Nova PhDs

A forum for grads of Villanova's Philosophy PhD program

Ramey's Defense
This afternoon Joshua Ramey sucessfully defended his dissertation titled "Gilles Deleuze and the Powers of Art." Classes start up again next week, but there were still over 30+ people in attendance. I know very little about Deleuze's work so I cannot comment about the content of his project, but I can attest that Josh made an interesting presentation of his work and that the question and answer session was lively. An aspect of his original project, taken up only in the conclusion of his diss, concerned the concept of magic in the thought of particular Renaissance thinkers = a question from Julie Klein lead Josh to claim that he would have written a "magical dissertation" if he thought he could have had it approved . . . Walter Brogan then added that he, Josh, made a wise decision is taking his diss in another direction . . .

There is a party tonight at Josh and Emmanuel's place, and I expect there to be plenty of magical dancing and general merry-making.
Posted by Gregory Hoskins on Friday August 18, 2006 at 7:05pm
Tim Kirk (mail):
I, too, went to Josh's defense. I probably know even less about Deluze than Greg, but I was able to follow quite a bit of it. The Q &A, as Greg mentioned, was especially rich. John Carvalho asked an interesting question re: Deluze's definition of philosophy, and then asked if, when we teach undergraduates, we are really doing philosophy according to Deluze.
I'd also be remiss, given the topic of the dissertation, if I did not comment on the aesthetic of the event. Leaving aside Josh's blue leather suit and what I would describe as an "agressively pumpkin-orange" tie, it was something to listen to Josh muse over the connection between funk and metallurgy while Dylan played on the Connelly Center radio in the background. Indeed, it was almost too much to take in.
8.29.2006 9:06am
J.C. Berendzen:
Wow--I had shaggy Rubber Soul-esque hair and muttonchop sideburns at my defense, but that is blown out of the water by a blue leather suit and orange tie. I am not sure that I have a concept for "agressively pumpkin-orange," though. In any event, congratulations to Josh...
8.29.2006 12:31pm

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