This has been a year of self-study at both the college and university levels. Under the direction of our new Dean, Eva Badowska, the college has assembled a committee to reimagine how HCLAS, as a liberal arts college, should best serve tomorrow’s faculty and students. At the same time, as the university’s centennial begins to come into view, the President and Provost are leading an initiative called “Hofstra 100”, which will take us into our second century of teaching, research and service. In the Philosophy Department as you will discover, below students and faculty are pursuing many of the same fundamental questions that, as alumni, you well remember. This year I continued to chair the department and teach philosophy of law courses; I also advised a senior thesis on the place of labor unions in a just society and co-chaired a university strategic planning committee on interdisciplinarity at Hofstra. The highlight of the Spring 2024 semester was our April 12 the day-long conference celebrating the teaching and scholarship of our long-time colleague and friend Tony Dardis (who retired in August 2024). I was on sabbatical in fall 2024, working on a paper on philosopher John Rawls’ famous thoughtexperiment called ‘the original position’ (forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook on the Philosophy of John Rawls in 2026). I would love to hear from you whether just to catch-up or to have your thoughts about Hofstra’s future trajectory.
FACULTY NOTES
RALPH ACAMPORA: On the research side, I have been working on an article about the metaphysical status and moral standing of plant life; on the pedagogy side, I have continued to pursue a new interdisciplinary program in Animal Studies. CHRIS ELIOT: This Spring I will be presenting at the American Philosophical Association’s Pacific Division meeting in an author-meets-critics session. The book is The Land Is Our Community by Roberta Millstein. I am one of the critics, though I also like the book a lot. Closer to home, I am enjoying working with my philosophy of science and logic students And I am busily serving as the first faculty member to lead Hofstra’s University Senate, having been elected its President last Spring TERRY GODLOVE: I have been teaching a mix of Honors College Culture and Expression, First-Year Seminars, and regular philosophy courses the latter including Epistemology in Fall 2024, and, currently, American Pragmatism. To begin the academic year, I had the pleasure of giving the annual Aims of Education address to entering first-year students. AMY KAROFSKY: I’ve completed the work for the 5th edition of my textbook, Philosophy through Film. The new edition will be available for classes in Fall 2025. This past Fall I was on sabbatical, working on a new book in which I provide an account of the universe MARK MCEVOY: In fall 2024, I served as acting chair of the department while Professor Baehr was on sabbatical, and am teaching my usual Meaning of Life course. I am also working on a paper on the question of how we can learn from fictional literature. My tentative answer is that we think of literature as playing a role similar to good advice. IRA SINGER: In Culture and Expression, I lectured on Aristotle’s account of friendship, and on various topics in Montaigne’s Essays. In a conversation with the Hofstra Philosophy Club, I explored the topic of “true religion,” in particular as developed by Spinoza and Hume asking whether for these thinkers “true religion” winds up being no religion at all, or is meaningfully related to traditional religion in that it addresses some of the same felt needs KATHLEEN WALLACE: I have been working on a collective ethics project, considering the basis and scope of individual responsibility in collective action contexts (such as climate change) from a Kantian-inspired perspective. Recently, I’m focusing on the basis for moral responsibility in the face of an “inefficacy” problem posed by utilitarianism, that is, when acting makes no difference to the continuation of a moral wrong or harm. I continue to teach Ethics and Sustainability and other courses I’ve also been serving on university committees that are considering Hofstra’s mission and vision going forward
SAVE THE DATES
You’re Invited!!
The Philosophy Department will be hosting two colloquia in Spring, 2025. The first will feature Alex Sinha, Professor of Law at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. He holds a J.D. from NYU School of Law and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto.
If you ’ re in the area, you are welcome to attend either or both in person. If not, then tune in via zoom.
THE HIGHLIGHT OF SPRING 2024
Celebrating Dr. Anthony Dardis
A one-day colloquium in celebration of the teaching and scholarship of Professor Anthony Dardis took place in Spring 2024.
The speakers:
Noa Latham (University of Calgary), “Free Will, Ambiguity and Value”
Kirk Ludwig (Indiana University), “Meaning, Truth, Communication and Convention”
Brian McLaughlin (Rutgers University), “Actions, Reasons and Final Causes”
A word from Professor Dardis...
