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Department of
Philosophy
101 Manchester Hall
344 Mansfield Road
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT
06269-2054
Phone: (860) 486-4416
Fax: (860) 486-0387
shelly.burelle@uconn.edu
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BJ Strawser
office:
email: firstnamelastname[at]gmail[dot]com
Interests
After spending a couple years teaching philosophy at the Air Force Academy (primarily ethics and some logic), I am back at UConn to finish my PhD.
My research interests are broad and cross-disciplinary. I did early work in epistemology, then moved to a metaphysics & philosophy of religion focus (mostly free will issues and the problem of evil), but of late I've been most interested in ethics -- both normative and applied (with some abiding metaethics interest) -- and its intersection with political philosophy (particularly the concerns of human rights theory and just war theory).
Projects
To this end, my dissertation is focused on the big questions underlying present human rights theory (Griffin, Pogge, Buchannan, Raz, Nickel, et al.) and its interplay with on-going work in just war theory and related questions of political philosophy (McMahan, Walzer, Orend, Cook, Toner). These areas of discourse hinge on deep philosophical problems regarding the nature and justification of a political state, the normative basis for (and possibility of) collective action and responsibility, the structural components of any moral framework, and the ethical justification of violence, amongst many others. My dissertation is at its earliest stages, but my committee has been formed. I am honored to work under Dr. Steven Wall (Oxford) as my committee chair; with Dr. Serena Parekh (Boston College) and Dr. Joel Kupperman (Cambridge) as second readers.
Presently, I am developing and shopping around a handful of papers for publication and/or presentation. One is on Harry Frankfurt's idea of love as identity with my challenge that sometimes even our loves can be alien to us. (I was honored to present a version of this paper in March 2009 at the Futures of Critical Theory conference held in Frankfurt am Mein, Germany.) In April 2009 I presented a paper on the logic of omni-benevolence titled “Lake Wobegone Syndrome” at the Society of Christian Philosophers annual meeting held in Worcester, MA at Assumption College. I also presented a version of my paper “Who is Responsible for Human Rights?” at UConn’s annual Graduate Conference in philosophy in April 2009. I was recently invited to present a paper on the paradox of rule breaking in sport at the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport Annual Conference to be held August 2009 at Seattle University. Another paper I have submitted proposes a new take on Plato's "Battle of the Giants" in the Sophist (presently under review). Another is on Peter van Inwagen and the intersection between his free will metaphysics and his solution to the problem of evil (presently under review). I am presently working on a paper outlining the ethical justification of the use of Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs) in warfare (projected submission summer 2009). I am also developing a paper critiquing Michael Otsuka’s left-libertarianism (project submission summer 2009). Finally, I am working on a metaphysics paper presenting a new challenge (primarily to Crawford Elder’s work) as to how we can access essential properties in medium-sized material objects, presuming realism (projected submission summer 2009).
History
Doctoral Candidate, University of Connecticut, 2008–presen
Instructor, Philosophy Department, United States Air Force Academy, 2006–2008
M.A., University of Connecticut, 2005–2006
Studies in Philosophy of Religion at Denver Seminary, 2002–2004
B.A., University of Northern Colorado, 1997–2001
I am blessed with a wonderful wife, Abbi, who is incredibly patient and supportive of our plans for my advanced degree. We have two kids, Toby (4 years) and Norah (1.5 years). I served as an officer in the US Air Force for the past 7 years, recently separating from the AF in Feb 08.
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