International Undergraduate Philosophy Conference
The Undergraduate Scholars Program, Phi Sigma Tau, the Philosophy Society, and the Department of History and Philosophy held the first International Undergraduate Philosophy Conference at Montana State University. Undergraduate students from across the globe convened in Bozeman September 6-7, 2013 for a philosophical discourse on a variety of topics, including Hegel and voting, human nature and moral responsibility, as well as Kant and the problem of other minds. Dr. Ian Schnee, Western Kentucky University, delivered the conference’s keynote address on “Knowledge, Falsehood, and Gettier Cases”. Submissions were juried by a panel of peers.
Recent Submissions
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The Slave Mentality: Morality of Spirit in Hegel's Lordship and Bondage
(2013-11)The master-slave dialectic which occurs in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit represents a crucial role in his ambitious project to cure European culture. At the turn of the 19th century, Hegel perceived Western culture as ... -
Conference Schedule-International Undergraduate Philosophy Conference at Montana State University
(2013-09)The Undergraduate Scholars Program, Phi Sigma Tau, the Philosophy Society, and the Department of History and Philosophy are pleased to announce the first International Undergraduate Philosophy Conference at Montana State ... -
Robert Grosseteste, and the History of the Actual Infinite
(2013-09)The problems with the notion of infinity that plagued pre-modern philosophers and mathematicians ever since the introduction of Zeno’s paradoxes are thought to see their first solution in the original and singular ... -
Common Sense in Favor of Mereological Nihilism?
(2013-09)Mereological nihilism, a theory in compositional metaphysics, has long suffered the objection that in virtue of its sheer anti-intuitive nature, it ought not to be believed. This essay seeks to address this objection. To ... -
A Defense of Epistemic Intuitions
(2013-09)Since the very beginning, intuitions have played a crucial role in philosophical inquiry. When Socrates asks, “What is justice?” he appeals to an innate source of knowledge that inexplicably recognizes examples of justice, ... -
Analogy and the Ordering of the Polis in the Republic
(2013-09)In Plato’s the Republic the polis and intelligible world exist to reciprocally compliment each other. More simply, politics and knowledge have a necessary and reciprocal relationship for Plato. I will argue that this ... -
Are the Laws of Logic Contingent?
(2013-09)One question often asked by philosophers is “Might the laws of logic have been different?” That is, are such laws contingent? An affirmative answer to this question in the language of possible world’s semantics would be ... -
The Schadenfreude Objection to Geoffrey Sayre-McCord's Defense of Mill's Principle of Utility
(2013-09)In Mill’s “Proof” of the Principle of Utility: A More than Half-Hearted Defense, Geoffrey Sayre-McCord provides a brilliant analysis of Mill’s “Proof”, which turns it from what many saw as a fallacy ridden embarrassment ... -
Thesis, Antithesis, and Finally, Synthesis: A New Era of Collective Understanding
(2013-09)This paper will explain how the Hegelian Dialectic can be found throughout nature in infinitely various aspects, as well as provide in-depth examples of this phenomenon, including psychologically and historically. It will ... -
Why Compatibilists cannot resist Prepunishment: A Defense of Smilansky
(2013-09)Prepunishment is to hold a person morally responsible for a crime she has yet to commit. Punishing a person prior to committing a crime is considered wrong due to the fact that the crime has not yet in fact been committed. ... -
A Scientific Approach to the Politics of Hobbes and Locke
(2013-09)Metaphysics the philosophical inquiry into the nature and operations of the universe, was believed by the ancients as a branch of philosophy that could investigate and explain the fundamental nature of the world. As ... -
Human Nature and Moral Responsibility
(2013-09)Holding others responsible for and responding resentfully to their wrongdoings are nearly universal practices. A very few philosophers and social activists appear to be the only ones who have ever adopted the idea that one ... -
Hedonistic Egoism as a Paradoxical and Insufficient Doctrine for Freedom
(2013-09)Resulting from the prevalence of hedonistic egoism within the youth culture and the media targeted to this demographic, this essay offers a brief discussion of hedonistic egoism absent in much of contemporary ethics. ...