Jim Stockton is a lecturer of philosophy at Boise State University, and is a member of the Foundational Studies Program faculty. He teaches a wide variety of courses including medieval philosophy, aesthetics, Eastern philosophy, and inter-disciplinary courses on philosophy, literature, and film. He received his M.A. in philosophy from the University of Nevada Reno, and an M.A. in English from Boise State University. 

Riley Caldwell-O’Keefe teaches introduction to theatre, theatre history, and upper-division special topics courses for the Department of Theatre Arts and the Gender Studies program at Boise State.  Caldwell-O’Keefe is working with the Boise State Foundational Studies Program and co-teaching a UF100 course titled, “Genius.”  She has received grant and fellowship funding, had her work featured in a number of publications, and presented at multiple professional conferences. She is also working on an LGBTQI oral history project which will be available through Boise State’s Albertsons Library Special Collections. Her areas of interest include United States military performance and national identity as well as gender, ethnic, and LGBTQ studies.

Jim Stockton

Riley Caldwell-O’Keefe

Why does the recognition of genius matter? Are there patterns to the people and moments where genius is most evident?  In this podcast, as well as in their upcoming Foundational Studies Program course, Jim Stockton and Riley Caldwell-O’Keefe tackle these questions and others like them.  Challenging students to investigate genius and formulate opinions about what they find intellectually compelling can provide key building blocks for the entire learning process. Listen to the podcast and learn more about the Rationalist viewpoint of genius as a non-physical, supernatural entity, as well as the opposing philosophy espoused by the Empiricists, who look at genius as a heightened manifestation of the human physical senses.

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Dr. Stewart Gardner is a special lecturer in Political Science at Boise State University, where he teaches courses in political philosophy, constitutional law, and American government. He currently is working on a book on English philosopher John Locke, the founder of modern liberal government.

Stewart Gardner

Is there a right way to be a person? Does the quality of our community somehow depend on whether people live that way? In this podcast, Dr. Gardner invites you to join in the exercise of cracking open such questions. This examination also represents the core of the Foundational Studies Program course that he will teach with Scott Yenor this fall. Socrates taught a science that gave life meaning through intense questioning, including self-questioning. Athens killed Socrates for his science. That old philosophy has been replaced by a modern science that puts the forces of nature to work for society. Among other things, this has radically changed the relationship between each individual and the community. One belief is that if individuals focus on their private lives and pursuits, the community will prosper and thrive. But others questions whether this philosophy can really replace searching together for the meaning of life?

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Dr. Rick Moore is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Boise State University. He teaches courses in mass media analysis and criticism, and his research investigates how media reflect, shape and challenge the dominant ideologies of the cultures in which they operate. Much of his recent publication has been related to how the media interact with religion. Dr. Moore has published articles in a number of periodicals, including The Journal of Communication, The Journal of Media and Religion, Mass Media and Society, and Journalism Studies. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon.

Rick Moore

In the 18th and 19th centuries, something rather fascinating occurred. The part of the world we typically call “the West” suddenly showed tremendous growth in population, change in technology, and production of wealth. In this podcast, Dr. Moore discusses this phenomenon, which is the focus of a Foundational Studies course he will teach this fall with Dr. Shelton Woods from the Department of History. The tremendous leap that the West took into what we think of as “modernity” is very puzzling. Why did the West achieve this amazing level of change so quickly, when the East did not? What factors might be considered as the most important causes of this phenomenon? And now the pendulum is swinging the other way. In recent years, a handful of countries in Asia have seen tremendous vitality. Some observers believe that these countries soon will surpass the West in regard to economic and political power. What are the causes of this subsequent occurrence? The examination of these questions undertaken in this podcast (and in the Foundational Studies Program course) will be intriguing to those who enjoy the study of history, geography, technology, political science, communication, and other disciplines.

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