Friday, 7:00 P.M., 114 Furman Hall, followed by a spirited reception

Sessions: Saturday, Furman Hall
9:00 am through 5:00 pm

9:05-10:00

Quinean Underdetermination and Law as Integrity
Noel Boyle (Belmont University)
Comment: Sun Jung Han (Vanderbilt University)
Furman 109

The Superiority of the Pedagogical Failure Model
Alyssa Lowery (Vanderbilt University)
Comment: Ida Mullaart (University of Tennessee – Knoxville)
Furman 217

 Perceptually justifying ordinary object beliefs
William Evan Welchance (University of Virginia)
Comment: Steven Winterfeldt (University of Kentucky)
Furman 209

10:05-11:00

Merleau-Ponty and the Ecological Generation of Meaning
Matthew Wiliams-Wyant (University of Tennesse-Knoxville)
Comment: Shannon Hayes (Tennessee State University)
Furman 007

Luck Egalitarianism and Self-Conception
Alyssa Tudor (Vanderbilt University)
Comment: Mark Michael (Austin Peay State University)
Furman 109

On 'Wanting' in Gorgias 467a-468e
Cameron Pattison (Vanderbilt University)
Comment: Audrey Anton (Western Kentucky University)
Furman 209

A Sorites Paradox for Personal Identity
Brian Ribeiro (University of Tennessee – Chattanooga)
Comment: Troy Polidori (University of Tennessee-Knoxville)
Furman 217

11:05-12:00

Perfect Deficiency and Counterfeit Eternity: The Imagery of Greek Ruins in German Hellenism and Nazi Aesthetic
Peiying Yang (Vanderbilt University)
Comment: Court Lewis (Pellissippi State)
Furman 007

Desirable Gambles and Pragmatic Dilation
Jeremy Shipley (Volunteer State)
Comment: David Thorstad (Vanderbilt University)
Furman 109

Storytelling and Well-Being: Fact or Fiction?
Katherine Martha Pier (Vanderbilt University)
Comment: Noel Boyle (Belmont University)
Furman 209

Understanding Philo as Mediator: Mediating between a Jewish Theology of Divine Presence and Greek Metaphysical Dualism
Caleb Jenkenson (Trevecca Nazarene)
Comment: Andrew Burnside (Vanderbilt University)
Furman 217

12:05-12:10

Tennessee Philosophical Association Business Meeting
Furman 109

12:15-1:30

Lunch (on our own)

1:35-2:30

Tragedy as an Independent Real-World Phenomenon
Troy Polidori (University of Tennessee – Knoxville)
Comment: Molly Kelleher (Vanderbilt University)
Furman 007

Certaintism: A Capital Epistemic Vice in Politics
Ismail Kurun (Vanderbilt University)
Comment: Jeremy Shipley (Volunteer State)
Furman 109

Bonhoeffer’s Ethics of Peace and Forgiveness
Court Lewis (Pellissippi State)
Comment: Eli Aleinikoff (Vanderbilt University)
Furman 209

Between Respect for Persons and Disrespectful Critique: Reason's Constitutive Tension
Robert Engelman (Vanderbilt University)
Comment: Charles Cardwell (Pellissippi State)
Furman 217

2:35-3:30

Kantian Fallibilism vs Kantian Infallibilism: An Analysis
Dario Vaccaro (University of Tennessee-Knoxville)
omment: Robert Engelman (Vanderbilt University)
Furman 007

The Paradox of Moral Tolerance: Exposing Normative Relativism's Blind Spot
Hunter Kallay (University of Tennessee – Knoxville)
Comment: Alyssa Tudor (Vanderbilt University)
Furman 109

Salience, Hypervigilance, and Epistemic Injustice
Ida Mullaart (University of Tennessee – Knoxville)
Comment: Tempest Henning (Fisk University)
Furman 209

Skepticism, Equilibrism, and Metaphilosophical Disappointment
Scott Aikin (Vanderbilt University)
Comment: William Evan Welchance (University of Virginia)
Furman 217

3:35-5:00

Author Meets Critics

New Interventionist Just War Theory: A Critique
Jordy Rocheleau (Austin Peay)

Respondents: Crystal-Allen Gunasekera (Principia College) Sung Jun Han (Vanderbilt University) Robert Hoag (Berea College)

