This document provides details of the New Mexico West Texas Philosophical Society's annual conference, including the schedule of presentations from March 23-25 and minutes from the society's business meeting on April 16, 2011. Over 30 presentations were given across 8 rooms and topics included ethics, philosophy of mind, epistemology, and more. At the business meeting, officers were elected, resolutions were passed, bylaws were amended, and the society's finances and future plans were discussed.

1. NEW MEXICO WEST TEXAS PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
New Mexico State University
Beginning of Conference
1. Friday Afternoon, March 23 – Room, Cimarron
Moderator: Lori Keleher (NMSU)
1:00 – Robert Fischer (TX State), “Why Incest Is Usually Wrong”
Comments: Richard Galvin (TCU)
2:00 – Alexander Raby (TX Tech), “The Ideal Critic: Foie Gras and Twinkies”
Comments: Parish Conkling (TX State)
3:00 – Joanna Arnold (UH), “Esoteric Morality”
Comments: Craig Hanks (TX State)
4:00 – Michael Da Silva (U Toronto), “Theorizing Justice For Perpetual Peace” (Presented via Skype)
Comments: Danny Scoccia (NMSU)
2. Friday Afternoon, March 23 – Room, Los Padres
Moderator: Luciana Garbayo (UTEP)
1:00 - Miriam Vazquez (UTEP), “Assessing the Environmental Global Burden of Disease Under a
Modified Rawlsian Model”
Comments: Craig Hanks (TX State)
2:00 – Shohei Edamura (Rice), “Leibniz on the Weakness of Will and the Doctrine of Distinct
Inclination”
Comments: Evan Roane (HCC)
3:00 – Dave Mesing (Duquesne U), “Toppling Progress: Hegel's Logic of Form and History”
Comments: Nathan Poage (HCC)
4:00 – Jay Arnold (HCC), “The New Knight of Faith”
Comments: Peter Hutcheson (TX State)
3. Friday Evening, March 23 – Reception from 5-9pm – Room, Azul Patio
4. Saturday Morning, March 24 – Room, Los Padres
Moderator: Nathan Smith (HCC)
9:00 – Jason Hills (Lone Star College), “Pragmatism and Phenomenology: A Reconciliation”
Comments: Justin Bell (UH)
10:00 – Greg Nershberg (UTEP), “Why Phenomenology is Still Important to Embodied Cognition”
Comments: Evan Roane (HCC)
5. Saturday Morning, March 24 – Room, Cimarron
Moderator: Hamner Hill (SEMO)
9:00 – Andrew Pavelich (UH), “The Two Gods of Descartes’s Meditations”
Comments: Alejandro Barcenas Pardo (TX State)
10:00 – Gino Signoracci (UNM), “Derrida and Education: Deconstruction and the Right to Philosophy”
Comments: Nevitt Reesor (TX State)
6. March 24 – Room, San Rafael
Moderator: Jennifer Noonan (NMSU)
9:00 – Mark Walker (NM State), “The Mundane World Hypothesis is Probably False”
Comments: Peter Hutcheson (TX State)

