Welcome to the Philosophy Department at Oakland University

Philosophy is the analysis and evaluation of the basic assumptions and inferences that we make in formulating arguments: about reality, truth, knowledge, reasoning, human nature, the ultimate goals of life, right and wrong conduct, and public institutions, laws and policies. Ultimately, philosophy is concerned with the examination and development of a coherent and rationally defensible view of the world and our place in it. It is a rigorous discipline of "thinking about thinking" (Aristotle's definition) that has been around since the ancient beginnings of recorded human civilization. And it remains a vital part of the intellectual culture of the 21st century world.

The Oakland Philosophy Department Web pages bring you a number of philosophical resources. They contain links about members of the Oakland philosophy community and their publications, links about the Philosophy Club at Oakland University, and many links to resources of broader philosophical interest, such as the Logic Cafe, the only interactive and completely online logic textbook and tutor.

NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS

Upcoming Burke Lectureship: Shadia Drury will be this year's visiting Burke Lecturer, April 14-17, 2010. Dr. Drury is Canada Research Chair in Social Justice and Professor in the Departments of Political Science and Philosophy at Regina University. In addition to time spent in informal discussions in the department lounge and over lunches and dinners, Drury's busy schedule will include the following: A discussion of the question "Is Morality the Imitation of the Gods?" in Elysa White's PHL/REL 305 at 1:00 on Thursday the 15th; the fifth annual public Burke Lecture on "American Exceptionalism" in the OC Banquet Rooms at 6:30 on the 15th; a Q&A open to the public on Friday the 16th from 10-11:30 in the OC Gold Rooms; and a talk on "Thucydides and American Foreign Policy OR Is America the New Athens?" in a Department Colloquium from 3 to 5:30 on the 16th (location TBA).

Upcoming Department Colloquia: Wednesday, 11/18, 4-6pm: Simon Cushing (UM Flint) will present his paper, "Don't Fear the Reaper", which will be circulated before the talk. Location TBA. Thursday, 12/3, 3-5pm: Margaret Crouch (EMU) will present a selection from her book manuscript on Global Sexual Harassment. The text of her talk will be pre-circulated. Location TBA.

Upcoming Philosophers' Workshops: On Wednesday, 11/11, 12-1pm, Fritz McDonald will present some of his recent work (title TBA) in the department lounge.

Upcoming Philosophy Club meetings: The club meets Monday afternoons from 4:00 to 6:00 PM, usually in OC 125-127. James Wroblewski will be presenting a paper for the club called "Moral Responsibility through Moral Processes" on October 26 in OC 126.

Recent Department Colloquia: The year's first Colloquium featured Leo Stan, currently on a fellowship at the Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism at the University of Western Ontario. Dr. Stan presented some of his recent work on Kierkegaard.

Recent Philosophers' Workshops: On Wednesday, 10/28, Phyllis Rooney presented her paper, "Feminism and Argumentation: A Response to Govier." Grant Yocom presented his paper, "The Ethical Character of Mitsein: A response to the problem of instrumental rationality," on Wednesday 9/30.

Recent Philosophy Club meetings: Prof. Mark Rigstad introduced leading approaches to the political ethics of immigration at the October 19th meeting. Trevor Martin presented his paper, "Possible Absolutes in Ontology," at the October 5 meeting.

Spring 2009 scholarship awards: Congratulations to PHL major, Brendan Learnihan-Sylvester for winning one of five Holzbock Scholarships awarded this year in the College of Arts and Sciences! Congratulations also go out to Trevor Martin for winning the first annual Burke essay contest. Trevor will also be presenting his essay "An Acceptable Definition of Art" at the Pacific University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference.

Upcoming in April 2009: Daniel C. Dennett of Tufts University was our fourth annual Burke Lecturer. Dr. Dennett was on campus for a variety of philosophical gatherings for two days and his Burke Lecture was presented to a packed house of over 600 audience members from on campus and from the surrounding community.

March 20, 2009 deadline: The Philosophy Dept. is now accepting submissions of undergraduate student papers for the 1st annual Richard Burke Philosophical Essay Contest 2009. Contest info and rules are available ***here***.

February 12, 2009: Our Department Colloquium featured Matthew Katz, of Central Michigan University. His talk was on "Mental Magnitudes and the Language of Thought".

January 28, 2009: Philosophy Workshop on Prof. John Halpin's paper-in-progress on "Fine-Tuning Arguments and the Concept of Law," Wednesday afternoon from 12:00 to 1:00 PM in the PHL Department lounge. Hope to see all interested faculty and students in participation. Click the above link for a copy of the paper to read prior to our discussion.

October 2008: The Philosophy Dept. was pleased to welcome Lawrence Lombard of Wayne State University for a presentation titled "What is Metaphysics and How is it Possible?" on Wednesday, November 5th, 4:00-6:00 pm in the Oakland Room of the Oakland Center.

September 2008: The Philosophy Dept. was pleased to welcome Peter Brian Barry, Ph.D., of Saginaw Valley State University for a presentation titled "Mirrors, Saints, and Evil People" on Thursday, October 9th, 4:00-6:00 pm in 235 Elliott Hall.

August 2008: Mark Rigstad was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor, with tenure.

August 2008: Mark Navin of University of Pennsylvania joined Oakland's Philosophy Department as a tenure-track Assistant Professor.