By Celena Glaghassi, Staff Writer
On Tuesday, December 2, the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies held senior capstone poster presentations to showcase the projects that the students had been working on all semester. The event began at 3:30 p.m. in Weidensall Hall’s Lobby.
Everyone was welcome to attend the event and learn about the different philosophical and religious research projects that the seniors had spent the past semester conducting. Project topics varied from defining gender to the idea of “just war.”
The presentation topics were:
“Statues and Statutes: Commemorating Victims of Mass Atrocities” (Andrew Thibaudeau ’26)
“Between Self and Soul: Philosophy in a Changing World” (Arham Arif Mahmood ’26)
“Bridging Eras: Reconciling Buddhist Wisdom with Modern Self-improvement”
(Bruno Garcia ’26)
“Non-action in Outdoor Leadership: Cultivating Authenticity through Wu-Wei”
(Colin Goodwin ’26)
“Just War in a Modern Age” (John Knowles ’26)
“How are Moral and Ethical Decisions Made?” (John Semaski ’26)
“Foucalt, Phenomenophilia and Self-creation” (Kieran Caves ’26)
“Humanity and the Natural World in Christianity and Buddhism” (Kyle Thompson ’26)
“Deleuze & Determinism: Spinoza to Schizophrenia” (Parker Cohen ’26)
“Is Gender Real? Defining Gender and its Place in Reality” (Skyler McMorrow ’26)
“Application of Kierkegaard’s Anxiety in Modern Secular Society” (Tyler Hilson ’26)
One interesting way that Cohen presented his project was by using plenty of pictures and organizing his poster according to the chapters of the text he read. “The capacity to affect and be affected is what makes us, us,” said Cohen.
When asked about their favorite parts of the project, and the semester overall, Caves said, “My personal favorite part was realizing that academia can be really creative. Putting things together, seeing how everything works, it was interesting for me.”
When asked about her favorite part of the capstone project, McMorrow said, “My personal favorite part is the research aspect. This is one of the few classes where you can take whatever you want and fully engage with what you want to do and what interests you.”
At the conclusion of the event, the seniors were eager to discuss their projects further, and they advocated strongly for the students at the event to consider a philosophy or religious studies major.
Mahmood shared the story of how he decided on a philosophy major at the conclusion of the event, “as far as a philosophy major goes, I think, for me, the most interesting part was the first semester. We were learning about sound— and I’m a musician. From there, it all just clicked for me.”
