Judith Abeles

Email: ja_llm@yahoo.com

Carol Aguilar

Email: claguilar2003@yahoo.com

I fell in love with philosophy as a teenager when I discovered my most important question:  What is true?  Later my urgent questions became: Who am I?  How can I best contribute? I have pursued my questions wholeheartedly with books and friends, in nature, in family life, and through spiritual study. 

The accomplishments of which I am most proud are:  raising two wonderful children to adulthood, building my house with my own hands, hitch-hiking by myself over 5,000 miles up the coast and across the country, co-founding a Zen meditation center, and owning my own business for 25 years.       

Currently I am living in a three-generation household with my daughter and 86 year-old mother, whom I look after.  Half the week I work as a Buddhist minister teaching Zen meditation and classes in Buddhism.  I am also involved in prison ministry and peace activism.  At SDSU I hope to pursue how Zen meditation and practice can help to heal our world.  I am interested in Zazen as a learning environment for the study of the Self, and how freedom and liberation coexist with compassion and responsibility.

David Alvarado

Email: taoisticrealism@yahoo.com

David Burris

Email: dburris@rohan.sdsu.edu

I was born and raised in San Diego, California. However, I went to a small college in Iowa where I double majored with a B.S. in Biblical Studies and Intercultural Studies. And even though I do not have an undergraduate degree philosophy it has always been a passion of mine. Therefore, while doing my undergraduate studies in Theology, I founded a community Philosophy discussion group which is still going strong today. After my wife and I finished college in 2006 we moved back to San Diego and I started the M.A. in Philosophy at SDSU.

Academically, I am interested in Philosophy of Religion (particularly religious epistemology), Philosophy and Human Nature, Existentialism, and Normative Ethics. It is my goal to earn a Ph.D. in Philosophy and teach in a college or seminary, encouraging more religious people get involved with the subject.

Sean Butler

Email: sbutler@rohan.sdsu.edu

I was born and raised in Southern California and graduated from Poway High in 2000. In high school around the age of 17 I began asking deeper questions than could be explored in the sciences and turned my attention towards philosophy. I received my undergraduate degree in philosophy from Michigan State University with a specialization in Asian Studies focusing primarily on history and religious studies. I have developed a fondness for most areas of philosophy but am especially interested in Berkeley, Spinoza, and Asian philosophy. I believe that all good philosophical, scientific and religious inquiries point to the same thing and I hope to do my part in getting us closer to understanding existence. Feel free to contact me for any reason.

Luke Cuddy

Email: lcuddy@yahoo.com

I grew up in a suburb of Boston and moved to the bay area CA where I attended high school. After frequenting a couple community colleges, I moved north to get my BA in philosophy at Chico State. When I realized I didn't want to do construction work the rest of my life, I came to SDSU for more philosophy. I love traveling. I've backpacked a couple of times through Central America and Europe. My weekly hobbies are acoustic guitar, fiction writing, hiking, and video game playing (no, I'm not kidding!). My philosophical interests are Aesthetics, Eastern Philosophy, and currently I'm nurturing an interest in the philosophy of computation. For more information see my website: http://www.neo-philosophy.com/

Matthew Hebert

Originally from outside Boston, I completed my BA in philosophy in 1999 from Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, PA. After stepping away from the classroom
for a number of years, I returned to pursue my MA in 2006 and tentatively aim to complete the program in fall 2008.

My areas of interest include logic, ontology, existentialism, aesthetics, a-theology, the philosophy of biology and post-structuralism (especially in regards to women’s studies and gender theory). Additionally, I have a strong interest in film theory and colonial and 19th-century American history with an emphasis on the Civil War.

My favorite and/or influential philosophers include Nietzsche, Georges Bataille, Bertrand Russell, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Judith Butler and Kerry S.Walters.

Aside from intellectual pursuits, my hobbies include photography, seeing films, suffering existentially, sleeping, hanging out at the beach, traveling, seeing and soaking up new places when I can.

In addition to being a student, I'm also employed as an enrollment counselor for undergraduate and graduate admissions to SDSU. If you are reading this as a prospective student (for Philosophy or any other program), please do not hesitate to contact me at the email address above for more information.

Dren Ibrani

Email:drenathan@hotmail.com

Having developed an interest in human behavior from an early age, and wondered why individuals do the things they do, why the world is the way it is, I eventually received a B.A. in psychology from Sacramento State University with the aim of becoming a clinical psychologist. During my undergraduate work in psychology, I took philosophy courses, and developed an interest in metaphysics, especially the problem of the mind and of identity, principally due to my background in psychology. After receiving a B.A. in psychology and a minor in philosophy, I entered the graduate program at SDSU. Since then, my interests have changed yet again and now mainly focus on Levinas. I hope one day to teach at the college level, but I am open to various career and life changes.

Iris Jahng

Email: imjahng@gmail.com

I was born and raised in southern California , and did my undergraduate work at UCSD, where I studied philosophy and sociology. I became interested in philosophy because my college required its students to take a course on ethics and society, which most people hated, but I absolutely loved. In college, I played rugby and as a result, broke two fingers, fractured my left foot, dislocated my shoulder and tore my labrum, cracked a rib, and suffered 3 minor concussions. It hurt like hell, but I wouldn't change a thing. After being forced into retirement due to shoulder surgery and graduating college, I decided that working 40 hours a week was no fun, so I quit my job to go back to school to do something I enjoy. My areas on interest are ethics and social and political philosophy.