Furman 109

An event honoring Marcia Thomas Rittenhouse
(Vanderbilt Philosophy Ph.D., 1991)

Unitary and Binary Conceptions of Sex: A Defense of the Unitary Perspective
Respondents: Lyn Radke (Vanderbilt University) Raisa Rexer (Vanderbilt University)
Vanderbilt University Special Guests: Meredith Chambers Quaiser and Kierstan Bailey Thomas (Dartmouth)
Furman 209

Aikin, Scott
Skepticism, Conservatism, and Equilibrism’s Problem of Meta-philosophical Disappointment

The meta-philosophical version of the problem of the criterion is that there is a vicious circularity between purported philosophical truths and the methods that demonstrate them.  Longstanding conservative responses to this challenge have been to take the dictates of common sense or one’s own opinions as starting points and to bring them into systematic order.  Epistemic versions of conservatism hold out these products as knowledge, and procedural versions of conservatism hold out these products as something more modest.  Equilibrism is one such modest conservatism promising “equilibria that can withstand examination.”  The problem, however, is that conservatism, and modest versions in particular, are exceptionally meta-philosophically disappointing.  Philosophy’s promise of life-changing knowledge, critical insights, and liberatory methods are now significantly tempered, if not fully muted.  The question, then, is whether this disappointment upsets the procedure of maintaining that equilibrium.  I will argue that, from the reflective perspective of the practitioner, it must.

Boyle, Noel
Quinean Underdetermination and Law as Integrity

Ronald Dworkin’s conception of law as integrity and W.V.O. Quine’s assertions regarding indeterminacy in the sciences are formally similar.  Both involve restoring logical coherence, or integrity, to a network of interconnected beliefs that has been disrupted by something novel.  The paper explores features of the similarity and reflects on the significance for our understanding of the relationship between law and science.

Engelman, Robert
Between Respect for Persons and Disrespectful Critique: Reason’s Constitutive Tension

This paper argues that Anthony Laden’s social account of reason, in relying upon a particular passage from Kant’s first Critique, features conflicting constitutive conditions.  Reason requires its participants to comply with a norm of respect for persons, as well as to engage in critique that is noncompliant with such a norm.  By clarifying each of these claims individually in accordance with Laden’s account, the paper shows that this conflict of constitutive conditions does not undermine Laden’s account as plainly self-contradictory, but means that promoting reason’s existence via critique, even if necessary, is intrinsically risky.

Jenkinson, Caleb
Understanding Philo as Mediator: Mediating between a Jewish Theology of Divine Presence and Greek Metaphysical Dualism.

This paper will argue for understanding Philo of Alexandria as a mediator between the Jewish and Greek traditions he embodied by demonstrating how Philo employed an understanding of Divine Logos as mediator to allow for the holding together of the Jewish commitment to an elusively present God and a Greek metaphysical dualism.  Toward this end, this paper will explore the places these ideas are present in Philo’s work and how the mediatorial methods used in these ideas influence Philo with the hope this Jewish thinker may teach us something about mediating ideas today.

Kallay, Hunter
The Paradox of Moral Tolerance: Exposing Normative Relativism's Blind Spot

In this paper, I articulate an inherent disconnect between the ethical theory of normative relativism and a common motivation for accepting the theory—namely, moral tolerance.  This disconnect is what I dub, “the paradox of moral tolerance.” Throughout my analysis, I unveil two ways how moral tolerance is a prominent motivator for adopting normative relativism but is ultimately unaccounted for by the theory.  The first gap I reveal between this motivator and the theory is from substantive opposition.  The second way is from an unavoidable reliance on an implicit objective moral obligation.

Kurun, Ismail
‘Certaintism’: A Capital Epistemic Vice in Politics

I investigate whether very high epistemic ideals or what I call ‘certaintism’ cause any epistemic vices with pernicious political consequences.  I define certaintism as the view that we have certainly true beliefs in substantive areas of knowledge.  I contend that certaintism is a capital epistemic vice because it facilitates two major epistemic vices: closed-mindedness and fanaticism.  I first discuss the empirical evidence and philosophical arguments suggesting that uncertainty of the world, which generates anxiety in humans, leads to certaintism as a psychological coping mechanism.  I then offer my argument that certaintism is a capital epistemic vice facilitating closed-mindedness and fanaticism.

