News, Events and Awards

Upcoming Summer Symposium

Pittsburgh Summer Symposium in Contemporary Philosophy:
Schelling and Naturphilosophie

In recent years there has been a surge of research on Schelling, aided in the English speaking world by a number of recent translations. This movement has included reexaminations of Schelling as a figure in the history of philosophy, as a source of influence on a number of twentieth century thinkers, and as a rich resource for addressing contemporary philosophical debates. This summer symposium will bring together an international group of graduate students, postdoctoral students, and junior faculty for a week of discussion, lecture, and close textual study concerning this important philosopher. We will examine questions about nature, objectivity, matter, life, knowledge, and whether or not transcendental philosophy can be reconciled with the findings of the empirical sciences.

Please find more information on the website here.

News

The Department is thrilled to announce the hiring of Tom Eyers as Assistant Professor within the Philosophy Department. Dr. Eyers received his Ph.D. from Kingston University in London and recently completed a Post-Doctorate Fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Eyers specializes in contemporary French philosophy, psychoanalysis (particularly Lacan), and Marxism. Dr. Eyers will begin teaching classes in the fall. He will be teaching a course on Contemporary Philosophy as well as offering Basic Philosophical Questions courses. Dr. Eyers' published works include his books, Lacan and the Concept of the Real and the upcoming Post-Rationalism: Psychoanalysis, Epistemology, and Marxism in Post-War France (May 2013). Dr. Eyers' latest interview for his upcoming book can be found here.

On April 8. Prof. Dan Selcer and the undergraduates in his Early Modern Philosophy courses visited the Posner Collection at Carnegie Mellon University to examine rare first editions of works by Andreas Vesalius, Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilee, Francis Bacon, René Descartes, and Robert Hooke. With the support of a 2011 NEH Teaching Development Fellowship, Selcer rebuilt this course to be one focused one the interpenetration of philosophy and science, the inseparability of image and text, and the inextricability of experiment from thought in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Congratulations to Chelsea Harry and Kamal Shlbei!

Chelsea Harry gave a brilliant defense of her dissertation, "Time (Chronos) in Aristotle's Natural Philosophy and of its Place in Early Naturphilosophie (1750-1800)". Dr. Harry is an Assistant Professor at Southern Connecticut State University. Our best wishes to her as she heads back to Connecticut!

Kamal Shlbei exquisitely defended his dissertation, "Sadra and Hegel on the Relationship Between Essence/Existence & Subject/Object". Our best wishes to Dr. Shlbei as he returns home to Libya!

Recent Awards

Congratulations to Ryan Johnson!

Ryan Johnson is the recipient of the Graduate School's Award for Excellence in Scholarship! Congratulations Ryan on this excellent achievement!

Congratulations to Jacob Graham!

Jacob Graham is the recipient of Duquesne's first Distinguished Dissertation Award in the Humanities Division for his work, "The Flourishing Self in Aristotle and the Authentic Self in Heidegger"! Jacob defended in March of 2012, his dissertation was directed by Dr. Michael Harrington.

Congratulations to Martin Krahn!

Martin Krahn recently received a DAAD Intensive Language Course Grant and will be studying at the Goethe Intsitut in Berlin from June 3rd to August 3rd!

Teaching Awards

Essay Awards

There are two winners of the 2012 Graduate Philosophy Essay Award:

Jacob Greenstine for his "Why Galileo Matters" and Matt Lovett for his "Rothko's Negative Theology"

Congratulations Jacob and Matt!

The other nominations were extremely strong and the committee commends them all heartily:

Karim Barakat for his "The Self-Conscious Subject"
Keith Hehr for "God and Nature in Spinoza's Philosophy: The Immanence of Transcendence."
Bethany Somma for her paper "Life and Power: Superabundance in the Philosophy of Plotinus"

We are very proud of you all.

The winning papers will be presented to the department at an award ceremony later in the spring.

Sincerely yours,
The 2012 Graduate Student Essay Award Committee (Jennifer Bates and Lanei Rodemeyer)

Grant Recipients

Congratulations to Matt Lovett, recipient of the Faculty Development Grant! Matt has developed a "Philosophy before and after the Holocaust" course, to be taught in Spring 2014 that will involve a spring break away trip to Berlin.

