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SUNY Oneonta
Undergraduate Philosophy Conference

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Seyra Ahmed
The Practice of Physician Assisted Suicide Supported by Kantian Ethics
Virginia Commonwealth University
This paper attempts to establish the ethicality of physician assisted suicide using Immanuel Kant’s philosophical theories.  Several arguments in support of and against this practice are evaluated using philosophical methods. Kant’s theories help us realize the role of autonomy in defining us as human beings.  By prohibiting physician assisted suicide, the ability of many individuals to exercise their autonomy is being lost.  Furthermore, there is a contradiction in the action of physicians when they issue “do not resuscitate” orders while refusing to assist a patient in his or her request to die while they are still coherent.  The possibility of coercion by the family or physician is also considered as a reason to continue the ban on physician assisted suicide.  A case study and review of the physician assisted suicide system in place in Oregon is also included to help ground the debate in actual practice. After a philosophical consideration of these matters, the debate is resolved in favor of physician assisted suicide.

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Jason Baumgarth
Tradition and Modern Meaning: Society and Relative Truth
University of Minnesota, Duluth
Kobo Abe and Walker Percy develop the ideas found in traditional Continental Existentialism in The Woman in the Dunes and The Moviegoer. Though not traditional philosophers, Abe and Percy provide Japanese and American perspectives on the problems which threaten the individual in modern society. Abe's The Woman in the Dunes addresses the confines of a society bound by tradition and the risks such a society poses to the individual. Percy's The Moviegoer examines the effects of American society on individual freewill and authenticity. Both Abe and Percy provide permutations to Continental Existentialism which reflect their respective cultures and further the ideas of writers such as Sartre and Camus. In helping to identify the downfalls of the society we have created, Abe and Percy add to the groundwork of Existential literature and begin the search for solutions to the problem of finding authenticity in a systematized world.

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Eric Bergmann
The Extraordinary: Movements in Dostoevsky and Nietzsche
Binghamton University (NY)
Fyodor Dostoevsky and Friedrich Nietzsche—two great thinkers, two prolific writers of the 19th century.  Nietzsche would discover the writings of Dostoevsky and speak favorably of them.  Any critical reading of works by the two men will uncover parallels between thought; however, as much similar thought as one may notice, the differences should not be ignored.

 This paper is an in-depth exploration of Dostoevsky’s protagonist Raskolnikov, of Crime and Punishment, read against the thought of Nietzsche.  Addressed are Raskolnikov’s conception of the extraordinary man and his attempt at becoming this man, religion and the difference in Dostoevskian and Nietzschean portrayals of, and Nietzsche’s thought pertaining to: herd mentality, the Übermensch, becoming, social values, and Will to Power.
Although much of the paper is an attempt at consideration for what would in all probability be the thinkers’ reactions to each other’s thoughts, such considerations are defended and multiple possibilities are often left on the table.  As well, the original thoughts remain untampered and untainted; these thoughts can speak for themselves, all extrapolation aside.

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Iain Tucker Brown
On the Event of Truth:  A Discussion of Art, Truth, and The Primal Conflict in Heidegger's "The Origin of the Work of Art."
St. Mary's College of Maryland
In what follows I attempt to bring to light three prominent questions from roughly two, highly significant yet extraordinarily difficult, sections of Heidegger’s work The Origin of the Work of Art.  My exploration into the text focuses on the following inquiries: 1) What is concealedness?  2) What is truth as unconcealedness? 3) How do we attain toward truth in the work of art?  Without revealing too much, my intention is to illustrate, with the philosophical genius of Heidegger’s aesthetic reflections, the function of art, not as a mere mechanism for the causal interpretation of thoughts and feelings that stand in relation to the aesthetic response or the artwork at hand, but rather as the impetus for a meaningful reconciliation between two dialectically opposed states of existence in the form of the event of truth.  Art will be explored as a sort of story in which we, as characters, interact with ourselves and the world in order to resolve what Heidegger terms, The Primal Conflict.

