Students Present Papers at Philosophy Conference

by: Peter Vincent

The sizable writing requirements are one of the pleasures and pressures of studying at Shimer College. As preparation for the Senior Thesis, research papers and semester projects are also important parts of the learning process of the College. Recently, two Shimer students decided to take this process one step further. Third years Jonathan Timm and Taylor Buck each pursued topics focused on Feminist Philosophy with the goal of acceptance into an undergraduate philosophy conference sponsored by the Greater Philadelphia Philosophy Consortium. A judging panel reviews each paper submitted to the conference and the winners are asked to present to groups of peers. Both students were accepted and traveled to the College of New Jersey in Ewing, New Jersey over the last weekend of February for their presentations.

“I’m glad that I had the chance to share my ideas with students that had come from all over the country and discuss the intersections of philosophy, feminism, and today’s cultural politics” said Jonathan. His paper critiques Decartes' concepts of mind/body dualism, argues from de Beauvoir that “women have been generally associated with body rather than mind,” and critiques a pop-science article which perpetuates such an association. He presented to a section of students with papers that focused on similar subjects. Read Jonathan's paper.

On the other hand, Taylor took a different approach in order to present a feminist critique against the use of “man" as a gender neutral pronoun. In her paper, she argues that “man” is anything but gender neutral, and causes harm to women as well as exemplifies how children's perceptions of gender are colored by language due to its exclusive nature. "I think our papers stirred a lot of discussion because many of the other papers presented focused on more traditional or ancient philosophical concepts," Taylor commented. "Yet, it was really inspiring to see that there were so many people outside Shimer thinking about many of the same concepts and problems we do. To see that Shimer isn't just some academic bubble." Read Taylor's paper.

The students’ overall positive experience with the conference has even generated discussion around Shimer concerning the practicality of hosting a conference of their own in Chicago. If such an idea bears fruit, it may not be long before students travel from all corners of the country in order to exchange ideas within the unique intellectual climate Shimer students and alums have all come to know and cherish.