Long Island Philosophical Society Annual Conference at Saint John's University

SAINT JOHN’S UNIVERSITY PRESENTS THE LONG ISLAND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY  ANNUAL CONFERENCE - APRIL 1ST, 2023 2 LONG ISLAND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY Conference at Saint John’s University– April 01, 2023 Campus Map/Directions/Places to Stay: Map 140425_m1-9098_queens_campus_map.pdf (stjohns.edu) Directions and Places to Stay - Directions and Area Hotels | St. John's University (stjohns.edu) Anyone interested in teaching an adjunct course at Saint John’s University should contact the chairperson of the philosophy department, Dr. Kevin Kennedy at (718) 990-6379 or kennedyk@stjohns.edu. Dr. Kennedy will be present at the conference. Important Conference Information: a) If an advertised session chairperson is late then please begin the session. Anyone in attendance can step in and chair a session. b) There is no registration fee for this conference. c) Parking is free and ample. Drive into Gate 1 located at 8000 Utopia Parkway and Kildare Road. Other parking lots on the campus are also available to anyone on weekends. d) Classrooms are equipped for Audio/Visual needs. All conference participants with an A/V component to their presentation should bring what they need in case there is difficulty in logging onto the PC. Please be prepared to give your presentation in case of technical difficulties. e) Breakfast, lunch, and a post-conference reception with some food will be available to all conference participants and attendees. In addition there are many restaurants located on Union Turnpike. Some eating establishments may also be open on campus. f) Those participating in and attending the conference should keep their belongings with them at all times. g) Please use your judgment in terms of Covid precautions. Wearing a mask is your prerogative but is not required. 3 Conference Begins 8:00 am D’Angelo Center = DAC; Marillac Hall = MH Registration/Breakfast: 8:00 am – 9:00 am (Rooms 412 DAC, Ballroom - 416 DAC) LIPS Poet Laureate John DeCarlo will open the conference proceedings during breakfast with a special welcome. Morning Sessions – (9:00 am – Noon) (Sessions 1-8 in DAC), (Sessions 9, 10 in MH) Session 1: Relativism, Aristotle, Lonergan, Consciousness, Epistemology, Perception, MerleauPonty Chairperson: Joseph Biehl (Saint John’s University) Room – DAC 209 1. Joseph Biehl (Saint John’s University) - “Late Morning in the Age of Protagoras” 2. Addison Hinton (Stony Brook University) - “A Metaphysics of the Lived Body: An Aristotelian Ontology of Touch” 3. Clayton Shoppa (Saint Francis College) - “Lonergan and the Objectification of Consciousness” 4. Yanai Sened (Fordham University) - “The Role of Epistemic Virtue in Passive Perception” 5. Jeffrey Wasch (Lincoln University of Pennsylvania) - “Is Perception Rational? A MerleauPontyean Critique of the Rationality of Perception” Session 2: Kantian Studies Chairperson: Matthew Konig (SUNY Suffolk Community College) Room = DAC 306 1. Andre LeBrun (University of California, Irvine) - “Kant on Pyrrhonism in the Lectures on Logic” 2. Kevin McShane (Saint John’s University) - “Imagination and Conceptual Schemes: Kant’s Response to Davidson’s Challenge” 3. Daniel Dal Monte (Rowan University) - “Nature and Freedom in Kant through the Lens of Leibniz” 4. Matthew Clemons (Stony Brook University) - “Kant’s First Critique and the Ineffectiveness of Transcendental Arguments” Session 3: Logic, Metaphysics, Contractualism, Technology, Ethics, Medicine Chairperson: Francis Fallon (Saint John’s University) Room = DAC 307 1. Elliott Domaglia (University of South Florida) - “Psychē in Sōma: Medicine in Democritus and the Ethical Imperative to Be Healthy” 4 2. Daniel Webber (University of Pittsburgh) - “Contractualism and the Wrong World Problem” 3. Alyssa Romero (Stony Brook University) - “The Proper Flight of Dwelling: Man’s ‘Betrayal’ of the Fourfold in the Time of Modern Technology” 4. Cameron Johnson (CUNY Graduate Center) - “Every Possible World Exists, and Each is Necessarily a Loop” 5. Itsue Nakaya-Pérez (CUNY Graduate Center) - “Does Autonomous Shame Exist?” Session 4: (Religion, Education, Friendship, Miracles, NeoPlatonism, Augustine) Chairperson: