Graduate Students'
Background Information & Research Interests
PhD Students
Dan Briggs
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, Bennington College
Philosophical Interests: History of Philosophy, especially Descartes, Kant, and Heidegger; and Contemporary Continental Theory
Publications: N/A
Presentations: "Indebtedness and the Gift: Heidegger and Derrida on Presents," University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, Forest Grove, OR, April 2007
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: N/A
Susanne Claxton
Previous Degree(s): BA in Letters, University of Oklahoma; MA in Philosophy, Oklahoma State University
Philosophical Interests: Continental Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy, Ecofeminism
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: An Ecofeminist Understanding of Heidegger's Ideas on Dwelling and the Fourfold in accordance with a Mystical Ingerpretation of Plato
Jaime Denison
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, University of the Pacific; MA in Philosophy, University of California, Irvine
Philosophical Interests: Conceptions of individualtiy & selfhood in modernity (French and German perspectives),
nineteenth century German philosophy, critical theory, twentieth century philosophy of culture, psychoanalysis, play theory &
imagination, philosophy of art & literature, aesthetics, philosophical anthropology, Gernam & French Enlightenment,
agency, legal & political philosophy
Publications: N/A
Presentations: "Art and Technology: Enabling or Disabling Political Imagination?"; Fantastic Projections:
Crisis, History, and the Aesthetic Imagination (UNM Cultural Studies Graduate Student Conference), Albuquerque, NM, April 2009
"Degrees of Freedom and Morality in the Compatiblist Perspective," Southern California Conference of Undergraduate Research at
University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, November 2009
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: N/A
Laura Guererro
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, Willamette University; MA in Philosophy, University of Hawaii
Philosophical Interests: Buddhist Philosophy, Indian Philosophy, Comparative Philosophy, Epistemology, Ethics, Pragmatism
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: Buddhist Moral Epistemology
Allison Hagerman
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, Pacific University; MA in Eastern Classics, St. John's College; MA in Philosophy, University of New Mexico
Philosophical Interests: Ethics and Aesthetics in the context of Historic Preservation and Regionalism, Environmental Aesthetics and Ethics,
Ethics and Aesthetics of the Built Environment, Ethics and Aesthetics of Technology, Complexity and Sustainability,
Heidegger, Japanese Aesthetics, Philosophy of Art, Eastern Religions and Philosophy
Publications: “Through a Glass . . . Brightly? Reflections
on Concentrated Solar Power,” Santa Fe Institute, forthcoming.
“Review of Nature, Aesthetics, and Environmentalism: From Beauty to
Duty,” in American Society for Aesthetics Newsletter, Vol.
29 No. 2 (Summer 2009): 3–4
“Cats and the Aesthetics of the Everyday,” in What Philosophy Can
Tell You About Your Cat, ed. Stephen Hales (Chicago: Open Court Publishing,
2008), 63–73
“An Uncanny Dimension: Commentary on Thomas Heyd’s Reflections on Reclamation
through Art,” Ethics, Place, and Environment: A Journal of Philosophy
& Geography, Vol. 10 No. 3 (October 2007): 347–350
“Establishing a Conscious Aesthetic Awareness of the Everyday,” in Southwest
Philosophical Studies: The Journal of the New Mexico West Texas Philosophical
Society, (Spring 2007)
Presentations: “Sublime New World: The Arrival of Polyphonic
Music in Tenochtitlan” American Society for Aesthetics, Rocky Mountain
Division conference, Santa Fe, NM (Summer 2009)
“Off the Deep-End: the Sublime Folly of Niagara Falls” American Philosophical Association Pacific
Division meeting, San Francisco, CA (April 2007)
University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (April 2007)
“Establishing a Conscious Aesthetic Awareness
of the Everyday” West-Texas New Mexico Philosophical Society conference,
Austin, TX (March 2007)
“Disinterestedness and Autonomy in the Appreciation
of Natural Environments” American Society for Aesthetics Pacific Division
conference, Pacific Grove, CA (March 2006)
“Beyond Anticipatory Resoluteness
(Because Reincarnation Won’t Solve Everything)” “Encounters with the Other,”
graduate conference in philosophy at Loyola University (March 2005)
“Look Homeward, Angel: The Redemption of the Poet in Heidegger’s Later Works”
University of New Mexico graduate conference in philosophy (April 2004)
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: Discourse in environmental
aesthetics tends to focus on the experience of nature in the traditional
registers of the beautiful or the sublime. Here, however, I investigate
the experience of nature in terms of the uncanny (das Unheimliche).