2. 10:00 – Daniel Rubio (), “Libertarian Free Will and Circumstantial Moral Luck”
Comments: Jeffrey Gordon (TX State)
7. Special Session: Student Colloquium:
March 24 – Room, San Rafael
Moderator: John Symons (UTEP)
11:00am – 5:00pm
Carson Benn
Neyma Figueroa (New Mexico State University)
Amir Hernandez (New Mexico State University)
Hieu Duong
Jennifer Ward (New Mexico State University)
Jack Hansen
Shelbi Meissner
Christopher Freire
Paola Lujan (University of Texas at El Paso)
8. Saturday, March 24 – Lunch from 11 – 1pm
9. Saturday Afternoon, March 24 – Room, Los Padres
Moderator: Graciela Woodbury (EPCC)
1:00 – Justin Bell (UH), “Solidarity, Deweyan Democracy, and Empathy”
Comments: Luis Diaz (EPCC)
2:00 – Luis Diaz (EPCC), “Levinas and Dussel: an Ethical Analysis of Social Activists in Juarez,
Mexico”
Comments: Craig Hanks (TX State)
3:00 – Hamner Hill (SEMO), “Daubert’s Asymmetrical Impact on Civil and Criminal Litigation”
Comments: Danny Scoccia (NMSU)
10. Saturday Afternoon, March 24 – Room, Cimarron
Moderator: Jennifer Noonan (NMSU)
1:00 – Olguín, Narváez, & Márquez (UACJ), “Did the Pre-Socratics Inquire about Archai”
Comments: Hammad Hussain (TX State)
2:00 – Nathan Poage (HCC), “The Subject and Principles of Metaphysics in Avicenna and
Aquinas”
Comments: Paul Wilson (TX State)
3:00 – Daniel Guentchev (SIUC), “Teleological Judgment and Dead Nature in Horowitz’s Reading of
Kant’s Critique of Judgment”
Comments: Jason Hills (Lone Star College)
11. Saturday Afternoon, March 24 – Room, San Rafael A
Moderator: Robert Louis (HCC)
1:00 – Joe Bernal (UTEP), “Quantum Information Philosophy Processed”
Comments: Mary Gwin (OK State)
2:00 – Ramon Alvarado (UTEP), “Can we believe in scientific theories? Ruth Millikan and Pessimistic
Induction”
Comments: Mary Gwin (OK State)
3:00 – Peter Hutcheson (TX State), “Checkmating Creationism”
Comments: Robert Louis (HCC)

3. 12. Saturday Afternoon, March 24 – Room, San Rafael
4:15 Welcome
Dan Flores (HCC), Secretary
• Dalrymple Award: Michael Da Silva, “Theorizing Justice for Perpetual Peace”
• Alexander Award: awaiting judgment
13. Saturday Afternoon, March 24 – Room, San Rafael
4:30 Presidential Address
Nathan Smith (HCC) – “Descartes on Mind-Body Unity”
14. 5:30 Business Meeting (open to all) – Room, San Rafael
Nathan Smith (HCC), President
Peter Hutcheson (TX State), Vice-President
Dan Flores (HCC), Secretary
Robert Louis (HCC), Treasurer
Glenn Joy (TX State), Editor, Southwest Philosophical Studies
15. Sunday Morning, March 25 – Room, Los Padres
Moderator: Parish Conkling (TX State)
8:00 – Gareth Fuller (), “Objects: Language and Metaphysics”
Comments: Nadia Ruiz (UTEP)
9:00 – Morgan Wallhagen (Bryn Mawr), “Mental States as Presentations”
Comments: Tim Cleveland (NMSU)
10:00 – Leonard Kahn (USAFA), “Instrumentalism About Normative Reasons for Action”
Comments: Joseph Ulatowski (UM)
11:00 – Joseph Ulatowski (UM), “Taking Ordinary Intuitions Seriously”
Comments: John Symons (UTEP)
16. Sunday Morning, March 25 – Room, Cimarron
Moderator: Jamie Bronstein (NMSU)
8:00 – John Harris (TCU), “Posner's Problem With Utility”
Comments: Jean-Paul Vessel (NMSU)
9:00 – Don Fallis (UA), “Davidson was Almost Right about Lying”
Comments: Jean-Paul Vessel (NMSU)
10:00 – Jean-Paul Vessel (NMSU), “Defending Open Question Arguments from ‘Invalidity’ Critics”
Comments: Luciana Garbayo (UTEP)
11:00 – Jamie Bronstein (NMSU), “Chained for Life: Conjoined Twins, Identity, and the Ethics of Separation
Surgery”
Comments: Paul Wilson (TX State)
End of Conference
2011 Minutes of the New Mexico West Texas Philosophical Society
1. President Dan Flores called the meeting to order at 5:00 at the Hudspeth Hall 100 on the UTEP campus on
Saturday16 April 2011.
2. The members voted to approve the 2010 minutes as written.
3. Peter Hutcheson announced that Tad Bratowski received the Hubert Alexander Memorial Award and that Luciana
Garbayo and Pablo Zavala each received a Houghton Dalrymple Memorial Award.

