- Breve reseña biográfica
- Hoja de vida en español (mayo 2020)
ALEJANDRO ARANGO
Philosophy Department, Gonzaga University
502 E. Boone Ave. | arango@gonzaga.edu
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1032-9542 | alejandroarango.net
AOS: Phenomenology, Philosophy of perception, Latin American and Latinx Philosophy, Social epistemology
AOC: Phil. of race and ethnicity, Ethics, Social and Political, Continental philosophy, History of philosophy
ACADEMIC AFFILIATIONS
2018-present Lecturer, Gonzaga University
2016-2018 Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Tennessee State 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, Binghamton University, 2008
B.A. Philosophy (Cum Laude), Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, 2000
B.A. Communication and Media Studies, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, 1998
PUBLICATIONS
Refereed Articles
- Arango, A. and Lustig, N. (forthcoming) “Ignorance and Cultural Diversity: The Ethical Obligations of the Behavior Analyst.” Behavior Analysis in Practice.
- Arango, A. and Howard, M. (2021) “Re-Envisioning the Philosophy Classroom Through Metaphors.” Teaching Philosophy, 44(2): 121-144. https://doi.org/10.5840/teachphil2021330141
- Arango, A. (2019). “From Sensorimotor Dependencies to Perceptual Practices: Making Enactivism Social.” Adaptive Behavior, 27(1): 31–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059712318811897
- Arango, A. (2019). “Social Enactivism about Perception — Reply to McGann.” Adaptive Behavior, 27(2): 161–162. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059712319835162.
- Arango, A. (2019) “Expresión, intersubjetividad y mundo perceptual.” Acta fenomenológica latinoamericana: Vol. VI: 279–293.
- Arango, A. (2016). “Animal Groups and Social Ontology: An Argument from the Phenomenology of Behavior.” Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 15(3): 403–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-015-9430-2
- Arango, A. (2015). “Moral Clumsiness.” Think 14(40): 93–99. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1477175615000019
- Arango, A. (2014). “Husserl’s Concept of Position-Taking and Second Nature.” Phenomenology and Mind, 6: 168–76. https://doi.org/10.13128/phe_mi-19561
- Arango, A. (2006). “Tomar En Cuenta, Pensar En Compañía, Ampliar La Mente: Sobre El Sentido de La Enseñanza de Las Humanidades.” Revista de la Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería, 53: 42–46.
Under Review
- “Neither Race nor Ethnicity: Latinidad as a Social Affordance” (With Adam Burgos, Bucknell University). R&R at Journal of Social Philosophy.
Work In-Progress
Monographs
- “From Action to Practices: A Social Theory of Perception” (manuscript under development).
- “Reconsidering Latinidad: A Social Identity Beyond Race and Ethnicity” (co-authored, manuscript under development).
Articles
- “The two-way road between high-level perception and direct social perception.” (Undergoing revisions)
- “The (Lack of) Normative Import of Distinct-Indistinct Perceptions Across the Senses” (with Carolyn Cusick; undergoing revisions)
- “More than Intersubjectivity: Jorge Mañach and Jorge Portilla on Sociality.” (Advanced draft)
- “Ethical selves as guests and hosts: non-indifference, moral orientation, and systemic racism.” (Advanced draft)
- “Animate motion, human movement, and Siegel’s hijacked perceptions.” (Under development)
- “Augustine on the Objects of Perception.” (Under development)
- “A Humanities Postdoc: A Chance to Catch Up with Teaching Training.” (Ready for submission)
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
- Arango, A. (2020, May 28). La pregunta es ética, no legal, para Jorge Rodrigo Tovar (“The question is ethical, not legal, for Jorge Rodrigo Tovar”). El Tiempo. https://bit.ly/2XacPN8
PRESENTATIONS
(Selected)
- “Social Identities as Social Affordances.” (with Adam Burgos).
- Critical Social Ontology Workshop, March 2022.
- New Perspectives on the Ontology of Social Identities, June 2022.
