PS: The Puget Sound Podcast has a lengthy interview with Quinelle Bethelmie ’17. Quinelle graduated with a double major in Philosophy and Communications Studies and a minor in Classics. In the interview, she speaks about her experience at Puget Sound, her work for Georgia Public Broadcasting, politics, and her plans for the future. She also speaks about how she chose to be a philosophy major or rather how philosophy found her, as she put it. Quinelle is planning to attend American University Washington College of Law in the fall. You can listen to the podcast here.
In recent years, the Department of Philosophy has interviewed alumni and graduating seniors about their experiences as philosophy majors, how philosophy has prepared them for post-graduation, and what advice they have for current students (you can find some of those interviews here and here.) This year in an effort to recognize our graduating seniors in the midst of the pandemic, we are expanding the number of senior interviews. For this post, Guillermo Ruiz ’21 interviewed Sienna Murphy ’21. Graduating with a major in Philosophy and a minor in Business, Sienna plans to attend the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in the fall.
How did you get interested in philosophy in the first place?
I became interested in philosophy when I took Philosophy 101 with Professor Liao. Not only did this class revolve around fascinating topics such as how African slavery has influenced racism and the ways in which derogatory terms shaped the social hierarchy of Rwanda, this class opened my mind to completely different views about life. I have always enjoyed learning through different points of view, so this class was really interesting and sparked my interest in taking more philosophy classes.
Is there an area of philosophy that interests you the most?
I have always enjoyed learning about epistemological issues. I love pursuing questions like “how do you know?” and “is that the truth?” There is so much that is unknown in the world, and knowledge is one of them. It’s fascinating to read different theories about truth, knowledge, and justification, and then question their truth as well.
What about this area is interesting to you?
This area of philosophy has made me realize that there is room for skepticism for just about anything if we question things like truth and reason! Now I find myself questioning everything around me! I also love how this field can be applied to all sorts of social issues. For instance, many philosophers have questioned how things like power and privilege influence knowledge, or how certain types of injustices can cause instances of epistemic injustice. As crazy as this field may sound, it can actually be quite useful for understanding certain social issues.
Has your study of philosophy informed your day to day life or how you make decisions?
Definitely! I think that studying philosophy has made me better able to think outside the box and see things from different angles. Now when I make decisions, I’m more able to look at the big picture and analyze decisions from various angles. This helps me make rational and informed decisions. Studying philosophy has also made me more empathetic. Because philosophy often involves looking at things from various perspectives, it opens your mind to so many different viewpoints and reasonings. Now when I interact with people, I find myself more able to understand their perspectives and reasonings for their decisions and beliefs.
What was your favorite philosophy class?
I have loved all of the philosophy classes that I’ve taken! However, I think that if I had to choose, I would say that my favorite was the Epistemology class I took with Professor Tiehen. One of the most fascinating topics we discussed was Descartes’ dream theory, which argues that since we cannot distinguish between our dreams from our waking life, it is possible that we could be dreaming all the time, making it impossible to have knowledge of the external world. Descartes puts emphasis on the senses, believing that our senses when we dream are exactly like those we experience when we are awake, so there is no way to tell the difference between dreaming and being awake. I had a good time finding objections to Descartes, like arguing that the sensation of pain is different when we are asleep versus when we are awake because we are in physical pain when we are awake but not while we are dreaming.
How has your minor shaped your philosophical studies and vice versa?
Studying business has helped me understand the importance and use of philosophy. All of the skills I have gained from philosophy have helped me thrive in my business classes. This is because business has a lot to do with seeing through complex issues, putting together convincing arguments for or against proposals, and checking the consistency and soundness of policy papers. These skills of careful analysis, sound argument, and critical examination are fundamental to philosophy! No discipline trains us to think in these ways better than philosophy.
When and why did you ultimately decide to become a philosophy major?
I decided to become a philosophy major after my first semester of sophomore year. By then I had taken three philosophy classes and had fallen in love with the discipline. I hadn’t come to college knowing what I wanted to major in or with any career goals in mind, so I really just based my decision on what subject made me the happiest. I am so thankful about that decision because it made the rest of my college experience so enjoyable!
How did your parents and strangers react when you told them you were a philosophy major?
Although some people don’t understand the use of philosophy, my parents were really happy for me when I told them that I had found a subject that I was passionate about. They have always been very supportive about my decisions, and they believed that my passion for philosophy would lead me to find more opportunities in the future. They were right! It definitely was a factor that led me to apply to law school.
Do you have a particular memory as a philosophy major at Puget Sound that stands out to you?
