Jennifer Lee Lawson

M y Writing Year In Review (2024). I graduated with my M.A. in 2023. Despite having sepsis, pneumonia, bronchitis, and being diagnosed with Stage 1 cancer in 2024, I managed to be more prolific this year than most years.  Below is my year in review, separated by what you can read for free, and the few things available for purchase. Here's what you can read for free: I started the year by writing a book review that was oh-so-controversial .  The next day or so, I proceeded to write the paper " Radical Logic ," which I first submitted to The United States Military. It is now declassified and open to everyone. I was then offered a chance to write about my true passion. I decided to write about a problem I had been working on for years: infinite cardinal numbers .  I made two arguments on transgender language. I defended them publicly and then made a  finale argument, which basically tells TERFS that they don't understand the English language . Here's what you can pay...

President-Elect (notice how I've never disputed that he won the 2024 election) Donald Trump has been frothing at the mouth in Hitlerian fashion , threatening to claim Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal.  Perhaps he knows--perhaps he doesn't--that these are war threats he is making. He seems pretty damn confident that The Department of Defense will do as he says, as if he were already--or is going to be--an absolute ruler.  Not to belabor this point, but my direct ancestral lineage, from which we get our current military, fought The American Revolutionary War so we wouldn't have an absolute ruler. Far worse than a king, Donald J. Trump is aiming to be a dictator along the lines of Vladimir Putin, who has attacked Ukraine, which The United States, along with allies, have been supporting since Day 1.  Caught in his frothy dreams, to Trump, the world may look like his oyster. He must know our military's fame; he must be confident of it. With due respect to the presiden...

  They tell you a lot of things every October during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but I thought I'd go over some of my experiences to give you the nitty gritty. First, I am young for breast cancer, so I will get genetic counseling. There's a possibility I have Ashkenazi Jew ancestry, which may or may or increase my risk of cancer. At any rate (don't panic, family!), I'll get genetic counseling and let my genetic relatives know the results. I strongly encourage everyone to tell health risks to genetic relatives, even if you hate each other. I am a huge believer in sexual health. I go to my gynecologist every year, at least, for a Well Woman Exam. That's how my cancer was caught early.  The support I received is what they don't tell you. I got absolute stellar care, which I am still getting. I cannot even convey to you the amount of expertise coupled with outstanding bedside manner.  In the photo above, I just got out of the shower. I'm dressed; don't wo...

Trump has picked so many Floridians for top positions, several of them well-known in the state. Here's some of the latest picks. Dan Newlin is a personal injury lawyer and former police officer. Florida has turned from a swing state to a fascist red state. This year, laws came out willy-nilly. I checked every day to see what the next baseless law was. It happened slowly. I fought, peacefully, against it the whole time. But what do you do when a so-called representative ignores you cordial letter, sends you a boilerplate reply, and does what they were going to do, anyway? We have a state militia now.  Many of us--Latinx, LGBTQIA, women--have advocated this whole time. Some on the left, unfortunately, became just as radicalized as the right.   I have been a lawful activist since high school. People know me. They love me, they hate me.  But here's how Florida got to the top: Elected officials flouted democracy once in office. They acted as though they were not represent...

My dad was in the the military during the Korean Conflict. Today, he would be known as a Green Beret . Below is a coffee cup I thought I had lost that he bought for me me when I was 8 years old. I infrequently get manic and give away stuff that I actually love. You can visit my dad's memorial online  here . Veteran's Affairs has thoughtfully put his grave online, which is nice because I don't have to go all the way to Texas to put a daisy wreath on his grave. I've put some weird stuff on it, but I've also put some really great stories on it.  Everyone who knew him has different stories to tell--some good, some bad. Above is a picture of my dad and my daughter on the day he cooked buffalo burgers and grilled corn on the cobb that he grew himself. When I was older, my dad had the bracelet below engraved for me. I thought I had lost that, too.  It says "Jennifer" on one side, and "Dad" on the other. My dad's song for me was "The Yellow Rose...

If you want to donate to a good cause this holiday season, I recommend donating to The Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of North Florida, my graduate alma mater.  Click here .

Some philosophers, including me, think we should write better, and have more--and perhaps more descriptive--terms in philosophy, such as moral or character terms.  I took an admissions entrance exam for placement at then-DBCC. I scored gifted in English and remedial in Mathematics. I was a savant. A lot of gifted people are "lopsided." I took the remedial Math classes. I loved my Math professors.  At Stetson, I entered writing competitions. I won First Prize in Poetry and/or Poetry and Prose from the years 2002-2004. I wasn't even an English major, and the competition was related to Women and Gender Studies. In the Stetson Archives, I can only find 2 years of my awards, 2002 and 2004 . I graduated in 2004 , but didn't walk. I only walked at my high school graduation. Contrary to popular belief, I don't love the limelight, and don't like to brag. My tips for better writing? It's better than Stephen King's. He says in "On Writing" that he'...

To read my entire philosophy undergraduate thesis, go to the Stetson University Archives . Stetson University and I hold all copyrights, and it may not be reproduced without permission. I was probably wrong in my thesis. I don't know that much of what I argued follows. The photo below is a picture of me when I was doing my research. I did field work in addition to reading hundreds of books. I am wearing a shirt I purchased from a Native American business. Photo Credit: Jason Michael Frazier.

In Jonathan Lear’s book Radical Hope, he argues for flexibility in adapting to cultural breakdown. He makes a great case. But what does it require? In this short paper, I argue that it requires adaptable logics. There are several different logics to choose from. In philosophy, we typically try to find out which one secures truth the best, or which one is correct. But what if the application, in cases like cultural breakdown, require that we use almost all of them? This would have huge ramifications for philosophy, as we live in a time when breakdowns of many kinds are becoming more frequent. Philosophy education and familiarity with logics can provide us with the adaptability we need to survive. We tend to think of logics as theoretical. But what about their applications? Applied logic is typically only thought of with regards to informal logic. But what about other logics, like dialethism? The artist frequently uses different logics in their art. Poetry, music, photography. Th...

            Below is an excerpt of Chapter Seven from my new memoir, Songs That Remind Me Of Philosophy (2024).  ________________________                I wanted a degree.  One of the first classes I took at Stetson was a philosophy course. I remember my professor, Dr. Rob Brady. We read the classics. I couldn’t believe that I, Jennifer Lawson, was reading Plato. Moreover, I actually understood him.  I got an A in that class, and thought about declaring it as my major. It wasn’t until years later that I would find out that philosophy is still a male-dominated field. I never got the sense that philosophy wasn’t for me. I studied philosophy unlike anything I had ever studied before.  Do what you love. Well, I happened to love philosophy, so I started thinking about doing it.  I declared it as my second major. So, there I was, double majoring in philosophy and psychology at S...

This is my profile on academia.edu. A lot of scholars and academics write theirs very differently. I wrote mine like this so upcoming students would know they are not alone. -Jennifer My name is Jennifer Lee Lawson. I was a teen mom. I began my academic career at a community college, Daytona Beach Community College, then transferred to Stetson University (04). I went there because it was the highest ranking school I could commute to. I studied philosophy and psychology.  I tried my best and began carrying a philosophy encyclopedia with me so I could look up terms to this new language. I also studied psychology there. For some reason I had a dream of going to grad school. I took a year off after undergrad and thought, read books and got ready. I attended UNF for grad school. I'm glad they gave me a chance. I decided I'd try to make A's. I did make A's. I didn’t care about grades as an undergraduate. I only cared about learning course content. I still cared about course c...

