UVIC Philosophy Students' Union

Dear Philosophically Minded Students,

 
Some events for you this week:
 
 
PMS! Tomorrow at 8:00PM!
 
Pierre will be hosting another P.M.S. night tomorrow night at 8:00 in Felicitas. I gather that the last go was a success so if nature is uniform and the past is a reliable guide to the future, this one should be a lot of fun as well. The concept is to have an informal discussion, rant, rave, or a cartesian meditation in the good company of like minded thinking things (and a few brews). There are no set topics, just discourse and Daniels. So come by, have a beer and argument.
 
 
LADIES?
We’re planning to host an event the week before valentines day in order to fundraise for the $160 cheese platter we unfortunately purchased at the Christmas Party. It would be great to auction off some philosophy related items for this purpose. We recognize however, that many students, by virtue of being philosophy students, have very little valuable items in the first place. So, why not make the auction a Bachelor / Bachelorette (of Arts?) auction? If you are a sexy philosophy student and have some free time in the weeks following Valentines day (or do not yet have a date for the holiday) send me an email and maybe we can generate a bidding war over you at Felicitas that week. We’re planning on getting MacLeod and Foss’ band to perform for the night, with some possible magic by the extremely talented Dr. Kalef. It would be nice to get a sense of the interest for an event like thise however, so if you are down, or have some suggestions for the event, email me post haste.
 
 
FRIDAY COLLOQUIA - ERIC PALMER and PANGLOSS
Topic: Pangloss tells all: A selective study of explanation in the eighteenth century
From what I understand, and what the posters around the department tell me, the collquia focuses on Candide and Voltaire’s use of Dr. Pangloss as a satirical stab at the optimism of the eigteenth century, particularly in Leibniz’ “the world is the best possible world”. It should be interesting, at least!
Presenter: Eric Palmer, Allegheny College
When: 2:30 p.m. Friday, January 22, 2010
Where: CLE A 307
Notes: Everyone Welcome

 
CONFERENCE TIME: SATURDAY MARCH 13th!!!
This year’s Western Canadian Undergraduate Conference of Philosophy, WCUCP baby, is going to be saturday March 13th at the University of Victoria. The Call for Paper’s for our Undergraduate Journal of Philosophy, the Sophia (so glad we scooped that name up first. Take that “The Monist”!) is OUT! This means that you all should polish up last term’s papers up and send them off to Cam at cpotter@uvic.ca where they will be carefully read by our editorial team. We’ve already started to receive our first submissions. Those papers selected for the Sophia will also be invited to present at our Conference this year - so, if you are interested, send away. If you are interested in being involved, send me an email or come to the meeting this Thursday at 3:00 in CLE B325. If you don’t want to help but would like to attend the conference, reserve a spot pronto by emailing Brendan at blgrange@uvic.ca . When we’ve set out our Keynote speaker, we will post the details (likely a visiting Professor like Ned Markosian, David Silver, or Kluge, our old standby). Plans are currently to have a DJ and wicked catering. Its a great chance first of all to present your papers in front of a receptive audience - given the job prospects from a philosophy degree this is likely the sort of work you will be engaged in for your philosophical career - and second to mix and mingle with likeminded philosophy students from out of town and with interesting things to say. James, Cam, Brendan and I can attest to how much fun it was to go to UBC’s conference and meet the fine people there. We can also attest to how much better our conference is going to be! So: if you want to help out, email me. If you want to attend, email Brendan (blgrange@uvic.ca). Either way, hope to see you there.
 
 
CALLS FOR PAPERS
Not only is our conference calling for papers, but Klaus via Liz has passed on a call for Papers for the Pacific University in Oregon. The Details are provided below - Deadline is February 1st! Yikes!
 
FINAL CALL FOR PAPERS

14TH ANNUAL PACIFIC UNIVERSITY

UNDERGRADUATE PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCE

April 16-17, 2010

Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon, USA

Keynote talk by Alvin Plantinga (University of Notre Dame)

The 14th annual Pacific University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference will
be held April 16-17, 2010 on the campus of Pacific University, in Forest
Grove, Oregon.  The purpose of this conference is to provide a forum for the
presentation of philosophical work of undergraduates to their peers.  Papers
are required to be of philosophical content, but there are no specific
restrictions on subject matter within the arena of philosophical discussion
itself.  Papers should be approximately 3000 words (10-12 pages).
Electronic submissions, including paper and abstract (Word documents),
should be sent to boersema@pacificu.edu

Submission deadline is FEBRUARY 1.

Final decisions will be made by February 28.  Volunteers for paper
commentators are also welcome.

This is strictly an undergraduate conference, with only undergraduates
allowed on the conference program.  The single exception is the keynote
speaker.  Past keynotes speakers have included: Paul Churchland, Hilary
Putnam, John Searle, Keith Lehrer, Catherine Elgin, John Perry, Hubert
Dreyfus, and Jerry Fodor.  This year’s keynote talk following the conference
banquet will be by Alvin Plantinga (University of Notre Dame).

The conference schedule will be as follows:

   Friday, April 16:

      Registration         4:00-6:00 pm
      Conference banquet   6:00-7:30 pm
      Keynote talk         7:30-9:00 pm

   Saturday, April 17:

      Breakfast            7:00-8:00 am
      Registration         8:00-9:00 am
      Paper sessions       8:00-1:00
      Conference luncheon  1:00-2:00
      Paper sessions       2:00-6:00

Travel and lodging information can be found by going to the conference web
site, http://www.pacificu.edu/as/philosophy/conference/index.cfm

Registration costs: $40, payable at the conference.  Three meals will be
provided: Friday night banquet, Saturday breakfast and lunch.

For further information, contact Professor Boersema via email
(boersema@pacificu.edu) or by phone (503 352 2150) or at the address below:

   Deptment of Philosophy
   Pacific University
   2043 College Way
   Forest Grove
   OR  97116

Anyways, thats it for this round.
 
Have a week!
 
Best,
Mike