Philosophy majors are encouraged to conduct research, whether part of a course, an internship, or independent study. Eligible students may choose to apply to the department’s Honors Program and complete a thesis under the direction of a faculty member.
Our students also present at the university’s undergraduate research events: Fall Fest and Academic Spree Day.
Recent undergraduate philosophy research includes:
- Nadav Battat ’20, “The Question of Artificial Agency” — presented at the 2018 meeting of the Northern New England Philosophical Association at the University of Vermont, Burlington.
- Nadav Battat ’20, “Probabilistic Indeterminism” — presented at the 2017 meeting of the Northern New England Philosophical Association (NNEPA) at Stonehill College, Easton, Mass.
- James Patin ’17, “Capitalist Hindrances to Moral Willing: Lessons from Kant and Marx” —presented at the 2016 meeting of the Northern New England Philosophical Association at Keene State College, N.H.
- Themal Ellawala ’17, “The Contribution of Theater to Public Moral Consciousness” — presented at the Celebrating Philosophy conference at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester.
- El Mehdi Ainasse ’16, “Nihilism, Happiness, and Ancient Greek Philosophy” — accepted for presentation at the 2013 Ohio State Undergraduate Philosophy Conference.
- Nicholas Sancho-Rosi ’15, “Ethical Game Design” — presented at the 2013 meeting of the Northern New England Philosophical Association at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.
- Bonnie Trunley ’13, “On Armstrong’s Metaphysical Foundations and Individuality” — presented at the 2013 meeting of the Northern New England Philosophical Association at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.
- Christine Rojcewicz ’13, “Levinas and the Feminist Critique of the Ethical Canon” — presented at the 2013 meeting of the Northern New England Philosophical Association at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.
- Graham Kaplan ’13, “The Nature of Inquiry: Truth, Process, and Pragmatisms” — presented at the 2011 meeting of the Northern New England Philosophical Association at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vt.
- Alexandra Alden ’12, “Existence Precedes Essence: Existentialism or Daoism?” — accepted at the 2010 meeting of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy in Asilomar, Calif.
- Patrick Greer ’11, “A Battle for Aesthetic Supremacy: Kant and Peirce” — presented at the 2010 meeting of the Northern New England Philosophical Association at St. Anslem College, Goffstown, N.H.
- Laura Nowell ’11, “Plato’s Feminism” — accepted for reading at the 2009 meeting of the Northern New England Philosophical Association at the University of New Hampshire.
- David Sodi ’10, “Sports for Art’s Sake” — accepted at the Philosophy and Popular Culture Undergraduate Philosophy Conference at Endicott College.
- David Sodi ’10, “The Concept of Ambivalence in Existentialism As Depicted in Dostoyevsky” — presented at the Pacific University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference in Forest Grove, Ore.
- Christina Danko ’09, “Why is ‘Truth is Subjectivity’ True for Kierkegaard?” — presented at the New England Undergraduate Philosophy Conference at Providence College.
- Christine Rojcewicz, “Being-toward-death: Dasein’s Optimal Ontological Priority” (faculty adviser: Gary Overvold)
- Patrick Greer, “Kant and Bell: Form in Modern Art” (faculty adviser: C. Wesley DeMarco)
- Alyssa Woodcock, “Autonomy and Paternalism in Medical Ethics: The Great Conflict” (faculty adviser: Judith DeCew)
- Christina Danko, “Soren Kierkegaard on Being Human” (faculty adviser: Gary Overvold)
- Sara Koehring, “Adherence to Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy for HIV Positive Individuals: Biological and Ethical Considerations” (faculty adviser: Patrick Derr)
- Zachary Galen, “Nietzsche and the crisis of modern art” (faculty adviser: Gary Overvold)
- Jonathan Messinger, “Wittgenstein and the crisis of language” (faculty adviser: Gary Overvold)
- Andrew Magnusson, “Nietzsche and the return to naturalism” (faculty adviser: Walter Wright)
- Timothy Nulty, “Personal identity: overcoming the Cartesian-Empiricist tradition” (faculty adviser: Gary Overvold)
- Jacqueline Sullivan, “A new theory of man: the philosophical ideas of Walker Percy” (faculty adviser: Professor Patrick Derr)
- Jeffrey Bernstein, “Foucault’s critique of modernity and the project of a therapeutic ethics” (faculty advisers: Walter Wright and Gary Overvold)
- Alexander Hoyt ’14, “Village of Skokie v. National Socialist Party of America (1978)” (faculty adviser:Judith DeCew)
- Ceylan Oymak ’14, “Understanding Bowers v. Hardwick” (faculty adviser: Judith DeCew)
- Mandeque Osman ’14, “Planned Parenthood vs. Casey” (faculty adviser: Judith DeCew)
- Stephanie Nguyen ’12, “Regina v. Morgan: Reasonable Belief and Consent in Rape Cases” (faculty adviser: Judith DeCew)
- Sonya Grabowski ’11, “Summers v. Tice: Issues of Causation and Negligence” (faculty adviser: Judith DeCew)
- Alyssa Woodcock ’11, “Kennedy Hospital v. Heston: Paternalism in Medicine” (faculty adviser: Judith DeCew)
- Haoming Chang ’11, “Foreseeability, Negligence and Causation: Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co.” (faculty adviser: Judith DeCew).
- Tawnie Fotter ’11, “Stipulating Date Rape: State v. Rusk” (faculty adviser: Judith DeCew)
- Tovia Ben Sharpiro ’11, “Civil Disobedience and the Obligation to Obey the Law” (faculty adviser: Judith DeCew).
- Boris Volfson ’10, “An Investigation of Good Samaritan Law: People v. Young” (faculty adviser: Judith DeCew)
- Laura Nowell ’11, “Plato’s Feminism” (faculty adviser: C. Wesley DeMarco)
- Julie Mitchell ’11, “Authentic self-portraits” (faculty adviser: C. Wesley DeMarco)