One of my favorite memories was being able to present a paper at an undergraduate philosophy conference in Louisville. It was such an amazing opportunity to not only share my work outside of my university, but also to meet other young philosophers and learn about their passions in the philosophy field. In a way, I felt like it was the first time my philosophical work actually had an impact on people other than myself and my professors, and that was an extraordinary feeling! Additionally, it was an intellectually stimulating experience that made me realize my own abilities as a young philosopher.
Do you have any advice for current philosophy students?
Don’t procrastinate on papers! Writing a philosophy paper takes time. Not only does it require a lot of careful writing, it requires a LOT of preparation. I would say that I spend way more time thinking about arguments and objections than actually forming sentences on paper. But that’s the beauty of the discipline! We philosophers love to think!
Any final thoughts?
A lot of people are scared to study philosophy because it involves questioning things that don’t have answers. But it’s ok to not know the answers. If you think about it, none of us know the answers. According to Socrates, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” If the greatest philosopher of all time said that, then it must be true!
Rasha Shraim, a PhD student in genomics data science, writes in an article in Nature about how her philosophy education contributed to developing her skills in logical reasoning, thinking about alternative possibilities, and reflecting on her own values. Here is a short excerpt:
I am the only student on my PhD programme in genomics data science with an undergraduate degree in biology and philosophy. Initially, I saw these as separate fields: I was writing about theories of morality in one class and memorizing the Krebs cycle in another. It was only after picking up first-hand research experience while working on my final-year biology thesis at New York University Abu Dhabi that I began to understand how philosophy can make me a better scientist. As I progress through the early stages of my PhD, I can see how impactful reading and studying philosophy have been in shaping my career so far, and how much they will continue to influence me in my future work.
Philosophy has expanded my critical and creative thinking. Philosophical arguments often lead to imaginative edge cases and a dive into hypotheticals, which I frequently find creatively stimulating. For my philosophy thesis, for example, I wrote about the metaphysics of identity, the Ship of Theseus (a thought experiment that questions whether an object that has had all of its components replaced remains fundamentally the same object), general relativity and some of the philosophical implications of time travel.
Thinking creatively while maintaining a critical and methodical approach carried over into my research. For example, studying instrumentalism — the philosophical idea that science does not uncover fundamental truths about the world, but merely provides us with tools to help us navigate it — helped me to adopt a more fluid approach to research and look for useful tools wherever I could find them. One thing I’ve done is to repurpose ‘contamination’ in an organism’s sequencing data so that I could look for viruses in its blood.
On April 10, 2021, the team from University of Puget Sound competed in the 2021 National Bioethics Bowl, hosted by Oklahoma State University and conducted online.
This is what a virtual bioethics bowl looks like!
Bioethics bowl is an argumentative reasoning and public speaking competition, in which teams from different schools discuss timely and timeless ethical issues related to medicine and technology. For each round, two teams take turns to tackle an ethical dilemma, present the reasons behind their ethical judgment, and respond to questions from the other team and from the judges. Even before the competition day, every team spends significant time throughout the semester to thoroughly discuss the varied ethical dimensions of every case. This year’s case packet includes ten cases, with three questions each, that range from the fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to the morality of artificial wombs.
The Puget Sound team for this year’s National Bioethics Bowl consists of Logan Canada-Johnson ’22, Grace Osborne-Neukirch ’21, Guillermo Ruiz ’21, Ben Sovocool ’21, and Elizabeth White ’23. This group of students, most of whom are philosophy majors and all had taken courses in moral philosophy and bioethics, met every week to discuss the difficult ethical dilemmas to prepare for the competition. (And really, the weekly discussions are the best aspect of the process!) This year’s team is co-coached by professor Sam Liao and alum Colleen Hanson ’19, who competed on ethics bowl and bioethics bowl teams while at Puget Sound and is now a philosophy PhD student at UCLA. In the end, Puget Sound narrowly lost to University of Maryland—Baltimore County in the first round, in a split decision; lost to San Jose State University in the second round; and narrowly won against University of Lynchburg in the third round.
A nail-biter victory against University of Lynchburg!
Students reflected on the value of participating in the ethics bowl activity course:
Elizabeth White ’23: “It was a lot of preparation but it was cool to discuss and learn about what each other think about ethics cases and work together to develop our stances and presentation. Even though we didn’t do very well in the competition, it was fun and entertaining.”
Logan Canada-Johnson ’22: “Although I began doing Ethics Bowl last year, the 2021 National Bioethics Bowl was my first opportunity to actually get in the ring and discuss bioethical issues with other schools. No, we didn’t win any awards, but I can say with complete conviction that there wasn’t a team in this tournament having more fun than ours! Ethics Bowl has been my favorite activity this semester and a great reprieve from the heaviness of living in the midst of a pandemic. Talking about bioethics on a Wednesday night became my favorite activity of the week, especially with all the other brilliant minds who made this team what it was. Thank you so much to Professor Liao and Colleen Hanson for the lengths they went to in order to give us this opportunity and support us until the very end. It’s with tears that this fantastic experience comes to its conclusion.”
