By: Katie Coseo
Published: January 8, 2009
Robinson Honors Scholar Lorraine Ogan won first place in the Outstanding Undergraduate Philosophy Paper in a Two Year College and presented it in Daytona at the Florida Philosophical Association’s annual conference.
Ogan’s paper was an argumentative essay concerning whether an argument can come from just using a visual aid, like a photograph.
“I argued that you can have an argument from a visual piece,” Ogan said.
She explained that certain political ads and “feed the hungry” campaigns can convince people for support by just showing photos to get a message across to an audience.
Philosophy teacher Dr. David Strand said that Ogan was inspired to write the paper after she sent a series of e-mails disagreeing with the class’s text book author who argued that visual aids were not useful in making argumentative points. Ogan, who has taken several photography and graphic design classes at PJC, decided to turn her argument into a class essay assignment.
“The paper was excellent, and I talked to her about submitting it to the Florida Philosophical Association’s annual conference. I made suggestions for improvement, and gave her additional readings that she skillfully included in her paper in order to respond to some potential objections to her argument,” Strand said.
After some improvement, Ogan submitted her paper and won. As she presented the paper as the conference, a room full of scholars, many with doctorates in Philosophy, listened.
“There were a lot of scholars,” she said. “When I had to present it was really intimidating.”
Ogan used a PowerPoint for her presentation, in contrast to other presenters who simply read their papers.
“No one said philosophy had to be boring,” Ogan said.
Strand, who accompanied Ogan to the conference, gave a final grade for her performance.
“She had a clear command of her paper, and presented it with poise and confidence,” he said.
For 15 minutes, Ogan was questioned on the topic but she was able to answer all them confidently. Many of the professors came up to talk with her individually after her presentation, congratulating her and encouraging her to continue with her studies.
Ogan’s plans originally included a graphic arts degree, but “my teacher said I thought too much.” After some consideration, Ogan decided to take a few courses where thinking too much about certain things was more accepted. The move has paid off. She recently was accepted to the University of Florida to continue her studies in philosophy and hopes to have a career in communications.