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Dianoia: The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Boston College

Spring 2019
Dear Reader, 

With immense pleasure and honor, I have the opportunity to present to you, once 
again, the culmination of rigorous scholarship, collaboration, and generosity. Issue VI 
of Dianoia: The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Boston College represents, indeed, 
the world’s finest undergraduate work in philosophy. We were delighted this year to 
have received over 150 submissions from around the world, and our published articles 
and book review are the fruits of Dianoia’s collaboration with scholars from North 
America, South America, and Europe. In fact, earlier this year, we were approached by 
Cambridge Scholars Publishing (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK) to publish a review of the 
Argentine philosopher Julio Cabrera’s latest work on bioethics, Discomfort and Moral 
Impediment: The Human Situation, Radical Bioethics, and Procreation. Our graduate 
advisor, Myles Casey, has kindly offered a thought-provoking explication and review of 
Cabrera’s work. 

Our publication mandate has remained: “Dianoia publishes the world’s finest 
and most thoughtful, original, and creative papers on any philosophical topic or 
idea.” The papers in our current issue accordingly present thoughtful and original 
philosophical work that engages with some of philosophy’s most revered fields of 
scholarship, including hermeneutics, phenomenology, philosophical anthropology, 
the philosophy of politics, as well as film theory, critical theory, and the philosophy 
of communication. In many ways, our selections this year represent our editorial 
staff’s training in a robust and dynamic department of philosophy, which has 
uniquely provided us with, among other things, world-class training in contemporary 
continental philosophy. I am certain that such training will continue to influence our 
annual review and will continue to keep us firmly in our position as a top journal of 
undergraduate work in philosophy. 

In many ways, the design of our front and back covers represents the ubiquity of 
the philosophical dialogue that Dianoia—and the journal’s name further suggests 
this—proudly features. The dialogue—such as that occurring on our front and back 
covers—transcends physical borders and enables, as it does in Cézanne’s work, its 
interlocutors to share a drink and a game of cards over philosophy. As you will see, our 
own choice of cover design, inspired by this issue’s piece on Roland Barthes, Maurice 
Merleau-Ponty, and Paul Cézanne, is already a manifestation of such a dialogical act. 
It is with bittersweet sentiments that I conclude my letter this year, as I will be 
stepping down from my post as Editor-in-Chief to focus on my graduate studies 
here at Boston College. Before I close, however, I would like to express my sincerest 
gratitude to those who have supported me during my editorial tenure. First and 
foremost, I would like to thank all Dianoia editors, past and present, whose 

6Issue VI ◆ Spring 2019

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7Issue VI ◆ Spring 2019

 

philosophical expertise and keen eye have made the journal what it is today. My 
colleagues (and, above all, friends), Noah Valdez, Weitao Liu, and Ethan Yates, in 
Dianoia’s ‘upper-level management,’ as we call it, deserve my heartfelt thanks. I 
am greatly indebted to our faculty advisor, Fr. Ron Tacelli, for his generous words 
of encouragement and generous supply of dinner and snacks during our late-night 
editorial sessions. I thank the Boston College philosophy department and the Institute 
for the Liberal Arts, directed by Dr. Mary Crane, for the support, both in-kind and 
financial. Paula Perry, of the Boston College philosophy department, deserves a word 
of sincere thanks for her advocacy, support, expertise, and graciousness. I thank, also, 
Gregory Kacergis, of Boston College’s Media Technology Services for turning our 
philosophical review into a work of art—his patience, and above all, his friendship, 
does not go unnoticed. And, at this point, as I officially complete my undergraduate 
studies at Boston College, I would like to thank publicly my family, as well as those 
friends, colleagues, and supporters who have made this and many other endeavors 
possible. 

Happy reading! 
 
Sincerely,

 

Peter Klapes
Editor-in-Chief