ONEONTA — Is there a biblically based argument that supports abortion?

Does a contradiction exist between the extolled Christian value "Do unto others" and Christian missionary practices?

Should tenure in the higher-education system be abolished?

Students and teachers of philosophy from Long Island to Hawaii will converge on Oneonta this weekend to address these and other questions. The occasion is the State University College at Oneonta's Sixth Annual Undergraduate Philosophy Conference. The two-day event is free and open to the public.

"We've had a fairly decent turnout from people in the community in the past," said Professor Douglas Shrader, chairman of the philosophy department at SUCO. "You don't have to be a philosopher to enjoy it."

The conference begins at 1 p.m. today at the Morris Conference Center on campus. More than 20 papers will be presented by students from colleges and universities across the country. All participants included, 23 institutions will be represented at the conference.

Roger Ames, professor of philosophy, director of Chinese studies and co-director of the Asian Studies Development Program at the University of Hawaii, will give Saturday's keynote address at 5:30 p.m.

Shrader described Ames as "an absolutely prolific scholar." He will discuss Chinese religiousness and their human-centered, not God-centered, approach to religion.

Linda Ardito, executive chair of the faculty and associate professor of music at Dowling College, will deliver today's keynote address, which she has titled "Wine, Song and the Magico-Medicinal in the Homeric `Hymn to Dionysos."'

The philosophy conference was founded in 1995 after some of Shrader's students accompanied him to a convention on ancient Greek philosophy. They returned and begged him to help them start their own, he said.

Most of the papers this year deal with the philosophy of religion or philosophy of education. The presentations are "very accessible" to the general public, Shrader said.

Cindy Budka, a senior majoring in philosophy at SUCO, said she enjoys the different perspectives that students from other schools bring to the conference. She has helped organize and plan the event for the past three years.

"By the time the conference is over," she said, "everybody is so energized because you've had two days of this intense exchange."

For each paper, a student has 20 minutes to present ideas. A student discussant has three to five minutes to offer a response, then the session is opened for debate for 15 minutes.

Some of the papers build upon each other's ideas, which allows cumulative, multi-layered discussions to take place.

"That's where you see the real energy," Shrader said.

The conference schedule is posted online at http://www.oneonta.edu/~philosc/program01.html.