Glenn Statile (Saint John’s University) Room – DAC 308 1. Alina Feld (CUNY York College and CUNY Queensborough Community College) - “Ray L. Hart: God Being Nothing: The Hermeneutical Spiral and the Imagination” 2. Brother Owen Sadlier (Cathedral College Seminary and Saint Joseph’s Seminary and College) - “On Philosophical Education and Friendship” 3. Jason Costanzo (Conception Seminary College) - “Being and the Miraculous: Philosophical Reflections on Matthew: 14: 22-23” 4. Roland Pereira (Idente Missionaries) - “The Role of NeoPlatonism in the Conversion of Augustine” Session 5: Hume, Photography, Climatology, Infinite, Euclid Chairperson: Leslie Aarons (CUNY LaGuardia Community College) Room – DAC 407 1. Robert DeVall (Independent Scholar) - “Hume, the Ideal Critic, and the Problem of Taste” 2. Marc Biemiller (Florida State University) - “The Semi-Transparency of Photographs” 3. Ryan O’loughlin (CUNY Queens College) - “Diagnosing Errors in Climate Model Intercomparisons” 4. Daniel Gaines (Western Michigan University) - “Argument from the Impossibility of an Actual Infinite: An Objection Appealing to the Domain of Euclid’s Common Notions” Session 6: Ethics, Humor, Race Chairperson: John DeCarlo (Hofstra University) Room = DAC 408 1. Paul Rezkalla (Baylor University) - “Knowledge, Action, and Killing” 2. Jodell Ulerie (CUNY Graduate Center) - “A Defense of Racist Humor (Sort of)” 3. Talhah Mustafa (University of Nebraska – Lincoln) - “Racial Powers” 4. Rebekah Locke (Independent Scholar – at Loyola University, New Orleans) - “Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Do No Good: Collective Inaction, Responsibility and Blameworthiness” 5 Session 7: Animals, Science, UFO’s, Ethics, Aquinas, Expertise Chairperson: Anton Alterman (LIU Brooklyn) Room – DAC 406 1. Marie George (Saint John’s University) - “Do Animals Know Others’ Emotions?” 2. Anton Alterman (LIU Brooklyn) - “Science, Knowledge and Responsibility: The Ethics of Extraterrestrial UFO Studies” 3. Matthew Glaser (Fordham University) - “First-Person Authority: Expertise, Agency, and Aquinas” 4. Richard Frohock (University of South Florida) - “What Do Experts Owe Us?” Session 8: Ancient Philosophy, Maimonides, Schopenhauer, Epistemic Virtues Chairperson: Robert Delfino (Saint John’s University) Room – DAC 410 1. Chryssoula Gitsoulis (CUNY City College ) - “What do Hippocrates’ Doctor and Aristotle’s Poet Share in Common?” 2. Eric Wickey (Saint Peter’s University) - “Reflections on Plato’s Republic” 3. Avraham Sommer (Rutgers University) - “A Neo-Maimonidean Theory of Prophecy” 4. Juan Rivera-Castro (Boston College) - “A Plotinian Interpretation of Schopenhauer’s Thing-in-Itself” 5. Galen Barry (Iona University) - “Grounding Epistemic Virtues in Moral Respect” Session 9: Sartre, Hobbes, Kierkegaard, Duns Scotus, Wittgenstein, Philosophy of Science Chairperson: Andrew McFarland (CUNY LaGuardia Community College) Room = MAR 135 1. Paul Gyllenhammer (Saint John’s University) - “Sartre’s Way Beyond Hobbesian Imperialism” 2. Charles Duke (University of South Florida) - “The Ethics of Neighbor in Kierkegaard and John Duns Scotus” 3. Gino Elia (Stony Brook University) - “Wittgenstein: Gender Identity and the Unspeakable” 4. Michael Barr (Stony Brook University) - “What the Judge Would Have Had for Breakfast: Counterfactuals, Genealogy and Wittgenstein’s Rule Following Argument” 5. Andrew McFarland (CUNY LaGuardia Community College) - “Scientific Categories and the Hierarchy Thesis Revisited” Session 10: Undergraduate Session (all from Saint John’s University) Chairperson: Cynthia Adebayo Room – MAR 137 1. Technology and Society Presenters - John Paul Mussalli, Aidan, Galvez, Pedro Castillo Ruiz 6 2. Emilia Mihakandov and Matthew O’Modie - “Good Leadership: Machiavellian Perspectives on What Makes a Good Leader” 3. Cynthia Adebayo - “The Ethical Foundations of Global Healthcare” Aristotelian vs ****************************************************************************** Lunch: Noon – 1:00 pm (BALLROOM - DAC 416) KEYNOTE SESSION: 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm BALLROOM - DAC 416 Hosts of Keynote Session - Leslie Aarons (CUNY LaGuardia Community College) and Glenn Statile (Saint John’s University) Outstanding Service