I propose that the uncanny offers a glimpse of the messy interconnectedness
between culture and nature that is suppressed in Western metaphysics;
this glimpse does not reduce culture to nature, but instead undermines
the rigid dichotomy that gives rise to the presumptive privileging of
culture over nature. After exploring Freud’s understanding of the uncanny
as symptom, I turn to the work of Heidegger and his understanding of the
significance of the uncanny in human experience, especially as it pertains
to engagement with one’s world and the revelation of earth. I then examine
a similar aesthetic phenomenon (omoshiroi) in the living tradition
of the Zen arts, and discuss the non-Western aesthetics of the Japanese
in which nature and culture are understood to be in a non-hierarchical
dialogue. Finally, I present a critique of contemporary discourse in environmental
aesthetics, which is currently perpetuating the culture–nature divide
of traditional Western metaphysics, and I introduce thinkers in the fields
of architecture and geography whose work is more suggestive and appreciative
of the uncanny. I argue that cultivating an aesthetic sensibility that
is open to the experience of the uncanny can play a significant role in
developing (and returning to) sustainable modes of habitation; specifically,
I look to the potential of an appreciation of the uncanny to inspire sustainable
culture through design, modification and preservation of the built environment.
Stephen Harris
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, University of Oklahoma; MA in Philosophy, University of Hawaii
Philosophical Interests: Indian and Buddhist Philosophy, Ethics
Publications: N/A
Presentations: "Does Anātman Rationally Entail Altruism? Another
Consideration of Śāntideva’s Abhidharmika Argument," APA Pacific Division Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC, Canada, April 2009
"Making the Most of Traditions and Persons: Classical Confucian Person
Making and Implications for Models of Disability," UNM Philosophy Student Conference, Albuquerque, NM, April 2009
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: N/A
Tara Kennedy
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, Salisbury State University (now Salisbury University); MA in Philosophy, University of New Mexico
Philosophical Interests: Environmental Philosophy, Phenomenology, Ecophenomenology, Ethics, Applied Ethics, and the relationship between Philosophy and Literature
Publications: N/A
Presentations: "Ethos as Abode: The Heideggerian Ground of Ethics," APA Pacific Division Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC, Canada, April 2009
"The Problem of Wilderness," UNM Philosophy Student Conference, Albuquerque, NM, April 2006
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: Retrieving the Retrievers:
Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Phenomenology as the Basis for Environmental
Ethics
Kevin Lavelle
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, Reed College; MA in Philosophy (with distinction) University of New Mexico
Philosophical Interests: Nietzsche, Existentialism, 19th Century Philosophy, Ethical Theory, and Environmental Ethics
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: N/A
Jeremy Martin
Previous Degree(s): BA in English, St. Mary's College of California; MA in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, UNM
Philosophical Interests: Indian Philosophy, expecially ontology, epistemology and logic in the classical sutra period and
subsequent commentarial traditions; Tibetan Philosophy; Western Epistemology, Ethics, and Political Philosophy
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: N/A
Siobhán McLoughlin
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, University of Toronto; MA in Philosophy, University of Ottawa
Philosophical Interests: Ancient Philosophy (Plato, presocratics), Metaphysics, Aesthetics
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: Plato and the Freedom of Reason
Ethan Mills
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, Hamline University; MA in Philosophy, University of Hawaii
Philosophical Interests: Epistemology, Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy, Cross-Cultural Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy, Ethics, Early Modern European Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
Publications: “Engaged Buddhist Metaphysics: Buddhadāsa on Dependent Origination.” Indian Ethics: Classical Traditions and Contemporary Challenges: Volume II. Eds. Purushottama Bilimoria and
Joseph Prabhu. Springer Publishing, Forthcoming
"From Comparative to Cross-Cultural Philosophy." Comparative Philosophy Today and Tomorrow: Proceedings from the 2007 Uehiro CrossCurrents Philosophy Conference. Eds. Sarah A Mattice, Geoff Ashton and Joshua P.
Kimber. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2009.
"Truthiness of the Appearances." Stephen Colbert and Philosophy: I Am Philosophy (And So Can You!) Ed. Aaron Allen Schiller. Chicago: Open Court, 2009.
“Book Review of Buddhism, Knowledge and Liberation: A Philosophical Study. By David Burton.” Philosophy East and West, Volume 57, Number 4 (October 2007) 593-595.
“Book Review of Being Benevolence: The Social Ethics of Engaged Buddhism. By Sallie B. King.” Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Volume 13 (2006).
“Cultivation of Moral Concern in Theravada Buddhism: Toward a Theory of the Relation Between Tranquility and Insight,” Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Volume 11 (2004).
