Professor and student travel abroad to present papers

On Dec. 10-16, 2003, Georgia College & State University student Zachary Parmley and assistant professor of philosophy Dr. Daniel Fernald traveled to Lima, Peru to present papers at the 15th Inter-American Congress of Philosophy and the Second Ibero-American Congress of Philosophy at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica.
Parmley’s paper “Building a World-Conscious Mentality Through a Metaphysical Understanding” examines the relationship between philosophy and Greek myth.
“My paper is about the progression of philosophy following a specific stage-by-stage process and how that can be shown to be the same process that Greek myth follows.”
Though he has never presented before, Parmley was up against an intimidating audience in Peru. The conference hosted a distinguished group of international philosophers from many South American countries as well as Spain, Canada and Sweden.
“I was a little nervous, but it wasn’t really that bad. Everyone at the conference was very respectful,” he said.
Parmley, who participated in joint-enrollment at GC&SU while attending Baldwin High School, said he became interested in philosophy soon after taking an introductory class.
“When I was in high school I was taking classes at GC&SU and, just for fun, I took a survey of philosophy course, and it grabbed my interest so I stuck with it.”
Like Parmley, Fernald’s passion for philosophy began in his undergraduate years. His presentation, “Intolerant Tolerance and The Technological Impulse,” explores the impulse of efficiency and how it can be applied to all of society.
“The calculus of efficiency has been applied to social situations,” Fernald said. “If a certain thing is desired, then any means at all to reach that is OK, as long as it gets us there. I’m arguing the fact that the desire of efficiency in every field of human endeavor has led us to cut some corners, especially in politics and law.”
Fernald’s involvement in philosophy has taken him to international conferences in Poland, Sweden and Spain, but he said he rarely sees a student present.
“Zak indicated an interest in presenting, so when I got the call for papers for Peru, I thought it would be a good opportunity for him. He’s been a very good student and I don’t think most students would have been accepted.”
Fernald says that even for a first timer, Parmley performed well under pressure.
“This was Zak’s first presentation. I think he may have presented in class, but that’s a different animal than going to a conference with practicing professional philosophers and going toe-to-toe with them. It was the most polished student presentation I’d seen.”
Though Fernald is impressed by Parmley’s individual work, he believes philosophy should play an integral role in every student’s academic career.
“Philosophy represents the history of ideas,” he said. “Every discipline can be tied back to it without exception. I think it’s important, as a liberally educated person, to have a sense of how we got where we are and I think philosophy is essential if we are to have that.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 30 2004. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry