Requirements for Receiving Departmental Honors
- Completion of PHL 403: Honors Thesis and PHL 485: Honors Seminar
- Receipt of A- grade or above in both PHL 403 and PHL 485
- Minimum GPA of 3.5 in all Philosophy courses at graduation
- At least 60 credits in Philosophy
Contact
For more information on the Honors Seminar, please refer to the FAQ or reach out to Dr. Angela Coventry (coventry@pdx.edu). Faculty specializations can be found in the 2023-2024 Program Guide.
Past Honors Seminar Projects
2023
Sean Burke, "Levinasian Insomnia and Ontological Solitude"
Advisor: Brian Elliott
Justin Crissman, "The Illusion of the Comforting Delusion"
Advisor: Angela Coventry
Karetha Dellgrottaglia, "Gradualism and Phenomenal Consciousness: The Spectrum of Experience"
Advisor: Tom Seppalainen
Tyler Doherty, "Concept-ladenness and the Content of Perception"
Advisor: Brad Berman
Ian Mauk, "Quasi-Realism and Frege-Geach"
Advisor: Angela Coventry
Pat Millsap, "Interpretations of Spinoza on Mind/Body Identity"
Advisor: Angela Coventry
Rex Owens, "Exploring the Coupling/Constitution Fallacy of the Extended Mind Hypothesis"
Advisor: Tom Seppalainen
2022
Samantha Barragan
Advisor: Brad Berman
"Asceticism and The Lover's Transformation in Plato's Symposium"
Sean Burke
Advisor: Brian Elliott
"The True Face of a City: Walter Benjamin's Urban Philosophy and Object-Oriented Ontology"
Joe Connors
Advisor: Brian Elliott
"Chaos and Our Plague"
Hassan Eltelbany
Advisor: Angela Coventry
"Hume and Kant: Aesthetic Antinomy"
Cameron Tennyson
Advisor: Alex Sager
"Autonomy of Attention"
2021
Landon Echeverio
Advisor: Angela Coventry
"Cognitive Closure and Epistemic Commitment"
Jolie Gentzkow-Foster
Advisor: Maurice Hamington
"Epistemic Subjectivity and the Use of Evidence in the US Legal System"
Gabriel Huston
Advisor: Maurice Hamington
"The (In)conceivability of Reform in the Western Academy"
AJ Jinkins
Advisor: Brad Berman
"Platonic and Rawlsian Justice: A Comparison of Structural Inequality"
Sunho Kim
Advisor: Angela Coventry
"Cultural Divergence and the Commonality of Morals"
Benji Mahaffey
Advisor: Tom Seppalainen
"Is Addicted Phenomenology Just Human Phenomenology?
Matthew Orenchuk
Advisor: Randy Spencer
"A Journey Toward Allyship"
Ben Siebenaler
Advisor: Brad Berman
"A Defense of White's Reading of Plato's Ethics in the Gorgias"
Cory Tollefson
Advisor: Angela Coventry
"Spinozistic Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Exploring the Integration of Spinoza with ACT"
2020:
Emily Bracy
Advisor: Bryan Cwik
"Neuroimaging and Implications for Use in Criminal Cases"
Naomi Fredgant
Advisor: Angela Coventry
"The Relation Between Spinoza's Monism and Kabbalistic Monotheism"
Joshua Gramley
Advisor: Maurice Hamington
"Democracy, Disability, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act"
Chelsea Pines
Advisor: Alex Sager
"Style Appropriation and the Burden of Proof"
Oscar Szakacs
Advisor: Brian Elliott
"Marxist Historical Processes: Walter Benjamin's Theory of History"
Conrad Whitney
Advisor: Monica Mueller
"Judgment for the Actor: Arendt's View of the Spectator that Exists in All Actors"
Owen Woods
Advisor: Avram Hiller
"A Project in Conceptual Engineering: The Term "Organic"
2019
Gabriel Huston
Advisor: Angela Coventry
"Where the Fetish-Character in Music Still Persists"
Nicholas Johnson
Advisor: Alex Sager
"The Nomadic Assemblage of Occupy Wall Street: An Investigation into the Philosophical Concepts of Deleuze and Guattari Present in the Occupy Wall Street Protests"
Kainai Shade
Advisor: Alex Sager
"Examining Contradiction Interpretations in Kant's Formula of Universal Law"
2018
Brooke Ayala
Advisor: Bryan Cwik
"Epistemic Self-Determination: Alternative Techniques to Combat Indigenous Erasure"
Naomi Ginsborg-Warren
Advisor: Brad Berman
"Substantial Unity and the Priority of Form"
Gabrijel Hammond Savic Ra
Advisor: Angela Coventry
"Hume and Gandhi: Sympathy as Non-Violent Method for Social Change"
Winston Meier
Advisor: Angela Coventry
"Episodic Selves, Autotelic Agents"
Sarah Paquette
Advisor: Angela Coventry
"Descartes and Memory: A Contemporary Evaluation"