Joseph Orosco

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Joseph Orosco

Philosophy Professor
School of History, Philosophy & Religion

Milam Hall 317
2520 SW Campus Way
Corvallis, OR 97331
United States

Research/Career Interests

Background

Dr. Orosco joined the OSU Faculty in fall 2001. He received his Ph.D and M.A in Philosophy from the University of California, Riverside, and his B.A in philosophy from Reed College in Portland, Oregon.  His primary area of interest is in social and political philosophy, particularly democratic theory and global justice. He teaches classes in American Philosophy and Latino/a and Latin American thought, with an emphasis on Mexican culture, history, and immigration to the United States.

Orosco is director of the Peace Studies program and teaches about issues of peace and nonviolence. Students can receive a Peace Studies certificate through the program.

Orosco has written on the political theory of various figures, including Josiah Royce, Jane Addams, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Cesar Chavez. In 2008, his first book, “Cesar Chavez and the Common Sense of Nonviolence,” was published by University of New Mexico Press.

He serves as a faculty advisor to MEChA and the Centro Cultural Cesar Chavez and is a founding member of the OSU Faculty and Staff for Peace and Justice.  For several years, he produced Engage: Conversations in Philosophy, the podcast program of global culture, engaged philosophy, and transformative concepts.  He is currently the co-editor of the Journal for Philosophy in the Contemporary World, and serves on the editorial boards of the Transactions of the Charles Pierce Society, the Inter-American Journal of Philosophy, and the Review Journal of Political Philosophy.

He has been a guest on National Public Radio’s “Philosophy Talk” and is a frequent speaker on issues of peace, nonviolence and the life of Cesar Chavez at venues around the country.

When he's not doing philosophy, he enjoys travel, listening to Afro-Cuban music, practicing West African drumming, and salsa dancing.

Select Publications

Cesar Chavez and the Common Sense of Nonviolence
University of New Mexico Press, 2008
Cesar Chavez and the Common Sense of Nonviolence
   

 

Journal Articles and Chapters

  • Frontiers of Democracy: Domingo Sarmiento and Josiah Royce on the Geography of Self-governing Communities.  The Pluralist, Vol. 6, No. 3, Fall 2011
  • Jose Vasconcelos, White Supremacy, and the Silence of American Pragmatism.  Inter-American Journal of Philosophy Vol. 2., Issue 2 (December 2011) 
  • Defending the Great Community: Royce's Concept of Humanitarian Intervention.  Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society.  Vol. 46, No. 2, Four Pieces on Josiah Royce's Logic: Scott L. Pratt, Guest Editor, Peter H. Hare, Organizer (Spring 2011), pp. 266-281

You can find out more about his work on his Academia webpage.    He is also the co-director of the Anarres Project for Alternative Futures.

Dr. Orosco was also recently featured in a short video by The Concerned Philosophers for Peace entitled 'Peace and Public Life' which you can watch below:

Courses Taught

PHL 150 Great Ideas in Philosophy

PHL 316 Intellectual Issues of Mexico and Mexican Americans