CV/Resumé

ALEJANDRO ARANGO

CURRICULUM VITAE

Philosophy Department, Gonzaga University
502 E Boone Ave., Spokane, WA 99285-047
(1) 509.313.4606 
m.alejandro.arango [at] gmail.com

ORCID profile
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1032-9542

Areas of Specialization: Philosophy of perception, social epistemology
Areas of Competence: Ethics, philosophy of race and ethnicity, social and political philosophy, logic/reasoning/critical thinking, history of philosophy (esp. ancient Greek and modern), 

ACADEMIC AFFILIATIONS

2018-present  Lecturer of Philosophy. Gonzaga University

2016-2018

  • Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Languages, Literature, and Philosophy, Tennessee State University
  • Visiting Research Scholar, Philosophy Department, Vanderbilt University

EDUCATION

  • Ph.D. Vanderbilt University, 2016. Dissertation: Social Enactive Perception: Practices, Experience, and Contents. Committee: José Medina (Chair), L. Guenther, J. Lachs, and S. Gallagher (Memphis)
  • M.A. Philosophy, Vanderbilt University, 2013
  • M.A. Philosophy, Binghamton University, 2008
  • B.A. Philosophy (Cum Laude), Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia, 2000
  • B.A. Communication and Media Studies, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia, 1998

PUBLICATIONS

Refereed

  1. Arango, Alejandro. (2019). From sensorimotor dependencies to perceptual practices: making enactivism social. Adaptive Behavior, 27(1), 31–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059712318811897
    1. Followed by: Arango, Alejandro. “Social Enactivism about Perception—Reply to McGann.” Adaptive Behavior (2019). https://doi.org/10.1177/1059712319835162. (In reply to: McGann, Marek. “A Little More Social Enaction than That: Comment on Arango (2019).” Adaptive Behavior(2019))
  2. Arango, Alejandro. (2019) “Expresión, intersubjetividad y mundo perceptual.” Acta Fenomenológica Latinoamericana VI: 279-293.
  3. Arango, Alejandro. “Animal Groups and Social Ontology: An Argument from the Phenomenology of Behavior.” Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences15, no. 3 (2016): 403–22. doi:10.1007/s11097-015-9430-2.
  4. Arango, Alejandro. “Moral Clumsiness.” Think14, no. 40 (2015): 93–99. doi:10.1017/S1477175615000019.
  5. Arango, Alejandro. “Husserl’s Concept of Position-Taking and Second Nature.” Phenomenology and Mind, no. 6 (2014): 168–76.
  6. Arango, Alejandro. “Tomar En Cuenta, Pensar En Compañía, Ampliar La Mente: Sobre El Sentido de La Enseñanza de Las Humanidades.” (‘Taking Into Account, Thinking in Company, Enlarging the Mind: On the Sense of Teaching Humanities.’).” Revista de La Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería, no. 53 (2004): 42–46.

Work in Progress

  • “Our understanding of others involves the perception of high-level properties,” article (near completion). 
  • Reflections of a Philosophy-Based Humanities Postdoc at Tennessee State University. This article ]intends to review, assess, and draw lessons from the work done in the non-intructional, humanities component of my postdoc at TSU. 
  • “Social identities and other minds,” article. 
  • “ From Action to Practices: A Social Theory of Perception,” book manuscript.  
  • “The Aspectuality of Perception: A Modal-Neutral Analysis of the Notion of Aspect and Some Consequences for Direct Realisms,” article.

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS 

Refereed (selected)

  1. “The Aspectuality of Perception: A Modal-Neutral Analysis of the Notion of Aspect and Some Consequences for Direct Realisms,” Northwest Philosophy Conference, October 2019.
  2. “High-level properties and social identities,” Main, Brain and Behavior interdisciplinary group, Gonzaga University, October 2018.
  3. “Perceptual Geographies”
    Caribbean Philosophical Association, New York, June 2017
  4.  “Social Identities and Other Minds.” 
    Phenomenology Roundtable, San Jose, CA. San José State University, June 2017
  5. “Our Understanding of Others Involves the Perception of High-Level Perceptual Properties”
    Empathy, Direct Perception and Other Minds, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 2017
  6. “Expresión, intersubjetividad y mundo perceptual”
    Latin American Phenomenology Circle, Universidad Católica Argentina, Buenos Aires, 2016
  7. “The Concept of Position-Taking and the Pragmatic Dependence of Perception” 
    Husserl Circle, Dartmouth College, 2014 
  8. “Can Culturally-Generated Perceptual Content Be Nonconceptual?”
    Summer School in Phenomenology and the Philosophy of Mind, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 2012
  9. “Perceptual Topographies: Nonconceptuality beyond Vision and Touch”
    Tennessee Philosophical Association, 2012
  10.  “The Essence of Thinking and Questioning and the Need of Alterity: Socrates’ Alter Ego in Plato’s Hippias Major”
    Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, New York, 2009
  11. “Morality as Non-Indifference towards the Suffering of Others: An Analysis Issuing from Cohen’s Religion of Reason”
    American Academy of Religion (Eastern), Syracuse, 2009
  12. “Socrates Dismisses, Ion Resists: Philosophical Discourse and Artistic Experience in Plato’s Ion”
         Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, New York, 2008

