2026 Program

Furman University

Greenville, SC

March 13-14

joint meeting with the North Carolina Philosophical Society

Most events for the conference will take place in Furman Hall:

3300 Poinsett Hwy, Greenville, SC 29613

Schedule at a Glance

Friday, March 13th

2:00-4:00pm Registration and Check-in (Haynesworth Room - Furman Hall 217)

3:00-3:30pm Welcome Address (Furman Hall 214)

3:30-4:30 Concurrent Sessions 1A-F

4:30-5:00pm Break

5:00-6:00pm Concurrent Sessions 2A-F

6:00-7:30pm Dinner Break

7:30-9:00pm Keynote Address (Furman 214)

Keynote speaker: Alexandra Plakias (Hamilton College)

Saturday, March 14th

8:00am-12:15ap Registration and Check-in (Haynesworth Room - Furman Hall 217)

8:30-9:30am Concurrent sessions 3A-F

9:30-10:00am Break

10:00-11:00am Concurrent sessions 4A-F

11:00am-12:15pm Poster Session (Kohrt Commons in Plyler Science Building)

12:15-2:00pm Lunch Break

2:00-3:00pm Concurrent session 5A-F

3:00-3:30pm Break

3:30-4:30pm Concurrent sessions 6A-F

4:30-5:00pm Break

5:00-7:00pm Closing Reception and Award Presentation (Younts Conference Center)

Concurrent Schedule

Friday, March 13th

1A Political Philosophy (Furman 106)

Chair: Addison Hinton (University of New Mexico)

3:30pm Andrew Garland (Bob Jones University)
- "Freedom for Past People"
4:00pm Kayla Bohannon (University of North Alabama)
- "Moral Danger in Parasocial Fandom"

1B Bioethics (Furman 107)

Chair: Peter Seipel (University of South Carolina Lancaster)

3:30 Jack Harris (North Carolina State University)
- “Autonomy Deadlock and Bioethical Principlism"
4:00 pm Kristen Hine (Towson University)
- “Unwanted Pregnancy and the Problem of Compensation”

1C Metaethics (Furman 108)

Chair: Nolan Whitaker (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill)

3:30pm Jacob Koval (Florida State University)
- “A Dilemma for the (Im)moral Realist”
4:00pm Austin McGrath (Mississippi State University)
- “Our World is Enough”

1D Metaphysics (Furman 110)

Chair: Brandon Hendricks (Duke University)

3:30pm Elena Padoan (Università della Svizzera Italiana)
- “Plato’s Forms: Neither Universals Nor Particulars ”
4:00pm Christopher Petersen(Florida State University)
- “Does Pyrrho Need Archimedes? A Response to Amia Srinivasan’s Criticisms of Genealogical Skepticism”

1E Ethics in Popular Culture (Furman 111)

Chair: Beth Hupfer (High Point University)

3:30pm Melissa Burchard (University of North Carolina Asheville)
- “Watching the Detectives: A Philosophical Reflection on Murder in Popular Culture”
4:00pm Caroline Mobley (High Point University)
- “LaVar Ball: A Virtue Ethical Analysis of an Overbearing Sports Parent”

1F Social Epistemology (Furman 214)

Chair: Ben McCraw (University of South Carolina Upstate)

3:30pm Brian Looper (Durham Technical Community College)
- “One-Directional Communication and the Ethics of Social Media”
4:00pm Maritza Mills (University of South Carolina)
- “The Epistemic Failure To Empathize ”

COFFEE BREAK 4:30-5:00pm

2A Social Philosophy (Furman 106)

Chair: TBD

5:00pm Huey Z. Wen (University of Virginia)
- "The Normativity of Disability"
5:30pm Yanjie Ding (University of Virginia)
- “Self-Other Symmetry and Estrangement"

2B Bioethics (Furman 107)

Chair: Kristen Hine (Towson University)

5:00pm Rachel Keith Higginbotham (University of Southern California)
- “Caring For Myself”
5:30pm Kobi Korankye (University of Georgia)
- “Organs in a Gift Box: Living Directed Organ Donation as a Gift-Giving Practice”

2C Aesthetics (Furman 108)

Chair: Tobias Flattery (Wake Forest University)

