Daisy Cisneros is pursuing a bachelors degree in University Studies- Society, Ethics, & Law along with minors in philosophy and human resource development. Her philosophical fields of interest include ethics, epistemology, and science. Daisy describes making the Dean’s List to be her favorite academic accomplishment throughout her time at A&M. She is currently President of another organization on campus, Gamma Phi Omega International Sorority, Inc. For the near future, Daisy plans to continue on to graduate school and eventually start a career in the field of human resources.

Joshua Legg is majoring in Society, Ethics, and Law and minoring in philosophy and military studies. Joshua’s area of philosophical interest includes epistemology, axiology, ethics, and human rights. In addition to working as an editor for Aletheia, Joshua has previously worked as an intern for U.S. Congressman John Carter of the Texas 31st district. Joshua has also spent multiple years interning for Cofty Law PC. He plans to attend law school upon completion of his undergrad degree and hopes to concentrate in constitutional and libel law.

Daniel Lightsey is a junior philosophy and physics double major from Leander, Texas. His philosophical interests include philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion, philosophy of science, free will, and philosophical questions on the meaning and purpose in and of life. He is a recipient of the Phillip and Doris Moses Ranch Fund and the Crawford and Hattie Jackson Foundation Scholarship in Science for his academic success in college. In his free time, he likes to play board games with his friends and fiancée, cook, and read. Once he has graduated from Texas A&M, Daniel plans on going to graduate school and getting a PhD in philosophy and hopes to teach and influence the lives of his students.

Savannah Benson-China is a Society, Ethics, and Law major with a double minor in philosophy and military studies from Mannheim, Germany. She is interested in political philosophy, social philosophy, and medical ethics. Savannah is a sophomore in the Corps of Cadets and a member of the Corps Women's Basketball Team. She is also a member of Pre-Law Society and First Generation Aggies. Upon graduation, Savannah plans to commission as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.

Haley is a senior Society, Ethics, & Law major from Bastrop, Texas. She is primarily interested in environmental philosophy, ethical theory, and philosophy of religion. Haley is also Awareness Coordinator of Muster as well as a member of the women’s organization Ryllies. After graduation, she plans to attend The Bush School of Government & Public Service for the ultimate goal of public service.

Patrick “Henry” Featherston from San Antonio, Texas recently graduated summa cum laude with a double major in philosophy and history. While pursuing his education at Texas A&M, Henry served as a judicial advocate for the Student Government Association’s judicial court, participated in the Public Policy Internship Program in Washington, D.C., was a member of Young American for Freedom, and was appointed to Board of Directors for Keep Brazos Beautiful. Henry’s philosophical interests focus primarily on western political philosophy and philosophy of law. Henry has happily accepted the opportunity to join Representative Steve Toth’s office as a Policy Analyst for the 87th Legislative Session. He is excited to serve the people of House District 15 while working firsthand with public policy as he goes on to law school in the Fall.

Simon Holmes is a senior communication and philosophy major from Houston, TX. He enjoys studying political philosophy and philosophy of mind, with a focus in consciousness and seeking to better understand how the immaterial mind meets the material world. He is also passionate about education and learning more about our education system and its history from a cultural and societal perspective, as a way to better improve it for generations to come. He has served in the Memorial Student Center Freshmen in Service and Hosting committee (MSC FISH) as an Assistant Director and Executive Director as well as a two-year counselor and later Co-Chair for Texas A&M’s extended orientation program, Fish Camp, which helped transition over 3,000 new students to college each year. After completing his undergraduate degree, Simon will be continuing his education at Duke University where he will obtain his Master of Science in Management. One day he hopes to work in the Consulting or Marketing field, helping companies’ visions come to life.

Philippe-Alexis Young Melody is a fourth-year philosophy major and political science minor at George Washington University. He is from northern Virginia, and his fields of philosophical interest include political theory, Confucianism, philosophy of religion, medieval philosophy, and applied ethics. He would like to pursue a graduate degree in East Asian studies and enter academia.