Presentations: “Materialism, Skepticism and the Alleged Spirituality of Indian Philosophy.” Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy Annual Conference, Asilomar, CA, June 14-17, 2009br />
“The Ontology of Traditions.” Thinking about Traditions: The Seventh Annual Philosophy Student Conference at the University of New Mexico. Albuquerque, NM, April 25, 2009
“Nāgārjuna, Jayarāśi and the Distinctive Character of Indian Skepticism,” Group Meeting of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy at the American Philosophical Association
Pacific Division Meeting, Vancouver, BC, Canada, April 8-12, 2009
“Stephen Colbert’s Truthiness and Political Skepticism,” Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association Conference, Albuquerque, NM, February 25-28, 2009
“Engaged Buddhist Metaphysics: Buddhadasa on Dependent Origination," Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy Annual Conference, Asilomar, CA, June 8-11, 2008
“Is Epistemology Possible?: Jayarāśi and the Buddhist Logicians on the Very Idea of a Pramāṇa,” Group Meeting of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy at the American
Philosophical Association Pacific Division Meeting, Pasadena, CA, March 19-23, 2008
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: The Dependent Origination of Skepticism in Classical Indian Philosophy: An Experiment in Cross-Cultural Philosophy
Krupa Patel
Previous Degree(s): BS in Nutritional Science, UC Davis; BS in Psychology, UC Davis; MA in Philosophy, San Jose State University
Philosophical Interests: Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science, Phenomenology, Plato
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: N/A
Gopal Ramaswamy
Previous Degree(s): BS in Business Administration, Concord University; MA in Philosophy, Cleveland State University
Philosophical Interests: Hindu Ethics-Texts interested in are Artha Sastra, Manu Smriti, The Maurya Polity (Chanakya Niti, Etc., and the Grihya Sutras;
Adavita Vedanta, specifically relating to Sankracharya's works and inquiry into the nature of the Self in Advaita, Visesha Advaita, Dvaita and Purva Mimamsa philosophies
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: N/A
Gino Signoracci
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, BA in English, University of Notre Dame; MA in Philosophy, Brock University
Philosophical Interests: Social and Political Philosophy, 20th-Century Continental Philosophy, Indian Philosophy (especially Advaita Vedanta), Comparative Philosophy, Metaphilosophy
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: N/A
Kristian Simcox
Previous Degree(s): BA, University of Oregon
Philosophical Interests: German Philosophy since Kant, especially Schelling and Heidegger; 20th Century Continental Philosophy;
American Philosophy; Aesthetics; Environmental Philosophy
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: N/A
Carolyn Thomas
Previous Degree(s): BA in English, Duke University; MA in English, Stanford University, MA in Liberal Arts, St. John's College,
MA in Eastern Thought, St. John's College, MA in Philosophy, University of New Mexico
Philosophical Interests: Ancient Philosophy, Philosophy and Literature, Comparative Philosophy, Ontology, Philosophy of Education, Plato and Heidegger
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: Heidegger and Education. Advisor is Iain Thomson
Phil Williamson
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, San Jose State University; MA in Philosophy, San Jose State University
Philosophical Interests: History of Philosophy, Phenomenology of the social world, Husserl and Heidegger
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: N/A
Christian Wood
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, UC San Diego; MA in Philosophy, University of New Mexico
Philosophical Interests: 20th Century Phenomenology, 16th and 20th century French Literature
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
Working Dissertation Title/Topic: Levinas' Transcendental Arguments
MA Students
Michael F. Brett X
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, Ohio University
Philosophyical Interests: Continental Philosophy, Meta-Ethics, Philosophy of Religion
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
MA Paper Title/Topic: The Will to Power: Mercy, Animosity, and Rivalry
Ronald Baumiller
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy (German Minor), Duquesne University
Philosophyical Interests: Ancient Greek Philosophy, and Translation
Publications: "Simularca and Eidola: a Comparative Essay on the Metaphysical Ramifications of Images," in Interlocutor: Sewanee Undergraduate Philosophical Review, v. 9 (June 2007)
Presentations: “Heraclitus and the Problem of Reference” to the Society for Ancient
Greek Philosophy, Fordham University, October 16-18, 2009
“Space and Time: a Kantian Solution to Meno’s Paradox” to the 1st
Annual Duquesne University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference,
Duquesne University, March 21, 2009
“Imitation, the Noble Lie, and a Broader Argument in Plato’s Republic”
to the 3rd Annual Southern Illinois University Undergraduate Philosophy
Conference, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, October 24th, 2008
“Nietzsche Contra Nazi” to the Perspectives on the Holocaust
Symposium, Duquesne University, April 22, 2008
“Die Ewige Wiederkunft: an Ancient Doctrine Returns Again” to the
McAnulty College & Graduate School of Liberal Arts Faculty/Student
Research Grant Symposium, Duquesne University, April 4, 2008
“On the Immortality of the Soul,” to:
North American Conference of Religion and Philosophy (N.A.A.S.R.),
