Philosophy students Larry Busk, left, and Mark McGinn will present papers on April 14 at the 2012 Philosophy and the Science of Happiness Conference. The conference will be held at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va.
Congratulations to philosophy students Mark McGinn and Larry Busk!
Both McGinn and Busk have had papers accepted to the Philosophy and the Science of Happiness Conference being held at George Mason University. The Webster students will give presentations in Virginia on April 14 and are looking forward to the opportunity to present their ideas to other individuals who are interested in exploring philosophical topics.
McGinn submitted his paper, “Nietzsche’s ‘Most Abysmal Thought’: The Experience of Eternal Recurrence,” to the conference after the Philosophy Department made an announcement about it and encouraged students to apply. McGinn will present his perspectives on the relationship between Nietzsche and his readers.
“In my paper, I try to get readers to see that Nietzsche’s ideas are a very experiential and personal and can’t be read from a detached standpoint,” said McGinn. “He has an influence on a reader’s life, that’s what fascinates me; he wants his readers to really engage in the text.”
Busk submitted his work to the conference after being informed of it through the university’s philosophy club. He completed his paper, “Merleau-Ponty and the Problem of Perspectivism,” for an independent study with the Philosophy Department. He used the opportunity to investigate the work of author Maurice Merleau-Pont in his book Phenomenology of Perception.
“My paper focuses on the idea that you get from the book, this notion called perspectivism. This idea is an affirmation that there is no such thing as a view from nowhere; a person cannot have an unbiased objective standpoint on anything,” said Busk. “This means that when we talk truth and meaning and how the world is, in terms of philosophy or casual conservation, our viewpoint is never unbiased. It’s always conditioned.”
Webster students will have the opportunity to hear both McGinn and Busk discuss their work this Friday, April 6, at Webster’s Undergraduate Philosophy Conference. The conference will be held in the Emerson Library Conference Room from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