- “Afro-Latinidad in an Anticolonial Key as Crucial for an Account of Latinidad in The U.S.” (with Adam Burgos), March 2022. Latinx Philosophy Conference.
- “Neither Race nor Ethnicity: Latinidad as a Social Affordance” (with Adam Burgos).
- Northwest Philosophy Conference, November 2021.
- Social Ontology Conference, August 2021.
- Gonzaga Philosophy Department Colloquium, April 2021.
- “Socialidad, acción colectiva y collective affordances: algunas limitaciones de los conceptos de intersubjetividad e intencionalidad colectiva.” VII Coloquio de Fenomenología, Puebla, México, March 2021. (Translation: Sociality, collective action and collective affordances: some limitations of the concepts of intersubjectivity and collective intentionality”).
- “Augustine on the Objects of Perception: Lessons for the Contemporary Debate on Perceptual Normativity.”
- Northwest Philosophy Conference, November 2021.
- Gonzaga Philosophy Department Colloquium, November 2020.
- “Dos interpretaciones latinoamericanas pragmatistas-fenomenológicas de la subjetividad e intersubjetividad” Peruvian Workshop in Phenomenology and Hermeneutics, Lima, Perú, October 2020. (Translation: What Can Pragmatism Contribute to Phenomenology? Two Latin American Accounts of Social Phenomena).
- “The Aspectuality of Perception: A Modal-Neutral Analysis of the Notion of Aspect and Some Consequences for Direct Realisms,” Northwest Philosophy Conference, October 2019.
- “High-level properties and social identities,” Main, Brain and Behavior interdisciplinary group, Gonzaga University, October 2018.
- “Perceptual Geographies”
Caribbean Philosophical Association, New York, June 2017 - “Social Identities and Other Minds.”
Phenomenology Roundtable, San Jose, CA. San José State University, June 2017 - “Our Understanding of Others Involves the Perception of High-Level Perceptual Properties”
Empathy, Direct Perception and Other Minds, University of Copenhagen, 2017 - “Expresión, intersubjetividad y mundo perceptual”
Círculo Latinoamericano de Fenomenología, Universidad Católica Argentina, Buenos Aires, 2016 - “The Concept of Position-Taking and the Pragmatic Dependence of Perception”
Husserl Circle, Dartmouth College, 2014 - “Can Culturally-Generated Perceptual Content Be Nonconceptual?”
Summer School in Phenomenology and the Philosophy of Mind, University of Copenhagen, 2012 - “Perceptual Topographies: Nonconceptuality beyond Vision and Touch”
Tennessee Philosophical Association, 2012 - “Socrates’ Alter Ego in Plato’s Hippias Major”
Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, New York, 2009 - “Socrates Dismisses, Ion Resists: Philosophical Discourse and Artistic Experience in Plato’s Ion”
Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, New York, 2008
Public Philosophy (selected)
- “Learning Who You Are: Good Hosts and Good Guests,” Dean’s Research and Creativity Forum, Gonzaga, March 2020,
- “La pregunta es ética, no legal, para Jorge Rodrigo Tovar.” In: El Tiempo (highest circulation newspaper in Colombia). https://bit.ly/2XacPN8 Op-Ed Column. 28 May, 2020.
- “Perception and Movement.” Panel participant at Creator’s Table Church “Movement and Spirituality” panel. February 2020
- “Anatomy, Cartography, Geography: Getting to Know Different Spaces”
Layers of Mapping Workshop, Tennessee State University, March 2017 - “What We See,” Digital Story for Curb Center’s Mellon Summer Institute in Digital and Public Humanities. http://bit.ly/1WRf3Lh
- “Perceptual Practices”
Finalist. 3-Minute Thesis Competition (for non-specialized public), Graduate Student Council, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 2013. http://youtu.be/f8YsOYj-YaI
Commentaries
- Comments on Jeff Johnson’s “Philosophical Argument and Storytelling,” Northwest Philosophy, 2021
- Comments on Jesse Wilson’s “Pains as Objects of Perception,” Northwest Philosophy, 2019
- Comments on Andrew Naylor’s “Theories of Personal Identity Biological Continuity vs. Brain-Realized Psychological Continuity,” Tennessee Philosophical Association, 2015
- Author-Meets-Critics session on Talia Welsh’s “The Child as Natural Phenomenologist,” Tennessee Philosophical Association, 2014
- Comments on Alex Madva’s “The Structure of Implicit Social Attitudes,” Eastern APA, 2012
GRANTS
- Reconsidering Latinidad: A Social Identity Beyond Race and Ethnicity (co-authored, NEH collaborative research grant proposal for a monograph project).
