Newspapers / The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.) / March 16, 2001, edition 1 / Page 3
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IXferch 16, 2001 Guilford hosts philosophy conference Katie Elliott STJUT WRITER On Feb. 23 and 24, Guilford College hosted the North Caro lina Philosophical Society's annual meeting. The conference featured over 30 presentations by philoso phers from across the state. Guilford was represented at the conference by philosophy pro fessors Nancy Daukas and Jonathan Malino, who spoke on "Contextualism and Skepticism" and "Religious Pluralism and the Intellectual Golden Mean" (in that order). "I was impressed by both pre sentations," said philosophy pro fessor Vance Ricks. "Jonathan's was more a criticism, mainly fo cused on a particular problem in someone's work. Nancy's was more her own views." The presentations explored a wide range of philosophical ter ritory, with topics ranging from applied ethics to metaphysics to political philosophy. The titles of the presentations themselves pro vide a clue to the immense varia tion of their subjects: "Do Us All A Favor and Die;" Democracy and the Use of Technology;" "On the Causal Basis of Dispositions;" and "Granting the Suffrage to Felons in Prison" are merely a few ex amples. Theodore Cooke's "Germ- Line Intervention and the Rights of Future Generations," an ap FedEx, cont. from page 1. community groups in the area, but the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce has unflinchingly supported it. For the first time, the two sides will meet to debate the issue. Local businessman and Summerfield resident Mark Warren, who is also the ex ecutive director of the Alli ance for Legal Action, will give a presentation against construction of the hub. He will be joined by Gil Happel, a captain with a major air line, who has lived in Greens boro and flown out of the PTIA for 30 years. "We just want to present the reasons as to why a night time air cargo hub is not suit able for Guilford County, and why it is not a good idea eco nomically and environmen tally," said Warren. Proponents of the issue plied ethics presentation, discussed the idea of ethical obligations to fu ture generations. "This is the one about which I'm still thinking the most," said Ricks. Germ line inter vention, a way of ge netically manipulat ing heredi tary traits, "seems like a great thing at first," com mented phi losophy pro fessor Lisa McLe o d . "But on the other hand, there are these really horrible, sci ence fiction y examples of negative ones. The mm Jfe V ill, fll Philosophy professor Vance Ricks chaired sessions during the event issue is whether or not we have the obligation to future generations, whether or not it's ethical." Though the conference drew participants from as far as Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia, very few Guilford students attended the presentations. Though a number of 1 3 i , B i M • . | •H fill! z, \ i ®fSflHbffiflHH Wfc—i ttri R iTf ii IT ll The Guilfordian will host a community-wide FedEx forum on Mar 17. will be represented by mem bers of the Chamber of Com merce to be named later. Dr. Harrison Turner, the chair of the task force Get the Facts Bring the FedEx Hub to Guilford County, said, "I am concerned about the job losses in the textile, tobacco, and ap parel industries. Last year, 7,000 such jobs were lost. I am impressed by the economic im- Ihe GLiilfcsrdian News professors informed their students of the event, it was publicized on campus only in the Guilford An nounce- and that's typical, I think." Ricks agreed, saying that "for a conference like this, if we had three, maybe five, students show up, it would be acceptable maybe even exceptional. The turnout was pretty good overall." Despite the low student turn- pact a FedEx hub could have on our area." Staff members of The Guilfordian will moderate the forum. The format will allow each side up to 20 minutes to present their arguments, fol lowed by 10 minutes each for rebuttal. Audience members will then have the opportunity to ask the presenters ques tions, a major segment of the out, several Guilford students ex pressed interest in the conference. Robbie Hiltonsmith, a sophomore, said, "One reason for the low turn out was that it was not aimed at students. I actually knew way ahead of time about the conference. It was a pretty exciting event as far as philosophy stuff goes." The NC Philosophical Society rotates its yearly meetings from campus to campus; Wake Forest and Duke University recently hosted the conference. When asked why it was held at Guilford this year, McLeod jokingly an swered, "Well, we volunteered. Our department's fairly healthy right now. We thought it would be fun to have it." ments e mail. This lack of publicity was due to two reasons, said Lisa McLeod. "One: we were busy. And two: philoso phy con ferences are usu ally phi -los o - phe r s talking to phi -los o - phe r s . No, there weren't many students, Many Guilford people contrib uted invaluably to the conference. In addition to Malino's and Daukas' pre sentations, both Ricks and McLeod chaired sessions in the course of the two-day event. McLeod and Ricks also expressed their thanks to Noah Mclntee, a senior at Guilford, and Janet Wright, an administrative as sistant, for their help with the con ference. "They really went out of their way to help with the logistics, the refreshments, smiling at people, everything." Despite the work that went into it, McLeod commented, the con ference was a lot of fun and very suc cessful. "We liked it," she said, smil ing. "I think we'd love to have it here again." LEAH KEFALOS DAVE SCOTT forum that will run for at least half an hour. Alison Goss, editor-in chief of The Guilfordian, em phasized that the forum will be moderated without bias. She said, "I am very excited about the opportunity for The Guilfordian to provide a me dium for exchange of informa tion and views on the hub's ef fects on Guilford College and the greater Greensboro com munity." The forum is open free of charge to any interested per sons, but capacity is limited to approximately 300, so if you are interested in attending, The Guilfordian suggests you arrive early to secure a seat. Doors will open at 7 p.m. The New Garden Friends Meeting is located across the street from Guilford College on New Garden Road. Page 3
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