Oberlin Philosophy
1Summer 2013, Volume 3Oberlin PhilosophyNews from AlumniA Note from the EditorMany thanks to those of you who likedour Facebook page. Keep your own comments coming! (On Facebook, simplysearch for Oberlin Philosophy). If you’renot a Facebook fan but would like to sharenews, please email the newsletter editor:Katherine.Thomson-Jones@oberlin.edu.by Katherine Thomson-JonesKurt Beals ’02 completed his PhD inGerman literature at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, and will be startinga job as assistant professor of German atWashington University in St. Louis in thefall.Karen Bennett ’93 writes: “I am an associate professor of philosophy at Cornell,though going up for full professor next year.In 2012-13, I worked on two big projects: 1)my book, Making Things Up, which is undercontract with Oxford University Press, and2) my daughter, Lila, who was born in May2012. Both are interesting, but Lila is probably more fun. She is certainly messier.”Don Baxter ’76 is completing his firstyear as philosophy department head at theUniversity of Connecticut. He asks that welook for an anthology in metaphysics heco-edited with Aaron Cotnoir (St. AndrewsUniversity) entitled Composition as Identity,due out from Oxford University Press laterthis year.Bill Bigelow ’63 tells us of his mostinteresting philosophy news: his recentdiscovery of the works of Slavoj Zizek. “Areyou familiar?” he asks, “He’s quite interesting and surprising!”continued on page 6As we come to the end of another full and rewarding academic year, it is timeto take stock and reconnect. Thank you to all the alumni who have sent intheir news; it is wonderful to hear about everything that life after Oberlinhas to offer.In department news, our course selection for the year was nicely balanced bothin terms of level and subject matter. We offered three of our standard introductory courses—two with a focus on value questions as well as several sections ofProblems in Philosophy. The college’s First-Year Seminar Program also introducedsome students to philosophy, thanks to Dorit Ganson’s course on Rationality,Objectivity, and Truth in Science. The department offered two courses in logic, onein formal and one in informal logic; and, three courses in the history of philosophy—modern philosophy, 19th-century philosophy, and 20th-century Continentalphilosophy. Our other core courses were in the philosophy of science, the philosophy of language, biomedical ethics, the philosophy of law, philosophy of mind,and the philosophy of music. Finally, we offered two advanced seminars, one onperception and one on representation in science.The importance of a full and varied course selection is now even greater dueto changes in the philosophy major that follow a college-wide change to thecourse-credit system. In an effort to support and encourage the combination ofphilosophy with other majors, students can now choose a particular focus fortheir philosophy degree course—by taking more philosophy courses dealing withvalue questions and the arts, for instance, or more philosophy courses dealcontinued on page 2The Magic Summer of ’66by Peter Miller ’67With a title sounding as evocative as “The Magic Summer of ‘66” you mightsuppose I’d be referring to something in the nature of an intimate personalawakening. And, indeed, the honors program that summer afforded notjust the singular experience of reading a Platonic dialogue with the commitment andsharp analytical guidance of Norman Care or the political and historical richness ofWilson Carey McWilliams or the classical brilliance and humble Socratic presenceof Nathan Greenberg, any one of which would have been an education of note—thecombined occasion of all three was truly a dream made in Oberlin.Though I probably couldn’t articulate it at the time, this was to be a foundingexperience in my journey to define my role in the world. Just as Strauss and Cropsey’sHistory of Political Philosophy includes chapters on the all the great theorists as takencontinued on page 2
