PROGRAM & SCHEDULE
9th Annual Moravian Undergraduate Philosophy Conference
Saturday, April 7, 2018
ƽ, Bethlehem, PA
All sessions will be held in the HUB
8:00-8:45am Registration | HUB Lobby
8:45am Welcome and Awards | UBC Room
Uppinder Mehan, Ph.D. Dean, School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
Awards
- Douglas Anderson Prize in Philosophy, awarded to Nick Gaspar and Colton Carlisle.
- The Fredrick (Jiggs) McConnell Prize in Moral Philosophy, awarded to Hannah Matthews.
9:00-10:10am Plenary Talk | UBC Room
Plenary Speaker: Jeffrey Jordan, Ph. D. Is Pascal’s Wager a Safe Bet?
10:15-11:25am Metaphysics (Chair: Dr. Bill Falla) | UBC Room
- “Peirce’s Prayer: Charles S. Peirce and Hesychasm.” Zachary Sokol (Lehigh University).
- “Fact-Constructivism from a Realist/Anti-Realist Backdrop.” Michael Bassil (ƽ).
- “The Eternal Sand-Glass of Existence.” Julia Greig (Bryn Mawr).
11:30am -12:40pm Friendship, Romantic Love, and Asceticism (Chair: Dr. Leon Niemoczynski) | UBC Room
- “Proper Reasons for Justifying Romantic Love.” Ion Plamadeala (Lafayette College).
- “A Friendship with Benefits.” James Brown-Kinsella (Princeton University).
- “Aristotle’s View on Beauty Within Art: Romantic Flower Chair.” Sarah De Franco (ƽ).
12:45-1:45pm Lunch
1:50-3:00pm Free will and Personal Identity (Chair: Harold Weiss) | Snyder Room
- “Free Will and the PSR.” Alex Mendez (Macaulay Honors Program at Brooklyn College, CUNY).
- “Free Will, Determinism and the Suicide of Robin Williams.” T. J. Dodenhoff (Northampton Community College).
- “David Hume and Buddhism on the Problem of Personal Identity.” Yuezhuo Ma (Muhlenberg College).
3:05-4:15pm Ethics (Chair: Dr. Tad Robinson) | Snyder Room
- “A Utilitarian Defense of Animal Liberation.” Melanie Gutierrez, (ƽ).
- “Sexual Harassment, Autonomy, and Justice in the Service Industry.” September McCarthy (Muhlenberg College).
- “The Morality of Animal Testing in the Medical Field.” Alicia Wallace (ƽ).
4:20-5:30pm Social Justice and Aesthetics ( Chair: Dr. Carol Moeller) | Snyder Room
- “The Complement of Hobbes and Rawls.” Jaden Lee Watkins-Myers (Northampton Community College).
- “Husserl and the Possibility of the Other.” Emily Rose Ogland (Bryn Mawr College).
- “Kierkegaard's False Asceticism.” Cody Yarnell-Soren (ƽ).
Program Coordinators: Cody Yarnall, 2020 and Ellyn Siftar, 2019