Events
Upcoming Events:
Date/Time: February 4th, 3pm – 4:30pm
Location: Renaissance Park 9th floor conference room 909
Title: War & Masculinity
Abstract: There is a deeply embedded and enduring construction of masculinity that holds it is good for men to risk their lives in war. This gender norm has influenced just war theory by grounding the uniquely demanding obligations of military service members and the moral equality of combatants-the idea that soldiers may be killed in war with virtually no restraint. It also plays an important role in shaping intergroup conflict. The connection between masculine honor and violence makes communities vulnerable to a specific form of humiliation that I call social emasculation and, in turn, prone to see martial violence as an end in itself, an attitude I call the faith in war. Using personal experiences and cultural references, this talk will explain these phenomena and explore ways to reform masculinity so that it is less harmful.
About the Speaker: Graham Parsons is a Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Vassar College.
Ethics Institute Speaker, Graham Parsons
Time: 3pm – 4:30pm
Location: Renaissance Park 9th floor conference room 909
Title: “When (and How) To Say ‘No’”
Abstract: Driven mainly by the second Trump administration but also by some state governments, many professionals in the US, including academics, have recently come under institutional pressure to violate the norms of their vocations. Based in part on the author’s personal experiences, this talk will reflect on how to navigate professional ethics within institutions that are being systematically corrupted.
About the Speaker: Graham Parsons is a Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Vassar College.
Ethics Institute Speaker, Miki Chase
Time: 3pm – 4:30pm
Location: Renaissance Park 4th floor common room
Title: TBA
Abstract: TBA
About the Speaker: Miki Chase is an Assistant Professor in South Asian Studies and holds the Śrī Anantnāth Endowed Chair in Jain Studies. Her research and teaching focuses on intersections of religion, law, and gender in questions of care around death and dying in India, with a specific focus on Jainism.
Ethics Institute Speaker, Matt Haber
Time: 3pm – 4:30pm
Location: Renaissance Park 4th floor common room
Title: TBA
Abstract: TBA
About the Speaker: Matt Haber is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Utah.
Ethics Institute Speaker, Sahar Heydari Fard
Time: 3pm – 4:30pm
Location:Renaissance Park 4th floor common room
Title: TBA
Abstract: TBA
About the Speaker: Sahar Heydari Fard is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Ohio State University.
Ethics Institute Speaker, Richard Pettigrew
Time: 3pm – 4:30pm
Location:Renaissance Park 4th floor common room
Title: TBA
Abstract: TBA
About the Speaker: Richard Pettigrew is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bristol.
Ethics Institute Speaker, Matthew Willis
Time: 3pm – 4:30pm
Location:Renaissance Park 4th floor common room
Title: “Epistemic Dirty Work”
Abstract:This paper reveals a tension between familiar standards of epistemic responsibility and the demands of socially distributed inquiry. Many of our guiding epistemic norms – do not believe without sufficient evidence, do not assert what you do not know, defer to expert consensus, conciliate in the face of reasonable peer disagreement – are framed as invariant constraints on responsible epistemic conduct. When we evaluate agents one by one, violations of these norms appear straightforwardly blameworthy. Yet collective epistemic success sometimes depends on agents who flout them – agents who engage in what I call epistemic dirty work. Epistemic dirty work are practices or forms of inquiry that, while normatively suspect from a perspective devoid of social context, play an indispensable role in sustaining the health of distributed systems of knowledge production. Given this tension, my aim is to show that theories of epistemic responsibility must be sensitive to social role and network dynamics as normatively relevant features of inquiry. What counts as epistemically responsible cannot be determined solely by agent-neutral, individualistic standards. It also depends on the roles agents occupy within broader systems of inquiry.
About the Speaker: Matthew Willis is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Ohio State University.