2THE MAGIC SUMMER OF ’66, cont.up by their various students, so would Icontribute a chapter to Wolin and Schaar’sHistory composed of chapters by BerkeleySchool of Political Theorists, clearly moreeclectic and politically wise. I was going tobe the academic/departmental philosopherin this school of theory and practice. I wasat Oberlin that summer to start my studyand work on John Rawls and the contrast inconception of the state of nature and political education with Jean-Jacques Rousseauthat would be completed by graduation atthe end of the next academic year.My path was further set eight years laterwith my doctoral qualifying essay on JohnDewey at the University of California atSanta Cruz, where the Berkeley PoliticalTheorists had gone after their purge, myjourney extended, modified, and deferredby plans in light of the Vietnam War. Iwould be writing the Dewey chapter in thetextbook, one that would revitalize the connections of “The American Philosopher” toboth political theory—and practice—andto academic philosophy, along with theAmerican Hegelian mo[ve]ment.Alas, my 1975 work lay fallow downthrough the decades, though its visioncontinued to influence what would becomemy life’s work in community media andtechnology, at periods racing round thecountry setting up community technologycenters/CTCs, some like “The Bridge” onMain Street in Oberlin, the experience ofthe summer of ’66 and the promise of ’75well integrated through all but explicitlylaid aside and forgotten. That is, until somechance exchanges at the Oberlin ’67 clusterreunion in 2008 led to a paper on “OberlinCollege and the Berkeley School of PoliticalNote: Almost all papers notedhere are available at:peterbmiller.wordpress.com.2013 GraduatesEDITOR’S NOTE, cont.ing with questions about mind and theworld. Along with the traditional optionfor a general philosophy degree, we hopethat the new major will attract the mostreflective students with a wide variety ofinterests and ambitions.While the day-to-day business ofteaching and research occupied each ofus in the department, we were collectivelyand expertly represented to the collegeby our new (and first-ever female) chair,Dorit Ganson. Dorit gave a most graciousaddress at a recent reception celebratingDavid Bayless’ endowment of a facultysupport fund in the name of Al MacKay,emeritus department member. For moreon David Bayless ’72 and his generoussupport of the college, see below.In years like this one, which fall between meetings of the biennial OberlinColloquium, Martin Thomson-Jonesorganizes our departmental speakerseries. This year’s series was no exception to the record in its high quality andrich variety. In the fall, we had talks fromTheory” and the completion of my dissertation in political theory and communitytechnology, pulling lots of pieces nicelytogether.It has not quite been the career path Ihad once envisioned. But then, again, forthose of us fortunate enough to go throughOberlin in the 1960s, or perhaps most anytime, whose career path is ever a clear ortraditional one? Attending my 45th reunionthis May, I was pleased to stop by the philosophy open house and share some storieswith the collegial attendees, students, otheralums, faculty old and new. I hope to do soagain at my 50th in a few years.Declan Smithies (Ohio State University),on the relationship between consciousnessand cognition, and from Owen Flanagan(Duke University), on life as a performance. In the spring, we had talks fromRam Neta (University of North Carolinaat Chapel Hill), on the nature of inference,from Robert Stecker (Central MichiganUniversity) on the relation betweenaesthetic and artistic value, and fromCarl Hoefer (Universitat Autònoma deBarcelona), on the relation between causation and probability-raising.Next year, we will be hosting the 41stOberlin Colloquium in Philosophy witha focus on metaphysics. The colloquium’sorganizers, Kate and Martin ThomsonJones, are very excited about the programthey have put together.Below you will find more news, fromindividual faculty members, alumni, andgraduating students, as well as information about student achievements andspecific department events. Happy reading, and have a wonderful year.Philosophy Majors:(William) Austin Emerson*Alexander Lykoudis*Evan BakerKevin GilfetherStephan GoodwinHana JimenezPeter MeckelJustin Murphy-ManciniWilliam ShentonLeigh SmithMaxwell SugarmanRobert (Chip)Williams*December graduatePhilosophy Minors:Charlotte DonnellyCharlie HartfordDaniela MedranoJack MintzViolet PeñaElizabeth RossBenjamin SchildAnrey WangEmily WhitakerAmy WiltziusIan WoodMax ZahnZoe Zetlin
