Department accepting undergraduate conference submissions through March 1
The Department of Literature and Philosophy is accepting submissions through March 1 for the 2013 Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, which will be held April 20 in Georgia Southern University’s College of Education, Room 1115. The theme for this year’s conference is “Pop Culture and Philosophy,” and the event will feature keynote speaker Robert Arp, Ph.D., a leading philosopher in the area of pop culture, and a production of Sartre’s No Exit.
“We’re really excited about this year’s theme,” said Danielle Layne, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Literature and Philosophy and conference coordinator. “As students are preparing their submissions we encourage them to consider such topics as how the films and television we watch, the books we devour, the music we listen to, the art we gaze at, the very culture from which we emerge, orient us in the world and determine our understanding of reality, our faith in reason, our hope to discover a concrete ethic to guide our lives and choices. In short: How much does popular culture dialogue with philosophy and how have philosophers responded to that dialouge?”
Student submissions should be no more than 4,000 words, and group presentations are allowed.
“This spring we invite undergraduate students to submit papers spanning the history of philosophy dealing with topics related to pop culture,” Layne said. “Papers analyzing the philosophical value or disvalue and/or meaning or consequences of particular films, books, TV shows, music and social media will be especially welcomed. We also look forward to papers on philosophers who have repeatedly attempted to think about the role of culture in creating a society and/or damaging a community – for example, Plato and the poets, Nietzsche and German opera. Finally, we will also have panels devoted to philosophy papers in general, so students should feel free to submit outstanding class papers for which they would like to get further feedback.”
Participation in the conference is open to all Georgia Southern undergraduate students, regardless of major. The top papers will be published in Georgia Southern’s undergraduate philosophy journal, The Indefinite Dyad.
Arp has published chapters in volumes ranging from Metallica and Philosophy, Family Guy and Philosophy, Lost and Philosophy, 24 and Philosophy, The Office and Philosophy, Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy, Watchmen and Philosophy, Final Fantasy and Philosophy, Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy, True Blood and Philosophy, 30 Rock and Philosophy, and more. Arp edited South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today and co-edited Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul. He is working on Tattoos – Philosophy for Everyone: I Ink, Therefore I Am with Fritz Allhoff.
The 2013 Undergraduate Philosophy Conference is sponsored by the Center for Learning Enrichment Committee, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and Department of Literature and Philosophy. For more information or to submit a proposal, contact Layne at dlayne@georgiasouthern.edu.
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