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Christine M. Cinquino
The Exhilarating Freedom! Hope in Existentialism
St. Vincent's College (PA)
In our age, following what Nietzsche metaphorically referred to as the “death” of God, it is common for individuals to feel lost in a philosophical environment where all values are considered relative and where absurdity and anxiety seem to be the most powerful feelings life has to offer.  In this moral climate, a temptation exists for some introspective young persons, who may be experiencing a phase of mental and emotional anguish from recent life experiences, to give in to a form of pessimistic nihilism.  However, accepting an existentialist perspective does not necessitate the surrender of humanistic faith in the value of persons or of a meaningful life.  The existentialist claim that “existence precedes essence” challenges each individual to create personal meaning and to reveal the value of all human beings.

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Erin Cline
Incommensurability, Normative Vices, and the Comparative Language Game: A Wittgensteinian Model for Comparative Philosophy
Belmont University (TN)
The examination of what might cause one to be “torn away” from a particular world view is essential to the construction of a Wittgensteinian model for comparative philosophy.  In this paper, I discuss the obstacles which plague comparative studies and place Wittgenstein in conversation with other key thinkers on the subject of different world views.  I give attention to Alasdair MacIntyre’s discussion of intertranslatability, Donald Davidson’s discussion of incommensurability, and to the normative vices proposed by Martha Nussbaum.  I conclude my paper with an examination of a comparative language game, and the manner in which it is a process of refinement with many levels and characteristics.

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Katherine Collins
Arendt, Heidegger, and the Decline of the Public Realm
University of Massachusetts, Lowell
Hannah Arendt’s political philosophy can be described as an attempt to recover genuine political life from the isolating and alienating circumstances of modern capitalist society. However, even though Arendt’s celebration of genuine political life can be traced back to Greek philosophy, an examination of her conclusions in The Human Condition makes it clear that, however much she drew from Plato and Aristotle, her political vision owes a great deal to the original thoughts expressed in Heidegger’s Being and Time. In this paper I illustrate that Arendt’s political theory rests fundamentally on her understanding, appropriation, and transformation of key Heideggerian concepts. Issues from Heidegger that Arendt appropriates are: Dasein, modernity and the public and private spheres. Finally I will demonstrate that both rejected the Marxist notion that we can achieve freedom by erasing bourgeoisie distinctions between the public and the private.

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Katherine Collins
The Environmental Crisis Through a Buddhist Perspective
University of Massachusetts, Lowell
Although environmental degradation may not have been forefront in the mind of Buddha or his disciples, his teachings nonetheless provide lessons for contemporary society. Buddhism offers intriguing insights for a model of living that is compatible with the protection and preservation of the natural environment. There are also a number ofapparent inconsistencies within a Buddhist environmental perspective. Whatever the limitations, by facilitating development of an ethic founded upon principles of sustainability, Buddhism can assist in the emergence of a clearer understanding of the environmental crisis.

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Malinda Foster
The Problem of Happiness in Nietzsche's "Use and Abuse of History"
University of Michigan, Dearborn
In my essay I aim to describe accurately the core issue in Nietzsche’s "Use and Abuse of History" as seemingly indicated by Nietzsche himself: the problem of happiness.  According to Nietzsche, in order for us to be happy in life we need history.  Without history we will be unhappy.  With too much history we will be unhappy.  With just the right amount of history we may or may not be happy, but at least we will be tempted to think that happiness in life is possible – and the thought of that, Nietzsche says, will tend to make us rather happy.

I suggest further that Nietzsche’s essay and its hortatory content are directed at young students. (Today, that would seem to translate into undergraduate students in particular.) These issues seem timely and appropriate because modern education, according to Nietzsche, leaves its pupils ignorant of the most important thing: the possibility of happiness in life.

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Malinda Foster
The Silence of Philosophy in Crito's Exhortation (Plato's Crito)
University of Michigan, Dearborn
In my essay I argue that the Crito is an overtly political dialogue.  Thematically central is the problem of obligation.  The word philosophy is never spoken once.  Philosophy unspoken, however, is in no way the same thing as philosophy absent. Considering, for example, the significant silence of philosophy in Crito’s exhortation, I further suggest that when most people read Crito they tend to find two things most memorable: One is the speech on behalf of the laws.  The other is Socrates’ heroic resolve and determination.  They tend to interpret these as examples of public and private excellence or political and philosophic virtue.  What they forget, however, is that Socrates says what he says in response to Crito.  But it seems appropriate to wonder if Socrates’ response can only or best be understood in light of Crito and his own particular demands.

