ALERT: Utility/Power Failure on Campus – UPDATE

June 11, 2025 - 11:28 AM

UPDATE: Utility/Power Failure on Campus

Meadville Water Authority is just completing the the main water line repair on the north side of campus and and the water line should be pressurized shortly.

CAUTION FROM THE WATER AUTHORITY: A loss of positive water pressure is a signal of the existence of conditions that could allow contamination to enter the distribution system through back-flow by back‑pressure or back‑siphonage. As a result, there is an increased chance that the water may contain disease-causing organisms.

DO NOT DRINK THE WATER WITHOUT BOILING IT FIRST. Bring all water to a rolling boil, let it boil for one minute, and let it cool before using; or use bottled water. You should use boiled or bottled water for drinking, making ice, washing dishes, brushing teeth, and food preparation until further notice. Inadequately treated water may contain disease-causing organisms. These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites, which can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches. These symptoms, however, are not caused only by organisms in drinking water, but also by other factors. If you experience any of these symptoms and they persist, you may want to seek medical advice. Guardians of infants and young children and people at increased risk, such as pregnant women, some of the elderly, and people with severely compromised immune systems, should seek advice from their health care advisors about drinking this water. General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1 (800) 426‑4791.

The Water Authority will inform local residents when the water is safe to drink. An updated message Emergency Message will be sent from Public Safety.

Students, faculty and staff should monitor e-mail, the college web site, social and local media for updated information and further updates.
Contact Campus Safety in the event of an emergency: 814-332-3357.

More information on Emergency website

Eric Palmer

Headshot of Eric Palmer
Department: History
Email: epalmer@allegheny.edu
Office Phone: (814) 332-3312
Office Building: Arter Hall
Office Room: 109A
Box #: 27

Professional Title/s

Professor : Philosophy Program Chair

Faculty Credentials

B.A., Carleton University (1987); M.A., Ph.D. University of California, San Diego (1991)

Biographical Information

Courses (SP '25)

  • PHIL 130 Values and knowledge
  • PHIL 165 The examined life
  • Phil 310 Global justice

Courses (FA '24)

  • PHIL 130 Values and knowledge
  • PHIL 270 Early modern philosophy
  • PHIL 285 Business ethics

Research Fields

  • Applied ethical theory, with focus on globalization, development, multinational business, international law and human rights.
  • History of Philosophy: Early Modern, especially Descartes: 1580-1650; Voltaire & French Philosophy: 1730-89.
  • Philosophy and History of Science: Scientific Methodology, Especially Astronomy and Physics, 1500-1650; Explanation and Physico-Theology, 1675-1750.

Current Work

  • Concept of human and social development and its relation to the Capabilities approach and to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
  • Human and social development and its relation to decolonial thought
  • Co-Editor (with Christine Koggel) of Journal of Global Ethics [https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rjge20/current]
  • Social-ethical consequences of excessive microlending, payday lending and mobile cash, especially in India and USA
  • Rise and fall of divine teleology in scientific explanations in the 17th-18th centuries
  • Cultural history of Europe, 17th-18th centuries

Past Work

Recent Work

  • National Endowment for Humanities Institutes, co-directed with Fred Gifford. June-July 2015: “Development Ethics and Global Justice: Gender, Economics and Environment,” July-August 2013: “Development Ethics: Questions, Challenges, Responsibilities”. Information: [https://nehphl.web2.cal.msu.edu/]

Publications

Books

Recent Essays

  • "USA and Canada: high income maldevelopment." Handbook of Development Ethics. Jay Drydyk & Lori Keleher (eds.), New York: Routledge, 2018. [book free on Amazon Kindle]
  • "What is development?" Ethics, Agency, and Democracy in Global Development. Lori Keleher & Stacy Kosko, eds. Cambridge University Press, [pre-publication copy].
  • “Less Radical Enlightenment: A Christian Wing of the French Enlightenment,” in Steffen Ducheyne, ed. Reassessing the Radical Enlightenment. New York: Routledge, 2017. [pre-publication copy]
  • “Introduction: the Sustainable Development Goals Forum,” Journal of Global Ethics 11:1 (April 2015) 3-9. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17449626.2015.1021091#abstract
  • Essay review: “How to succeed in science while really, really trying: the central European savant in the mid-Seventeenth century.” Review of André Holenstein, Hubert Steinke & Martin Stuber, eds., Scholars in Action: The Practice of Knowledge and the Figure of the Savant in the 18th Century, 2 vols. Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2013. HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of the Philosophy of Science 5:1 (April, 2015), 167-73. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/680375?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
  • “The Andhra Pradesh Microfinance Crisis and American Payday Lending: Two studies in vulnerability,” Révue Ethique et Economique / Ethics and Economics, Special Issue (2012:2). https://papyrus.bib.umontreal.ca/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1866/9632/Palmer-10(2).pdf
  • “The Wisdom in Wood Rot: God in Eighteenth Century Scientific Explanation,” in William H. Krieger, ed. Science at the Frontiers: Perspectives on the History and Philosophy of Science. Lexington Books, 2011. 17-34.

More Information

Office Hours Fall 2024: 

Mondays 1:30-3; Tuesdays 11-12:15; Wednesdays 12-1; Thursdays 11-12:15; Fridays 11-12

By appointment, or drop-in: Schedule or check office hours here. Virtual office is here: https://meet.google.com/tve-vjcv-ytv.  If I am not online and you'd like me to be, give a call to 814-333-2538.