Check out Distinguished Professor Lewis Gordon’s recent media appearance on the Tavis Smiley podcast. Dr. Gordon has worked with Tavis Smiley in the past, discussing topics such as political extremism, black consciousness, and more. In this episode, Smiley and Gordon discuss racial justice and anti-blackness policies, centering the argument around how we can cultivate Black consciousness without fear.
Congratulations, Lewis!
This Friday, December 13th, Associate Professor of Philosophy Tracy Llanera will be giving a talk at the event Digital Transformations: Identity, Gender and Affectivity hosted at Cardiff University. Along with Professor Llanera, Dr. Gen Eickers, Dr. Lucy Osler, Dr. Louise Richardson-Self and Dr. Francesca Sobande will also be speaking at the event.
Professor Tracy Llanera will be presenting The Moral Agency of White Terror Wolves, and you can read the abstract of her talk below:
The Moral Agency of White Terror Wolves
Tracy Llanera
This paper investigates the case of “white terror wolves,” or extremists responsible for violent lone attacks committed in the name of white supremacist ideology; examples include Anders Breivik (Norway), Dylann Storm Roof (USA), Brenton Tarrant (Australia), John Earnest (USA), Patrick Wood Crusius (USA), and Stephan Balliet (Germany). Government actors and the media often describe these perpetrators as being mentally ill or brainwashed—a perspective that risks misconstruing mental illness as the key driver for domestic terrorism instead of white extremism. This paper contests this perspective by ascribing moral agency to white terror wolves. Its analysis proceeds in three parts. First, it describes the role of white terror wolves in white extremism and the pernicious framing of their perpetrator identity as being mentally ill. Second, drawing on Alasdair MacIntyre’s moral philosophy, it outlines a conception of moral agency that is relevant to these cases. Third, it interrogates how white terror wolves exercise their moral agency to the point of moral failure.
While the in-person event will be held in Wales, you can join online at 9:30AM London (4:30AM EST), with the event ending at 4:30PM London (11:30AM EST).
Congratulations, Tracy!
Assistant Professor of Philosophy Ting-an Lin will be giving a public lecture a the Academic Sinica in Taiwan this Friday, December 13th. This talk is a part of their Beyond Gender: Diversity, Plurality, and Philosophy series. Professor Lin will also be joined by Assistant Professor Zhen-Rong Gan from Tunghai University and Hsiang-Yun Chen from Academia Sinica; they will be acting as the discussant and the moderator respectively.
Professor Ting-an Lin will be presenting her paper “AI, Normality, and Oppressive Things,” and you can read the abstract below:
While it is well-known that AI systems can be perniciously biased, much attention has been paid to instances where these biases are expressed blatantly. In this talk, I draw on the literature on the political impacts of artifacts to argue that many AI systems are not merely biased but materialize oppression. In other words, many AI systems should be recognized as oppressive things when they function to calcify oppressive normality, which treats the dominant groups as normal, whereas others as deviations. Adopting this framework emphasizes the crucial roles that physical components play in sustaining oppression and helps identify instances of AI systems that are oppressive in a subtler way. Using instances of generative AI systems as the central examples, I theorize three ways that AI systems might function to calcify oppressive normality—through their content, their performance, and their style. Since the oppressiveness of oppressive things is a matter of degree, I further analyze three contributing factors that make the oppressive impacts of AI systems especially concerning. I end by discussing the limitations of existing measures and urge the exploration of more transformative remedies.
Congratulations, Ting!
On November 21st, Distinguished Professor Lewis Gordon presented his paper Freedom Relished, Freedom Feared for the James J. Londis and Family Lecture. Held at the 2024 Society of Adventist Philosophers conference, Professor Gordon speaks about the responsibility that comes with freedom, and that we must exercise our right to choice, despite the fear or insecurity that may accompany it. Gordon also suggests that in order to maintain a healthy society, we must communicate with one another despite disagreements: we need to “[develop] ways of living together on this every shrinking planet.”
To read the full summary article on the lecture, please see the Spectrum website.
Check out Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor Lewis Gordon’s recent interview on the Overthink podcast on Black Consciousness. The episode discusses Professor Gordon’s book, Fear of Black Consciousness, as well as other works by race and philosophy scholars.
See below for a brief overview of the episode written on the Overthink website:
“Do you need black skin to be Black? How might concepts such as white privilege be limiting our understanding of how racism works? In Episode 117 of Overthink, Ellie and David chat with philosopher Lewis Gordon about his book, Fear of Black Consciousness. They talk through the history of anti-Black racism, the existential concept of bad faith, why Rachel Dolezal might have Black consciousness, and Frantz Fanon’s experience of being called a racial slur by a white child on a train. From the American Blues to the Caribbean movement of Negritude, this episode is full of insight into Black liberation and White centeredness.”
Congratulations, Lewis!
Congratulations to Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor Lewis Gordon on his appearance in Hulu’s new documentary, The Honorable Shyne. The movie follows Moses “Shyne” Barrow, and his journey from famous hip-hop artist to Belizean politician. Below is an excerpt from the film’s synopsis:
This documentary provides an intimate look at Shyne’s personal evolution as he navigates fame, incarceration and a return home to Belize, where he finds new purpose and strives to lead his country to a brighter future.
You can watch the official trailer on Hulu’s YouTube channel.
Check out the final installment on Spectrum‘s series on Distinguished Professor Lewis Gordon’s book, Freedom, Justice, and Decolonization. The final article, written by Maury Jackson, explores chapter seven of Gordon’s book. You can read the article, entitled “Irreplaceability and Bodily Resurrection: Adventist Philosophers Review ‘Freedom, Justice, and Decolonization'” on the Spectrum Magazine website.
Dr. Lewis Gordon will also be the featured lecturer at the November 2024 SAP conference this week.
Congratulations, Lewis!
Congratulations to Dr. Michael Lynch on his two recent podcast appearances!
The first interview is the episode “Communicating Truth,” hosted by the American Associated of Biological Sciences on their Bioscience Talks podcast, where Professor Lynch talks about truth and misinformation.
The second interview is hosted by The Chasing Leviathan Podcast, where Professor Lynch discusses his the metaphysics of truth and his 2001 book, The Nature of Truth.
Congratulations to philosophy alumni Thomas Meagher on publishing a new article on the APA blog’s Black Issues in Philosophy. The article, entitled “Remembering Robert L. Allen,” pays tribute to the Dr. Robert L. Allen, focusing on the history of his scholarship as a Black academic.
Check out Professor Lewis Gordon‘s recent publication in Krisis’ special issue in Caribbean Philosophy. This publication is an essay based on Professor Gordon’s Spinoza Lecture, which was held in 2022.
Congratulations, Lewis!