Department of
Philosophy
& Religion Studies

CAS Black Logo
UNT Black Logo
 

Current News

Announcing search for new departmental chair...

The Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies invites applications for the position of department chair. Rank and salary commensurate with experience and qualifications.  Salary competitive. Learn More...

2008 & 2009 CAS Superior Performing Department & UNT President's Report...

Our Department has been recognized by both the College of Arts & Sciences as well as UNT's President for distinguished work in Environmental Philosophy, Field Research, and Teaching. Read more...

WaterWays 2010 on the way...

The first movement toward the Philosophy of Water Project's biennial conference begins with welcoming Conference Artists in Residence EcoArtTech on November 04 in EESAT 125 at 6:30pm. Co-hosted by the College of Visual Arts & Design, this is the first event on the path to WaterWays 2010 (Mar 03 - 06, 2010). WaterWays is a Confluence of Art, Science, Policy and Philosophy that brings together scientists, philosophers, politicians, artists, managers and specialists from both the public and private sector, encouraging dialogues about crucial water issues across traditional boundaries. Its goal is to raise awareness of water basin issues. Read the flyer.

Philosophy Undergrads to speak at Conference...

Three UNT undergraduate students majoring in Philosophy will speak at the 2009 Arkansas Philosophy Conference. Josh McNutt, Ian Moore, and Matt Story will be delivering papers at Henderson State University (11/13 - 11/15).

The Speakers Committee & the Undergraduate Philosophers Forum welcome...

  • Monday, November 9th 4pm ENV 110
    • Sara Goering speaking on “Genetics in Translation: Justice, Marginalized Populations, and Researcher Responsibility." The promise of biomedical genomic research depends, quite pragmatically, on the translation of basic scientific findings into therapeutic applications that improve health. Incentives designed to speed the movement of new knowledge gained through bench science to the bedside, into regular clinical practice, and ultimately to improve community health are currently well-funded. Yet while efficiency of translation is no doubt important, more fundamental questions remain: who benefits, and is justice served? In this paper, Goering explores some of the problems of justice along the genetic translational pathway, through the lens of "responsive justice" – a conception of justice that includes elements of distribution, recognition, and responsibility.
  • Thursday, November 11th, @ Noon in ENV 320A
    • Keith Wayne Brown will deliver his talk, "Being-Around the Limit Peering into Being: The Periechontology of Karl Jaspers." Rejecting conventional metaphysics, Jaspers suggests that any matrix for the pursuit of Being must embrace a shifting configuration of symbols which do not lend themselves to definitive interpretation or absolute codification.  Jaspers' describes the historic tension between active reason & possible Existenz as a finite transcendence in which any event, entity, or process can become a cipher of the very possibility of going beyond our situation. Yet such a getting-over is never a "beyond the world".  To become meaningful, ciphers must not only point to each other transcendentally but toward a disposition within the world.  The method for following these boundary situations toward finite transcendence Jaspers calls Periechontologie , getting at Being from around the edges. Download Flyer.
  • Wednesday, November 18th 4pm ENV 125
    • Recent MA Graduate Charlee Tidrick speaking on “Deliberative Democracy in Appalachia: Toward a Better Understanding of Democratic Self-Transformation in Divided Societies.” Ms. Tidrick will explore the case of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. She suggests ways in which the self-transformation thesis as currently characterized in theories of communicative or deliberative democracy could be modified in order to better accommodate divided populations and best influence the social and political institutions they inhabit.

REAL Fellow announced for Fall 2009...

Nathan Bell (Ph.D. Student) has been selected as the next REAL Fellow. The award is $1000 and is given by the Richardson Environmental Action League in Richardson, Texas. The award is given twice per year (fall and spring each academic year). See a list of previous recipients.
What's Happening in Our Department...

Recent Talks by Faculty/Grad Students

Recent Publications by Faculty/Grad Students

  • The forthcoming issue of the journal Contemporary Pragmatism will contain an article by Dr. Carl Sachs: "Natural Agents: A Transcendental Argument for Pragmatic Naturalism."
  • An article by Dr. Jason Boaz Simus (Adjunct) appears in the second issue of the American Society for Aesthetics E-journal: "Aesthetics & Other Theoretical Virtues in Science."
  • Prof. George James and doctoral student Bidisha Kumar have contributed a co-authored article to Brill's new Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Their article on Yamuna appears in Volume I: Regions, Pilgrimage, Deities.
  • Rowan & Littlefield annuonced the second edition of Prof. David Kaplan's Readings in the Philosophy of Technology. Prof. Kaplan's book examines the nature of technology as well as the effects of technologies upon human knowledge, activities, societies, and environments. The aim of philosophy of technology is to understand, evaluate, and criticize the ways in which technologies reflect as well as change human life and the natural world. Compiled specifically with students and newcomers in mind, this book explores the various ways in which societies, technologies, and environments shape one another. Readers will learn to appreciate the ways that philosophy informs our understanding of technology, and to see how technology relates to ethics, politics, nature, human nature, computers, science, food, and animals. Read more...
  • Prof. J. Baird Callicott's work "Genesis & John Muir" has been translated into French and published as the monograph Genèse with an introduction by French environmental philosopher, Catherine Larrere (Université Michel Montaigne). The text is being produced by Wildproject as a part of their series Domain Sauvage; it is due to appear in France's bookstores and libraries on October 20 of this year.

Philosophy Department in the Media...

 

 

 

| AA/EOE/ADA | Privacy Statement | Disclaimer| Contact Webmaster | ©2009 |