Award: Margaret Cuonzo (LIU Brooklyn) Leslie Aarons (LaGuardia Community College) Vincent E. Smith Award in the Philosophy of Science: Arthur Gianelli (Saint John’s University) Vadim Batitsky (Saint John’s University) LIPS Poet Laureate: John F. DeCarlo (Hofstra University) Professor DeCarlo will deliver a philosophical dramatic presentation which he promises is suitable for April Fool’s Day. Poetry: Life and Death; Walking Through Lebanon Philosophy: Had I But Time... I Could Tell You: Hamlet's Unspoken Dialectic with Descartes, Kant, and Heidegger 7 Keynote Speaker: Dr. Sophie Berman INFINITY AND FREEDOM IN DESCARTES’S METAPHYSICS Dr. Berman is a professor emeritus of the philosophy department at Saint Francis College where she served as chairperson for well over a decade. Dr. Berman’s research interests focus on Descartes, Neoplatonism, and the notion of infinity. She has published and lectured locally and nationally on Plotinus, Anselm, Nicholas of Cusa, and Descartes. Her manuscript for a book on “Descartes and the Infinite” is in its final stages. ***** Afternoon Sessions - (2:30 pm – 5:00 pm) (Sessions 11-18 in DAC), (Sessions 19, 20 in MH) Afternoon sessions can continue beyond 5:00 pm if needed. Session 11: Metaphysics, Creativity, Communication, Education, Dance Chairperson: Christine Salboudis Room = DAC 209 1. The Play’s The Thing: Metaphysical Aspects of the Creative Process from Print to Screen/Stage Presenters: Father Robert Lauder (Saint John’s University) Christine Salboudis (Saint John’s University) 2. Nancy Di Tunnariello (Saint John’s University) - “Ideal Communication as a Lived Experience: Proposing a Theory of Psychodramatics” 3. Noor Imran (Stony Brook University) - “A Complete Aesthetics of Dance” 4. Kelly Downing (Independent Scholar) - “Inclusive Grassroots Comparative (IGC)” Session 12: Confucianism and Toleration, Political Philosophy, Philanthropy, Poverty, Libertarianism Chairperson: Francis Fallon (Saint John’s University) Room = DAC 306 8 1. Peter Li (Saint John’s University) - “Pluralistic Neutrality, Political Confucianism, and the Right to Toleration” 2. Michael Buckley (CUNY Lehman College) - “Three Constraints of Adequacy in Political Philosophy” 3. Olga Lenczewska (University of North Carolina) and Kate Yuan (Independent Scholar) “Negative Duty, Philanthropy and Global Poverty” 4. Brenden Kost (Florida State University) - “A Modest Defense of Agent-Causal Libertarianism” Session 13: Aristotle, Aquinas, Bonaventure Chairperson = Glenn Statile (Saint John’s University) Room = DAC 307 1. Kelsey Boor (Fordham University) - “Aquinas and Bonaventure on Conscience” 2. Robert Delfino (Saint John’s University) - “Aquinas and the Existential Theory of Individuation” 3. Alice Ramos (Saint John’s University) - “Character, Friendship, and Conversion: Befriending a Bad Person” 4. Respondent - Kevin Kennedy (Saint John’s University) Session 14: Policy, Ethics, Hannah Arendt, Nietzsche Chairperson: Lowell Kleiman (SUNY Suffolk Community College) Room = DAC 308 1. Maksim Vak (Saint John’s University) - “Revaluating Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism from Nietzsche’s Perspective” 2. Justin Perry (University of D.C. and Georgetown University) - “Virtuous Policy and Institutionalized Utilitarianism” 3. Stephen Morris (CUNY College of Staten Island) - “Is a Moral World More Violent?” 4. Dominique Codjia (Northwestern University) - “Microagressions, Gaslighting, and Epistemic Injustice” Session 15: Causation, Evolution, Phenomenology, Neuropsychology Chairperson: Eugene Kelly (New York Institute of Technology) Room = DAC 407 1. Yual Chiek (Saint John’s University) - “Archimedes’ Laws of the Lever and the Equality of Cause and Effect” 2. Christopher Brown (Xiamen University, China) - “Another Look at the Causal Closure Argument” 9 3. Jacob Koval (Florida State University) - “Evil Lizard People: A Reply to Clarke-Doane on Evolutionary Debunking Arguments” 4. Jeffrey Gaines (Independent Scholar) - “Phenomenology and Clinical Neuropsychology” Session 16 : Relation, Infinitism, Virtue, Conspiracy Theories, Aristotle Chairperson: Leslie Aarons (CUNY LaGuardia Community College) Room = K408 1. Alexia Papigiotis (CUNY Graduate Center) - “What is Relatability?” 