around the country, on topics ranging from practi- cal rationality to political responsibility and the morality of coercion. He also helped to organize this year’s NUSTEP ethics and politics conference in May. He is currently thinking about parallels between a person’s sense of agency and responsibility for his or her conduct over time and a person’s sense of responsibility for the conduct of groups to which he or she belongs.

Rachel Zuckert spent a large part of the year reading and evaluating other people’s work. (All those fellowships, prizes, international congresses, and so forth unfortunately require evaluators to decide who gets them.) She began her terms as trustee of the American Society of Aesthetics and as an editorial board member of the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. She also managed to fit in a little work on her book on J. G. Herder’s aesthetic theory, as well as an article on Herder’s naturalism. She enjoyed teaching a new course, Sublimity, Ugliness, and Horror, along with other courses, and advising two terrific senior theses on Adorno.

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Five Graduating Seniors Share What’s Next for Them

Mariam Al Askari: “I am still floating rudderless on a sea of possibilities. So far, I have mostly been look- ing at jobs and internships in the arts, particularly in museum curation or education. I’m banking on my art history major for this. But as clichéd as it sounds coming from a Chicago resident, my priority right now is to move somewhere warm as soon as possible. I am very curious about the West Coast.”

Alex Marichal: “I’ll be starting in a position with the software company EPIC this August.”

Romain Sinclair: “I won Northwestern’s Gardner-Exum Scholarship for service to community in 2015 and will enter Kellogg’s MS in Managerial Science program next year.”

Jacqueline Torgerson: “I’ll be moving to San Francisco to work for the Culture Trip, an online publication company, in a position called director of culture. I’ll be coming up with content ideas, recruiting writers, and editing pieces about lifestyle, food, and travel.”

Mara Weber: “Not quite sure how to dress this up or minimize doubt that I will actually be employed ... but I plan to repatriate to Germany and find work in book publishing.”