The Inaugural Pennsylvania Circle of Ancient Philosophy Conference Was a Success!

Congratulations and thanks to conference organizers Jacob Greenstine and Bethany Somma! The first PCAP was an excellent event filled with high quality scholarly papers. More information about the conference, including pictures from the event, can be found here.

Undergrad Thesis Defenses

• Colin Stragar-Rice, "Morality as an Expression of Power: Conatus and Its Role in Moral Deliberation."  Director: Dr. Kelly Arenson
  
• Andrew Evans, "Investigating Love: Nietzsche Compared to Augustine." Director: Dr. Patrick Lee Miller  
• Stephen Hanson, "Husserl, Wittgenstien, & the Intersubjectivity of Language." Director: Dr. Lanei Rodemeyer
• Rachel Van Campenhout, "Between Consciousness and the Body: A Phenomenological Exploration." Director: Dr. Lanei Rodemeyer
• Roman Becicka, "The Role of Reason in Mental Health: Case-Studies in Ancient and Modern Philosophy." Director: Dr. Patrick Lee Miller

All defenses were conducted in the Simon Silverman Phenomenology Center on April 26, 2012.

Faculty and Ph.D. College Awards 2012

• Dr. George Yancy has won the McAnulty College and Graduate School for Liberal Arts Excellence in Scholarship Award.
• Dr. Daniel Selcer has won the McAnulty College and Graduate School for Liberal Arts Faculty Teaching Award.
• Mrs. Joan Thompson, administrative assistant, has won the McAnulty College and Graduate School Staff Award.
• Mr. Nathan Eckstrand (Philosophy Ph.D. Student) has won The McAnulty College Graduate Student Scholarship Award.

2013-2014 Speakers and Conferences

Spring 2013

February 22nd: Ulrika Björk (U of Uppsala)

February 23rd:  7th Annual Duquesne Graduate Conference in Philosophy

Time: 8:30am-6:00pm

Place: 104 College Hall

Topic: Philosophy and Nature

Keynote: Adrian Johnston (University of New Mexico) Paper: Reflections of a Rotten Nature: Hegel, Lacan, and Material Negativity

For more information contact Matt Lovett at lovettm@duq.edu

March 15th : NEH Symposium (The Body and the Non-Rational in Ancient Greek Thought)

a. Rachel Singpurwalla (U of Maryland, College Park)

b. Emily Austin (Wake Forest)

c. Christina Ionescu (Catholic U of America)

April 12th: Jonathan Lear (U Chicago) at 3:15pm in the Simon Silverman Phenomenology Center

2011-2012 Speakers and Conferences

Fall 2012

Emily S. Lee (California State University at Fullerton), Fisher Hall 719, Friday, December 7th, 2012.

C.D.C. Reeve (UNC Chapel Hill) in College Hall 104,  Wednesday, November 28th, 2012.

Karen Stohr (Georgetown) in College Hall 104, Friday, November 9th, 2012.

Jay Lampert (U of Guelph and visiting SSPC scholar) in College Hall 104, Friday, October 12th, 2012.

Patrick Lee Miller (Duquesne University) in College Hall 104, Friday, September 7th, 2012.

Video recordings of the speaker's presentations for this fall can be found here

Spring 2012

Fall 2011  

"The Collision of Derrida's Deconstructionism and Chinese Marxism" Wei Xiao Ping (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) in the Silverman Center, Friday, December 2, 2011.

Silvia Stoller (Vienna) November 17, 2011. Co-sponsored with the Center for Women's and Gender Studies.

Symposium on Hegel's Science of Logic, with Dr. Jay Lambert (Guelph) Dr. David Morris (Concordia), Dr. Tom Rockmore (Duquesne), and Dr. John Russon (Guelph), in the Silverman Center, Friday, October 28, 2011.

"Reclaimed Voice? Echo's Own Echo" Lisa Folkmarson Käll (Uppsala), October 14, 2011. Co-sponsored with the Center for Women's and Gender Studies.

"Lacan on Love" - Bruce Fink (Duquesne University / Psychology Department) September 23, 2011.