2. William Welchance (University of Virginia – Visiting at Rutgers University) - “Metaphysical Infinitism and Theoretical Virtue” 3. Ryan Ross (Johns Hopkins University) - “When to Dismiss Conspiracy Theories Out of Hand” 4. Kevin Bethell (Ohio University) - “Aristotelian Inquiry” Session 17: Ethics, Unconscious, Death, Evil, Chance Chairperson: John DeCarlo (Hofstra University) Room – DAC 406 1. Matthew Konig (SUNY Suffolk Community College) - “The Nature of Moral Facts, Revisited” 2. Michael Schrynemakers (Saint John’s University) - “Gratuitous Evils and Chance” 3. Connor Leak (University of Birmingham, England) - “The First-Person Perspective and the Badness of Death” 4. Sabina Schrynemakers (Independent Scholar) - “Moral Responsibility, Self-Control, and the Unconscious” Session 18: Philosophy of the City This is a satellite session of the Gotham Philosophy Society which presents a symposium on Shane Epting’s Urban Enlightenment: Multistakeholder Engagement and the City. Chairperson: Joseph Biehl (St. John’s University and Executive Director of the Gotham Philosophy Society) Room = DAC 410 1. Author Presentation – Shane Epting (Missouri University of Science and Technology) Commentators: 2. Michael Menser (Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center) 3. Margaret Cuonzo (Long Island University, Brooklyn) 4. Uma Balakrishnan (Saint John’s University) 10 Session 19: Zhuangzi, Boethius, Machiavelli, al-Ghazali, Meister Eckhart Chairperson: Alina Feld (York College and Queensborough Community College) Room – MAR 135 1. Rongkun Zhang (University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Visiting at Stanford University) - “Zhuangzi’s Theory on Fate and the Humanistic Spirit Within” 2. Joseph Jordan (Holy Apostles College and Seminary) - “Fortune, Providence, and Philosophy: A Boethian Response to Machiavelli and Jordan Peterson” 3. Huzaifah Maung (Queens College) - “Philosophy in Context: al- Ghazali’s View” 4. Timothy Jaeger (Boston College) - “Love From a Distance: An Exploration of the Relation Between Love and Detachment in the Thought of Meister Eckhart” 5. Vincent Alexis Peluce and Joseph Frankel (CUNY Graduate Center) - “Love of Fate in the Jewish Philosophical Tradition” Session 20: Ethics, Deleuze, Adorno, Chairperson: Anton Alterman (LIU Brooklyn) Room - MAR 137 1. Cara Cummings (John’s Hopkins University) - “How to Be Honest About Things We Dislike” 2. Colt Hutchinson (Kent State University) - “Accelerationism, Theoreticism, and Transformative Resistance: An Analysis of Fascism between Deleuze and Adorno” 3. Jie Chen (Rice University) - “The Necessity of Universal State-Regulated Childcare” 4. Brandon Kaiser (Boston College) - “Autonomy and Alterity: Universalizing the Ethical Relation” 5. Phi Davy Nguyen (Independent Scholar) - “Realms of Resistance and the Necessity of War: Poetic Meditations on Art, Ethics and the Sacred” ****** Reception: (5:00 pm – 6:00 pm) (BALLROOM - DAC 416) ****** LIPS Board of Directors: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Dr. Margaret Cuonzo (LIU Brooklyn) – Executive Director and Co-chairperson Dr. Leslie Aarons (LaGuardia CC) - Co-Chairperson and Conference Organizer Dr. Alina Feld (St. John’s University) Dr. Howard Ponzer (Molloy College) Dr. Anton Alterman (LIU Brooklyn) Professor John F. DeCarlo (Hofstra University) Dr. Francis Fallon (St. John’s University) 11 8. Dr. Moti Mizrahi (Florida Institute of Technology) 9. Dr. Glenn Statile (St. John’s University) - Co-Chairperson and Conference Organizer Long Island Philosophical Society Hall of Fame (Initial Inductees - 2022) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Dr. Eugene Kelly (LIU Old Westbury) Dr. Lowell Kleiman (SUNY Suffolk County Community College) Dr. Joseph Filonowicz (LIU Brooklyn) Dr. Margaret Cuonzo (LIU Brooklyn) Dr. James P. Friel (SUNY Farmingdale) List of LIPS Awards: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Outstanding Book Award Outstanding Service Award Outstanding Philosopher Award LIPS Hall of Fame Vincent E. Smith Award in the Philosophy of Science LIPS would like to thank Dr. Kevin Kennedy (chairperson) of the Philosophy Department of Saint John’s University and Eileen Jounakos for their support and assistance in making this conference possible.