Full Dialogue Schedule F 25
The Department of Philosophy is pleased to announce the schedule for the Fall 2025 Dialogue Series
Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in The Dialogue Room, Comal 116.
(Variant locations are listed in parentheses below dates)
Week I
Laws and Norms
| Monday, Sept. 22 | 1:00 p.m. | Laws Higher and Lower | Dan Thompson, Assistant Vice Provost-Faculty Success (Philosophy) |
| Monday, Sept. 22 | 4:00 p.m. | Are Moral Norms a Natural Kind? | Issac Wiegman (Philosophy) ΦΣΤ Tau Talks |
| Tuesday, Sept. 23 | 12:30 p.m. | Respect for the Law and Dissent: MLK and the Letter | Dialogue Class |
| Wednesday, Sept. 24 (San Marcos Public Library) | 3:30 p.m. | Law without Lawgivers? On (three flavors of) Philosophical Anarchism | Vaughn Baltzly (Philosophy) |
| Thursday, Sept. 25 | 12:30 p.m. | International Law and the Constitution | David Levy (Political Science) with Dialogue Class |
| Friday, Sept. 26 (Zoom) | 2:00-3:30 p.m. | Navigating Life Without Gravity -- A Conversation with Gotthard Janson | 10th Annual Space Settlement Symposium Guest Speaker: Gotthard Janson, NASA (ret.) |
| Friday, Sept. 26 (Flowers Hall 230) | 3:00 -5:00 p.m. | The Ethics of Migration: A Roundtable Discussion about Making Moral Progress -- Center for the Study of the Southwest | Moderator: Lori Gallegos (Philosophy) Alexander Sager, Philosophy, Portland State |
Week II
Emotions, Knowledge, and Justice
| Monday, Sept. 29 | 4:00 p.m. | Does Empathy Help Society? | Rebekah Ross (Philosophy) ΦΣΤ Tau Talks |
| Tuesday, Sept. 30 | 12:30 p.m. | Love and Empathy | Dialogue Class |
| Wednesday, Oct. 1 | 9:30 a.m. | Types of Empathy: How to Pick the Right Tool for the (Moral) Job | Lori Gallegos (Philosophy) & Philosophy of Emotion Class |
| Wednesday, Oct. 1 (San Marcos Public Library) | 3:30 p.m. | Panel Discussion: Empathy and Education | Emily Anderson (Philosophy Undergraduate) Christopher Hall (Philosophy Alumnus) |
| Thursday, Oct. 2 | 12:30 p.m. | The Gandhian Movement That Failed | Leah Renold (History) with Dialogue Class |
| Friday, Oct. 3 | 12:30 p.m. | Empathy in a Living Cosmos: A Process-Relational Vision of Engaged Ecology | Vince Lopes (Environmental Studies) -- Engaged Ecology Spotlight |
Week III
Truth, Lies, and Bullsh*t
| Monday, Oct. 6 | 4:00 p.m. | We Built a Lie Engine and Called It AI | Atticus Ross-Fountain (Senior AI Engineer at Neo4j) ΦΣΤ Tau Talks |
| Tuesday, Oct. 7 | 12:30 p.m. | Frankfurt’s “On Bullshit” & “On Truth” | Dialogue Class |
| Wednesday, Oct. 8 (San Marcos Public Library) | 3:30 p.m. | Rhetorical Abuse: Systematic Distortions in Today’s Communicative Environment | Jo Ann Carson (Philosophy) |
| Thursday, Oct. 9 | 12:30 p.m. | Conspiratorial Thinking | Eli Kanon (Philosophy) with Dialogue Class |
Week IV
History Matters
| Monday, Oct. 13 | 4:00 p.m. | The Human Handprint: Domestication, Wildness, and the Edges of Moral Responsibility | Ron Stockdreher (Philosophy) ΦΣΤ Tau Talks |
| Tuesday, Oct. 14 | 12:30 p.m. | Denying History by Making Myths | Dialogue Class |
| Wednesday, Oct. 15 | 2:00 p.m. | Dehumanization and the Holocaust | Parish Conkling (Houston City College; Texas State Philosophy Alumnus) |
| Wednesday, Oct. 15 (San Marcos Public Library) | 3:30 p.m. | Why History Matters: A Panel Discussion | Dwonna Goldstone (History & African American Studies) |
| Thursday, Oct. 16 | 12:30 p.m. | Reckoning With Our History | Dwonna Goldstone (History & African American Studies) with Dialogue Class |
| Friday, Oct. 17 | 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | The Texas Civil Rights Project: How We Built a Social Justice Movement | Jim Harrington (Founder, Texas Civil Rights Project) Moderator: José-Antonio Orosco (Philosophy, Oregon State University) |
Week V
Artistic Experience
| Monday, Oct. 20 | 3:30 p.m. | Philosophy of Music | Paul Wilson (Philosophy) & Philosophy of Music Class ΦΣΤ Tau Talks |
| Tuesday, Oct. 21 | 12:30 p.m. | Experiencing Art | Dialogue Class |
| Wednesday, Oct. 22 (San Marcos Public Library) | 3:30 p.m. | Engaged Aesthetics and Eco Art | Susan Powell (Wimberley, Texas Artist) |
| Thursday, Oct. 23 | 12:30 p.m. | Is There No Accounting for Taste? | Rebecca Raphael (Philosophy) with Dialogue Class |
| Friday, Oct. 24 | 12:30 p.m. | Poetry as Ecological Witness | Justin Williams (Philosophy) -- Engaged Ecology Spotlight |
Week VI
Peace-Making
| Monday, Oct. 27 | 3:30 p.m. | Songs of Peace | Paul Wilson (Philosophy) & Philosophy of Music Class ΦΣΤ Tau Talks |
| Tuesday, Oct. 28 | 12:30 p.m. | Lift the Light: Commemoration of the Statue of Liberty | Jo Ann Carson and Greg Moses (Philosophy) with Dialogue Class |
| Wednesday, Oct. 29 (San Marcos Public Library) | 3:30 p.m. | Lift the Light Commemoration, Part II A Conversation with Jane Addams and Ida B. Wells | Greg Moses & Jo Ann Carson (Philosophy) Dwonna Goldstone (History & African American Studies) |
| Thursday, Oct. 30 | 12:30 a.m. | Jane Addams and Peaceweaving | Dialogue Class |
Week VII
What Are Universities For?