3FACULTY NEWSDorit Ganson was busy in her first yearas chair of the philosophy department.She delivered an invited talk last springat the Pacific APA in San Francisco,“The Bayesian Critique of Dogmatist andEvidentialist Responses to Skepticism.” Inthe paper she defends the idea that you cannewly gain an epistemic reason to outrightbelieve, even when your rational degreeof credence goes down. She introduces anexample, Joe the Plumber and the CruiseShip Murder, inspired by Kate and Martin’sentertaining tales of their cruise shipvacation over winter break. She served as areferee for Pacific Philosophical Quarterly,The Southern Journal of Philosophy, andPhilosophers Imprint this past year, andenjoyed advising Kevin Gilfether’s honorsproject on thought experiments in philosophy. Now that her parents have settled into their new home in Oberlin, she has beenable to take her mom to lots of concerts,including the wonderful senior recitals incomposition and organ of Justin MurphyMancini, who is one of our graduatingseniors in philosophy.authored by former Oberlin studentBen Bronner, titled “Visual Prominenceand Representationalism,” appearedin Philosophical Studies. Todd has another paper titled “Are Color ExperiencesRepresentational?” forthcoming in thatsame journal. Todd also has a paper forthcoming in Philosophy & PhenomenologicalResearch with the title “Burge’s Defenseof Perceptual Content.” The paper wasco-authored with two former Oberlinstudents: Alex Kerr and Ben Bronner. Benand Todd also completed two other papers:“Skepticism about Meaning in Life” and “ADeflationary Approach to Illusion.” Thesetwo papers are currently under review attop philosophy journals. Todd is currentlywriting a paper on the concept of a sensewith two former Oberlin students: RobertWilliams (aka “Chip”) and Ben Bronner.As a teacher, Todd is spending a lot oftime making slides as he switches to usingPowerPoint more and more in the classroom. Next year he has a research leaveduring which he plans to do a lot of reading on perception.Todd Ganson has been spending alot of time thinking about perceptionand the meaning of life. A paper co-Tim Hall taught four sections ofPhilosophy 121, Philosophy and Morality,this past year and thus oversaw a greatnumber of introductions to philosophy. Inaddition, he taught a section of Philosophy235, Biomedical Ethics, in the spring. Timreports that the pleasures of philosophicalconversation are, as he recalled, great witha great number of interlocutors.Tim also gave a couple of invitedlectures this past year. In November, hedelivered “How There Can Be a Right toBear Arms?” at the University of Madison,Wisconsin, as part of a broader conferenceon gun policy. In April he gave a lecture atTrinity University entitled, “OccasioningCrime, Libertarian Property, and Agency.”Both lectures addressed, at different levelsof abstraction, the moral status of behaviors that might occasion crime. Timreports intensive discussion on these topicsof contemporary controversy.Madeline Hall, Tim’s Timneh AfricanGrey parrot companion, appeared occasionally in philosophy classes this schoolyear. Madeline continues to performspeech acts and various inscrutable acts ofcognition. Maddie enjoyed her occasionalforays into philosophical conversation,Tim reports, punctuating her superiorityover humans with displays of flight.continued on page 4SOME OF OUR GRADUATES’ FUTURE PLANSAustin Emerson writes: “After a nourishing four years spentmolding his brain in the rarefied air of the Oberlin intellectualenvironment, Austin Emerson will seek wisdom on the openroad—in the hills of northern Spain, the beaches of Greece,and the peninsulas of Mexico. He plans on traveling for thenext year or so, with no foreseeable plans after that.”Kevin Gilfether will be attending Tufts University’s science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) elementaryeducation program. He’ll be doing his student teaching inCambridge, Mass., at the King Open Elementary School.Patrick Haggerty will be attending the PhD program in mathat Indiana University.Will Shenton writes: “I am extremely fortunate in that I actually have a job lined up! Starting in August, I’ll be workingas a communications associate for Blue Oak School in Napa,Calif. It’s a small, private K-8 school, and I’ll be managing webcontent, writing articles, taking pictures, and doing generalgraphic design/layout work for their pamphlets, internal documents, and whatnot. I can’t wait to get started, as northernCalifornia is one of my absolute favorite places in the world,and it’s been too long since I spent time out there.”Chip Williams writes: “I plan on returning to North Carolinato find gainful employment doing something or other, beforeapplying to philosophy graduate programs in the fall. Withmy philosophy degree in hand, I’ll enjoy explaining to strangers and members of the extended family alike what I ‘plan ondoing with that,’ and I look forward to basking newt-like inthe warm glow of their approval as I reveal my plans to spendseveral years in pursuit of another, bigger philosophy degree.”
