This past weekend, we celebrated with graduating Philosophy Majors, Minors, and their families and friends. We are so incredibly proud of this group of graduates; they began college during the pandemic, are so talented, and have shown so much growth and enthusiasm over their years at Puget Sound! We look forward to following your journey after Puget Sound!
Students from Professor Sara Protasi’s senior seminar PHIL 450 Topics in Value Theory: Philosophy of Disability and from her fall 2023 course PHIL 333 Philosophy of Emotions presented their work on Monday, April 22nd. Students discussed their projects centered around disability, ethics, artificial intelligence and emotions. The event was well attended, with many students and faculty stopping by to learn from and appreciate the original, interesting, and meaningful projects.
The poster presentations were as follows:
Please enjoy some photos from the event!
Join us on Tuesday, April 2nd at 7pm in the Tahoma Room for a talk by Ted Chiang, award-winning science fiction author and one of Time Magazine‘s Top 100 Most Influential People in AI. His short story, “Story of Your Life”, was the inspiration for the hit film Arrival!
Chiang will delve into the fundamental question of whether artificial intelligence truly deserves to be called intelligence. He will explore the various applications of synthetic text and imagery and ponder the conditions necessary for these mediums to be considered artistic.
The lecture will be followed by a Q&A session, providing attendees the opportunity to engage with Chiang and delve deeper into the topics explored during the event.
This event is open to the public, and admission is free. However, due to limited seating, interested individuals are encouraged to arrive early to secure their spot.
Organized by the James Dolliver NEH Lecture Series in the Humanities and Artificial Intelligence, the Catharine Gould Chism Fund for the Humanities, and the Department of Philosophy.
Join us for a screening of the hit sci-fi/mystery film Arrival, followed by a discussion with philosophy professor Justin Tiehen on Wednesday, March 22nd at 7pm in Rausch Auditorium.
Arrival is based on a short story “A Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang, a renowned science fiction writer who will be giving a talk on campus Tuesday, April 2nd.
Arrival follows linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) as she leads an elite team of investigators when gigantic spaceships touch down in 12 locations around the world. As nations teeter on the verge of global war, Banks and her crew must race against time to find a way to communicate with the extraterrestrial visitors. Hoping to unravel the mystery, she takes a chance that could threaten her life and quite possibly all of mankind.
The screening is sponsored by Campus Films, the Dolliver-NEH project “Humanities and Artificial Intelligence,” and the Department of Philosophy.
The Puget Sound Ethics Bowl team competed at the Northwest Regional Ethics Bowl on November 18th, 2023 at Pacific Lutheran University here in Tacoma. This year’s team included Mei Pacheco-Leong ’23, Alysiana Sar ’24, Natalie Worthy ’25, and Holland Hauskins ’27 and was coached by Professor Tubert.
With mostly a new team, the Fall 2023 ethics bowl students had to work extra hard to get ready for the competition. Mei Pacheco-Leong, the veteran team member, did an awesome job taking the lead and helping the rest of the team prepare. Prof. Tubert said, “I am incredibly proud of the work the team did this semester! Their presentations improved each round with each of the members of the team going well out of their comfort zone during the competition. It was so fun to watch them and be part of their process, I know this group has a bright future ahead!”
The cases for Fall 2023 involved the ethics of banning some books from schools, balancing posthumously the wishes of art collectors and accessibility to the works of art, ethical engagement with governments with a record of human rights abuses, the ethics of using artificial intelligence for approving and denying health insurance claims, and more.
Some of the students reflected on their work during the fall semester and being part of the competition:
Alysiana Sar ’24: Being part of Ethics Bowl ‘23, for the first time, has definitely been an experience. Though there were 4 of us, I could proudly tell others like ‘yeah, I was one of the four!’ It was hard because of external factors that were out of our control, but it didn’t stop us from continuing forward. I’ve learned so much as a participant, a team member and a student. I learned how to cooperate with my team in ways that were different from just inside the classroom. I learned how to present information and apply my knowledge to real life scenarios and being able to discuss it through a lens of deeper understanding. Alongside, I’ve gained the skills that Ethics Bowl provided me and friends!!! I would recommend E.B for the experience because reflecting (now that it’s over) I am so happy that I took it because I ended the semester with fun memories, new friends, and more knowledge!!!!!
Mei Pacheco-Leong ’23: It was only a couple of years ago that I joined Ethics Bowl for the first time, outwardly quiet, internally anxious but opinionated, especially ethically. My first competition, I tried to squirrel out of competing, citing performance anxiety and performance-based forgetfulness (I did not, at that point, even contribute to class discussions, even when cold-called). I loved the prep work and I loved the discussions and debates between our team, but I was terrified of giving arguments in front of an audience– even my peers. Unfortunately for me, my team saw me with kinder eyes than I saw myself and supported me through the anxieties of public speaking. That first bowl, I performed timidly but I did perform, introducing the moral considerations of our cases and our ethical framework in as few words as I could get away with.
