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Department of Philosophy {College of Liberal & Creative Arts}
Image: Photos of famous philosophers
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Welcome to the Department of Philosophy
Breaking News
Fall '16 Application Deadline for the Philosophy
M.A. Program: July 15th
The Philosophy M.A. Program accepts applications through July 15th for students
applying to begin in the Fall semester.
See application details here: http://philosophy.sfsu.edu/page/ma-application.
We encourage you to contact us with any application or programmatic questions
you may have: grdphl@sfsu.edu.
Bengier Foundation University Scholarships
In recognition of Philosophy Chair Anita Silvers' fine career of service to the
university, the Bengier Foundation has generously increased the amount of their
undergraduate university scholarships to $3000. Note that one of these
scholarships is set aside for an undergraduate Philosophy major!
For more information see this page:
https://sfsu.academicworks.com/opportunities/6241
CONGRATULATIONS!
To Andy Peterson (M.A. '11) who is completing his doctorate and has a job offer as
assistant professor at a research university.
LCA NEXT STOP: PHILOSOPHY
I THINK, THEREFORE I ... MAKE MONEY.
A PHILOSOPHY DEGREE MAKES MORE THAN AN ACCOUNTING DEGREE.
CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER
Congratulations to SFSU MA candidate Kathleen Nicole O'Neal on being named a
2015-2016 Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholar! Thanks also to her faculty mentor,
Dr. Isabelle Peschard, for her sponsorship.
CONGRATULATIONS!
On August 7th, 2015, SFSU MA candidate Ashlie Meredith presented her paper
entitled "The Pitfalls of Contempt in Liberatory Struggles" on the main program for
the 8th Annual Rocky Mountain Ethics Congress at CU Boulder.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Congratulations to recent M.A. graduates Eric Clanton, Danny Gluch, Matthew
Howery and Neil Pettijohn, who have been offered lecturer positions at CSU
Sacramento for Fall '15.
EXTERNAL REVIEWERS PRAISE SFSU M.A.!
SFSU Philosophy Department is remarkable asset to university, invaluable
contributor to the discipline of Philosophy, a gem! say Hanson and Normore.
Follow this link to see highlights from the report.
FACULTY BLOG
SFSU Philosophy Professor Carlos Montemayor's latest book is summarized and
discussed in an ongoing Theory of Consciousness blog in Psychology Today. See
here and here.
ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT
Recent graduate Rachel Buddeberg is making news for her advocacy in San
Francisco, which continues the work begun in her MA thesis in the Department of
Philosophy.
CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER!
Congratulations to TWO philosophy graduate students who received travel funding
awards this Spring. Each was granted $600.00 in travel funding from the College of
Liberal and Creative Arts.
A continuing student presented at the Montreal Neuroethics Conference for Young
Researchers on April 17th, 2015.
David Wong presented his paper, "How the Representation Consumer Determines
Representational Content" on April 18, 2015 at the Long Island Philosophical
Society Conference.
SFSU M.A. Program Rises in PGR Ranking
The SFSU M.A. program has risen to a three-way tie for sixth place in the '15/'16
Philosophical Gourmet Ranking (PGR) of stand-alone philosophy M.A. programs.
The PGR rankings are based on peer assessments of the program faculty's
strengths. SFSU has been in the PGR's top ten list since 2009.
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View the news story for the College
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View the full PGR rankings
Philosophy Students Help High Schoolers Tackle Ethics
November 14, 2014
A group of San Francisco high school students will wrestle with tricky ethical
questions during a competition this January, with help from SF State philosophers.
Seven graduate philosophy students are serving as coaches for high schoolers at
San Francisco's School of the Arts and the Academy of Arts and Sciences who will
be competing in the High School Ethics Bowl next January. This is the second year
SF State students have been involved in the competition.
Ashlie Meredith (from left), Matt Howery and Eric Clanton are among several SF
State graduate philosophy students serving as coaches for San Francisco public
high school teams competing in the High School Ethics Bowl."I have never seen
people so interested in these questions before," said Matt Howery, one of the
coaches and the SF State outreach coordinator for the National High School Ethics
Bowl. "Especially in San Francisco, teenagers are passionate social justice ninjas.
These are things they care about." Last year, Howery's team made it all the way to
the regional semifinals, an impressive achievement for a public school with fewer
resources than many of its competitors.
For the SF State students, Howery added, giving back to the community in this
manner is a natural and important part of what they do as philosophers.
"A philosopher is a teacher," he said. "Philosophy is teaching. It's not a field that
exists if no one is sharing information. Anytime we are engaging people, especially
people who are not philosophers, we are engaging in an art that is thousands of
years old."
The seven coaches are supervising six teams of five students each, working with
them for a few hours each month to teach them how to develop arguments and
engage others in collaborative debate -- the criteria by which they will be scored
during the competition. The regional competition in January will be held at
University of California, Santa Cruz, with the winner advancing to the National High
School Ethics Bowl in North Carolina. Topics will include whether it is okay for a
country such as Brazil to spend billions hosting the World Cup while many of its
citizens are starving and whether photoshopping magazine models is ever
appropriate.
"I've been pleasantly surprised at how quickly the students take to philosophical
arguments, the kinds of objections that they raise and their philosophical
development," said Ashlie Meredith, a graduate student and coach. "Watching that
has really cultivated a passion in me for bringing philosophy to young people. It's
important to foster their critical thinking skills so they can learn how to develop their
own opinions and become informed citizens."
The SF State students' involvement is essential because it provides the high school
students with a historical and academic context for the skills they are learning, said
Jerry Pannone, a retired teacher and the ethics bowl coordinator at the two high
schools.
"That is really enlightening to the kids, to see that these are very well-founded
ethical theories that can also be in conflict with each other," Pannone said. "The SF
State students can elucidate that for them and show them the classical
development of an argument where you have two or three premises and a
conclusion. That is excellent for students to learn."
-- Jonathan Morales
-- From SF State News
DEPARTMENT CONTACT
FACULTY OFFICE HOURS AND CONTACT INFORMATION
Department Office: HUM 388
Hours: M-TH 8:30am-5pm, F 8:30-1:30pm
Jennifer Waller
Academic Office Coordinator
E-mail: phlsphr@sfsu.edu
Phone: (415) 338-1596
Dennis Browe
Graduate Coordinator Assistant
E-mail: grdphl@sfsu.edu
Phone: (415) 338-2470
Address:1600 Holloway Avenue San Francisco, CA 94132
Humanities Building, Room 388
Campus Map
PHILOSOPHY COURSES
Course Descriptions
WHY STUDY PHILOSOPHY?
Philosophy is traditionally defined as the love of wisdom, the ability to think well about the foundations of
human action, the nature of reality, and the purposes and priorities of life. The department offers the
opportunity for a systematic study of the philosophies of past and present, of East and West, a study that
deepens and broadens one's outlook on the world and on human affairs, and thus provides a more
secure basis on which to develop one's own philosophy.
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Department of Philosophy