Jennifer Lee Lawson Infinity. Try for a moment to grasp it. Numbers with no end. Is it that it exists and we cannot grasp it, or is it that it simply does not exist? In this paper, I will argue that infinite cardinal numbers may not exist. I will analyze Cantor’s Theorem to show this. First, I will explain Cantor’s Theorem. Then, I will argue why I believe, when tried for infinite Sets, it is truly possible that he is incorrect. I will argue without using many mathematical or logical symbols, for ease of reading. Cantor’s Theorem is well known in mathematics, logic and philosophy of mathematics. It is a theorem in Set Theory. In the end, Cantor’s Theorem aims to show there is no largest cardinal number. In other words, there is no largest infinity. The concept of infinity is taught, in the United States, in public schools in our Math classes. On our finite chalkboards, we use < — > to symbolize numbers that go on forever in both directions. Infinity, the concept, how...

By Jennifer Lawson  As a graduate student, I was interested in many things. I had become somewhat of an expert on Native Studies, but my interests were extremely broad and I was moving away from that. I knew Steve Russell from my undergraduate years. I corresponded with him about U.S./Native American issues. He gave me reading recommendations for my undergraduate thesis.  I heard from Steve Russell as a graduate student when he emailed me saying he was working on a book and wanted me to look it over. That’s what we do. We do that kind of thing. It seemed normal, so I did. There wasn’t much to what he wrote, but I did recommend that he read Jeremy Waldron’s “Supersceding Historic Injustice.” That’s basically all I did. I forgot about it and did my other work.  Later, Russell emailed me saying the book was published and that I was mentioned in it. One always wants to see how one’s intellectual help made a difference, so I bought the book and read it. I was horrified. In tha...

The era known as The Indian Wars—also known as the Reservation Era—came with it many Treaties between the United States and Native American tribes. There are, in total, around 500 of these Treaties. Internationally, as well as according to The United States, Treaties are enforceable and are “the supreme law of the land.” As of the year 2024, the map of these treaties looks roughly like Appendix A. The reservation era ended with the end of war between Native American tribes and the United States. Land was set aside for Native tribes, and education, healthcare, etc., was to be provided to Native Americans by the United States. A reservation was land reserved for tribes. Initially, they weren’t allowed to freely cross in or out, which makes sense when one considers borders of nations. As a graduate student at the University of North Florida, I was contacted by an undergraduate acquaintance, Steve Russell JD, about a book he was writing. I gave him a reference to read and, later, ...

I invite you to think for a moment about artists and their art. I'm vulnerable doing this because I am an artist. However, I am also primarily a philosopher. This talk by Dr. Daniel Callcut ends on a pertinent note: We don't want our artistic heroes to be evil. Adolf Hitler was evil. He was also a painter. What I want to point out is that, contained in his artwork, are the ideas he implemented as the epitome of evil: The originator and, ultimately, commander of The Holocaust. Take a look at this painting by Adolf Hitler:   Now, look at what I consider one of my best, recent photographs, "Lady in Waiting": Adolf Hitler and I use a similar color scheme. We both use plant life as beautiful ideals. We both use alabaster--on the Lady's legs (which is me), and on Hitler's pathways and architecture.  In art, one ideal of beauty is placing interest is in the upper, righthand side of the piece of art. Hitler uses this. Note the two spires on the right of his painting w...

According to Frege's " Sense and Reference ," reference is the proper name of an object. Sense is what the name expresses. An object's proper name--it's reference--is it's truth value. That is, in one way of understanding, the fact that it exists; it is true. A proper name refers to an object in reality.  Over decades now, we have come to an actual dictionary definition of "trans woman." This definition, on Frege's terms, is its sense. What, then, is this definition people keep debating? It is this: trans woman noun plural trans women :  a transgender woman  :  a woman who was identified as male at birth What, then, shall we make of all of this? Trans women, obviously, exist in reality. Moreover, they are women who are identified as male at birth. This is the sense and reference of "trans woman" in English, possibly the most flexible, moving, and growing language in the year 2024.

 Please Note: At the time this was recorded, I had breast cancer. I wasn't feeling or looking my best. -Jennifer

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