4FACULTY NEWS, cont.Tim wishes our alumni well and helooks forward to hearing from Oberlinphilosophers over the coming year.Peter McInerney taught a full range ofcourses in 2012-13, including 19th CenturyPhilosophy, 20th Century ContinentalPhilosophy, and Philosophy of Mind.His research concerns the interaction ofscientific claims (from psychology, behavioral economics, and neuroscience) aboutthe workings of human psychologicalsystems with philosophical and commonsense conceptions of these matters inethics, practical reasoning, and philosophyof mind. He is particularly interested inthe extent to which people can exerciseconscious control over what happens intheir own minds. He has written severalarticles concerning various ways in whichreflective activity can affect automatic,non-reflective mental happenings. Sincesome of his courses cover topics in theseareas, there is a nice fit of research forpublication purposes with research forteaching purposes.He stopped flying small planes anumber of years ago, but he still plays basketball and tennis. His wife and daughterare doing well.In the fall Kate Thomson-Jones taught thePhilosophy of Music and a section of herintroductory course, The Nature of Value.Both courses were considerably re-workedfrom previous years’ offerings, and particularly in Philosophy of Music, Kate learnta great deal from her students (includingwhy she should care more about jazz!).In January, Kate began her ACLSsponsored research leave with amonth-long visit to the HumanitiesCollective at UC Irvine (accompanied byMartin and their daughter, Orla). Whilethere, she gave a talk to a diverse audienceon the aesthetic implications of digitalmovie projection. Work on this talk servedas a useful bridge between Kate’s earlierresearch in the philosophy of film andher current book project on digital art.In Irvine, Kate also talked to a number ofdigital media scholars, toured various artmuseums, and spent as much time as possible outdoors with Orla.Since returning to Oberlin, Kate hasbeen writing furiously about digital images. She spent the summer in Montreal,visiting the Center for InterdisciplinaryStudies in Society and Culture atConcordia University. While there, sheengaged with the work of digital scholarsand artists, while enjoying francophoneculture and city life with Martin and Orla.Upon her return from Montreal in August,Kate took up a short residency at the AllenMemorial Art Museum. With the supportof an Andrew Mellon AMAM SummerCurriculum Grant, Kate is looking forways to incorporate the Allen’s collectioninto her teaching of a new seminar, to beoffered in Spring 2014, on Realism andRepresentation in Art.continued on page 5ENDOWMENTSThe philosophy department was delighted to learn in the spring that DavidBayless ’72 is endowing a faculty supportfund in the name of emeritus facultymember Al MacKay. The fund is tosupport faculty in philosophy and thehumanities with expenses related toresearch, travel, journal subscriptions,and other such activities and programsthat will enhance the faculty experienceat Oberlin.David is a partner in the SanFrancisco office of the law firmCovington & Burling, which he joinedin 2007. His practice focuses on SEC enforcement work, internal investigations,and private securities class action litigation. He represents public companies,their directors, and senior management.He has extensive experience in SEC investigations involving financial reportingand accounting fraud allegations, stockoption backdating and insider trading.He also represents mortgage-backedsecurities broker-dealers, investmentadvisers and their employees in investigations by the SEC and FINRA.Before training in law, David completed a PhD in philosophy at CambridgeUniversity and taught in the philosophydepartment at the University of NotreDame for two years.At a philosophy department reception in his honor, David spoke of theimportance of his Oberlin philosophicaltraining, particularly with Al MacKay,for his success in practicing law. As heexplained, philosophy and litigation areboth concerned with language and thestructure of arguments even if the endsof the latter are rather more practicalthan those of the former. As our chair,Dorit Ganson, conveyed so well in heraddress at the reception, the philosophydepartment is deeply grateful for David’ssupport.David Bayless ’72 (center) with Al and AnneMacKayFrom left to right: Al MacKay (emeritus faculty), David Bayless ’72, Dan Merrill (emeritusfaculty).