I am officially retired from Hofstra University as of the end of the summer 2024. So far I am enjoying my first semester of retirement doing much the same things as I’ve been doing for a long time. In particular, I’m reading and writing about aspects of the free will problem. I just presented a paper at the Society for Exact Philosophy at the University of Florida. It’s on David Lewis’ 1981 paper “Are we free to break the laws?” He argues that if determinism is true, then if, say, I had raised my hand (I didn’t raise my hand) then either the past would have to be different or the laws of nature would have to be different. He thought the laws would be a bit different in this alternative scenario. But he insisted that this difference (people came to call it the “local miracle”) occur before my decision. Why? Because if I could have raised my hand, and my raising my hand would have broken the actual laws, then I am able to break the laws. And THAT is impossible. But it turns out (I argue) this is incorrect. My abilities are always (necessarily) limited by the actual laws of nature. In this non-actual situation I do something I am able to do (raise my hand). But I am never able to break the actual laws. (And in the non-actual situation I do not break the laws by raising my hand: the laws in that situation are different.) The only thing that is “law-breaking-y” is the fact that if my non-actual action had occurred in actuality, it would have broken an actual law. But that fact is “counter-legal”: it cannot happen, and it has nothing to do with my actual abilities. I am missing my students and my classes. I gained so much by teaching and talking with all of you. I hope you stay in touch: feel free to email me at my regular Hofstra email address, anthony b dardis@hofstra edu
ALUMNI NOTES
Kiera O’Sullivan
Class of ‘ 24
I am a current second year student at Hofstra Law. As an undergraduate, I pursued a degree in philosophy because I desired the opportunity to think critically In the past, I planned to pursue a degree in law because I wanted to make money. However, when I applied this critical thinking to my career path, I discovered a new calling. During freshman year, when I spent a little bit of time trying to define justice with Socrates, I found myself unsettled As an attorney, I felt an obligation to this concept of justice, yet I had never asked what it was. In all honesty, I must have scribbled 15+ handwritten pages of my internal thought process before I came to a satisfactory answer At the time, I concluded that justice was the promotion of human dignity. As I progressed through my philosophy degree, my ideas about moral responsibility sharpened. As the president of the Philosophy Club at Hofstra, my peers and I often engaged in discussions regarding what it means to live a meaningful life. Although these conversations were frequent and often discussed over a bowl of cookies, I believe these moments will influence me forever.
In the end, I have read Socrates’ apology closely enough to understand that I do not have all of the answers. However, if truth is merely a system of wagers won, as Reichenbach suggests, then perhaps I have found my own little piece of truth while pursuing a philosophy degree. This concept of justice I acquired inspired me to pursue public interest law, and I have never felt more fulfilled. With the goal of preserving human dignity, I currently work with the Hofstra Law Asylum clinic to help refugees remain in their safe harbor. As a former employee of the United States Department of Agriculture, I had the opportunity to work with Rural Development to establish necessary forms of infrastructure in the impoverished rural regions in the deep south. As an aspiring attorney, balancing my responsibility between the law, my client, and my understanding of justice can become ethically complex. While I still cannot claim that I have all of the answers, my degree in philosophy and the critical thinking skills I gained, help me discover little glimmers of truth.
ALUMNI NOTES
Evan Lopes
Class of ‘ 24
I am a first-year graduate student in philosophy at the University of Rochester. It has been amazing so far There have been a few notable differences between life as a graduate student and life as an undergrad, all of which I consider improvements. As a grad student, all of my time in class is devoted to philosophy. I no longer have to juggle my study time between philosophy and whatever other classes I need to fulfill distribution requirements This does make it a bit more challenging to find time to learn about other subjects that I find interesting and valuable, but I like to consider that challenge an exercise in independently driven research. Speaking of research, the additional focus on personal research and conference submissions is another welcome change The expectation that the grad students produce good and novel work gives the impression that we are more than students. We are, of course, here to learn, but we know enough and have the skills to (with a considerable amount of work and effort) begin contributing. We’re starting to have a real voice in the conversation. Even the work we do for class is often expected to go beyond the course material and touch on contemporary works. This brings with it the demand for better and more rigorous work. But with that comes a new opportunity to expand our minds, develop our skills, and cobble together some new ideas. Despite the difficulties (and in many ways, because of them) my time so far as a first-year grad student has been as good a next step as I could have wished for
Contact any one of the faculty, or go to: https://give.hofstra.edu/campaigns/33329/donations/new. In the space for “Designation” choose “Other” and then type in “Philosophy Department.”