5:00pm Christopher Bartel (Appalachian State University)
- "Augmented Reality and the Ethics of Representing Others"
5:30pm Ben McCraw (University of South Carolina Upstate)
- “Horrific Obsession: The Philosophy of Horror and Extreme Metal"

2D Metaphysics (Furman110)

Chair: Jessica Heine (Auburn University)

5:00pm Addison Hinton (University of New Mexico)
- “What is the Persistent Thing in Perception?”
5:30pm Jurgis Viningas (Duquesne University)
- “Kant and Deleuze on the Intensive Conditions of Experience"

2E Language (Furman 111)

Chair: Aaron Brice Cummings (University of Texas at Dallas)

5:00pm Yan Xu (Durham University)
- "The Implied Author and Speech Acts"
5:30pm Ethan Higginbotham (University of California Davis)
- “No Thanks"

2F Philosophy of Mind (Furman 214)

Chair: Brett Sherman (University of South Carolina Columbia)

5:00pm Aleksandra Kuciel (Syracuse University)
- “Dualism, Physicalism, and the Hard Problem of the Many”
5:30pm Derrick Zhen (Georgia State University)
- “A Defense of Public Formats”

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

7:30-9:00pm Alexandra Plakias (Hamilton College)

Location: Furman 214

Abstract: Awkwardness examines the social phenomenon that occurs when we lack a script for a social experience or interaction. While awkwardness is often viewed as a relatively trivial or funny experience, it has deep normative implications: it lets us know where our social resources are lacking or insufficiently accessible, and it functions as a way of distinguishing social insiders and outsiders. It also polices social interaction, determining which subjects we do and don’t talk about. The ability to navigate awkwardness is a source of power and social capital, and our collective response to awkwardness can rewrite our social scripts around issues like sex, death, and money.

Saturday, March 14th

3A Social and Political Philosophy (Furman 106)

Chair: Murray Skees (University of South Carolina Beaufort)

8:30am Win-Chiat Lee (Wake Forest University)
- “Dao Positivism: Han Fei’s Service Conception of the Authority of Law ”
9:00am Sonia Pavel (Clemson University)
- “Reification: An Old Look at an Old Idea"

3B Bioethics (Furman 107)

Chair: TBD

8:30am Austin Due (East Tennessee State University)
- “Do Clinical Trial Participants Consent to Fraud?”
9:00am Philip Reed (Canisius University)
- “The Nature of Terminal Illness"

3C Epistemology (Furman 108)

Chair: Peter Seipel (University of South Carolina Lancaster)

8:30am Will Conner (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill)
- “Stewarding the Epistemic Commons: Collective Action and the Ethics of Belief ”
9:00am Yanai Sened (Fordham University)
- “Skepticism Cannot Justify Epistemic Norms"

3D Metaphysics (Furman 109)

Chair: Nolan Whitaker (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill)

8:30am Jessica Heine (Auburn University)
- “Transparency, Permissibility, and the Noumenal”
9:00am Jace Snodgrass (University of Tennessee Southern)
- “The Trope Co-extension Problem: The Identity-Affirming Response Revisited"

3E Normative Theory (Furman 110)

Chair: TBD

8:30am Emma MacArthur-Warner (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill)
- “Right-Making Features and Moral Motivation”
9:00am Corinne Nelson (University of Aberdeen)
- “When Flourishing Fails: Why Ethical Theory Needs a Category for Unlived Goods"

3F Epistemology (Furman 214)

Chair: Emily McWilliams (University of Dayton)

8:30 am Marc Biemiller (Florida State University)
- “Inquiry and Pretense: When It’s Ok to Pretend Not to Believe”
9:00 am Bret Donnelley (University of Colorado Boulder)
- “Degrees of Truth and Decision Making”

COFFEE BREAK 9:30-10:00am

4A Political Theory (Furman 106)

Chair: Brett Sherman (University of South Carolina Columbia)

10:00am Raman Sachdev (Clark Atlanta University)
- “Two Conceptions of Love: Huey P. Newton, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Ethics of Resistance”
10:30am Trey Best (University of North Carolina Charlotte)
- “The Earth, the Cosmos, and the In-Between: On W.E.B. Du Bois’ Romanticism"

