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Philosophy Research Opportunities at Worcester State

Collaborating with your professors on research projects will reinforce classroom learning and expose you to best research practices. You’ll have the opportunity to join in faculty-led undergraduate research on a wide range of topics.

Biology Research Presentations
The Ethics of Immigration
My question regarding the ethics of immigration is rooted in my participation in the Student Clinic for Immigrant Justice, a pilot clinic at Worcester State University. After being trained extensively on immigration law and then working with an attorney on asylum cases, I became interested in the issues of who is allowed access into the United States and on what grounds.
Faculty Advisor: Frank Boardman, Ph.D.
Precisionism: A Brief History and Comparative Application of Kant’s and Collingwood’s Aesthetic Philosophies
This paper considers the early 20th-century artistic movement of Precisionism through the sharply differing aesthetic theories of Immanuel Kant and R.G. Collingwood. It argues that the movement was consistent with Kant’s theory, while the application of Collingwood’s “The Principles of Art” points to the movement’s flaws and perhaps a reason for its end.
Faculty Advisor: Henry C. Theriault
Philosophical Approaches to Language Use by Bilingual Students
This paper applies key philosophical concepts of language use from phenomenology and post-modernism, especially Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s “Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature”, to the experiences of bilingual students at the Worcester State University Writing Center.
Faculty Advisor: Henry C. Theriault
Election 2016: Philosophical, Economic, and Political Approaches to the Complexities Beneath the Surface
Katie Commerford considers the Electoral College’s fairness and explores alternatives; Karen Huu argues that journalists valuing traditional political rhetoric failed to appreciate candidate Trump’s communicative effectiveness; and Nicholas Wurst analyzes the election as a reflection of broader forces in liberal capitalist societies, where competing candidates actually reinforce the same core agenda.
Faculty Advisor: Henry C. Theriault
Phenomenologies of Religious Beliefs
This paper examines religion through the phenomenological frameworks of Edith Stein, Franz von Brentano, and Martin Heidegger. It argues that, contrary to usual claims that empiricist-tending philosophies such as phenomenology cannot be applied to the content of religious beliefs, the work of these three philosophers offers important insights into key religious notions.
Faculty Advisor: Henry C. Theriault
Exploring and Defining Black Identity in America Today
Through phenomenological and existentialist philosophical concepts, especially from black existentialism, this paper takes up the question of whether it is possible to identify a defining essence of black identity in the United States. The paper argues that any black identity has external determinants that undercut claims of an essence, and develops a concept of black identity that fits within this complex framework.
Faculty Advisor: Henry C. Theriault
Inhibition of Nuance in a “Fast-Food Facts” World
This paper uses phenomenological philosophical analysis to analyze the effects of over-provision and overconsumption of information in a digital world on cognitive processes. It argues that increased information has counterintuitively driven a narrowing of thought into simplistic dichotomies that do not support the subtle arguments necessary to proper understanding of complex contemporary issues.
Faculty Advisor: Henry C. Theriault
The Philosophy of Art – Final Creative Projects as Illustrations of Aesthetic and Creativity Theories
The students in this course studied various historical and contemporary aesthetic and creativity theories. Their final project was to produce original creative projects that illustrated elements of the theoretical work they studied. The products of their work along with statements about them and explanations of the geneses of their projects will be displayed, along with students available for further discussion.
Faculty Advisor: Henry C. Theriault

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