David Kuttruff

Email: dk777@verizon.net

I am currently back in school after having developed and built a successful business involving medical billing services and software systems for physicians.  Now I plan to do primarily what I want to do rather than what is economically expedient and practical.  I have attended seven different
undergraduate schools over the years - including CSU Humboldt, Cal Poly, and SDSU.  I plan to teach philosophy and comparative religion at the community college level after earning my MA.  A bit late in the game to go for a PhD, but who knows!?  I am particularly interested in ancient philosophy. Though certainly a novice at this point, I still find Plato more inspiring and thought-provoking than the modern philosophers that I have studied . . . but quite open and willing to be proved wrong.

Donavan Muir

Email: donavanmuir@hotmail.com

I was “thrown” (Heidegger) into a blue-collar family that moved quite frequently, so I would have to say that I’m from nowhere in particular. However, since I hold the view that someone is “from” the place where they first experienced the deep understanding of their own mortality, I would have to say that I’m from Long Beach, CA. I began studying philosophy shortly after high school in the quest to end the question (for me at least) of whether or not God exists. After coming to the conclusion that the question itself is questionable, I’ve moved on to bigger and brighter things.

Before attending SDSU, I was a student at Goldenwest Community College in Huntington Beach, CA. and Grossmont Community College here in San Diego. I hold a B.A. in Philosophy in Current Issues, a B.A. in Political Science with an emphasis in Political Theory, and a B.A. in Religious Studies with and emphasis in Religions of the Far East. All of these degrees were completed at SDSU. I’m currently nearing the completion of my Master Degree in Philosophy, and preparing my tentative thesis on “Nihilism and Nothingness.”

My philosophical interests include but are not limited to Asian Philosophy (in particular, Mahayana/Chan/Zen Buddhism and Taoism), Phenomenology, Postmodernism and Poststructuralism, Existentialism, Critical Theory of Society and Technology, and Twentieth-century Continental Philosophy. My meta-curricular activities include surfing, skateboarding, the fine arts (painting, sculpture, ceramics, calligraphy), and music.

My goals are to complete a PhD. Program, and become a Professor of Philosophy.

Salman Bashir Oskooi

Email: salmanoskooi@hotmail.com

I have a BA in Sociology from UC Santa Barbara and a teaching credential for secondary-level social studies from Cal State University, Northridge. I’ve put off teaching for a little while to pursue a graduate degree in Philosophy, which is one of my passions. My main interest in the field is the interplay between philosophy, science, and religion. I am especially fascinated with the reception accorded to Darwinism among various religions.

Leonard Pollard

Email : lenpollard@hotmail.com

I was born and raised in San Diego and due to its proximity to the beach and traditionally good weather, I spent more time at the beach and outdoors than I did at school. In turn, I ended up at Grossmont Jr. college floating between literature and history courses when I ran into a Nietzsche-loving teacher and a copy of The Gay Science. The question marks that this book raised for me began to light up a long familiar world, and an interest quickly transformed into an obsession. After transferring to SDSU, I began to study philosophy in depth and then graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Philosophy and also as a member of Phi Betta Kappa.

I have, of course, developed other interests outside of Nietzsche studies. I am also interested in Ancient Greek philosophy (for which I am learning Attic Greek), aesthetics, Hegel, and phenomenology. However, with the recent discovery of Baudrillard and Umberto Eco, I have become drawn towards post-structuralism.

Andy Sparks

Email: andysparks1@yahoo.com

I graduated from the University of Colorado in 2004. While attending university I was also a member of the US National cycling team and a resident at the United States Olympic Training Center. Now, as a bit of a retired athlete, I happily spend my time studying philosophy and working at a local winery. My philosophical interests lie in 19th century German philosophy, aesthetics, philosophy of art and existentialism. Citizenship and philosophy of education are two very important issues to me.

Tonya Warren

Email: toncha787@yahoo.com

I discovered my love of philosophy through the Martial Arts. The Korean art Soo Bahk Do derives its philosophy from Lao Tzu. After several years of training, a mentor gave me a copy of the Dao De Jing. Needless to say, it opened a whole new world to me, and I have been in love ever since.

Before coming to SDSU, I attended San Diego City, and Mesa Colleges focusing on Sociology. I changed my major to philosophy my first semester and SDSU, and earned my BA in May of 07. I am working on the Master’s degree in anticipation of being admitted to a Ph.D. program. Ultimately, I would like to become a Professor.

My academic interests are wide but include Eastern thought, especially Daoism and Buddhism. Within this emphasis I am doing comparative work, and looking at contemporary applications of Eastern philosophy. Some of my comparative work will be contrasting Buddhist doctrines with that of Existentialist thinkers such as Kierkegaard. Contemporary applications I have looked at are the effects of meditation on the brain and how that can be applied to treat maladaptive behaviors, as well as research on the philosophy of the Martial Arts. I am working on developing a course on the philosophy of the martial arts, but it will probably be a while…