Invited Commentaries

  1. Comments on Andrew Naylor’s “Theories of Personal Identity Biological Continuity vs. Brain-Realized Psychological Continuity,” Tennessee Philosophical Association, 2015
  2. Author-Meets-Critics session on Talia Welsh’s “The Child as Natural Phenomenologist,” Tennessee Philosophical Association, 2014       
  3. Comments on Alex Madva’s “The Structure of Implicit Social Attitudes,” Eastern APA, 2012

Other presentations (selected)

  1. “Perception and Movement.” Panel participant at Creator’s Table Church “Movement and Spirituality” panel. February 2020
  2. “Anatomy, Cartography, Geography: Getting to Know Different Spaces”
    Layers of Mapping Workshop, Tennessee State University, March 2017
  3. “Perceptual Practices”
    Finalist. 3-Minute Thesis Competition (for non-specialized public), Graduate Student Council, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 2013. Available at: http://youtu.be/f8YsOYj-YaI

COMPETITIVE AWARDS, GRANTS & HONORS

  • Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Humanities Education, 2016-2018
  • Berry Publication Prize (Best Student Publication), Vanderbilt, Philosophy Department, 2016
  • Thomas M. Weser International Student Leadership Award (a yearly awardee selected from all the international students across the university), Vanderbilt University, 2016
  • Berry Student Publication Award, Vanderbilt, Philosophy Department, 2014, -15
  • Honor (top-up) Fellowship (a competitive award across The Graduate School), Vanderbilt University, The Graduate School, 2010-2015
  • University Fellowship, Vanderbilt University, The Graduate School, 2010-2015
  • Best Graduate Student Paper, American Academy of Religion (Eastern), Syracuse, NY, May 2009
  • Philosophy Research Fellowship, Binghamton University, Philosophy Department, 2008, 2009
  • University Fellowship, Binghamton University, Philosophy Department, 2006-2010

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Gonzaga University (2018-present)
Reasoning (x4)
Ethics (x2)
Philosophy of Human Nature (x2)

Tennessee State University (2016-2018)
Introduction to the Philosophy of Race, Gender, and Class
Introduction to Philosophy (x3)

Vanderbilt University (2010-2016)
Introduction to Philosophy (writing-intensive) (x3)
General Logic (x2)

Binghamton University (2006-2010)
Introduction to Philosophy
Environmental Ethics and Policy (online) (x2)

Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería, Humanities, Bogotá, Colombia, 2002-2006
Taught different courses in general humanities, including thematic explorations of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the Modern Age, and the Contemporary World

Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, Bogotá, Colombia, 2004-2005
Lecturer, Intro to Ethics, Mass-Media Theory

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

  • Course Design Institute, February 2019. Center for Teaching & Advising, Gonzaga University
  • Inclusive Pedagogical Practices Workshop, January 2019. College of Arts and Sciences, Gonzaga University
  • Mellon Certificate in Humanities Education, 2016
    The Center for Teaching and The Graduate School, Vanderbilt University
  • Mellon Institute in Digital and Public Humanities, 2016
    Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities & The Curb Center, Vanderbilt University
  • Certificate in College Teaching, 2012-2013
    The Center for Teaching and the Graduate School, Vanderbilt University
  • German Language Studies, Summer 2012
    interDaF/Herder-Institut, Universität Leipzig
  • German Language Studies, Summer 2011
    German School, Middlebury College

LANGUAGES

  1. German (intermediate)
  2. French (intermediate)
  3. Latin (basic reading skills)
  4. English (near native)
  5. Spanish (native speaker)

 

PROFESSIONAL LEADERSHIP & COMMUNITY SERVICE

  • Faculty Development Subcommittee and Steering Committee for CRES Program. Gonzaga University, Fall 2018.
  • ISSS Vanderbilt Advisory Board. Alumni Representative, 2016-2018
  • Intercultural Competence QEP Subcommittee Member. Tasked with drafting a proposal for an undergraduate residential immersion experience. Office of the Vice Provost. Vanderbilt, 2015-16
  • Search Committee Member, International Student and Scholar Services Office, Vanderbilt, 2015 
  • Co-Founder & President, Latin American & Caribbean Vanderbilt Student Assoc. (LACS), 2014-16
  • International Orientation Leader, International Students and Scholars Services, Vanderbilt University, August 2013, 2015 
  • Designed program and other printed materials, The Latina Dialogues: A Conference on Latina Feminism and Other Feminisms, Vanderbilt University, November 2013
  • Senator (Philosophy-SPEL Graduate Student Organization) to Graduate Student Council, Binghamton University, 2007-2008

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

  1. Husserl Circle
  2. Latin American Phenomenology Circle

REFERENCES

Dr. José Medina
Walter Dill Scott Professor of Philosophy
Department of Philosophy
Northwestern University

Dr. Lisa Guenther
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Department of Philosophy
Queen’s University

Dr. Maria Howard
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Gonzaga University

Dr. Shaun Gallagher 
Lillian and Morrie Moss Chair of Excellence in Philosophy
Department of Philosophy 
University of Memphis

Dr. Joel Dark
Assistant Dean, College of Liberal Arts
Tennessee State University

Dr. John Lachs
Centennial Professor of Philosophy
Vanderbilt University