2022
Keynotes: Neal De Roo and Meredith Shimizu
Hutchins Prize: “Merleau-Ponty and Animal Empathy”
–Chandler Rogers, Boston College
Runner-up: “Purity of the Ugly: Understanding of the Negative Judgement in Kant’s Aesthetics”
–Somreeta Paul, UC Santa Cruz
Conference Director: Dionicio Torres
2021
Keynotes: Jill Drouillard, Megan McCabe
Hutchins Prize: The ‘Matter’ of Imagination in Husserl’s Phenomenology of Phantasie Reconsidered”
Ka-yu Hui, Boston College
Runner-up: “Hegel’s Dark Precursor”
Jarrad Felgenhauer, U. of Kentucky
2020
Cancelled due to Covid.
2019
Keynotes: Sara Ahbel-Rappe and Kalliopi Nikolopoulou
2018-19 Conference Program. GGPC
2018
Keynotes: Crina Gschwandtner, Duane Armitage, Tyler Tritten
Hutchins Prize: “Friedrich Schelling, Aesthetic Experience, and Religious Art”
Jordan Dopkins, UC Santa Cruz
Conference Director: Annalee Ring
2017
Keynotes: Richard Kearney and Sheila Gallagher, Boston College
Hutchins Prize: “Anatheism and Eastern Sacred Art”
Kathryn Lawson, Centre for Theory and Criticism at Western Univ.
Runner Up: “Aesthetics of Sacrifice: A Schopenhauerian Account of Ballet”
Alexandra Grundler, University of California, Santa Cruz
Directors: Elizabeth Hill and Sam Underwood
2016
Keynotes: Elizabeth Murray, Loyola Marymount; Alphonso Lingis, Penn. State
Hutchins Prize: “How Special Relations Give Rise to Agent-Neutral Reasons”
Elizabeth Bell, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Runner Up: “The Ethics Of Transracial Adoption In The United States of America”
Udoka Okafor, McMaster University
Director: Andrew Towers and Rachel Flores
2015
Keynote: Kym McLaren, Ryerson University
Plenary: Erik Schmidt, Gonzaga University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Julianne Chung, Yale University, “Skepticism & Metaphor”
Runner Up: T. Raja Rosenhagen, U. of Pittsburgh, “Friendship for the Less Virtuous”
Director: Tyler Wasson
2014
Keynote: Don Ihde, State University of New York at Stony Brook (Emeritus)
Plenary: Kirk Besmer, Gonzaga University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Heather Wallace,
“The Truth about Others: Epistemic Authority and Relativism in Theaetetus 170e-171c”
Runner Up: Victor Bruzzone,
“Linguistic Habit as Perceptual Habit: Examining Recent Research in Color Perception”
Director: Maja Rodell
2013
Keynote: Daniel Dombrowski, Seattle University
Plenary: Richard McClelland, Gonzaga University
Hutchins Prize Co-Winners:
Ben Hole, University of Washington,
“Elitism in Two Approaches to Virtue Ethical Theory: Aristotelian and Stoic”
Noel Saenz, University of Colorado at Boulder
“Composition and Facts”
Workshop: Marketing Yourself as a Philosopher
2012
Keynote: Jonathan Kvanvig, Baylor University
Plenary: Dan Bradley, Gonzaga University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Matthew Braich, University of California San Diego, “Responsibility, Luck, and Rationality”
Workshop: Teaching a Successful Philosophy Class
Director: Melissa Thiringer
2011
Keynote: Christopher Menzel, Texas A&M
Plenary: Tom Jeannot, Gonzaga University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Matthew Jacobs, University of Oregon
“James, Haraway, and Vision: Finitude and the Optics of Knowledge”
Workshop: Applying for a Philosophy Position
Director: Lukas Sauer
2010
Keynote: Ronald Tacelli, S.J., Boston College