Film screening - "Only God Can Save Us". September 9, 2011. Film and panel discussion featured film maker Jeffery van Davis, Dr. Tom Rockmore (Duquesne University) and the Duquesne University's Department of Philosophy's first doctoral graduate, Dr. Ted Kisiel (Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Northern Illinois University). This film looks at one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century, Martin Heidegger and his rejection of democracy and support of Nazism in the 1930's.

Department Highlights

Ron Polansky is the current Chair, replacing James Swindal who was recently hired as Dean of the McAnulty College of Arts and Sciences.

Jennifer Bates hosted a conference on Hegel's Logic last semester on October 28th. Panel participants included Jay Lampert (University of Guelph), John Russon (University of Guelph), David Morris (Concordia University), and Tom Rockmore.
 

Fred Evans was elected Member-at-Large of the Executive Committee for the Society of Phenomenological and Existential Philosophy (SPEP). He was also one of four Keynote speakers of the Seminario International: Rutas y Encuentros de Los Estudios Sociales y Culturales in Bogota, Columbia in October, presenting his paper "Voces de la democracia: cuidadania y arte public en el Millenium Park de Chicago."
 

Louis Bulter, an undergraduate major, has been award a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Munich for the academic year 2011-2012. Pittsburgh Tribune Article.

Daniel Selcer is the Director of Graduate Studies, replacing Ron Polansky while he serves as Chair. He has recently spoken on early modern materialism at the University of Pittsburgh, on the importance of history for philosophy at Slippery Rock University, on Spinoza's account of individualism at the University of Guelph, and on the idea of ‘operative science' in Bacon and Spinoza at Simon Fraser University. We are also pleased to announce that Dan is being awarded the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Faculty Teaching Award for his fine classroom work

Patrick Miller was awarded a Presidential scholarship for research in the summer of 2011.

Lanei Rodemeyer presented her paper: "Similar (but Different) and Different (but Similar): The Possibility for Intercultural Others in Husserl's Fifth Cartesian Meditation," at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan. She was also invited to speak at the "Feminist Phenomenology and Medicine" conference at Uppsala University where she presented her paper "Feminism, Phenomenology, and Hormones," which has been submitted for publication in an anthology on Feminist Phenomenology and Medicine.

Patrick Miller presented a series of posts, entitled "Crosswise Christ," on the Immanent Frame, a blog sponsored by the Social Science Research Council.

Recent Faculty Publications

Patrick Miller Becoming God: Pure Reason in Early Greek Philosophy. Continuum Press, 2011.	Tom Rockmore Kant and Phenomenology. University of Chicago Press, 2011.
Jennifer Bates Hegel and Shakespeare on Moral Imagination. SUNY Press, 2010. View it here.	Tom Rockmore Before and After 9/11: A Philosophical Examination of Globalization, Terror, and History. Continuum Press, 2011.
Daniel Selcer Philosophy and the Book. Continuum Press, 2010.	George Yancy, editor. The Center Must Not Hold. White Women Philosophers on the Whiteness of Philosophy. Lexington, 2010.
George Yancy, Look, A White! Philosophical Essays on Whiteness. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press 2012.	Fred Evans,The Multivoiced Body: Society and  Communication in the Age of Diversity, Columbia  University Press, 2009.
James Swindal, Action and Existence: A Case For Agent Causation. (Macmillan, 2012).	Michael Harrington, On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy: The Thirteenth-Century Textbook Edition. Peeters, 2011.

New 2012-2013 Graduate Students

Departmental Graduate Student Awards

• Eric Mohr and Patrick Craig received the 2012-2013 McAnulty Dissertation Fellowship.
• H.A. Nethery is the recipient of the Charles Dougherty Graduate Student Teaching Excellence Award for 2011.
• Zachary Hamm won the Philosophy Graduate Essay prize for 2011.
• Stephanie Adair, Dave Mesing, Keith Hehr, James Bahoh, Ryan Johnson, Sila Ozkara, Paul Zipfel, Becky Vartabedian, Paul Di Georgio, and Jacob Greenstine received the Ronald M. Polansky summer language study grants for 2012.

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