Among standard upper division philosophy courses, I teach Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of Science. I also usually teach Language and Logic, Pacific's formal logic course, as well as sometimes Introduction to Philosophy. In addition to these I teach a junior research seminar, Research and Dissemination, in which the students both work to organize our own undergraduate conference as well as develop one of their own extant papers for submission to another conference. Some Januaries I teach an intensive course on Artificial Intelligence. I also co-teach a Travel Course to Greece, cross-listed in philosophy and theatre, in which we travel with students in Greece for two weeks, studying the history of philosophy and theatre.
Students at Pacific complete a senior capstone project, which in philosophy involves what is usually a year-long research project culminating in a thirty-page philosophical essay. Capstone students work closely with their advisor, and I have been fortunate to have fantastic capstone students who have completed many interesting projects:
Dahlia McNeice (2023)
In her capstone, Dahlia argues that brain-centered ways of orienting our discussions of mental health are problematic and harmful. Given what we now understand about the ways that minds are extended into the body and environment, she presents a case for mental health being reconceptualized as primarily holistic and environmental, rather than reductionist frameworks that purport to individuate single causes in the brain for a variety of conditions and experiences.
Majestik de Luz (2022)
Majestik was a double major in philosophy and psychology. Her capstone project was on human attitudes toward death, arguing that although we are cognitively closed in some respects to fully conceptualizing our own non-existence, it can be a an extended transformative experience to approach the limit of these conceptions, shifting our perspective on death in myriad healthful ways. Majestik is now enrolled in a graduate program in applied ethics at Oregon State University.
Kylie Halland (2022)
Kylie was a double major in philosophy and psychology; her capstone project was an interrogation and critique of the treatment of objectivity and subjectivity in diagnostic practices in clinical psychology. Specifically, Kylie argues that contemporary diagnostic practices are deeply theory-laden, despite preferring the language and superficial conceptual allegiances to objectivity. Kylie is now working on a graduate degree at the Lewis and Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling.
Peyton Spencer (2021)
Peyton was a double major in philosophy and psychology, and wrote a capstone project arguing that existing psychiatric classifications skew diagnoses and treatments toward those amenable to reductionist frameworks. As a case study, Peyton examines Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a condition notable for its holistic etiology and manifestation, and one that demonstrates how reductionist approaches inherently fail to capture the complexities of human psychology. Last I heard, Peyton was applying to graduate programs.
Ariel Watanabe (2020)
Ariel was a double major in philosophy and environmental studies, and did a capstone that brought ideas from philosophy of mind to bear on contemporary critical race theory. Specifically, the project utilized ideas about qualia to investigate what third-person knowledge can be had about the experience of being a person of color, and argues that there are special limits to this knowledge.
Tianna Vanderwey (2020)
Tianna was a double major in philosophy and psychology; her capstone was a reconciliation of Wittgenstein's Private Language Argument with certain aspects of qualia and first-person experience, arguing that the limits drawn by Wittgenstein allow for a richer account of first-person experience than previously understood.
Mikie Relloque IV (2020)
Mikie was a double major in philosophy and film. His capstone project was a philosophical investigation of the science of psychedelics, where he argues that there is evidence that further and less constrained research into psychedelics will yield theoretical and practical benefits in both philosophy and science, and that properly objective scientific and philosophic study is justified and needed.
Mark Hamilton (2020)
Mark's capstone project was an examination of the concept of wisdom, specifically a response, criticism, and elaboration of Sharon Ryan's account of wisdom and its attendant conditions. Mark argues that these conditions need further tweaking to match what we seek in an account of wisdom, and offered particular insights from Ibn Arabi's Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam as helpful additions.
Itzel Chavez (2019)
Itzel was a double major in philosophy and economics, and her capstone was a reexamination of the assumptions inherent in Hayek’s neoliberal economic program, using a Lakatosian Research Programmes approach to understand anew the problematic pace and character of the economic and cultural changes demanded of colonized cultures. After finishing her degree, Itzel went to work for a local nonprofit which offers services to local low-income families and communities of color.
Jackie Shirley (2019)
Jackie was a double major in biology and philosophy, and her capstone was an investigation into the relationship between philosophy and science, and a defense of the importance of the role that philosophy continues to play in practices within and surrounding scientific work.