Additionally, it is a concern that after examining Crito’s exhortation, we might be compelled to reinterpret those (once seemingly clear) examples of civic and philosophic virtue.  For as we begin to look closely at what Socrates says, our understanding of civic virtue proves increasingly problematic.  Furthermore, it seems to call into question and create a certain conflict with the idea that Socrates’ willingness to stay in jail and face his immanent death is itself an example of philosophic virtue.  The silent suggestion in Crito’s exhortation is something very different; it seems to point away from politics proper and toward philosophy – but not just philosophy – Socratic philosophy.
These issues seem relevant because they might teach us something about our own situation, living in a country at a time when the questions of virtue and civic-mindedness seem to be most pressing.

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Scott M. Gleason
Towards a Processean Aesthetics Within A Whiteheadean Metaphysics
SUNY Potsdam/Crane School of Music
Many philosophers engage in discussions of art and such considerations are, obviously, founded upon their metaphysical principles. Consequently, a vast and rich bodv of aesthetic investigation has risen, however, mostly within the static, dualistic ontologies characteristic of these philosophers. The work of Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) offers a decisive and rewarding framework with which to conceive of the nature of art and music, accepting many of the former principles of aesthetics, while at the same time challenging and revising them.
Whitehead's metaphysical notions, so unique and compelling in their own right, abound with aesthetic implications and significance. However, Whitehead's discussions of art are fairly limited and beg for further investigation. To this end, this paper explores some notions regarding aesthetic experience that are latent in Whitehead's process metaphysics, and some of his more salient notions of art and its function. It is the central aim of this paper, then, to show that Alfred North Whitehead's metaphysics can be adventurously conceived of as a Processean Aesthetics.

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Zachary Haines
Wittgenstein and Naturalism
Macalester College (MN)
Recently, philosophical texts have been based more and more on a naturalistic approach to philosophy. This interested me and I thought that it was the correct direction in which to move. One of the authors I read who instilled the belief that philosophy should be concerned with the way things are done, not with how they ought to ideally be done, was Ludwig Wittgenstein. I think that his Philosophical Investigations was not only a shift in philosophy of language methodology, but symbolic of the change occurring across the field of all philosophy. Philosophical inquiry is receiving more credibility with the layman because exploring the nature of things through empirical observation is done in place of normative, theoretical ideologies that would otherwise be produced. This is not to say that there is no place for theorizing about what should or could be done, but this is to come after what actually is done is examined.

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Rachel Houchins
Feminine Ethical Theories: Their Validity Tested
East Tennessee State University
Numerous commentators agree that historically many ethical theories have not only excluded women, but also degraded them, portraying women as morally deficient. This theoretical tendency prompted Carol Gilligan, Nel Noddings, and many other women to attempt to remedy this deficiency by answering the question “How do women fit into ethical [or moral development] theory?”  Although I applaud these efforts, I fear they perpetuate many detrimental assumptions about women, and thus indirectly support the subordination of women.  Additionally, the ethic of care is not useful in many fields of applied ethics.   This can be vividly demonstrated by studying the ramifications of the ethic of care on the field of bioethics.  In a society where people are attempting to make medicine a more “caring” science, it is easy for many practitioners to find the ethic of care appealing, but it is, in fact, detrimental to both the patients and the health-care providers.

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Tamara Johnson
Political Noise and Vociferous Silence: Heidegger and Nazism
Binghamton University (NY)
This paper addresses the main controversies surrounding the career of Martin Heidegger: his involvement with the Nazi party and the silence he maintained regarding said involvement.  One may, with some justification, expect of a philosopher a higher standard of ethics and therefore feel especially appalled by Heidegger’s relation to one of history’s most nefarious evils.  How could a philosopher, of all people, subscribe to such a heinous ideology?  This is a exigent question to be asked as post modernism, which movement can be found to have roots in a great deal of Heidegger’s writing, becomes one of the most dominant philosophies of our culture.  If the relativism in Heidegger’s existentialism allowed for genocide, what about the relativism that so permeates contemporary thought?  I attempt to explain how it came about that Heidegger made such despicable choices by relating his philosophy of anxious authenticity and historicity to the philosophy of Hitler, hoping to thereby point out some of the strengths and weaknesses of Heidegger’s thought.

