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Dianoia: The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Boston College

Spring 2020
Dear Reader, 

It is with great honor and pride that I present to you Issue VII of Dianoia: The 
Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of Boston College! This year we received more than 
140 submissions from North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia 
and Asia—testifying to Dianoia’s genuinely international appeal in attracting the 
finest undergraduate philosophical works from over sixty academic institutions. But 
before writing further about what makes this issue of Dianoia unique, I would be 
remiss if I did not first praise the tenacity and dedication of our editorial board in 
making the fruit of this year’s labor possible amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 
Publishing a journal as committed to philosophical excellence, original scholarship 
and intercontinental collaboration poses no easy task, virus aside, so it is nothing short 
of a miracle that our team managed to carry on with Issue VII while simultaneously 
adjusting to the disruptiveness of a global pandemic; if anything, it demonstrates the 
astounding resiliency of Dianoia’s editors, and the following issue speaks for itself.

This year, our journal received the privilege to publish five wonderfully insightful and 
thoughtful essays on a wide range of original topics and ideas, some of which include: 
Aristotelian virtue ethics, epistemic injustice and artificial intelligence, Sartrean 
existentialism, Arendt and environmental ethics, and Heidegger on technology and 
the work of art. In the interest of philosophically engaging with COVID-19—a feat 
still quite rare in the early days of the virus—Dianoia is pleased to present an interview 
with the Joseph Chair in Catholic Philosophy and current Chair of the Department 
of Philosophy at Boston College, Dermot Moran, speaking on the pandemic and 
its assorted effects on everyday life. As a final note, you will find on the front cover 
Nicolae Grigorescu’s Andreescu à Barbizon (1879) and on the back cover Isaac 
Whitehead’s In Milford Sound, West Coast, New Zealand (1878). When combined, 
Grigorescu and Whitehead’s masterpieces illustrate a picture of the magnificence of 
crude nature and the necessity of reconsidering the ethics of consumption—a theme 
called to mind by one of this year’s essays entitled: “Human (and) Nature: Using 
Arendt to Reconcile Models of Environmental Ethics.”

In light of all of these new developments, Dianoia’s resolve in fostering intellectual 
debate and dialogue remains preserved once more; that being said, none of these 
accomplishments would have been possible without the extensive base that comprise 
the journal’s friends, patrons and advisors. First and foremost, I would like to thank 
my executive editorial board—who I am lucky to consider as much as friends as fellow 
collaborators—Ethan Yates, Weitao Liu, Lauren White and Nicholas Arozarena, and 
our phenomenally-resourceful and dedicated Graduate Advisor, Peter Klapes, who 
helped make my transition from managing-editor to Editor-in-Chief smooth and 

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7Issue VII ◆ Spring 2020

 

worry-free. I extend a heartfelt thanks to our faculty advisor, Fr. Ronald Tacelli, S.J., 
for his steadfast support and continual encouragement from the journal’s inception 
in 2011 to its current form. We also are greatly indebted to the Boston College 
Philosophy Department—particularly the efforts of its Chair, Dermot Moran, both 
for his sagacious advice and his resounding alacrity in agreeing to an interview with 
our journal—as well as the Institute for the Liberal Arts and its Director Mary Crane, 
for their financial and legal support. Department administrators Paula Perry and 
Sarah Smith deserve a great word of thanks for their help in scheduling meeting spaces 
for the journal, and also for their essential expertise and unwavering advocacy on 
the journal’s behalf. Lastly, I would like to thank the wonderful efforts of our multi-
talented graphic designer Gregory Kacergis, without whom the present work would 
be impossible; or at least, not nearly the aesthetical masterpiece that it is today (we 
wish him all the best professionally and cannot express how much his presence will be 
missed). We also thank here the countless others whose work have made Dianoia what 
it is over the years, and you the reader, for your invaluable support and patronage of 
our journal. We wish you, your families and friends, health and safety as we continue 
the fight against COVID-19, and look forward to seeing you again in Issue VIII.

All the best and happy reading!

Sincerely, 

Noah Valdez, Editor-in-Chief