This last bowl has been my third and final year on Ethics Bowl and I would like to say I’ve grown since that initial competition. Though between now and then, I have also taken more philosophy classes and completed a philosophy capstone course, it’s Ethics Bowl in particular where I really developed confidence both in my ideas and in sharing them. Talking through ethical considerations and intuitions with a team is such a fun way of applying philosophy to real-world events. We learn to think about how to balance what is ethical with what is practical, how to think through complicated ethical issues, and how to further the discussion without attacking people’s views. I have been delighted to watch my teammates grow as philosophers and as people, developing skills like public speaking, getting better at breaking down and talking through arguments, and learning how to support each other even when we disagree. This year, I took on the role of giving our main argument, the role I watched all the seniors before me perform so well thinking I would never do that. Just as the years before, we lost, but I am so proud of our team and I can’t wait to see how they grow as/(if) they continue onwards.
Natalie Worthy ’25: This was my first year in Ethics Bowl and coming into it with no philosophy experience was challenging, but so fulfilling. As a Vocal Performance Major, I didn’t feel very prepared to take on ethical debates, but I really wanted to experience something new while utilizing my public speaking skills. After competing with this team, I can confidently say that my time in Ethics Bowl has been so valuable. I gained great experiences, ethical knowledge, and lovely friendships throughout the semester!
Sophomore Chloe Ivy-Curwen was chosen as The Trail’s “Artist of the Issue” and was interviewed about their art and artistic background. Chloe is a double major in Art and Philosophy with a minor in Bioethics, and their preferred artistic medium is gouache paint.
One question that the interviewer asked was about how Chloe’s broad range of academic pursuits intersect with each other. Here is their response:
I’ve been extremely passionate about ethics and philosophy since taking a philosophy class in high school, but again, I hadn’t found a way to overlap these interests until I took classes here. I’ve been really interested in the need for art in life and/or society, and also the new problems that Artificial Intelligence has been creating for art making. Last semester, I took a class on philosophy of mind, where we learned a little about A.I. “art”, and this is something I would love to continue studying, or at least the philosophy behind creativity and art.
Chloe also talks in the interview about their dad and how he inspired them to pursue art, as both he and his father are artists as well. They also describe their favorite art-piece they’ve done, and what they are currently working on.
Read the whole interview here!
On January 26th the Philosophy Department hosted a lecture by Dr. Vanessa Wills, titled “Freedom and Determinism in the Though of Karl Marx”. The event was well attended, with faculty, students, staff, and community members coming to listen to Dr. Wills talk about Marx’s views about freedom and how they relate to his views about determinism, including Marx’s views about the possibility of the sort of freedom needed for ethical responsibility. After the talk, there was a lively Q&A session with Dr. Wills, which allowed her the opportunity to expand on her views and relate them to other topics of interest to the audience.
Dr. Vanessa Wills is Associate Professor of Philosophy at The George Washington University. Her monograph Marx’s Ethical Vision will be released in April 2024 from Oxford University Press. Her research draws upon her examination of Marx’s theories, emphasizing how economic and social structures impact the achievement of ideals like freedom, equality, and human development.
This event was organized by the Philosophy department with the support of German Studies, Politics & Government, Religion, Spirituality, & Society, and Science, Technology, Health & Society.
The Department of Philosophy will be holding a talk titled “Freedom and Determinism in the Thought of Karl Marx” by Dr. Vanessa Wills, who is Associate Professor of Philosophy at The George Washington University. The talk will be on Friday January 26 @ 4:30pm in Wyatt 109.
Dr. Wills’ research is informed by her study of Marx’s work, and focuses on the ways in which economic and social arrangements can inhibit or promote the realization of values such as freedom, equality, and human development. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Princeton University in 2002 and her PhD in Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh in 2011, where she wrote her dissertation on the topic, “Marx and Morality.”
Campus Films together with the Philosophy Department are hosting a screening of the film Ex Machina (directed by Alex Garland, 2014) followed by discussion led by philosophy professors Justin Tiehen and Ariela Tubert about the philosophical issues related to artificial intelligence raised by the film.
When: Wednesday October 18th, 5:30pm
Where: Rausch Auditorium (McIntyre 003)
The Department of Philosophy will be holding a talk titled “Racism and Dehumanization” by David Livingstone Smith, who is Professor of Philosophy at University of New England. His recent books include On Inhumanity: Dehumanization and How to Resist It (Oxford University Press, 2020) and Making Monsters: The Uncanny Power of Dehumanization (Harvard University Press, 2021.) Here is the abstract for the talk:
Dehumanization, the attitude of conceiving of others as less than human, is intimately tied to race. Groups of people who are dehumanized are often first racialized. They are treated as members of an alien and inferior race. To understand why this is, we need to understand both how race works and how dehumanization works. In this talk, I will use examples of anti-Black and anti-Semitic violence to illustrate and explain the interface between racism and dehumanization.
PUGET SOUND PHILOSOPHY 