4. 4. Peter Hutcheson noted that two members of the society, Lynne Fulmer and Tim Maddox, died between the 2010
and 2011 meetings. Members noted some ways in which they were both important to the society and will be
missed.
5. At the 2010 business meeting Tim Maddox introduced the amendment that we have no banquet in 2011, but
reconsider the question at the 2011 business meeting. At the 2011 meeting the members agreed that separating the
Presidential Address from the banquet was a good idea. It was noted that Dan Flores’s Presidential Address was
even more well-attended than in previous years. Danny Scoccia proposed that he make arrangements for
members to have a common meal at a restaurant and invite everyone to come, and the members all agreed to his
proposal.
6. The members passed the following resolution:
Whereas, the governance of the New Mexico-West Texas Philosophical Society is vested in its duly elected
officers and Board Members as established in the Society’s Bylaws, and
Whereas, that governance was questioned when a member of the society objected to a permitted practice of
accepting multiple paper submissions for presentation at the annual meeting, and
Whereas, two papers by a single author were by the established anonymous review process rated and both
met the criteria for presentation, and the author was duly notified of their acceptance, and
Whereas this action was within the bound of established precedent and practice,
Now therefore be it resolved that we the members of the New Mexico-West Texas Philosophical Society
voice our continuous support for our officers performing their duties in good faith, and condemn any attempt
to counter their lawful execution of those duties.
7. The members voted to separate the office of Secretary-Treasurer into two posts, Secretary and Treasurer, and to
eliminate the second At-Large Director’s post. (Thomas Urban’s term expired in 2011. He noted that it was time
for him not to be an officer, having served for many years.) Thus, there will still be seven members of the Board
of Directors: President, Vice President, Past President, Secretary, Treasurer, Journal Editor, and At-Large
Director. The Treasurer will serve for one year, until 2012, and the Secretary will serve for three years, until 2014.
8. Peter Hutcheson nominated Dan Flores to the post of Secretary of the New Mexico-West Texas Philosophical
Society, and Nathan Smith seconded the nomination. Tom Urban moved that the nominations be closed. The
members unanimously elected Dan Flores.
9. Thomas Urban nominated Robert Louis to the post of Treasurer of the New Mexico-West Texas Philosophical
Society, and Peter Hutcheson or Hamner Hill seconded the nomination. Nathan Smith moved that the nominations
be closed. The members unanimously elected Robert Louis.
10. Dan Flores unveiled the new look of the website, and everyone agreed that the new site looks great. Dan proposed
that there be an official webmaster and that Vinakay Merarkod be appointed to the post. Thomas Urban noted that
the Board of Directors had the power to create the post and appoint someone. Noting that a majority of the Board
was at the meeting, Thomas Urban, Nathan Smith, Dan Flores, and Peter Hutcheson created the post of
webmaster and appointed Vinakay Merarkod to the post. Everyone applauded to thank Vinakay Merarkod and
Nancy Vivero for producing the new look of the website.
11. Most of the members present voted to accept for presentation no more than one paper from a single author in a
single year, although they were willing to allow more than one submission from the same person.
12. The members voted to change the dues structure: full-time professors: $70; part-time professors and adjuncts:
$45; graduate students: $35; undergraduate students: $25; and observers not on the program: free.
13. Although the members did not have a formal offer of a meeting place for the 2013 meeting, everyone agreed that
Austin or San Antonio would be a good place to have a meeting. The general consensus was that San Antonio
would be best.
14. The meeting almost adjourned when Danny Scoccia noted that we had not elected a Vice President. Members
asked, in turn, Danny Scoccia, Hamner Hill, and Luciana Garbayo if they would be willing to serve, but they all
cited good reasons why they could not serve next year. Then Robert Louis suggested Peter Hutcheson. Peter noted
that he had already been Vice President, and that the Society had never elected someone to the Vice President’s
post twice, but the members present were not dissuaded. Peter thought about it for a minute and realized that the
Society did not have another alternative. When he said he would do it many people applauded. They were relieved
that someone agreed to do the job. Robert Louis called for a formal vote, and the members unanimously elected

5. Peter Hutcheson the Vice President of the New Mexico-West Texas Philosophical Society.
15. The meeting ended.
2011 Treasurer’s Summary Balance
$ 8,574.79 Beginning Balance
$ 4,590.17 Total Income
$ 1,503.72 Total Expenditures
$ 11,661.24 Ending Balance