Meetings Spring 2008

Last Philosophy Club Meeting of the Year!!!
Wednesday, May 21st
4:00pm, SMSU 327
Topic: Experimental Philosophy (X-Phi)

Description:
Experimental Philosophy is a new philosophical movement that aims to do three things: (1) return philosophy to questions about the way human beings actually think and feel (remember the good ol' days of the early moderns, who didn't make the distinction between doing philosophy and doing descriptive psychology?), (2) find out what ordinary folk's intuitions regarding philosophical arguments actually are (The Canberra Plan), and (3) restrict the use of intuitions in philosophical arguments (Restrictionism). Whether or not experimental philosophers themselves support all of these branches of experimental philosophy, they are all united by their motive to run systematic experiments using the methods of the brain and social sciences to solve philosophical questions. In this meeting we will look at some introductory articles by a key player in experimental philosophy, Joshua Knobe of UNC Chapel Hill. The articles for this meeting are meant to spark discussions concerning meta-philosophical issues (e.g., What is the role of intuition in philosophical argumentation? What do experimental philosophers do? What is an experiment?) and discussion concerning philosophical/psychological issues in the study of folk psychology, intentionality, and moral cognition.

For more information, please e-mail phlclub@pdx.edu.

Philosophy Club Meeting
Monday, May 5th at 4:00pm
Room: SMSU 327
Topic: Is Semantics Possible?
Readings available outside Philosophy Department (NH 445)

"Why is the theory of meaning so hard?" In "Is Semantics Possible?" Hilary Putnam addresses just this problem. We have seen great advancement in most areas of linguistic theory, but semantic theory seems to be an exception. Just why is this? Please join the Philosophy Club for a discussion on the subject of semantic theory and central problems facing any theory of meaning. We will be looking at theories proposed by philosophers as diverse as Katz, Quine, Wittgenstein, and Carnap.

Special Note: We will be voting for next year's club leaders at this meeting. Only present members will have the privilege to vote, so don't miss out.

For more information, please contact Shawn Johnson (shawn@pdx.edu).

Philosophy Club
Thursday, April 10th, 3:00pm, SMSU 327
Topic: Evolutionary Explanations
Readings outside Philosophy Department (NH 445)

Jerry Fodor, who will be visiting PSU on April 18th, has suggested that the Philosophy Club read Gould and Lewontin's "The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm" in preparation for his lecture. At this meeting we will be looking at Gould and Lewontin's analysis of evolutionary explanation. What are the different forms of evolutionary explanation? When considering evolutionary change, should biologists deal with individual traits or integrated wholes? When are adaptationalist accounts appropriate? How do "architectural" features of organisms impact biological change over time?

For more information, please contact Shawn Johnson (shawn@pdx.edu).

Additional Spring 08 club meetings TBA

The Philosophy Club at Portland State University is an officially recognized student group that is a departmentally endorsed forum for Philosophy majors and students to meet regularly for study groups, discussions, and socialization!

Events and meetings are currently scheduled on a date by date basis. For general information, or to be included on the Philosophy department email list, please contact Amyl at freeba@pdx.edu.