Guillermo Ruiz ’21: “For me my favorite part about Ethics Bowl is that you don’t actually need to disagree with the team you are arguing with. This is what differentiates Ethics Bowl from a debate. This is rewarding because it doesn’t divide the two teams into right and wrong; rather it’s two group of people grappling with extremely challenging ethical dilemmas in an effort to get closer to the truth. The team and I spent months studying the cases and at a certain point we thought we had figured everything and knew all the relevant dimensions to the cases. We were wrong. Many times we found interesting and challenging points being made by the opposing team which forced us to reexamine our own beliefs and understanding of the ethical dilemma. Ultimately the most rewarding aspect of the experience was being able to see just how many people there were across the country who enjoy talking about ethics and try to get closer to the truth.”
Ben Sovocool ’21: “For me, the greatest value of Bioethics Bowl was in the examination of my own judgements and beliefs. Why do we have certain intuitions on a subject? Can they be defended, or should we reject them? The process of examining and developing one’s moral intuitions in practically-relevant cases is valuable for philosophy students, but also for all other students interested in thinking critically about ethical quandaries. The competitive environment of a Bioethics Bowl encourages a level of rigor in this process which otherwise may be avoided. I have found that the process of reading cases, understanding my beliefs on the subject, and expressing them clearly has been a huge aid both in my writing and my ability to communicate more broadly. I would highly encourage any student with even a passing interest in ethical issues to consider taking Bioethics Bowl.”
Grace Osborne-Neukirch ’21: “Ethics Bowl meetings are an ideal place to practice sharing ‘rough drafts’ of ideas, to practice presenting verbal ethical arguments, and explore topics that you might not come across in casual conversation. The most valuable component of this experience was the opportunity to do pointed research on a topic that interests me: the social model of disability. The cases I chose to focus on were concerned with doctors’ decision making with disabled patients. Apart from being a fruitful intellectual space, having an hour every week to reconnect with my peers during a pandemic was relief when we still marooned in our respective COVID-bubbles. I’d recommend it for anyone interested in the tough questions, in particular for students who are interested in philosophy but are looking for a more casual, but still structured, discussion space. My only regret is not joining sooner!!”
And from the other side:
Colleen Hanson ’19, co-coach: “It was such a pleasure to be involved with the UPS Bioethics Bowl team this year. I have so many fond memories from when I was on the Ethics/Bioethics Bowl team as an undergraduate, and being back as a co-coach was just as special. I loved seeing the students’ diligence throughout the quarter transform into their final presentations; they are all careful listeners, astute thinkers, and articulate speakers. Thank you to Professor Liao for your invaluable guidance and knock-down objections, to the students for your fantastic efforts and positive spirits, and to the UPS Philosophy Department for inviting me back to be part of this.”
Thanks to Guillermo Ruiz for assistance with this post.
On March 8, 2021, three University of Puget Sound philosophy alums—Maia Bernick ’15, Jessica Chan-Ugalde ’18, and Colleen Hanson ’19—spoke on a virtual panel about their careers—in law, in tech consulting, and in academia—after graduation. The panelists spoke about the what skills they gained from their philosophy degree, how philosophy combines with their other interests, and how these skills prepared them for their next steps. The event also offered an opportunity for current students to connect with these alums.
The Philosophy Department is excited to host a talk by Prof. Carina Fourie from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Washington. The talk will be hosted through zoom, you can find information on how to join by following this link. Here is the abstract for the talk:
In this paper I argue that frameworks for population health ethics are often insufficient for addressing feminist concerns. While the nascent field of population health ethics should theoretically be congruent with various feminisms, I argue that it is developing in a way that is troubling in terms of its feminist applicability, particularly when we assess two sets of relevant literature: academic bioethics literature, including textbooks, and health policy guidance.
First, the conceptions of justice and equality invoked in the dominant academic literature – conceptions that should be foundational to population health ethics – frequently tend to be irrelevant to or even in conflict with feminisms. I identify three primary troubling characteristics of that literature: methodological ahistoricism; astructuralism; and distributivism.
Second, while health equity is rightly becoming a key value pursued in contemporary health policies and protocols, such as guidance on pandemic preparedness and the ethical allocation of COVID-19 vaccines, I argue that it is not adequate for representing the concerns of injustice associated with feminisms because it tends to be ad hoc in nature and focuses only on health and, at that, only on its distribution.
My paper is primarily a critique; however, it has constructive implications. In the final section, I will identify what we can learn about the required characteristics for a feminist framework of population health ethics, and explain why we need one.
PUGET SOUND PHILOSOPHY 