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

AOS: Philosophy of perception, Latin American and Latinx Philosophy, Social epistemology            

AOC: Philosophy of race and ethnicity, ethics, social and political 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

  1. Arango, A. and Howard, M. (2021) Re-Envisioning the Philosophy Classroom Through Metaphors. Teaching Philosophy, 44(2): 121-144.
  2. Arango, A. (2019). From Sensorimotor Dependencies to Perceptual Practices: Making Enactivism Social. Adaptive Behavior, 27(1): 31–45. Special Issue: 4E cognition research in Colombia. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059712318811897
    1. Arango, Alejandro. (2019). Social Enactivism about Perception—Reply to McGann. Adaptive Behavior, 27(2): 161–162. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059712319835162.
  3. Arango, A. (2019) “Expresión, intersubjetividad y mundo perceptual.” Acta fenomenológica latinoamericana: Vol. VI: 279–293.
  4. 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
  5. Arango, A. (2015). “Moral Clumsiness.” Think 14(40): 93–99. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1477175615000019
  6. 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
  7. 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). Under review at Journal of Social Philosophy.
  • “The two-way road between high-level perception and direct social perception.” Under review at Philosophical Psychology.
  • “Ignorance and The Ethical Obligations of Behavior Analysts Regarding Cultural Diversity.” Under revision. Revised and resubmitted at Behavior Analysis in Practice. (With Nicole Lustig, previously at Gonzaga, Special Education).

Work In-Progress

  • “Neither Race nor Ethnicity: Latinidad as a Social Affordance” (With Adam Burgos, Bucknell University). In development also as book manuscript and NEH collaborative grant research proposal.
  • “More than Intersubjectivity: Jorge Mañach and Jorge Portilla on Sociality”
  • “Ethical selves as guests and hosts: non-indifference, moral orientation, and systemic racism.”
  • “The (Lack of) Normative Import of Distinct-Indistinct Perceptions Across The Senses” (co-authored.)
  • “Animate motion, human movement, and Siegel’s hijacked perceptions”
  • “A Humanities Postdoc: A Chance to Catch Up With Teaching Training?”
  • “From Action to Practices: A Social Theory of Perception”, book manuscript. 
  • “Augustine on the Objects of Perception.”

PRESENTATIONS

(Selected)

  1. “Neither Race nor Ethnicity: Latinidad as a Social Affordance” (with Adam Burgos).
    1. Northwest Philosophy Conference, November 2021.
    1. Social Ontology Conference, August 2021.
    1. Gonzaga Philosophy Department Colloquium, April 2021.
  2. “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”).
  3. “Augustine on the Objects of Perception: Lessons for the Contemporary Debate on Perceptual Normativity.”
    1. Northwest Philosophy Conference, November 2021.
    1. Gonzaga Philosophy Department Colloquium, November 2020.
  4. “Dos interpretaciones latinoamericanas pragmatistas-fenomenológicas de la subjetividad e intersubjetividad” Peruvian Workshop in Phenomenology and Hermeneutics, Lima, Perú, October 2020. (Translation: Two Latin American Accounts of Social Phenomena Regarding Subjectivity and Intersubjectivity).
  5. “The Aspectuality of Perception: A Modal-Neutral Analysis of the Notion of Aspect and Some Consequences for Direct Realisms,” Northwest Philosophy Conference, October 2019.
  6. “High-level properties and social identities,” Main, Brain and Behavior interdisciplinary group, Gonzaga University, October 2018.
  7. “Perceptual Geographies”
    Caribbean Philosophical Association, New York, June 2017
  8. “Social Identities and Other Minds.”
    Phenomenology Roundtable, San Jose, CA. San José State University, June 2017
  9. “Our Understanding of Others Involves the Perception of High-Level Perceptual Properties”
    Empathy, Direct Perception and Other Minds, University of Copenhagen, 2017
  10. “Expresión, intersubjetividad y mundo perceptual”
    Círculo Latinoamericano de Fenomenología, Universidad Católica Argentina, Buenos Aires, 2016
  11. “The Concept of Position-Taking and the Pragmatic Dependence of Perception”
    Husserl Circle, Dartmouth College, 2014
  12. “Can Culturally-Generated Perceptual Content Be Nonconceptual?”
    Summer School in Phenomenology and the Philosophy of Mind, University of Copenhagen, 2012
  13. “Perceptual Topographies: Nonconceptuality beyond Vision and Touch”
    Tennessee Philosophical Association, 2012
  14. “Socrates’ Alter Ego in Plato’s Hippias Major”
    Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, New York, 2009
  15. “Socrates Dismisses, Ion Resists: Philosophical Discourse and Artistic Experience in Plato’s Ion”
          Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, New York, 2008

Public Philosophy (selected)

  1. “Learning Who You Are: Good Hosts and Good Guests,” Dean’s Research and Creativity Forum, Gonzaga University, March 2020,
  2. “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.
  3. “Perception and Movement.” Panel participant at Creator’s Table Church “Movement and Spirituality” panel. February 2020
  4. “Anatomy, Cartography, Geography: Getting to Know Different Spaces”
    Layers of Mapping Workshop, Tennessee State University, March 2017
  5. “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

Commentaries

  1. Comments on Jeff Johnson’s “Philosophical Argument and Storytelling,” Northwest Philosophy, 2021
  2. Comments on Jesse Wilson’s “Pains as Objects of Perception,” Northwest Philosophy, 2019
  3. Comments on Andrew Naylor’s “Theories of Personal Identity Biological Continuity vs. Brain-Realized Psychological Continuity,” Tennessee Philosophical Association, 2015
  4. Author-Meets-Critics session on Talia Welsh’s “The Child as Natural Phenomenologist,” Tennessee Philosophical Association, 2014     
  5. Comments on Alex Madva’s “The Structure of Implicit Social Attitudes,” Eastern APA, 2012

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 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

Office Of Mission and Ministry, Gonzaga University

  • DiversityEdu: Personal Skills for a Diverse Campus, Fall 2020.

Office of Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Gonzaga University

  • 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 & SERVICE

  • Inclusive Excellence Leadership (IEL) Academy, Instructor. Gonzaga, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Spring 2022 (upcoming).
  • 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
  • Lexington Books (Rowman & Littlefield)

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

  1. Husserl Circle
  2. Latin American Phenomenology Circle
  3. International Social Ontology Society
  4. Caribbean Philosophical Association

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. 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