5FACULTY NEWS, cont.In 2012-13, Martin Thomson-Jones taughtPhilosophy of Science, Deductive Logic,and a seminar entitled “Representationin Science.” He also had the pleasureof supervising Chip Williams’s honorswork, and is very pleased by the outcome. Departmentally, he ran the visitingspeaker series, as is his wont, and, withKate, he began organizing next year’sOberlin Colloquium in Philosophy, whichwill focus on metaphysics. Researchwise, Martin is happy to report thatthe paper of which he was so anxiouslyawaiting news in last year’s newsletter(“Modelling Without Mathematics”) didindeed appear in the December 2012issue of Philosophy of Science, as part ofthe proceedings of the 2010 Philosophyof Science Association meetings, andthat another paper, “Against Bracketingand Complacency: Metaphysics and theMethodology of the Sciences,” will beappearing in a volume to be publishedby Oxford University Press sometimein the next year or so. (Other writingprojects continue to inch along, as is theirwont.) He also had a paper accepted fora conference in Hannover but thoughtbetter of making the transatlantic tripmid-semester. It was a good year for travelnonetheless. Martin went to San Diegoin November for the 2012 Philosophy ofScience Association meetings, and thenreturned to California with Kate and theirdaughter Orla for the month of January.He spent the bulk of the second Californiatrip visiting the (excellent) Logic andPhilosophy of Science Department at U.C. Irvine, and finished the trip off witha workshop at U. C. San Diego. He alsospent a week in December on a Caribbeancruise, but a veil of silence has been drawnover that episode.And finally, from our emeritus faculty:Dan Merrill and his wife, Marly, co-editeda book that was published last year: Up theWinds and o
philosophy with other majors, students can now choose a particular focus for their philosophy degree course—by taking more philosophy courses dealing with value questions and the arts, for instance, or more philosophy courses deal-continued on page 2 Oberlin Philosophy Summer 2013, Volume 3 by Katherine !omson-Jones W
Oberlin Conservatory Library Special Collections Stanley King Jazz Collection Sheet Music Inventory Page 2 Oberlin Conservatory Library l 77 West College Street l Oberlin, Ohio 44074 l con.special@ob
1900-] Finney au an Oberlin Theology. AR TleLS IV. PRESIDENT FINNEY AND AN OBERLIN THEOLOGY. BY PROFESSOR AI,BJtB.T TBKPI.K SWING. THE limits of the present article will allow only a glance at some of the more prominent of President Finney's con· tributions to the hi
Churchill and a prayer given by Oberlin College President Charles Finney. In 1944 The Cemetery Association transferred control of the cemetery to the City of Oberlin. In 1946 Frank Zavodsky became sexton for Westwood and re-mained such until his retirement in 1984. He was active and helpful in the affairs of Westwood until his death in 1997.
HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY I: ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY Shellbourne Conference Center, July MMX Professor John Gueguen This course explores the thinkers and doctrines of classical Greek and Roman philosophy from its emergence in the VIII century B.C. to its early contacts with Christianity. To understand why and how philosophy came into
Philosophy 1 Philosophy Bachelor of Arts (BA) The Department of Philosophy offers an undergraduate major in Philosophy leading to the Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. Declaring the Major Go to 314 Moses Hall (Philosophy Department office). Fill out a Declaration of Major form. Submit to the Student Affairs Officer in 314 Moses.
A Hundred Years of British Philosophy. and. Recent Philosophers. G. J. Warnock, English Philosophy Since 1900. Robert Solomon, Continental Philosophy Since 1750, (in bookstore), Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Week of Jan. 11 Topic I: Enlightenment Philosophy Locke Stumpf 263-274 Primary Sources K 164-202 Jan. 18 (2 days) Jan. 25 Berkeley Hume 274 .
While philosophy is, among contemporary academic disciplines, unique in containing its own history as a subspeciality, that history is too often focused on the history of . Asian philosophy; Indian Philosophy; African philosophy, etc. European philosophy is just "philosophy," the unmarked, privileged case, the "core" as it is sometimes put. 6 .
Bab 14. Pasar Uang amanitanovi@uny.ac.id BANK DAN LEMBAGA KEUANGAN LAIN 182 A. PENGERTIAN Pasar uang (money market) merupakan pasar yang menyediakan sarana pengalokasian dan pinjaman dana jangka pendek. Jangka waktu surat berharga yang diperjualbelikan biasanya kurang dari satu tahun. Karena itu pasar uang merupakan pasar likuiditas primer. Pelaku utama dalam pasar uang: 1. Lembaga-lembaga .
