Spring 2018
February 8 – Rachel Cristy, Princeton University
“Commanders and Scientific Laborers: Nietzsche on the Relationship Between Philosophy and Science”
Nietzsche’s attitude toward science in his later works is ambivalent: he makes approving remarks about its findings, rigorous methodology, and spirit of adventurousness and intellectual integrity; but he also points out its limitations, criticizes his contemporaries’ overvaluation of science, and rebukes scientists for encroaching onto the territory of philosophers. This raises the question: what does Nietzsche think the proper role of science is, and how should it interact with philosophy? I argue that, according to Nietzsche, philosophy is supposed to set goals for science. The distinctive task of philosophers is to “create values,” which involves two steps: (1) envisioning the ideals that human society should realize, and (2) turning those ideals into prescriptions for behavior and the organization of society. Philosophers need the help of scientists to proceed from step (1) to step (2), because scientists (social as well as natural) can tell them how various value systems affect the psychology and cultural achievements of their adherents. With a certain ideal for human life in mind, philosophers should delegate scientists to investigate what moral rules and social arrangements were in place when this ideal was most fully realized in the past, or to test hypotheses as to what ways of life might realize it in the future.
February 15 – Dimitris Apostolopoulos, University of Notre Dame
“From Kant to Hegel: Merleau-Ponty and Phenomenological Explanation”
It is often thought that phenomenology offers an explanation of the conditions for the possibility of conscious experience. While some commentators have stressed Merleau-Ponty’s transcendental commitments, a closer look at his view of phenomenology’s explanatory work shows that he rejects two key transcendental claims: that explanations should aim for completeness; and that they have a regressive structure. His hesitations about explanatory completeness are motivated by his sensitivity to the idealizing and transformative effects of phenomenological description. This bears directly on the philosophical adequacy of regressive models. If phenomenology is to make good on its philosophical goals, models that move from phenomena to their conditions of possibility are insufficient: explanation is better understood as a continuing critical reevaluation of the meaning of experience, and a willingness to reinvent the categories used to explain it. These commitments suggest that instead of Kant or Husserl, Merleau-Ponty is more proximate to Hegel’s view of philosophical methodology. This offers us an opportunity to rethink phenomenology’s conceptual lineage to German Idealism, and suggests the possibility of developing Merleau-Ponty’s incipient account into a systematic phenomenological alternative to existing models of explanation.
February 22 – Francisco Gallegos, Georgetown University
“Heidegger’s Hidden Theory of Moods: Overlooked insights in Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics”
What lessons regarding the nature of affectivity can we extract from Heidegger’s analysis of boredom in Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics? In this talk, I argue that scholars have overlooked one of the most groundbreaking insights in this text: Heidegger’s analysis of boredom articulates the framework for a general account of moods as distinct from emotions, dispositions, and other affective phenomena. According to this account, moods disclose the situational context of our ongoing experience, thereby altering our experience of time, the “emotional accessibility” of the things we encounter, and the “normative grip” of our evaluative thoughts and perceptions.
March 15 – Jonathan Jacobs, associate professor of philosophy, Saint Louis University
“Those Who Heard Said it Thundered: A Silent God or a Silenced God?”
Many people find God to be absent or hidden from them. Philosophers have used this fact as an argument for the claim that God does not exist: If God were to exist, he would want us to know that he exists and to relate to Him and so he would give us sufficient evidence for His existence and love for us. But many people fail to see any evidence of God’s existence, through no fault of their own. But I will argue that the ways in which our social environments are structured might make it difficult to hear God. As a result, it is possible that God is not silent, but rather has been silenced.
March 22 – Carol Hay, associate professor of philosophy, UMass-Lowell
“Solidarity, Intersectionality, & Resisting Oppression”
Most of us are familiar with the idea that we should respect ourselves. I’ve argued that this duty of self-respect means that people who are oppressed have a duty to resist their oppression. But what happens when this duty of self-respecting resistance comes into conflict with other duties you have—say, the duty to cultivate solidarity with other members of your oppressed group? I’ll argue that in addition to its more familiar harms, oppression can harm you by imposing certain kinds of moral dilemmas, placing its victims in unfair situations where it’s impossible to fulfill their multiple competing commitments. Oppression has been famously described as like being caught in a birdcage, as being trapped, constrained, closed in on all sides. What I want to suggest is that in some cases oppression is better thought of as akin to a rack—a torture device that rips its victims apart by pulling their limbs in opposite directions.
April 12 – Alex Madva, assistant professor, Cal Poly Pomona
“Social Psychology, Social Experience, and the Nature of Contemporary Racial Bias”
Social psychologists often describe “implicit” racial biases as entirely unconscious. However, empirical evidence consistently suggests that individuals are aware of their implicit biases, albeit in partial, inarticulate, or even distorted ways. This evidence also demonstrates that different ways of interpreting implicit biases have radically different effects on how individuals think, feel, and act. This talk sketches how context, individual differences, and structural power relations influence the interpretation and effects of implicit bias, and explores our individual and collective responsibility for interpreting our biases as justly and accurately as possible. Along the way, I’ll also address questions about the cognitive structure of implicit biases and recent criticisms about popular ways of measuring them.