COMPETITIVE AWARDS & 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 Division), May 2009
- Philosophy Research Fellowship, Binghamton University, Philosophy Dept., 2008, 2009
- University Fellowship, Binghamton University, Philosophy Department, 2006-2010
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Instructor
Gonzaga University (2018-present)
- Reasoning
- Ethics
- Philosophy of Human Nature
Tennessee State University (2016-2018)
- Introduction to the Philosophy of Race, Gender, and Class
- Introduction to Philosophy
Vanderbilt University (2010-2016)
- Introduction to Philosophy (focus on epistemology) (writing-intensive)
- Introduction to Philosophy (focus on perception) (writing-intensive)
- General Logic
- Philosophy of mind (TA)
Binghamton University (2006-2010)
- Introduction to Philosophy
- Environmental Ethics and Policy (online)
- Descartes, Hume, and Kant (TA)
Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería, Humanities, Bogotá, Colombia, 2002-2006
- Lecturer, 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
- Ignatian Colleagues Formation Program, Fall 2020-Spring 2021
Gonzaga Office Of Mission and Ministry.
- DiversityEdu: Personal Skills for a Diverse Campus, Fall 2020.
Gonzaga University Office of Diversity Equity & Inclusion
- 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
- German (intermediate)
- French (intermediate)
- Latin (basic reading skills)
- English (near native)
- Spanish (native speaker)
PROFESSIONAL LEADERSHIP & SERVICE
- Organizer, New Perspectives in the Ontology of Social Identities Workshop, Co-organizer, June 2022
- Inclusive Excellence Leadership Academy Instructor. Gonzaga, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. February-March 2022
- Book Reviews coordinator at the Latin American Phenomenology Circle
- Faculty Development Subcommittee and Steering Committee for Critical Race and Ethnic Studies 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
- Senator (Philosophy-SPEL Graduate Student Organization) to Graduate Student Council, Binghamton University, 2007-2008
REFEREE SERVICE
- Synthese
- Topoi
- Consciousness and Cognition
- Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences
- Adaptive Behavior
- Palgrave Macmillan
- Lexington Books
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- Husserl Circle
- Latin American Phenomenology Circle
- International Social Ontology Society
- Caribbean Philosophical Association
REFERENCES
Dr. José Medina
Walter Dill Scott Professor of Philosophy
Department of Philosophy
Northwestern University
Telephone: 847-467-7536
(Previously at Vanderbilt, Advisor/Chair of Dissertation Committee)
Email: jose.medina@northwestern.edu
Dr. Lisa Guenther
Professor and Queen’s National Scholar in Political Philosophy and Critical Prison Studies
Department of Philosophy
Queen’s University
(Previously at Vanderbilt, Member of Dissertation Committee)
Email: lisa.guenther@queensu.ca
Dr. Maria Howard
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Gonzaga University
Telephone: 509-313-4724
Dr. Shaun Gallagher
Lillian and Morrie Moss Chair of Excellence in Philosophy
Department of Philosophy
University of Memphis
Telephone: 901-678-3357
Email: s.gallagher@memphis.edu
Dr. Joel Dark
Assistant Dean, College of Liberal Arts
Tennessee State University
Telephone: 615-963-5516
Email: jdark@tnstate.edu