4B Applied Ethics (Furman 107)

Chair: TBD

10:00am Paul E. Wilson (Shaw University)
- “How Genocide Can Foster Ecocide ”
10:30am Richard Schoenig (San Antonio College)
- “A Friendly Atheist Opines On Where Christianity Errs "

4C Social Epistemology (Furman 108)

Chair: Emma MacArthur-Warner (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill)

10:00am Sean Hermanson (Florida International University) and Murray Clarke (Concordia University)
- “Can Digital Reliabilism Save Social Epistemology?”
10:30am Peter Seipel ((University of South Carolina Lancaster)
- “Who Goes There? The Problem of Identifying Epistemic Trespassers"

4D Normative Theory (Furman 214)

Chair: Jessica Heine (Auburn University)

10:00 am Jacob Moldover (Brown University)
- “What’s at Stake for Structural Injustice?”

4E Continental Philosophy (Furman 110)

Chair: TBD

10:00am Aaron Brice Cummings (University of Texas at Dallas)
- “A Peregrination within Gabriel Marcel’s Phenomenology of Hope”
10:30am William Barnes (University of New Mexico)
- “Becoming Chickadee: Chief Plenty Coups and Unknowing the Self "

4F A.I. (Furman 214)

Chair: Tobias Flattery (Wake Forest University)

10:00 am Matthew Brophy (High Point University)
- “Wide Reflective Equilibrium in LLM Alignment: Bridging Moral Epistemology and AI Safety”
10:30 am Shaun Respess (North Carolina State University) and Daniel Shussett (North Carolina State University State University)
- “Enacting Care in Superintelligent Social Robots”

Poster Presentations 11:00am-12:15pm (Kohrt Commons in Plyler Science Building Auditorium)

Lunch Break 12:15-2:00pm

5A Critical Theory (Furman 106)

Chair: Michael Granado (Prisma Schools and Georgia Southern University)

2:00pm Maia Wellborn (University of Oregon)
- “The Depth of Death: Tracing Regimes of Visibility in Trans Necropolitics”
2:30pm Murray Skees (University of South Carolina Beaufort)
- “Human Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, and the Expansion of Surplus Humanity”

5B Moral Epistemology (Furman 107)

Chair: Preston Justice (Texas A&M University)

2:00pm Ramsey Elsaidi (Texas Tech University)
- “On Moral Perception”
2:30pm Michael Mohajer (York University)
- “The Limits of Epistemic Rationality: Hope for Epistemology”

5C Philosophy of Language (Furman 108)

Chair: Jacob Moldover (Brown University)

2:00pm Brett Sherman (University of South Carolina Columbia)
- “Teenagers and Bouletic Necessity”
2:30pm Carol Lin (University of South Carolina Columbia)
- “Intentional Identity in Virtue of Counterpart Ideas”

5D Normative Ethics (Furman 109)

Chair: TBD

2:00pm Savannah Pearlman (Howard University) and Ricky Mouser (Johns Hopkins)
- “Signaling Vice, Status, and Nonmoral Virtues”
2:30pm Becca Cannon (Newlane University)
- “A Virtue Ethical Approach to the Deferential Wife: An Exploration of the Possibility for Women to Flourish through the Formation of Virtue””

5E Metaphilosophy (Furman 110)

Chair: Tobias Flattery (Wake Forest University)

2:00pm Brian J. Collins (California Lutheran University)
- “The Effects of Pre-College Philosophy Instruction on Critical Thinking Skills”
2:30pm Nicholas Tebben (Towson University)
- “Why this should be the golden age of philosophy (but isn’t)”

5F Cornelius Van Til’s Philosophical Theology (Furman 214)

Chair: TBD

Nathan Sasser (Greenville Technical College)
- “Van Til’s Theory of Truth”
Cameron Lugo (University of Notre Dame)
- “Cornelius Van Til on the Possibility of Theological Predication”
Scott Cook (Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary)
- “Reforming Idealism: Cornelius Van Til and the Concrete Universal”

COFFEE BREAK 3:00-3:30pm

6A Social Epistemology (Furman 106)

Chair: Nicholas Tebben (Towson University)