Plenary: Wayne Pomerleau, Gonzaga University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Guy Elgat, Northwestern University,
“A Reading of Amor Fati—Nietzsche’s Love of Fate”
Workshop: Choosing Philosophy Textbooks
Director: Lukas Sauer
2009
Keynote: Andrew Cutrofello, Loyola University
Plenary: David Calhoun, Gonzaga University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Joshua Hall, Vanderbilt University,
“Reattaching Shadows: Dancing with Schopenhauer”
Keynote: Andrew Cutrofello, Loyola University
2008
Keynote: Pol Vandevelde, Marquette University
Plenary: Rose Mary Volbrecht, Gonzaga University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Daniel Wagner, Gonzaga University,
“Contra Al-Ghazali: St. Thomas’ Account of Secondary Cause & God’s Omnipotence”
Directors: Daniel Wagner / Adriana Kowal
2007
Keynote: Keith Wyma, Whitworth University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Mason Cole, Texas A&M University “Don’t Play with Matches”
Director: Daniel Wagner
2006
Keynote: Forrest Baird, Whitworth University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Todd Trembley, Washington State University
“Between Man and Nature: An Environmental Ethic of Encounter”
Directors: John van Houdt / Garrin Hertel
2005
Keynote: Richard McClelland, Gonzaga University
Directors: Brad Thompson / Brent Diebel
In 2005, a group of Gonzaga graduate students in Dr Michael Tkacz’s Medieval Philosophy course, including Brent Diebel, Brad Thompson, and John van Houdt explored with their professor the idea of a conference at which graduate students could share scholarly work with their peers. After consulting with Gonzaga Philosophy faculty member Erik Schmidt, who served as the first faculty advisor to the conference, the first Gonzaga Graduate Philosophy Conference took place on April 2, 2005, and featured a keynote address by Gonzaga philosopher Richard McClelland. Each year thereafter improvements were made to the conference. Many such improvements came after Debby Hutchins took the role of faculty advisor in 2007, including increasing participation in the conference by graduate students from programs across the U.S. and even abroad, a more formal structure to the conference planning and events, a conference workshop on a topic of professional interest to philosophy graduate students, and a conference-ending banquet for the participants.
A prize for the best paper of the conference, which includes a cash award, was introduced in 2006. In 2013, in honor and recognition of the seven-year advisor term that Gonzaga philosopher Debby Hutchins had served, and the leadership she had offered in helping the graduate students build the professionalism and national reach of the conference, the annual paper prize was formally named the Hutchins Prize.
Gonzaga philosophy professor Dan Bradley became the faculty advisor of the conference in 2013, due to Debby Hutchins’ move from Gonzaga to South Texas College.
2021
Keynotes: Megan McCabe and Jill Drouillard
Hutchins winners: Ka-yu Hui
Runner-up: Jarrad Felgenhauer
2020
Cancelled due to Covid.
2019
Keynotes: Sara Ahbel-Rappe and Kalliopi Nikolopoulou
2018-19 Conference Program. GGPC
2018
Keynotes: Tyler Tritten, Duane Armitage, Crina Gschwandtner
2017
Keynotes: Richard Kearney and Sheila Gallagher, Boston College
Hutchins Prize: “Anatheism and Eastern Sacred Art”
Kathryn Lawson, Centre for Theory and Criticism at Western Univ.