Mia is a fourth-year student at the George Washington University studying Philosophy with a Public Affairs focus and minoring in Sustainability and German. She is also a part of Phi Sigma Tau, the international Philosophy honor society. She is most interested in applied ethics as well as the philosophy of race and gender. Mia currently serves as Head Peer Educator at GW Students Against Sexual Assault, where she trains a team of peer educators to give workshops on sexual violence prevention and response to other student organizations on campus. Upon graduating in the Spring of 2021, she hopes to continue her work in this field and expand her horizons to gain experience educating others about reproductive health.

Trevor Woodward is a third-year philosophy major at the University of Idaho. His philosophical interests are often in flux, but currently include the philosophy of language, metaphysics, and metaethics. He attended the 2020 Philosophy, Politics & Economics Society annual meeting in New Orleans as a moderator and received the University of Idaho’s “Logic Award” for his work in symbolic logic in 2020. Trevor is a jazz drummer and enjoys listening to and performing music as a hobby. He hopes to attend graduate school in philosophy.

Julian Perilla is an international student from Bogotá, Colombia, and a junior at New York University, majoring in philosophy with a minor in Latin and Ancient Greek. His main interests lie in moral and political philosophy, particularly in normative ethics. He is a Presidential Honors Scholar at NYU’s College of Arts and Science and has been the recipient of several scholarships, such as NYU’s Global Pathways Scholarship and the Herman Berkman Undergraduate Research Scholarship. His current research focuses on Nietzsche’s ethics and metaethics, particularly on Nietzschean constitutivism, while his previous research has ranged from Platonic philosophy to Dante’s Commedia. After graduation, he hopes to attend graduate school in order to continue his path in academic philosophy.

Arundhati Singh is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying Comparative Literature and Philosophy.

On Plato’s Cognitive Powers and Theory of the Soul Julian Perilla, New York University

To this day, much has been discussed and written on Plato’s notions of knowledge and opinion, yet, unfortunately, just as much has been neglected about his notion of ignorance. As difficult as it may be to attempt to understand the latter, I believe it to be a task worthy of our efforts. In this paper, therefore, I revisit Plato’s argument in Republic V about the nature of these three cognitive powers, with a specific focus on the power of ignorance. In doing so, I offer a particular reading of the argument by presenting the correspondence between Plato’s three cognitive powers and his three parts of the soul. First, I evaluate such correspondence at a general level through Socrates’ characterization of each individual part of the soul and their corresponding part of the city. Subsequently, I reflect on how this correspondence should allow us to further understand Plato’s notions of knowledge, opinion, and ignorance. I shall also show how this reading resolves much of the problems faced when attempting to understand his overall notion of a cognitive power. Finally, I conclude with some brief considerations on how this proposed reading of Plato may also shed light on the relationship between his cognitive powers and his theory of virtue developed throughout the Republic.

So often when we speak about knowledge, we find ourselves in need of mentioning ignorance as well. It is not surprising, then, that Plato falls victim to this same need when writing about the difference between knowledge and opinion in Republic V. Starting at 475d, Socrates and Glaucon begin a discussion on the distinguishing factor between “true philosophers” and mere “lovers of sights and sounds.” This discussion ultimately leads to Plato’s argument about the nature of three, not two, cognitive powers: knowledge (epistēmē), opinion (doxa), and ignorance (agnōsia). Granted, ignorance is clearly not the main concern at the moment, nor is it ever throughout the rest of the Republic. However, the fundamental role it plays in the argument and, most importantly, the problems it poses suggest that to simply overlook the matter would be a mistake. Consequently, I have attempted a closer consideration of Plato’s power of ignorance and its relationship to the rest of cognitive powers in hope of it shedding light on much more central topics of the Platonic corpus. In this paper, I will offer a possible way of further understanding Plato’s three cognitive powers—with a specific focus on ignorance—through the Platonic tripartite division of the soul by evaluating the possible correspondence between each of the abilities set forward in Book V and each part of the human soul established throughout the preceding sections of the Republic.