Department of Philosophy
Faculty and Staff
Faculty reading recommendations
Have you ever wondered what your professors have been working on [and still like], and what other books they have found inspiring? See below for a few answers [we'll add more as they come in]. Where available and [thus] possible, a permalink of the Fresno State Library has been added.
From her own writings, Professor Anagnostopoulos thinks you might benefit from reading the following:
- Anagnostopoulos, M. (2006). "The Divided Soul and the Desire for Good in Plato's Republic," in: Santas, G. (ed). The Blackwell Guide to Plato's Republic. Malden, MA / Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 166-188.
As for articles that display good writing, she recommends these:
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KennettJ. & M. Smith (1996). “Frog and Toad Lose Control,” Analysis 56 (2), 63-73. URL=https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/56.2.63
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Gilead, A. (1999). “How is Akrasia Possible After All?,” Ratio 12 (3), 257-270. URL=https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9329.00091
Professor Cushing recommends the following two articles:
- Cushing, M. T. (2020). "Gadamer’s Philosophical Concept of “Prejudice” and its Use
in Comparative
Theology," The Journal of Interreligious Studies 29: 19-37. URL=https://irstudies.org/index.php/jirs/article/download/423/467/\ - Cushing, M. T. (2024). "Book Review: Trauma Talks in the Hebrew Bible: Speech Act Theory and Trauma Hermeneutics. Alexiana Fry. Lexington Books, 2023. vii+137pp. $90.00 (hardback). ISBN: 9781666900552," Journal of Interreligious Studies (July 2024), 42: 90-92. URL=https://irstudies.org/index.php/jirs/article/view/1027
Professor Cusick recommends the following two articles:
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Cusick, C. M. (2019). "Testifying Bodies: Testimonial Injustice as Derivatization," Social Epistemology 33(2): 111–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2019.1577919
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Cusick, C., Peter, M. (2015). "The Last Straw Fallacy: Another Causal Fallacy and Its Harmful Effects," Argumentation 29: 457–474. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10503-014-9339-x
The latter article is particularly noteworthy as this is the article in which the Last Straw Fallacy gets its name.
Professor Fiala has a number of recommendations. The following are books that are widely cited:
- Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues (co-authored with Barbara MacKinnon, now in 10th edition): https://www.cengage.com/c/ethics-theory-and-contemporary-issues-10e-fiala-mackinnon/9780357798539/
- The Just War Myth: The Moral Illusions of War. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. https://csu-fresnostate.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_UFR/1c04q96/alma991001767849702907
Here are two recent (2024) journal articles with links:
- Fiala, A. (2024). “Critical Character Education: Whose Character? Which Virtues?” Interchange: A Quarterly Review of Education 5 (2), 159-179. https://csu-fresnostate.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_UFR/3koikd/cdi_proquest_journals_3061565359
- Fiala, A. (2024) & T. Woerner-Powell. “Introduction: Falling Between Two Schools: Interdisciplinary Reflections on Eurocentrism and the Neglect of Islamic Nonviolence,” Journal of Pacifism and Nonviolence 2 (1), 153-168. https://brill.com/view/journals/jpn/2/2/article-p153_1.xml
Finally, Professor Fiala also has two entries in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [SEP] that he would like you to consider - because he wrote them, but really also because he thinks [like many of us] that the SEP is anyway a great resource for you to be familiar with:
- “Anarchism” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anarchism/
- “Pacifism” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pacifism/.
Professor Howard thinks that the following two recent items might be of interest to you:
- Howard, V. R. (2023). "The Nonviolence Conundrum: Political Peace and Personal Karma in Jain and Hindu Traditions" Religions 14 (2): 178. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14020178 and https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/2/178
- Howard, V. R. [ed.] (2023). Gandhi's Global Legacy. Moral Methods and Modern Challenges. Lexington Books. https://csu-fresnostate.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_UFR/1c04q96/alma991022260769802907
Professor Keyser recommends that you take a look at his research on his website: https://vkeyser.com/
As for a piece that has inspired him, he recommends this:
- Morrison, Margaret (2014). Reconstructing Reality: Models, Mathematics, and Simulations. New York, US: Oxford University Press.