3:30pm Emily McWilliams (University of Dayton)
- “Hijacking Shared Inquiry”
4:00pm Daniel Alonso (University of South Carolina)
- “Models as Conceptual Baselines”

6B Epistemology (Furman 107)

Chair: Yanai Sened (Fordham University)

3:30pm Robert Farley (Hillsborough College)
- “What is Intellectual Honesty?"
4:00pm Preston Justice (Texas A&M University))
- “Epistemic Responsibility and the Loci of Doxastic Control"

6C Metaphysics (Furman 108)

Chair: Jessica Heine (Auburn University)

3:30pm Brandon Hendricks (Duke University)
- “Actual Infinity and Past-Eternity: A Case for a First State of the Material Order”
4:00pm Michael Granado (Prisma Schools and Georgia Southern University)
- "Mathematics and Time"

6D Ancient Philosophy (Furman 109)

Chair: TBD

3:30pm Melle van Duijn (University of Oklahoma)
- “Socratic Eudaimonism and a Meaningful Life"
4:00pm Shea Hale (Duquesne University)
- "A City of One’s Own: Self-Friendship and the Problem of Internal Justice"

6E Normative Theory (Furman 110)

Chair: TBD

3:30pm Nolan Whitaker (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill)
- “Killing Weights to Save Constraints"
4:00pm Stephen Puryear (North Carolina State University)
- "On the Right to Lie"

6F Ethics & Epistemology (Furman 214)

Chair: Win-Chiat Lee (Wake Forest University)

3:30 pm Beth Hupfer (High Point University) and Jonathan Dixon (Wake Forest University)
- “Moral Panics”
4:00 pm Magnolia Williams (Clemson University)
- “Obligations and Identity: The Role of Gender and Its Commitments to the Self”

COFFEE BREAK 4:30-5:00pm

Closing Reception and Award Presentation

5:00-7:00pm Younts Conference Center

Undergraduate Poster Presentations

Nicco Avallone (University of North Carolina Asheville)
- “The Dissolution of Oppressive Hierarchies Through Ecofeminism”
Carter Deal (Furman University)
- “Are Live Service Games Unaesthetic?”
Alister Dupont (Furman University)
- “Existentialism, Anarchism, and the Revolution”
Quinn Gibson (University of West Florida) and Liam Gibson
- “Ontology and Aesthetics: A Contention of Methods in Producing an Effective Climate Theory”
Samuel Greco (University of North Carolina Asheville)
- “Trust, Trauma, and Testimony: A Pluralistic Conception of Relational Autonomy”
Heather Greenwald (Clemson University)
- “Reinterpreting The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) through Ethical Theory”
Samuel Hart (Furman University)
- “Serendipitous Strikes: Epistemic Filters and Science”
Miguel Herrero (Bob Jones University)
- “To be or to forget”
Sara Jackson (Kennesaw State University)
- “Ethical Cherry-Picking”
Alex Meyers (Greenville Technical College)
- “Anselm vs. George MacDonald on Divine Punishment”
Elizabeth Nesbit (Furman University)
- “Finding Selfhood: College is More Than a Career Path”
Perry Patterson (Converse University)
- “Prolegomenon: the philosophy of ballet”
Galadra Plummer (Kennesaw State University)
- “In Search of Divine Love”
Darcy Phillips (Wofford College)
- “How Phenomenology Allows Us to Care for Each Other”
Liam Reinhardt (University of South Carolina Upstate)
- “Quid est Veritas?”
Matthew Saroff (Wake Forest University)
- “Not a Laughing Matter – Except When It Should Be: Portilla's Relajo and Apretado in American Political Life"”
Jayde Scogin (Kennesaw State University)
- “From Aristotle to Heidegger: Poetry as Shared Being”
Koji Tada (Kennesaw State University)
- “What's So Punny”
Henry Verril (Kennesaw State University)
- “The Reality Severing Longsword: How Enclosure Severs Meaning and Relation”
David Young (Furman University)
- “Reproducing the Sacred: A Discourse on Contemporary Christian Music”
Merritt Young-Stone (University of North Carolina Asheville)
- “Adolescents and Social Media: Marketization, Alienation, and Bodily Dissatisfaction”