Department of Philosophy Noûsletter Number 23 - Fall 2018 No. 23 · Fall 2018 Noûsletter Page 2 Table of Contents Letter from the Chair .................................................. 4 Hare Award for Best Overall Essay .................... 61 Faculty News ................................................................... 7 Hourani Award for Outstanding Essay in Ethics Faculty Updates ........................................................... 4 .......................................................................................... 61 Faculty of the Department of Philosophy .......... 4 Patrick and Edna Romanell Award for Out- standing Essay in Naturalism ............................... 61 Faculty Reading Groups ............................................ 9 Perry Award for Best Dissertation ..................... 61 Faculty Interview: John Kearns ............................. 9 Steinberg Essay Prize Winners ............................ 62 Faculty Interview: Kah Kyung Cho .....................17 CAS Outstanding Senior Award ........................... 62 In Memory of Jiyuan Yu ..........................................27 Mary C. Whitman Scholarship.............................. 62 Administration News ............................................... 29 Graduate Student Teaching Award .................... 62 Department News ...................................................... 30 Dissertation Fellowships ....................................... 62 Visiting Assistant Professor: Devlin Russell ...30 Other Noteworthy Student Achievements ...... 63 Clinical Lecturer Position Created ......................30 The People Who Make It Possible..................... 63 Department Makeover ............................................31 The Peter Hare Award ............................................ 63 Philosophy Department Tea Time ......................31 The Hourani Lectures.............................................. 64 Buffalo Philosophical Society ...............................32 The Steinberg Award ............................................... 64 UB Graduate Philosophy Conference ................32 The Romanell Award ............................................... 64 Family Updates ........................................................... 32 The Perry Award ....................................................... 65 Student Updates ......................................................... 33 The Whitman Scholarship ..................................... 65 New Students of 2016 .............................................33 Alumni Updates .......................................................... 66 New Students of 2017 .............................................34 Notes from Our Alumni .......................................... 66 New Students of 2018 .............................................34 Recent Events .............................................................. 68 Graduates of 2016-2017 ........................................34 2017 Hourani Lecture Series: Julia Driver ...... 68 Graduates of 2017-2018 ........................................35 2017 Paul Kurtz Memorial Lecture: Massimo Student Publications ................................................35 Pigliucci......................................................................... 68 Student Reading Groups .........................................36 2016 Samuel P. Capen Lecture Series: “Philoso- Student Interview: Rasmus Larsen ....................36 phy and Its History” ................................................. 69 Student Interview: Ariane Nomikos ..................46 2017 Samuel P. Capen Lecture Series: “Race and Ethnicity” ..................................................................... 69 Student Interview: Brian Donohue ....................52 Departmental Colloquia 2016-2017 ................. 70 Student Awards .......................................................... 60 Departmental Colloquia 2017-2018 ................. 70 Peter Hare Department Citizenship Award ....60 Logic Colloquia 2016-2017 ................................... 71 Hare Award for Outstanding TA/RA .................61 No. 23 · Fall 2018 Noûsletter Page 3 Fifth and Sixth Annual Romanell Conferences on Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine ........71 Blameless Buffalo? Annual Conference and Summer Workshop ..................................................72 2017 Buffalo Annual Experimental Philosophy Conference ..................................................................72 Fall Events ..................................................................... 72 Fall 2018 Hourani Lecture .....................................72 Fall 2018 Paul Kurtz Memorial Lecture: Anjan Chakravartty ...............................................................73 2018 Buffalo Annual Experimental Philosophy Conference ...................................................................73 2018 Central States Philosophical Association Annual Meeting ..........................................................73 2018 UB Graduate Philosophy Conference .....74 Fall 2018 Department Colloquium .....................74 Fall 2018 Buffalo Logic Colloquium Celebration ..........................................................................................74 Donations ....................................................................... 75 No. 23 · Fall 2018 Noûsletter Page 4 Introduction background, and both have outlived numerous changes in the departmental furniture. They will be missed. Letter from the Chair We will be honouring Kearns and the Buffalo Logic Greetings! And wel- Colloquium with a special BLC event next month, fea- rd come to the 23 edition turing talks by Ohio State Professor (and 1978 UB PhD of the UB Philosophy alum) Stuart Shapiro and John Kearns himself. The Department Noûsletter. BLC has hosted many of the most decorated logicians We have great things in of our era, and now pays tribute to UB’s longstanding store for you as you relationship with philosophical logic. If you read on read on. I highlight a just a little you can find an interview with Kearns. few of those articles here, along with some Meanwhile, work has begun on a volume honouring news, updates, and con- Professor Kah Kyung Cho. Part history and part trib- gratulations. ute, the collection highlights Cho’s time at UB and some of the students he has impacted here and be- First off, despite now entering my third year as Chair yond. His reach goes well beyond the UB campus, with of the department, this is the first time I have overseen a particularly strong influence evident in Germany and the entire production of the Noûsletter, and the first Korea. There’s an interview with Professor Cho just a time I have written the Chair’s letter you are now read- bit further into the Noûsletter. ing. (For the most picky among you, I will clarify that of course this is the first time I’ve written this letter, But thankfully it’s not all goodbyes, and once in a while but it’s the first time I’ve written a letter for the Noûs- we get to see some new faces around here. This Fall letter!) It has been an interesting experience. I’d like we were lucky enough to add Donna Smith to our ad- to say that I couldn’t have done it without the help of ministrative team. Donna joins us as our new Under- Robert Kelly (aka Bob, or grad student and research graduate Administrator. And though she’s new to UB, assistant extraordinaire if you prefer), but that would Donna is no stranger to the SUNY system, having be a gross understatement. He’s really been the brawn honed her trade at SUNY’s Oswego and Potsdam cam- behind this edition, and he did all the heavy lifting. He puses. Donna’s experience completes our rockstar ad- is owed a big thanks, and I really appreciate the effort ministrative triad, joining Senior Staff and Assistant to he’s made. Thanks Bob! the Chair LaTonia Lattimore and Graduate Adminis- trator Liz Lesny. I cannot say enough how much I ap- FACULTY AND STAFF preciate our administrative team and how lucky we Despite the fact that academics tend to spend decades are to have them. Here’s hoping we can keep this team in the same department, it nevertheless feels like together for a long time to come! there’s a lot of coming and going. Sadly, it’s going that seems to be winning the day of late. In fact, after many, POSTERS AND PAINT many decades in the UB Philosophy department, Pro- Most of the time when there’s talk of changes in a de- fessors Cho and Kearns are saying goodbye. Both have partment, it concerns personnel. But it’s not just the made huge contributions to the department over their students, faculty and staff that change, even if those many years of service (a combined 100 plus years!), are the changes that interest us most. With that in and it will be strange to no longer have them around. mind I want to share that the department has under- Sometimes we like to say that someone who has been gone something of a facelift in the last year. For the around so long has become “part of the furniture”, but thirteen years I’ve been here (and probably a good in no way have John and Kah Kyung faded into the many more) we’ve been welcoming visitors to the No. 23 · Fall 2018 Noûsletter Page 5 department with peeling green stickers and mauve Professor James Beebe is among the front runners in trim (or was that lilac?). Well, gone is the green, and this new arena. He’s also the driving force behind the gone is the lilac. You’ll now find sharp steel lettering Buffalo x-phi conference—a conference that’s recog- and cool shades