WVC Philosophy Club
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The West Valley Philosophy Department actively supports its Philosophy Club, which meets approximately once a month during the academic year to hear lectures and discuss a wide range of philosophical issues. The West Valley Philosophy Club is part of an informal Intercollegiate Philosophy Club, consisting of members of the community and students from West Valley, San Jose City College, Evergreen College, Santa Clara University, and San Jose State University. Meetings take place in the Community Room of the Campus Center at San Jose City College, on selected Friday evenings at 7:00 PM. All Philosophy Club events are free and all interested persons are welcome; you don't have to be a WVC Philosophy student. Each semester we pick a theme and each meeting features a lecture and discussion of some aspect of that theme. Recent themes have included "The Philosophy of the Person," "Women and Philosophy," "Utopias and Dystopias," and "Madness, Mental Health, and Philosophy." In addition to the regular themed meetings, the West Valley Philosophy Club hosts a lecture series, which has featured world-famous philosophers such as Richard Rorty, Hubert Dreyfus, John Searle, and Dagfinn Follesdal. The club has also produced theatrical events and presentations on film as philosophy. The Philosophy Club advisor is Don Ciraulo. You can phone him at 408/741-2637, or email him.
The students of the Philosophy Club also write and publish an independent newspaper The Gadfly. A recent (May 2000) photo of some members of the club with WVC faculty and philosopher Richard Rorty is at the Philosophy Department Home Page. Here's a less recent picture, from Spring 1998, of some Philosophy Club members and faculty. The man in the center is Professor John Searle of Berkeley.
FALL 2000 Meeting Schedule
Meetings take place in the Community Room of the Campus Center at San Jose City College. All Philosophy Club events are free and all interested persons are welcome. SPRING 2000 SPECIAL EVENT: RICHARD RORTYOn Tuesday May 2, world-famous philosopher Richard Rorty of Stanford University spoke at West Valley College. His talk was titled "Is Religious Belief Compatible with Modern Science?"
Professor Rorty got us thinking about pragmatist epistemology, and the different functions of religious versus scientific discourses. He posed the case of a biology professor who is also a practicing Catholic. Should we be disturbed by the contradictions between her scientific beliefs and her religious beliefs? Should we accuse the professor of inconsistency, and urge her to clean up her logical act? You can view a videotape of Professor Rorty's talk in the AV room of the WVC Library. Recent Special EventsFall 1998: Dagfinn Follesdal Visits West ValleyOn Thursday December 3, 1998, West Valley students heard Professor Dagfinn Follesdal of Stanford and University of Oslo. LA 10 was again filled to capacity.Professor Follesdal's talk was entitled "Phenomenology and Continental Philosophy." The talk explained clearly the influence of Husserl on both "Continental" and "analytic" philosophy. Although these two kinds of philosophy are often considered very different, Professor Follesdal showed how both owe much to the pioneering work of Husserl on intentionality. Professor Follesdal's talk delighted and inspired us. West Valley philosophy graduates Nathan Smith, Sean Oliveira, Christy Aguirre, Chad Irvine, and others came back to WVC for the evening. It was great to see them!
Spring 1998: John Searle Visits West ValleyOn Thursday May 21, 1998, the West Valley Philosophy Club was proud to present a talk by a world-famous philosopher, Professor John Searle of UC Berkeley. It was a standing-room only event. About 200 people attended the talk, which was held in WVC lecture hall LA 10. Professor Searle spoke on his book The Construction of Social Reality.West Valley Philosophy Club co-president and 1997-98 Outstanding Philosophy Student Nathan Smith welcomed the crowd. Nathan graduated from West Valley in 1998 and currently attends UC Berkeley as a philosophy major. WVC owes a big debt of gratitude to Christy Aguirre and Chad Irvine, WVC graduates currently majoring in Philosophy at Santa Clara University, where Professor Searle is currently the Austin Fagothey Distinguished Visiting Professor of Philosophy. Christy and Chad are co-presidents of Santa Clara's philosophy club. Barbara Upton, adjunct instructor in philosophy at West Valley, handled many of the set-up details. Jamison Wieser, a WVC philosophy student, videotaped the talk. Professor Searle captivated the crowd. He is masterful lecturer -- clear, erudite, and humorous. Many non-philosophers in the crowd had been lured by the promise of seeing a "world-class philosopher". They were pleasantly surprised that philosophy could be such fun.(Obviously, these folks haven't yet taken a WVC Philosophy class.) After the talk, Professor Seale and his wife Dagmar were taken out to dinner, courtesy of funds provided by the WVC student government. Pictured below are (left to right) Chad Irvine, Dagmar Searle, Christy Aguirre, Sean Oliveira (partially obscured), Nathan Smith, Sandy LaFave, Professor Searle, Barbara Upton, and Don Ciraulo.
 WVC Philosophy faculty and club presidents with Professor Searle
Spring 1997: Hubert Dreyfus Visits West ValleyThe WVC Philosophy Club was proud to host a lecture by Prof. Hubert Dreyfus of UC Berkeley on February 26, 1997.
 Don Ciraulo, Prof. Dreyfus, and Sandra LaFave Students filled room LA 10 to overflow capacity for Prof. Dreyfus' presentation on the failure of "strong AI". The lecture was particularly interesting for students of Sandra LaFave's Philosophy of the Person class, who have been discussing philosophical questions on mind and machines all semester. They have been reading essays by Prof Dreyfus as well as John Searle, Daniel Dennett, Donald Davidson, John Perry, Valentino Braitenberg, and others. |
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