Jaron Yamauchi (2019)
Jaron’s capstone was a defense of scientific realism, grounded in arguments concerning the instrumental role that truth plays in scientific inquiry, and the structure provided to these practices by this feature. After graduating, Jaron prepared for the LSAT and law school applications.
Jonah Pincetich (2019)
Jonah was a double major in philosophy and computer science. His capstone was a critique of the assumption—sometimes explicit, sometimes implicit—of physicalism in artificial intelligence research, and an investigation into the merits of alternative ontologies with respect to problems for artificial intelligence. Jonah went on to become a Systems Integration Architect at a local technology firm.
Steven Steed (2018)
Steven’s capstone project was an investigation and deployment of the nature of collective intentionality, in the service of making sense of, and defending the ontological status of, culturally constructed values among social groups. Steven is presently bartending at the Multnomah Whiskey Library, and contemplating graduate programs.
Cassie Finley (2018)
For her capstone, Cassie argued for an Aristotelian brand of functionalism about cognition, attempting to show that taking an Aristotelian psyche as the object of analysis helps to mitigate difficulties functionalism otherwise faces. After graduating, Cassie was accepted into the Ph.D. program in philosophy at the University of Iowa, where she went on to pursue her doctorate.
Liam Howard (2017)
Liam was a double major in chemistry and philosophy, and his senior capstone project was a defense of nonreductive scientific realism utilizing examples of chemical technologies in a version of Putnam’s no-miracles argument, demonstrating how due attention paid to natural sciences other than physics belies an all-too-common reductivism among realists. Last I heard, Liam was working as a laboratory chemist in Portland.
Kenny Pyne (2017)
In Kenny’s senior capstone project, he sought to demonstrate that, understood in the right way, Epicurean and Stoic views—especially views about fate, control, and nature—share more common ground than scholars have traditionally recognized. Kenny went on to pursue graduate work in creative writing.
Kestra Matson (2017)
Kestra was a double major in literature and philosophy. In her senior capstone, she argues against the conceptual and linguistic tractability of causation arguments in mind-body contexts, thus complicating the interaction problem for dualism. Kestra went on to enter a graduate program for an MA in education, and is presently teaching English at a local high school.
Tyler Wiprud (2017)
Tyler’s capstone was an examination of the criteria for being worth moral consideration, and an argument that at least some existing technologies meet these criteria at least as well as some of the living beings that have traditionally and intuitively been accepted as such. After graduating, Tyler went into a graduate program in education.
Students at Pacific complete a senior capstone project, which in philosophy involves what is usually a year-long research project culminating in a thirty-page philosophical essay. Capstone students work closely with their advisor, and I have been fortunate to have fantastic capstone students who have completed many interesting projects:
Dahlia McNeice (2023)
In her capstone, Dahlia argues that brain-centered ways of orienting our discussions of mental health are problematic and harmful. Given what we now understand about the ways that minds are extended into the body and environment, she presents a case for mental health being reconceptualized as primarily holistic and environmental, rather than reductionist frameworks that purport to individuate single causes in the brain for a variety of conditions and experiences.
Majestik de Luz (2022)
Majestik was a double major in philosophy and psychology. Her capstone project was on human attitudes toward death, arguing that although we are cognitively closed in some respects to fully conceptualizing our own non-existence, it can be a an extended transformative experience to approach the limit of these conceptions, shifting our perspective on death in myriad healthful ways. Majestik is now enrolled in a graduate program in applied ethics at Oregon State University.
Kylie Halland (2022)
Kylie was a double major in philosophy and psychology; her capstone project was an interrogation and critique of the treatment of objectivity and subjectivity in diagnostic practices in clinical psychology. Specifically, Kylie argues that contemporary diagnostic practices are deeply theory-laden, despite preferring the language and superficial conceptual allegiances to objectivity. Kylie is now working on a graduate degree at the Lewis and Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling.
Peyton Spencer (2021)
Peyton was a double major in philosophy and psychology, and wrote a capstone project arguing that existing psychiatric classifications skew diagnoses and treatments toward those amenable to reductionist frameworks. As a case study, Peyton examines Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a condition notable for its holistic etiology and manifestation, and one that demonstrates how reductionist approaches inherently fail to capture the complexities of human psychology. Last I heard, Peyton was applying to graduate programs.
