Student, Professor Take Research Findings to Israel
Franklin & Marshall Professor of Philosophy Bennett Helm (left) and Dan Kaplan ’12 traveled to the Psycho-Ontology Conference in Israel in December to present a paper titled "Objectivity, Rule Following, and Joint Commitment."
By Amy Blakemore ’13
Last spring, Franklin & Marshall College Professor of Philosophy Bennett Helm and Dan Kaplan ’12 explored emotions through a metaphysical lens. In December, they took the results of that research all the way to Israel.
The pair spent five days at the Psycho-Ontology Conference at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, presenting a paper they co-authored, “Objectivity, Rule Following, and Joint Commitment.” Their work was a criticism of philosopher John Haugeland’s account of truth and objectivity. It was funded by the Hackman Summer Scholars Program, which provides stipends for faculty-mentored research projects. Helm and Kaplan joined a distinguished list of presenters at the conference, including renowned cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, the 2010 Mueller Fellow at F&M.
“The popular understanding of emotions is that they’re irrational or that they need to be suppressed for a clear-headed view, but valuing truth can only be understood in terms of understanding the emotions,” Helm said.
Elaborating on these ideas was a challenge, Helm and Kaplan said. Luckily, their personal research overlapped—quite personally: Haugeland, their philosopher of interest, was Helm’s dissertation adviser, while Kaplan had a keen interest in the work of Haugeland’s colleague, John McDowell. By reading these philosophers into one another, Helm and Kaplan found new connections that enriched their research. Along the way, Kaplan developed sound advice for any Franklin & Marshall student working on a long-term project: “Start writing early and often.”
While in Israel, aside from getting to know myriad philosophers and psychologists, Helm and Kaplan took a handful of trips that submerged them in the culture. They experienced a variety of cultures in the Old City, which includes Jewish, Armenian, Muslim and Christian influences. The Dead Sea, on the other hand, was a bit more difficult to submerge oneself in. The sheer amount of salt in the sea promotes extreme buoyancy, so Helm and Kaplan had to work to go underwater. Accompanied by a band of other scholars from the conference, they waded in and covered themselves in the mud just under the sea’s surface.
Kaplan and Helm said their trip is a prime example of the distinctive collaborative research opportunities available to F&M students. Helm urges all students to follow up on their curiosity and engage their professors. The results, he said, can be incredibly rewarding.
“It’s special to identify students like Dan, grab them, and do work,” Helm said.
