News and events
Prof. Karmen MacKendrick recently published "Eros, Ethics, Explosion: The Loss of Deixis in Recurrence" in Philosophy Today (November 2011); "The Hospitality of Listening: A Note on Sacramental Strangeness," in Phenomenologies of the Stranger, ed. Richard Kearney and Kascha Semonovich (New York: Fordham University Press, 2011); "When You Call My Name" in Glossator: The Practice and Theory of the Commentary 5 (2011); and "Always Already New: The Possibilities of the Enfolded Instant" in Postmedieval: A Journal of Medieval Cultural Studies 2, no.3 (Fall/Winter 2011). She also recently reviewed Tamsin Jones's A Genealogy of Marion's Philosophy of Religion for Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.
Prof. Ludger Viefhues-Bailey recently published "Releasing the Feminine Voice: A Cavellian Epistemology for the Philosophy of Religion" in Modern Theology 27, no. 3 (2011): 452-61.
[Abstract: How can we imagine anew the discipline of philosophy of religion, given the feminist critiques that it privileges thinking driven by the needs of male subject formation? I address this question first by arguing with Cavell that a specific masculine aversion of erotic reciprocity produces a particular skeptical epistemology. Overcoming this phallocentric thinking requires therefore a new eros. Secondly, I will argue that the fluidly gendered subjectivities I detect in Cavell's work on film enable such a new erotic and epistemic orientation. I conclude by outlining the consequences of this orientation for the pursuits of philosophy of religion.]
Prof. William Day recently published "I Don't Know, Just Wait: Remembering Remarriage in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" in The Philosophy of Charlie Kaufman, ed. David LaRocca (University Press of Kentucky, 2011), 132-54.
[Description from the Intro to The Philosophy of Charlie Kaufman: "William Day shows how Kaufman's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind should be considered part of the film genre known as remarriage comedy; but he also shows how Kaufman contributes something new to the genre. Day addresses, in particular, how the conversation that is the condition for reunion involves discovering 'what it means to have memories together as a way of learning how to be together'. One of the most innovative aspects of Kaufman's filmic representation of such a conversation is its effect on the audience: how the narrative structure 'replicates for the viewer the felt contingency of memory that we attribute' to the characters we see onscreen - a couple contending with the interrelated experiences of remarriage and remembering."]
Why Philosophy?
Philosophy tackles questions that we all face as creatures alive to the world. The first question, perhaps, is how we should live our life. That question gives way to related questions about the nature of the world, what we can know, how words do things, our political arrangements, our belief in God, and our interest in the things we value (each other, the natural environment, works of art, music, movies, . . .). Many people think about these questions late in their life and anxiously, wondering about the life they've led. Those who study philosophy believe that the solutions to these questions are urgent and central to their happiness, and so they give their thinking over to them early and often.
Why Philosophy at Le Moyne?
At most colleges – and indeed at most graduate universities – philosophy departments are loyal to one of the two Western philosophical traditions of the past two hundred years: either continental philosophy (from the continent of Europe – chiefly Germany and France) or analytic philosophy (the dominant philosophical tradition in Great Britain and the U.S.). Le Moyne's department of philosophy is unusual in being strongly represented in both traditions, so our students gain exposure to the full range of philosophical approaches practiced today.
We are a large philosophy department for a small college with a small number of majors: the ratio of majors to full-time faculty is less than two to one. This means, for majors, a dozen full-time faculty from whom you can choose several to work with closely and get to know well. The department's areas of strength include social and political philosophy, aesthetics (i.e., philosophy of art), ethics, and the history of philosophy (particularly ancient and medieval philosophy).
Because of the prominence of philosophy in Le Moyne's core curriculum, our majors have a fairly open course of study compared to other majors, once their core requirements are out of the way. Thus, as a philosophy major, you have time to pursue interests related to philosophy – for example, in religious studies, political science, literature, or foreign languages – and to pursue other, possibly less-related interests – in theater arts or music, for example, or to satisfy the requirements for teacher certification.
There are several funded enrichment opportunities for philosophy majors at Le Moyne. These include travel to undergraduate philosophy conferences across the country, study abroad and post-graduate fellowships, and participation in Symposium, the student philosophy club.
Pictured above, left to right, top row: Ludwig Wittgenstein, Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Stanley Cavell; bottom row: Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, René Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche
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