Significant Compositions

Ian McMurtrie

Curriculum Vitae -- Professional Resume

Ian holds a master's degree from York University in political science with a focus on political philosophy. He moved to Toronto in August 2008, but spent the whole of his life prior in Winnipeg. In 2007 he graduated from the University of Winnipeg with an honours degree in philosophy and in 2003 earned a diploma from Red River College in Information Systems Technology - Network Management.

Ian enjoys reading, exploring the internet, biking, yoga and can occasionally be found at the gym. 

Please find below a collection of graduate and undergraduate papers. All links will open in a new window where the full text is available to read online, print, or download in PDF format (recommended reader). Correspondence is welcome and can be sent to: imcmurtrie (at) gmail (dot) com.

Bibliography

MA Political Science - York University
Completed April 2010

• Will Inflation Force the Chinese Government to Abandon the Dollar Peg and Sink the United States? An Examination of Hyperinflation in China from an ‘Unholy Trinity’ Perspective (March 2009)
  • 6,500 Words
    
    
• Thomas Hobbes: Philosophic Virtue and Political Necessity – Long Version (April 2010)
  • 13,000 Words
  • Accepted to fulfill the requirements of the Major Research Paper to complete the Master’s Degree in Political Science
    
    
• Thomas Hobbes: Philosophic Virtue and Political Necessity - Short Version (January 2010)
  • 6,800 Words
  • Progress contributing to the completion of the required Major Research Paper 
    • See the original project proposal
  • A version of this paper has been accepted for presentation at the Midwest Political Science Association Annual Conference in Chicago in April 2010.
    • Section: Foundations of Political Theory: Pre- and Early Modern
    • Panel Title: "Leadership and Nationalism in Political Theory"
      
      
• Investigating Ellen Wood's Classical Political Theory: The Case of Plato's Republic (January 2010)
  • 8,000 Words
  • A version of this paper has been accepted for presentation at the Midwest Political Science Association Annual Conference in Chicago in April 2010.
    • Section: Society for Greek Political Thought
    • Panel Title: "The Foundations of Justice"
      
      
• Thomas Hobbes: Political Necessity and Philosophic Virtue: Natural Law, Natural Equality, and History (July 2009)
  • 6,100 Words
    
    
• John Rawls’ Obscure Realism? Cosmopolitanism, Realism and the Law of Peoples (June 2009)
  • 6,300 Words
    
    
• Protons Don’t Renormalize: Platonic Scientific Structural Realism and the ‘Genetic Kinship’ between Mathematical and Physical Reality (April 2009)
  • 7,200 Words
  • Forthcoming (accepted for publication April 2010, preprint October 2010) by Kinesis: Graduate Journal in Philosophy 
     

BA Honours Philosophy – University of Winnipeg
Conferred June 2007

• Undergraduate Thesis: Towards Just International Relations Theory: Hans Morgenthau’s Classical Realism and the Problem of Justice (May 2007)
  • 13,800 Words
  • An undergraduate thesis project completed to fulfill the requirements for the Honours program in philosophy.
  • This thesis was defended in May 2007, you can view the slides used for the presentation.
    
    
• Can Geneva Have a Theatre and Keep its Republic? The Latent Debate Between Rousseau and Schiller on Public Art and Political Freedom (April 2007)
  • 4,200 Words
  • This paper was published in Hermes: Canadian Undergraduate Philosophy Journal (University of Ottawa) Vol. VIII (July 2008): pp. 15 – 23.
    
    
• Should the United States Remain a Part of NATO? The Coherence of US Interests and NATO Goals (April 2007)
  • 5,000 Words
    
    
• History of Educational Ideas: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (March 2007)
  • 34 Slides
  • These are slides that I prepared to accompany a 1.25 hour lecture on Rousseau and educational philosophy for the class ‘History of Educational Ideas’.
  • These slides are based upon the lecture outline of Dr. James Muir, with my own modifications and additions.
    
    
• Washington State Issues Essay (February 2007)
  • 2,700 Words
  • This was the second part of a year-long assignment for a senior political science class on American politics which mandated that I specialize on one state for the duration. This essay required that I select, survey, and summarize important issues facing the state of Washington and present them in a report-style essay.
    
    
• The Irony of American Third Parties: How Success Breeds Failure (November 2006)
  • 5,400 Words
    
    
• Jean Jacques Rousseau - Sovereignty and the Public Interest: A Study into the Foundations of Legitimate Democratic Authority – Short Version (October 2006)
  • 5,400 Words
  • This paper was presented in November 2006 for the University of Winnipeg Philosophy Student’s Colloquium Series 2006 – 2007 and is a condensed version of the longer study produced in the preceding academic year.
    
    
• Jean Jacques Rousseau - Sovereignty and the Public Interest: A Study into the Foundations of Legitimate Democratic Authority – Long Version (April 2006)
  • 24,600 Words
  • This paper is the result of a year-long independent study project. All major objectives were completed and it received a strong grade, however it was never ‘completed’ to the degree I originally desired. Of the 90 pages, approximately 80 are finished to my satisfaction which I feel well represents the core of my thinking and findings on this topic. Certain elements, however, such as an overall conclusion, are lacking.
    
    
• How Should We Conduct Social Change?: Karl Popper’s Piecemeal Social Technology as Effective Social Change (February 2006)
  • 3,000 Words
  • This paper was presented in February 2006 for the University of Winnipeg Philosophy Student’s Colloquium Series 2005 – 2006.

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