Splash Biography



NATHANAEL DERANEY, Yale 2013: Philosophy and Computer Science



Major: Philosophy and CompSci (double)

College/Employer: just graduated

Year of Graduation: 2013

Picture of Nathanael Deraney

Brief Biographical Sketch:

Studied Philosophy and Computer Science (as double major) at Yale, focusing on political philosophy and on graphics. Spent my eight gap years working on campaigns and on game programming and graphics; at Yale I was active in the Political Union and Model Congress and was a staff writer for Broad Recognition, Yale's online feminist magazine.
I will be continuing on to graduate school for my PhD in philosophy, aiming to teach at the college level.



Past Classes

  (Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

F500: Political Philosophy: Rights, Resources, Identity, Oppresson in Splash Summer 13 (Jul. 06 - 27, 2013)
An introduction to political philosophy. If you want to discuss how people actually vote, take a political science course; if you want to discuss how people should vote--indeed, how people should think politically, take this course. We will consider rights and their place, how resources ought to be distributed, and how identity categories (and intersecting oppression based upon them) play into the mix. At the least we will talk about classical liberalism and conservatism, social liberalism, the Marxist tradition, second and third wave feminism, anti-racism, and LGBTQ liberation.


M168: Computer Graphics in Splash Fall 12 (Oct. 20, 2012)
Want to know how Star Trek, Titanic, Call of Duty, and Mass Effect do their graphics? Introduction to computer graphics. Pixels, lines, polygons, curves. Examples of computer graphics in movies and games. Short tutorial in creating 2D and 3D graphics using popular software.


H170: Ethics - Theories of the Right and the Good in Splash Fall 12 (Oct. 20, 2012)
What is right? What is good? What actions should we take or not take? Overview of major ethical theories (consequentialism, deontology, virtue theory), and unified theories of right and good like Utilitarianism.


H47: American Party Systems in Splash Fall 11 (Oct. 22, 2011)
An overview of the transformations in American politics--Federalists and Republicans, Democrats and Whigs...all the way to today's Democrats and Republicans.