Professor Maldonado recommends the following two articles:
- Maldonado, Robert D. (1995 [1997]). "Reading Malinche Reading Ruth: Toward a Hermeneutics of Betrayal," Semeia 72, 91-109.
- Maldonado, Robert D. (2016). “Reading Others as the Subject(s) of Biblical Narrative,” The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Narrative, edited by Danna Nolan Fewell. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 434–443. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199967728.013.37
Among his own articles, Professor Rocha especially wishes to recommend the following:
- Rocha, J. (2011). "The Sexual Harassment Coercive Offer," The Journal of Applied Philosophy (May 2011) 28.2: 203-216. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24355916
A reading that he has found inspiring is Immanuel Kant's The Critique of Pure Reason. Here is the Fresno State Library permanent link to the book: https://csu-fresnostate.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_UFR/3koikd/cdi_proquest_ebookcentral_EBC4991257
By the way, if you want to find more of his publications [or those of your other philosophy professors], philpapers.org is a great resource to find them: https://philpapers.org/s/James%20Rocha
Professor Rosenhagen thinks you might like the following articles:
- Rosenhagen, Raja (2023). "Viśiṣṭādvaitic Panentheism and the Liberating Function of Love in Weil, Murdoch, and Rāmānuja," in: Benedikt Paul Göcke & Swami Medhananda (eds.). Panentheism in Indian and Western Thought: Cosmopolitan Interventions. Routledge, 60-92. https://csu-fresnostate.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_UFR/3koikd/cdi_unpaywall_primary_10_4324_9781003301431_4
- Rosenhagen, T. Raja (2019). "Toward Virtue: Moral Progress through Love, Just Attention, and Friendship," in: Ingolf U. Dalferth & Trevor W. Kimball (eds.). Love and Justice: Consonance or Dissonance? Claremont Studies in the Philosophy of Religion, Conference 2016. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 217-239.
Unfortunately, the latter is a bit harder to get [the Fresno State Library doesn't have it]. So here is an alternative paper [in the area of analytic philosophy of perception]:
- Rosenhagen, T. Raja (2019). "Norwood Russell Hanson’s account of experience: an untimely defense," Synthese 198 (6): 5179-5204. https://csu-fresnostate.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_UFR/3koikd/cdi_springer_journals_10_1007_s11229_019_02395_3
If, for some reason, you read [or need to practice your] German and also want to learn more about how to think about polyamorous relationships, the following might be just what you need at your bedside table:
- Rosenhagen, Raja (2023). "Ideale polyamoröse Verpflichtung," Zeitschrift für Praktische Philosophie 10 (2): 217-258. https://csu-fresnostate.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_UFR/3koikd/cdi_unpaywall_primary_10_22613_zfpp_10_2_9
Finally, here are two books that he has found inspiring and that he keeps revisiting:
- Murdoch, Iris (2001). The Sovereignty of Good. 2nd edition. Routledge.
- Gupta, Anil (2019). Conscious Experience: A Logical Inquiry. Harvard University Press.
Professor Tais, asked which of his papers he would love you to read, recommends the following two:
- Tais, A. (2022). "Gandhi in Conversation with Contemporary Islam: Peace, Pluralism, and Change," in: Howard, V. [ed.]. Gandhi's Global Legacy: Moral Methods and Modern Challenges. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 209-226. Fresno State library link: https://csu-fresnostate.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_UFR/3koikd/cdi_askewsholts_vlebooks_9781793640376
- Tais, A. (2019). "Revivalism and Reconstructionism in Islamic Reform: Intellectual Trends in Modernist Maghribi Thought," The Journal of Religion and Society 21, 1-20.
The following is a book that he finds inspiring:
- Arkoun, Mohammed (1994). Rethinking Islam: Common Questions, Uncommon Answers. https://csu-fresnostate.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_UFR/1c04q96/alma991015033869702907
Professor Winant has the following recommendation for you:
- Winant, T. R. (2007). "The Portability of Roots: Analytical Tools for Diasporaphiles," in: Hewitt, N. & D. Geary (eds.). Diaspora (s): Movements and Cultures. Nottingham, England: Critical, Cultural and Communications Press, 197-206.
Now, this text is very hard to get, but since Professor Winant owns the copyright, she is happy to make the file available for you here.
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