Runner Up: “Aesthetics of Sacrifice: A Schopenhauerian Account of Ballet”
Alexandra Grundler, University of California, Santa Cruz
Directors: Elizabeth Hill and Sam Underwood
2016
Keynotes: Elizabeth Murray, Loyola Marymount; Alphonso Lingis, Penn. State
Hutchins Prize: “How Special Relations Give Rise to Agent-Neutral Reasons”
Elizabeth Bell, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Runner Up: “The Ethics Of Transracial Adoption In The United States of America”
Udoka Okafor, McMaster University,
Director: Andrew Towers and Rachel Flores
2015
Keynote: Kym McLaren, Ryerson University
Plenary: Erik Schmidt, Gonzaga University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Julianne Chung, Yale University, “Skepticism & Metaphor”
Runner Up: T. Raja Rosenhagen, U. of Pittsburgh, “Friendship for the Less Virtuous”
Director: Tyler Wasson
2014
Keynote: Don Ihde, State University of New York at Stony Brook (Emeritus)
Plenary: Kirk Besmer, Gonzaga University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Heather Wallace,
“The Truth about Others: Epistemic Authority and Relativism in Theaetetus 170e-171c”
Runner Up: Victor Bruzzone,
“Linguistic Habit as Perceptual Habit: Examining Recent Research in Color Perception”
Director: Maja Rodell
2013
Keynote: Daniel Dombrowski, Seattle University
Plenary: Richard McClelland, Gonzaga University
Hutchins Prize Co-Winners:
Ben Hole, University of Washington,
“Elitism in Two Approaches to Virtue Ethical Theory: Aristotelian and Stoic”
Noel Saenz, University of Colorado at Boulder
“Composition and Facts”
Workshop: Marketing Yourself as a Philosopher
2012
Keynote: Jonathan Kvanvig, Baylor University
Plenary: Dan Bradley, Gonzaga University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Matthew Braich, University of California San Diego, “Responsibility, Luck, and Rationality”
Workshop: Teaching a Successful Philosophy Class
Director: Melissa Thiringer
2011
Keynote: Christopher Menzel, Texas A&M
Plenary: Tom Jeannot, Gonzaga University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Matthew Jacobs, University of Oregon
“James, Haraway, and Vision: Finitude and the Optics of Knowledge”
Workshop: Applying for a Philosophy Position
Director: Lukas Sauer
2010
Keynote: Ronald Tacelli, S.J., Boston College
Plenary: Wayne Pomerleau, Gonzaga University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Guy Elgat, Northwestern University,
“A Reading of Amor Fati—Nietzsche’s Love of Fate”
Workshop: Choosing Philosophy Textbooks
Director: Lukas Sauer
2009
Keynote: Andrew Cutrofello, Loyola University
Plenary: David Calhoun, Gonzaga University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Joshua Hall, Vanderbilt University,
“Reattaching Shadows: Dancing with Schopenhauer”
Keynote: Andrew Cutrofello, Loyola University
2008
Keynote: Pol Vandevelde, Marquette University
Plenary: Rose Mary Volbrecht, Gonzaga University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Daniel Wagner, Gonzaga University,
“Contra Al-Ghazali: St. Thomas’ Account of Secondary Cause & God’s Omnipotence”
Directors: Daniel Wagner / Adriana Kowal
2007
Keynote: Keith Wyma, Whitworth University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Mason Cole, Texas A&M University “Don’t Play with Matches”
Director: Daniel Wagner
2006
Keynote: Forrest Baird, Whitworth University
Hutchins Prize Winner: Todd Trembley, Washington State University
“Between Man and Nature: An Environmental Ethic of Encounter”
Directors: John van Houdt / Garrin Hertel
2005
Keynote: Richard McClelland, Gonzaga University
Directors: Brad Thompson / Brent Diebel
In 2005, a group of Gonzaga graduate students in Dr Michael Tkacz’s Medieval Philosophy course, including Brent Diebel, Brad Thompson, and John van Houdt explored with their professor the idea of a conference at which graduate students could share scholarly work with their peers. After consulting with Gonzaga Philosophy faculty member Erik Schmidt, who served as the first faculty advisor to the conference, the first Gonzaga Graduate Philosophy Conference took place on April 2, 2005, and featured a keynote address by Gonzaga philosopher Richard McClelland. Each year thereafter improvements were made to the conference. Many such improvements came after Debby Hutchins took the role of faculty advisor in 2007, including increasing participation in the conference by graduate students from programs across the U.S. and even abroad, a more formal structure to the conference planning and events, a conference workshop on a topic of professional interest to philosophy graduate students, and a conference-ending banquet for the participants.
A prize for the best paper of the conference, which includes a cash award, was introduced in 2006. In 2013, in honor and recognition of the seven-year advisor term that Gonzaga philosopher Debby Hutchins had served, and the leadership she had offered in helping the graduate students build the professionalism and national reach of the conference, the annual paper prize was formally named the Hutchins Prize.
Gonzaga philosophy professor Dan Bradley became the faculty advisor of the conference in 2013, due to Debby Hutchins’ move from Gonzaga to South Texas College.
Gonzaga Graduate Philosophy Conference 