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John Kaag
The Mask Unmasked: The Role of Hipocrisy in the Dialectic of Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Penn State University
The movement of Zarathustra is reminiscent of this classical content of the stage. The true essence of Nietzsche’s ideal man is shrouded in the doctrine espoused  by the acting vehicle of this ideal, the teachings of the acting “sage” ( Nietzsche 227).  Nietzsche assumes the position of the skilled choreographer.  His “dance,”  the action and dialogue of Zarathustra, heralds its own destruction;  the curtain must close on this act as well.  The juxtaposition of atheistic sentiment and theistic method, draws Zarathustra to an explicit dénouement grounded in hypocrisy.  The “playwright’s” hypocritical blunder draws this curtain closed and strips the primary actor of his costume.  The blunder, however, lies not in the process of the author, but rather in the eyes of an impatient audience.  The life of the actor, the vitality of Zarathustra’s teachings, fades, yet the overman is not destroyed by this unmasking.  Man, once an actor, is “naked (93),”  without costume or pretense.  Nietzsche’s reader is also robbed of his role as the passive student.  The novel lends little to rely upon; it is an empty vessel which this active pupil must fill.  It is, in  fact, the essence of the Overman himself, in the reader himself,  which is revealed.

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Justin C. Maaia
The Experience and Expression of Truth
Suffolk University (MA)
Words are inadequate for expressing the Truth.  This is characteristic of all forms of expression.  While a word, a picture, or a song may act as a catalyst for another person to seek out the Truth, the medium itself cannot imbue someone with the understanding that the Truth itself can instill.  This is why the only way to understand the Truth, or any other concept, is through direct experience.  Any means of expressing it should be tailored to the purpose of inspiration.  In this way can another person be convinced to seek out the truth.  Attempting to capture its essence through some medium other than itself is futile.  The truth cannot be communicated.  It can only be experienced.

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Michael Alan Payne
A Father's Rights in Abortion: Proof That He Has A Say
Virginia Commonwealth University
This paper will focus on case study 2:1 on page 75 of Well and Good, a book of medical case studies that takes an in depth philosophical viewpoint.  The paper will begin by giving an overview of the case study in question and will describe the family situation that we are dealing with.  This situation, in which the father wishes to continue the pregnancy and the wife wishes to abort, casts a particularly intriguing view on current themes of abortion and has inspired the writer to question the rights of a father in the abortion decision making process.  The paper ultimately takes a stance in support of paternal rights and sites several common place social acceptances and attitudes that reinforce these rights.  The right to have a say is carefully looked at and is expressed, attacked, and rebutted by using popular arguments and proofs of philosophy common in Kantian, consequentialist, and teleological thoughts.  The paper also expresses the main themes of autonomy, "safe sex", women vs. men in autonomy, and society vs. men in views towards abortion.  The paper ends with a universalizable rule as well as a tangent that may be safely drawn from it.

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Jayson A. White
Religious and Non-Religious Language, and Propositions About Human Rights
Iowa State University
The distinction between religion and non-religion and religious and non-religious language is important, if not essential, to most Modern social and political dialogue.  For, any philosophical view attempting to exclude the use of any particular kind of thought or language ought to be able to give an account of what it is purporting to exclude.  It seems clear that there is some significant difference between obviously religious and non-religious propositions.  Identifying the nature of this difference or differences, however, proves to be a very difficult task.  Moreover, many propositions, (for example, references to human rights) which are not usually considered religious in any way, seem to be subject to the same criticisms as are analogous religious propositions.  If one is to maintain the belief that propositions about human rights are meaningful in the sense that they are used in everyday language and are not subject to the same criticisms as are propositions about karmic rights, then certain accounts of the difference between religious and non-religious propositions and certain theories of meaning and reference must be avoided.

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Andrew Wilson
The Nature of Language: Public and Private
Macalester College (MN)
The confusion over the question of the privacy of language is to be attributed to the failure to recognize the fact that language can have both a public and a private aspect simultaneously, and, in fact, must have both if it is to function, and if its very existence is to be accounted for. A materialist account of mind, idealist skepticism, and empiricist epistemology, when joined with evolutionary logic, show clearly that each individual's meanings are necessarily private, but close similarities are necessary for practical communication to occur. This ambiguity has caused the confusion that has become the private vs. public controversy, while it is clear that close but nevertheless slightly different meanings must be present in order for meaningful communication to coexist with linguistic evolution.