Alumni network

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photo of Cameron MacKenzie
Cameron MacKenzie
BA 2011
Public Defender

Further education Law

Favorite courses at Berkeley Heidegger, Nietzsche, Later Wittgenstein

Favorite professors Hubert Dreyfus, Hans Sluga, Barry Stroud

Email cameron.jcmackenzie@gmail.com

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Todd Pitcher
BA 1992
Managing Partner, ECCO Advisors

Further education Post grad studies - UCSB and Claremont Graduate School

Favorite courses at Berkeley Philo of Mind and Language courses with Searle Epistemology courses with Stroud Heidegger / Nietzsche with Dreyfus and Matson Seminars - all of them

Favorite professors Enjoyed them all.

How has your philosophical training influenced your life and career? Priceless and foundational to the work I do on a daily basis.

Any current engagement with philosophy? Member of APA and actively engaged in attendance of philosophy, economics and political theory conferences wherever and whenever I can attend.

Email tpitcher@aspirecleantech.com

Further education MBA, MAI Designation, Appraisal Institute, Real Estate Broker's License

Favorite courses at Berkeley I enjoyed Philosophy of Religion and Politics, Ethics and Aesthetics. I developed a lifelong interest in Existentialism and the quest for issues of right and wrong, good and evil on the bedrock of random chance.

How has your philosophical training influenced your life and career? The Philosophy Program had a great deal of influence on my world views. In brief, it opened my mind to a willingness to question and to learn. It provided a measure of discipline for my curiosity. With fresh eyes, I looked at others' beliefs as well as my personal, core choices. I learned to define meaningful questions for many applications regardless of subject. I would suggest that selected classes in philosophy be a requirement for graduation. Philosophy courses became a foundation for my spiritual atheism and the exploration of chance and Existentialism as a state of nature.

Any current engagement with philosophy? My love of philosophy will be with me until I die. As a member of the Benjamin Ide Wheeler Society, I plan on supporting the Philosophy Department after my death. I continue reading and discussing philosophical issues with several book clubs. It is a pleasure and delight to share ideas with others.

Email Robmhodies@gmail.com

photo of Eric Wasiolek
Eric Wasiolek
BA 1984
Retired from Computer Industry -- Systems Engineering/Product Management

Further education Masters Thesis Computational Biology Stanford, 2008 Master of Science, Cal State East Bay, Computational Biology 2008 MBA Cal State East Bay 2011 Doctorate in Computer Science, Colorado Technical University 2018

Favorite courses at Berkeley Philosophy of Mind. I am particularly interested in the Mind/Body problem or problem of psychophysical reduction and reductionism in science in general.

Favorite professors Searle. I took Philosophy of Mind with him where he taught his book on Intentionality. Klaus Strelau, a Philosophy PhD student who became my friend and mentor.

How has your philosophical training influenced your life and career? Philosophy taught me how to think rigorously and systematically on any topic. Hence it was useful in learning and mastering computer software and hardware systems (as well as a year of Symbolic Logic). Rigorous writing skills allowed me to publish many articles in Computer Magazines.

Any current engagement with philosophy? Not formally. Continue to write my Philosophical Papers on a wide range of philosophical topics. See my website for sample writings.

Email ericwasiolek@gmail.com

Web http://www.ericwasiolek.com/Philosophy.htm

Further education BPhil in Philosophy at the University of Oxford

Favorite courses at Berkeley Modal Logic and Philosophy of Language.

Favorite professors John MacFarlane, Wesley Holliday, Seth Yalcin, and Timothy Crockett.

How has your philosophical training influenced your life and career? John Campbell once said that philosophy is thinking in slow motion. Learning how to think in slow motion helped me see the force of certain arguments, see subtle errors in them, and make clear distinctions. These skills are tremendously beneficial; they made me more charitable, able to decipher what a person is arguing or asserting, and thereby made my own views more robust and thoughtful.

Any current engagement with philosophy? I pursued a master's degree in philosophy.

photo of Yuanshan Li
Yuanshan Li
BA 2021
Philosophy PhD Student

Further education I moved to University of Notre Dame to further studying logic and philosophy of science.

Favorite professors John MacFarlane, Paolo Mancosu, Wes Holliday, Hannah Ginsborg, Michael Nylan

Email tom_lee@berkeley.edu

photo of Nicholas French
Nicholas French
PhD 2020
Assistant Editor, Jacobin magazine

Favorite courses at Berkeley Game Theory, Ethical Theories, Later Wittgenstein, Political Philosophy, Foucault

Favorite professors Barry Stroud, R. Jay Wallace, Niko Kolodny, Veronique Munoz-Darde, Lara Buchak, Hannah Ginsborg, Hans Sluga

How has your philosophical training influenced your life and career? Studying and teaching philosophy helped train me to construct and evaluate arguments carefully, and to communicate clearly and concisely. I have found these skills to be extremely useful in writing and public speaking outside of academia.

Email nick.french@berkeley.edu

photo of Sophia Dandelet
Sophia Dandelet
BA 2013 PhD 2021
Bersoff Faculty Fellow at NYU

Further education I got my B.A. at Cal, and I liked it so much that I stayed to get a Ph.D.

Favorite courses at Berkeley In no particular order: Intro to Early Modern, Heidegger, Hume, Theory of Knowledge, Ethical Theories

Favorite professors In no particular order: Barry Stroud, Hubert Dreyfus, R. Jay Wallace, John MacFarlane, Wesley Holliday

How has your philosophical training influenced your life and career? I am currently working in academic philosophy, right now as a postdoc at NYU. My philosophical training has certainly influenced my non-professional life, too, but in ways that are harder to articulate. My little brother says that it has made arguing with me much more annoying.

Email scd335@nyu.edu

Web https://sites.google.com/view/sophiadandelet/home

photo of Edward Schwartz
Edward Schwartz
BA 2017
Philosophy PhD Student

Email edward.schwartz@berkeley.edu

photo of Kena Haun
Kena Haun
BA 2020
Market Research

Further education I want more; keep getting distracted by adventures and ponies.

Favorite courses at Berkeley too many

Favorite professors too many

How has your philosophical training influenced your life and career? Oh, philosophy changed everything. I went from being valued solely for my physical labor to realizing I was capable of sound thinking that was worthy of being communicated.

Any current engagement with philosophy? Informally, lots of reading and listening to zoom lectures.

Email kenahaun@berkeley.edu

photo of Niko KOLODNY
Niko KOLODNY
PhD 2003
Professor of Philosophy

Favorite professors Hannah Ginsborg, Sam Scheffler, Barry Stroud, Jay Wallace, and Daniel Warren

Email kolodny@berkeley.edu

Web https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~ngkolodny//