Lewis, Court
Bonhoeffer’s Ethics of Peace and Forgiveness

This paper explores the ethics of forgiveness in several of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s writings, asking questions such as whether forgiveness is for one’s own sake or the sake of the other, whether forgiveness is unconditional, and whether forgiveness is necessary for peace.

Lowery, Alyssa
The Superiority of the Pedagogical Failure Model

Policies governing consensual professor-student relationships (“CSRs”) continue to be the subject of disagreement in higher education.  In this paper, I argue the most common narra8ve around CSRs: the power difference-no consent rationale (the “PDR”), is insufficient as an account of why students ought to avoid them.  Instead, I look to a more promising account of CSR’s harms, Amia Srinivasan’s pedagogical failure model (“PF”) and defend it on the grounds that it represents the lived experiences of students facing CSR’s.  Furthermore, I propose Lauren Leydon-Hardy’s concept of epistemic infringement as the mechanism by which PF takes place.

Mullart, Ida
Salience, Hypervigilance, and Epistemic Injustice

In this paper, I discuss salience, hypervigilance, and epistemic injustice.  I claim that hypervigilance causes a person to hold conflicting interpretations of their own perceptions, leading them to omit from acting in scenarios where action would be the morally right thing to do.  I also claim that it seems as though hypervigilance should cause agents to act in all situations where it is required.  These two ideas seem to conflict, which creates a problem when analyzing what hypervigilant agents are expected to do, and further creates epistemic injustice when judging their character.

Pattison, Cameron
On 'Wanting' in Gorgias 467a-468e

In “Gorgias” 467a-468e Socrates draws out a distinction between 'doing what one wants' and 'doing what one sees fit.' This essay clarifies that distinction through a careful consideration of the text and a comparison to the modern distinction of de dicto and de re statements of intention.  With this distinction in hand, the essay then deals with questions of practicality pursuant to this discussion.  It concludes by pointing to the implications of Socrates’ distinction in theories of voluntary action and criminal justice.

Pier, Katherine
Storytelling and Well-Being: Fact or Fiction?

Do the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves make our lives go better or worse? In this paper, I argue that storytelling enhances one’s well-being as long as the narrative: maintains fidelity to the reality of her life events, is endorsed by the agent as true, and centers meaning in one’s life.  My position offers a synthesis of Connie Rosati’s work on storytelling and Susan Wolf’s conception of meaning.  While storytelling is capable of enhancing a person’s well-being, it can also be detrimental to it.  Thus, careful attention ought to be paid to our methods of storytelling.

Polidori, Troy
Tragedy as an Independent Real-World Phenomenon

In this paper, I argue that tragedies are independent (from the literary genre) real-world phenomena suitable for philosophical analysis.  Tragedies emerge in the context of the practical life of individuals, and not only in moral contexts.  Tragedies are often mundane, found in the practical everyday.  The everydayness of tragedy does not mean that anything bad that happens to an individual is tragic, however.  Instead, tragic circumstances emerge when the world is inhospitable to choiceworthy aims.  Tragedies are often dramatized in special contexts like moral dilemmas.  But this is merely a mode in which the world can be inhospitable to the pursuit of the good more generally.

Ribeiro, Brian
A Sorties Paradox for Personal Identity

Bernard Williams’s classic paper “The Makropulos Case” (1973) has played a very visible role in discussions of the desirability of (generic) immortality, but Ribeiro’s “The Problem of Heaven” (2011) seems to be the first sustained application of Williams’s ideas to the doctrine of heaven for the purpose of assessing heavenly immortality.  In the decade or so since Ribeiro 2011, a number of critical responses have been published.  In this paper I will consider and evaluate what I regard as the most promising of those replies.  My primary intention in this short paper is to advance the debate only by trying to better understand what’s in dispute between these disputants.  From this better understanding of what’s in dispute, we can see what would be needed to substantively advance the debate.

Shipley, Jeremy
Desirable Gambles and Pragmatic Dilation

I explore the relationship between the desirable gambles framework for imprecise probability and the theory of pragmatic encroachment on thick credences.  Along the way I refute an objection to pragmatic encroachment that has been posed by Baron Reed, and show how pragmatic dilation of thick credences can explain portfolio diversification.  The standard axioms for desirable gambles must, however, be modified to accommodate variable credal sets associated with stakes sensitive dilation and contraction of imprecise credences.