Ariel Watanabe (2020)
Ariel was a double major in philosophy and environmental studies, and did a capstone that brought ideas from philosophy of mind to bear on contemporary critical race theory. Specifically, the project utilized ideas about qualia to investigate what third-person knowledge can be had about the experience of being a person of color, and argues that there are special limits to this knowledge.
Tianna Vanderwey (2020)
Tianna was a double major in philosophy and psychology; her capstone was a reconciliation of Wittgenstein's Private Language Argument with certain aspects of qualia and first-person experience, arguing that the limits drawn by Wittgenstein allow for a richer account of first-person experience than previously understood.
Mikie Relloque IV (2020)
Mikie was a double major in philosophy and film. His capstone project was a philosophical investigation of the science of psychedelics, where he argues that there is evidence that further and less constrained research into psychedelics will yield theoretical and practical benefits in both philosophy and science, and that properly objective scientific and philosophic study is justified and needed.
Mark Hamilton (2020)
Mark's capstone project was an examination of the concept of wisdom, specifically a response, criticism, and elaboration of Sharon Ryan's account of wisdom and its attendant conditions. Mark argues that these conditions need further tweaking to match what we seek in an account of wisdom, and offered particular insights from Ibn Arabi's Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam as helpful additions.
Itzel Chavez (2019)
Itzel was a double major in philosophy and economics, and her capstone was a reexamination of the assumptions inherent in Hayek’s neoliberal economic program, using a Lakatosian Research Programmes approach to understand anew the problematic pace and character of the economic and cultural changes demanded of colonized cultures. After finishing her degree, Itzel went to work for a local nonprofit which offers services to local low-income families and communities of color.
Jackie Shirley (2019)
Jackie was a double major in biology and philosophy, and her capstone was an investigation into the relationship between philosophy and science, and a defense of the importance of the role that philosophy continues to play in practices within and surrounding scientific work.
Jaron Yamauchi (2019)
Jaron’s capstone was a defense of scientific realism, grounded in arguments concerning the instrumental role that truth plays in scientific inquiry, and the structure provided to these practices by this feature. After graduating, Jaron prepared for the LSAT and law school applications.
Jonah Pincetich (2019)
Jonah was a double major in philosophy and computer science. His capstone was a critique of the assumption—sometimes explicit, sometimes implicit—of physicalism in artificial intelligence research, and an investigation into the merits of alternative ontologies with respect to problems for artificial intelligence. Jonah went on to become a Systems Integration Architect at a local technology firm.
Steven Steed (2018)
Steven’s capstone project was an investigation and deployment of the nature of collective intentionality, in the service of making sense of, and defending the ontological status of, culturally constructed values among social groups. Steven is presently bartending at the Multnomah Whiskey Library, and contemplating graduate programs.
Cassie Finley (2018)
For her capstone, Cassie argued for an Aristotelian brand of functionalism about cognition, attempting to show that taking an Aristotelian psyche as the object of analysis helps to mitigate difficulties functionalism otherwise faces. After graduating, Cassie was accepted into the Ph.D. program in philosophy at the University of Iowa, where she went on to pursue her doctorate.
Liam Howard (2017)
Liam was a double major in chemistry and philosophy, and his senior capstone project was a defense of nonreductive scientific realism utilizing examples of chemical technologies in a version of Putnam’s no-miracles argument, demonstrating how due attention paid to natural sciences other than physics belies an all-too-common reductivism among realists. Last I heard, Liam was working as a laboratory chemist in Portland.
Kenny Pyne (2017)
In Kenny’s senior capstone project, he sought to demonstrate that, understood in the right way, Epicurean and Stoic views—especially views about fate, control, and nature—share more common ground than scholars have traditionally recognized. Kenny went on to pursue graduate work in creative writing.
Kestra Matson (2017)
Kestra was a double major in literature and philosophy. In her senior capstone, she argues against the conceptual and linguistic tractability of causation arguments in mind-body contexts, thus complicating the interaction problem for dualism. Kestra went on to enter a graduate program for an MA in education, and is presently teaching English at a local high school.
Tyler Wiprud (2017)
Tyler’s capstone was an examination of the criteria for being worth moral consideration, and an argument that at least some existing technologies meet these criteria at least as well as some of the living beings that have traditionally and intuitively been accepted as such. After graduating, Tyler went into a graduate program in education.