Westminster College, March 8, 2008
13th Annual SUNY Oneonta Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, SUNY
College, April 11, 2008
12th Annual Pacific University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference,
Pacific University, April 19, 2008
“Simulacra and Eidola: a Comparative Essay on the Metaphysical
Ramifications of Images,” to:
Phi Sigma Tau Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, Washington and
Jefferson College, April 14, 2007
11th Annual Pacific University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference,
Pacific University, April 21, 2007
12th Annual SUNY Oneonta Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, SUNY
College, April 28, 2007
MA Paper Title/Topic: N/A
Dawn Catanach
Previous Degree(s): BA in English-Philosophy, UNM
Philosophical Interests: Philosophy of Language, Continental Philosophy
Publications: "The Philosopher and the Philologist: Heidegger, Tolkein and Poetic Language," The Grey Book, Volume 2, 2006
"The Problem of Eowyn: A Lok at the Ethics and Values in Middle-Earth," The Grey Book, Volume 1, 2005
Presentations: "The Philosopher and the Philologist: Heidegger, Tolkein, and Poetic Language," Southwest/Texas Pop Culture and American Culture Associations (SW/TX PCA/ACA) annual conference, Albuquerque, NM, February 14-17, 2007
MA Paper Title/Topic: N/A
Hugh Alexander Curtas
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, UNM
Philosophical Interests: Heidegger, Nietzsche, Emerson, Phenomenology, Pragmatism, American Philosophy, Tehcnology, Poetry
Publications: "The Critical Subject: A Poet in Philosopher's Clothing," UNM Best Student Essays, 2006
Presentations: N/A
MA Paper Title/Topic: N/A
Tucker Dammin
Previous Degree(s): BA in Religion, Reed College
Philosophical Intrests: Continental Philosophy, especially turn to Religion; Historiography
Russel J. Duvernoy
Previous Degree(s): BA in Literature, Tufts University
Philosophical Interests: History of Philosophy, Philosophy and Poetics, Pragmatism, Existential and Continental Thought, Deep Ecology
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
MA Paper Title/Topic: N/A
Hannah Epstein
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, Humboldt State University
Philosophical Intrests:Asian Philosophy especially Theravada Buddhist Ethics, Phenomenology, Levinas, Wittgenstein, Ethics, American Philosophy, and some Feminism
John Garletts
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, BA in English, both from Northern Arizona University
Philosophical Interests: Continental Philosophy, Martin Heidegger, Friedrich Nietzsche
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
MA Paper Title/Topic: N/A
Tyler Innis
Previous Degree(s): BA in Political Science from San Francisco State University
Philosophical Interests: 19th century German Philosophy, German Idealism, G.W.F. Hegel, 20th century French philosophy, political theory, historical and contemporary forms of materialism, psychoanalysis
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
MA Paper Title/Topic: N/A
Michael Jennings
Previous Degree(s): BA in Economics, BS in Mathematics, both from UNM
Philosophical Interests: Metaphysics, particularly Philosophy of Language and the metaphysics of personhood
and personal identity; Epistemology and Ethics, particularly as they bear on my Metaphysical interests; Heidegger, Kierkegaard,
and Kripke
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
MA Paper Title/Topic: Dasein, Death and rigid-Designation. Roughly, I'm looking for a good definition of personhood
that functions as a rigid-designator; I'm claiming that Dasein satisfies such a condition
Sean Petranovich
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, BA in Economics, both from UNM
Philosophical Interests: Continental Philosophy, Existentialism, Phenomenology, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Derrida, and Philosophy of Economics
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
MA Paper Title/Topic: N/A
Garrette Ramos
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, BA in Communication, University of Hawaii at Hilo
Philosophical Intrests: Ethics, Philosophy of Religon, Existentialism, Nagarjuna, and Wittgenstein's later work
Albert Schapiro
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Philosophyical Interests: Logic, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Technology
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
MA Paper Title/Topic: N/A
Jesse Schwebach
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, BA in History, University of New Mexico
Philosophical Intrests: Continental philosophy, (specifically Derrida and Merleau-Ponty), animal philosophy, historiography, critical theory
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
MA Paper Title/Topic: Notions of empathy regarding animals
Vernon K. Smith
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, Colorado College
Philosophical Intrests: Heidegger (and much of the phenomenological
tradition), Derrida, Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein, Ancient Greek Philosophy, Philosophy and Technology, and matters of the heart
Publications: N/A
Presentations: "Recollecting a Connection: Pythagorean Shamanism and Plato's Early-Middle Philosopher," UNM Philosophy Student Conference, Albuquerque, NM, April 2009
MA Paper Title/Topic: Heidegger and Derrida
Joe Suilmann
Previous Degree(s): BA in Philosophy, St. Mary's University of Minnesota
Philosophical Intrests: Ancient Philosophy, Pragmatism and American Philosophy
Publications: N/A
Presentations: N/A
MA Paper Title/Topic: N/A