| Monday, Nov. 3 | 1:00-3:30 p.m. | Does Academic Freedom Need a Philosophical Defense? | Nick Tampio (Fordham University) |
| Monday, Nov. 3 | 4:00 p.m. | The Importance of Scientific Literacy | Clayton Wardwell (Philosophy undergraduate) ΦΣΤ Tau Talks |
| Tuesday, Nov. 4 | 12:30 p.m. | Academic Freedom Panel | Texas State Faculty with Dialogue Class |
| Wednesday, Nov. 5 | 12:00 p.m. | The Many Purposes of Universities | David DiDomenico (Philosophy) |
| Wednesday, Nov. 5 (San Marcos Public Library) | 3:30 p.m. | Roundtable Discussion: What Are Universities? | Texas State Philosophy Students & Graduates Past and Present |
| Thursday, Nov. 6 | 9:30 a.m. | Educational Implications of AI -- The Paideians | Guest Interlocutor: Sean Daniel Johnson (Houston Community College; Texas State Philosophy Alumnus) |
| Thursday, Nov. 6 (LBJ Ballroom) | 11:00 a.m. | Helping First-Gen Students Navigate Higher Education (Specific Topic TBA) | Valerie Gomez (Education Studies, UC San Diego) |
| Thursday, Nov. 6 | 12:30 p.m. | Martha Nussbaum’s Defense of the Humanities | Dialogue Class |
Week VIII
Social Algorithms
| Monday, Nov. 10 | 10:00 a.m. | AI and/in Religions | Rebecca Raphael (Philosophy & Religious Studies) With World Religions class |
| Monday, Nov. 10 | 4:00 p.m. | Algorithmic Recommendation Systems and Aesthetic Flourishing | Anthony Cross (Philosophy) ΦΣΤ Tau Talks |
| Tuesday, Nov. 11 | 12:30 p.m. | What is a Social Algorithm? | Holly Lewis (Philosophy, Southern Illinois University) with Dialogue Class |
| Thursday, Nov. 13 | 12:30 p.m. | Big Data, Inequality, and Democracy | Dialogue Class |
| Friday, Nov. 14 | 12:30 p.m. | Seeing Through Another Species’ Eyes | Ron Stockdreher (Philosophy) -- Engaged Ecology Spotlight |
Tau Talks are open discussions led by members of Phi Sigma Tau, the philosophy honor society.
The San Marcos Public Library is located at 625 E. Hopkins St.
The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment is located at 211 San Marcos Springs Dr.
The Philosophy Dialogue Series Program Endowment supports the Philosophy Dialogue Series and its outreach activities at the San Marcos Public Library and The Meadows Center.
Co-sponsors of the Philosophy Dialogue Series are:
American Democracy Project, College of Liberal Arts, Engaged Ecology Initiative, Holon Collaborative, Gina Weatherhead Dialogue Fund, Alliance, Step Up For State, Sustainability Studies, The Alkek Library, Humanities Texas, National Endowment for the Humanities, ΦΣΤ ( Phi Sigma Tau, the philosophy honor society), Annual Vincent Luizzi Ethics Lecture, University Seminar, The New York Times, The Acorn: Philosophical Studies in Pacifism and Nonviolence, the Honors College, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Vice President for Student Affairs.
If you require an accommodation due to a disability, contact the Department of Philosophy at 512-245-2285. Accommodation requests should be made at least 72 hours in advance of the program start time to ensure availability.
Texas State University is a tobacco free campus.