Tudor, Alyssa
Luck Egalitarianism and Self-Conception

In a recent article, Preda and Voight defend luck egalitarianism against the shame objection by proposing a shame-proof luck egalitarian ethos.  They argue that society governed by their proposed ethos would not occasion shame in those to whom justice is owed.  I argue that their proposed luck egalitarian ethos does not succeed because it rests on an untenable requirement for individuals to internalize the luck/choice distinction in their self conception.  Doing so would force individuals to have an affective distance from their abilities, skills, and aptitudes creating an alienated self-conception.  I will first briefly expand on the part of the shame objection that Preda and Voight are interested in before reconstructing their ethos.  Then, I will pose some problems for the luck/choice distinction as drawn by Preda and Voight before arguing that their shame-proof ethos might have unintended and undesirable consequences for self-pride.  Finally, I will argue that internalizing luck egalitarian ethos proposed by Preda and Voight would lead to an alienated conception of self.

Vaccaro, Dario
Kantian Fallibilism Vs Kantian Infallibilism: An Analysis

Immanuel Kant is canonically interpreted as an infallibilist about knowledge: he is said to believe that knowledge can be attained only when it is impossible for the epistemic agent to be mistaken.  Andrew Chignell has challenged this orthodoxy, advancing a fallibilist reading of Kant’s theory of knowledge.  In this paper, I aim to assess the plausibility of Chignell’s interpretation.  First, I present the strongest arguments in Chignell’s hermeneutical toolkit.  Then, I compare Chignell’s reasons with those of his harshest critic, Lawrence Pasternack.  I conclude by providing novel reasons that, together with Pasternack’s, should lead us to reject Chignell’s reading.

Welchance, William
Perceptually justifying ordinary object beliefs

Abstract: Perceptual experience provides us with evidence for the existence of ordinary objects.  Some use this to resist eliminativism, the view that there are no ordinary things.  But it's less clear if those who appeal to perception can avoid committing themselves to permissivism, the view that there are both ordinary and extraordinary objects (such as strange mereological sums).  I argue that those who appeal to perception can resist permissivism's pull.  To that end, I defend agnosticism about extraordinary objects: the view that we have reasons to countenance ordinary things, and no reasons to countenance extraordinary things.

Williams-Wyant, Matthew
Merleau-Ponty and the Ecological Generation of Meaning

Throughout Merleau-Ponty’s existential phenomenology, the work of the artist – particularly, that of the painter – is used to illustrate the milieu through which novel meaning emerges.  In his later writings, nature takes on more significant attention establishing an ecological relation between human activity and nature.  These two themes converge, I argue, by disclosing an ecological relation wherein each member functions as an active co-originator of the work of art, and therefore as co-creators of novel meaning.

Yang, Peiying
Perfect Deficiency and Counterfeit Eternity: The Imagery of Greek Ruins in German Hellenism and Nazi Aesthetics

This paper inquires into the aesthetic implications of the imagery of Greek ruins in German Hellenism and its appropriation by Nazism.  According to Winckelmann, the Greek ruins signify a synthesis of imperfection and completion that enables our understanding of spiritual perfection.  Although the Nazi aesthetics developed by Hitler and Albert Speer seem to resonate with this ideal of eternity, the Nazis’ ahistorical temporality prevents them from realizing this ideal as they could only produce rigid, formalist imitations of the ancient ruins.

TPA has reserved a block of rooms for those attending the TPA.  The rooms (at $249 plus taxes , fees, and parking) are pretty expensive (as all things in midtown are, now), but it’s still lower than the going rate.  NOTE: This rate is available only through September 20.  Book at:  https://group.homewood-suites.com/hdh6ji. Homewood Suites by Hilton® Nashville Vanderbilt, TN, 2400 West End Avenue Nashville, Tennessee 37203 USA, is an easy walk from Furman Hall.

For one or two persons, a relatively inexpensive alternative is to stay at the Scarritt Bennett Center at 1027 18th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37212.  Scarritt Bennett (http://www.scarrittbennett.org/), once a Methodist seminary, is also a short walk from Furman Hall.  Accommodations are singles in dormitory buildings (two rooms per bath) and are modestly priced.  For individual room bookings, call 615.340.7469 to speak with a Guest Services staff member.