Category Archives: news

Prof. Sally Haslanger giving a talk “Narrative and Social Justice” Thursday, 3/19/15 at 6:30pm in Alumni Memorial Hall

Prof. Sally Haslanger, Ford Professor of Philosophy & Womens and Gender Studies at MIT will be presenting her talk Narrative and Social Justice on Thursday, 3/19/15 at 6:30pm in Alumni Memorial Hall of Randolph Hall.

Narrative and Social Justice – Recent work on social injustice has focused on implicit bias as an important factor in explaining persistent injustice in spite of achievements on civil rights.  In this paper, I argue that implicit bias offers a familiar sort of individualistic narrative to explain injustice, but taken alone, it is inadequate.  Most importantly, such narratives miss what is morally at stake.  An adequate account of how implicit bias functions must situate it within a broader theory of social structures; changing structures is often a precondition for changing patterns of thought and action and is certainly required for durable change.  So we must learn to develop different sorts of narratives that address not only the question, “What can/should I do?” but also “What can/should we do?”

Haslanger Flyer

 

Profs. Nadelhoffer and Timpe have started a new blog “Discrimination and Disadvantage”. Prof. McKinnon will serve as a regular contributor

Professors Thomas Nadelhoffer and Kevin Timpe (Northwest Nazerene University_) have started a new blog Disability and Disadvantage to provide a “space for philosophical reflection on various kinds of disadvantage (e.g., discrimination based on racism, classism, sexism, hetero-sexism, ableism, and the intersectionality of these and related phenomena) as well as discussion of such disadvantage within the philosophical community.”

Prof. Rachel McKinnon will also serve as a regular contributor.

Philosophy Grad Joseph Saei (’10) Discovers International Law, Human Rights

Joseph (Yusuf) Saei ’10 fully leveraged his opportunities at the College of Charleston. Among other accomplishments, this philosophy major (with minors in French and communication) served internships in the arts world in New York City, won a grant to study abroad in Cairo, Egypt, published two essays in the College’s research journal Chrestomathy, and received the institution’s highest honor upon graduation — the Bishop Robert Smith Award. Since then, he has studied Arabic in Morocco as a Rotary Ambassador Scholar, served two years in the Peace Corps as a youth development volunteer (also in Morocco), and subsequently enrolled in Yale Law School. Joseph says that he’s drawn to international law because it’s a new and rapidly evolving discipline within the field of law. But he also professes an interest in finding effective and lasting ways of addressing social justice on a global scale.

Prof. Coseru presenting at the XVIIth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies and the 5th International Dharmakirti Conference

Prof. Christian Coseru will be giving a paper, “Reflexive Sensibility and the Madhyamika’s View from Nowhere” at the XVIIth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies in Vienna Austria on 8/23/14.  During the same trip, he will be giving a paper, “Consciousness and Causal Explanation:  Santaraksita Against Physicalism” at the 5th International Dharmakirti Conference in Heidelberg Germany on 8/28/14.

Prof. Hettinger to present “Defending Native Species: Naturalness, Cosmopolitanization, & Novel Ecosystems” at the North America Congress for Conservation Biology

Prof. Ned Hettinger will be participating in a symposium on “Reconsidering Dualistic Thinking on Non-Native Species and Their Role in Conservation” (Julian Olden, organizer), at The North America Congress for Conservation Biology, Missoula, MT (July 2014); presentation title “Defending Native Species: Naturalness, Cosmopolitanization, and Novel Ecosystems”.