Faculty

William Lycan on Mind, Meaning, and Method

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Mitchell Green, Co-editor

Palgrave MacMillan, 2024

William Lycan is an internationally renowned American philosopher whose work since the late 1960s has been not only extensive but also influential, particularly in the areas of philosophy of mind, epistemology, philosophy of language, metaphysics, and more recently metaphilosophy. This contributed volume features high-quality contributions by prominent or up-and-coming philosophers who critically examine many aspects of Lycan’s work; it also contains an essay by Lycan responding to these contributions. In this way, not only is the importance of William Lycan’s work appreciated, it is also made accessible for further research. The book is also suitable for teaching purposes at universities.

Cover of William Lycan on Mind, Meaning, and Method.

Law, Politics, and Responding to Injustice

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Ting-an Lin, Contributor

Taylor and Francis, 2024

Chapter 9: “Acting Together to Address Structural Injustice: A Deliberative Mini-public Proposal”

Structural injustices exist when the impact of social structure exposes some groups of people to undeserved burdens while conferring unearned power to others. It has been argued that the responsibility for addressing structural injustices is shared among all the participants of the wrongful social structures and can only be discharged through collective action; however, the proper form of collective action does not happen easily. This chapter contributes to the discussions on addressing structural injustice in two steps. First, it categorizes three forms of practical challenges encountered by existing proposals for discharging shared responsibility for structural injustice. Second, it proposes an alternative proposal based on a type of political institution named deliberative mini-publics, which involves a diverse group of people convening to deliberate on issues of public concern and produce results that can be used as guidance for the greater public in responding to those issues. The deliberative mini-public proposal suggests establishing multiple deliberative mini-publics and making participation in the mini-publics a civic duty to address issues of structural injustice. This chapter argues that the deliberative mini-public proposal has the potential to complement existing proposals in mobilizing structural change and overcoming the identified practical challenges.

Cover of "Law, Politics, and Responding to Injustice."

Lewis Gordon: Tavis Smiley

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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!

Tracy Llanera: The Moral Agency of White Terror Wolves

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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!

Ting-an Lin: AI, Normality, and Oppressive Things

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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!

 

Lewis Gordon: Londis Lectureship Speaker

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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.

Lewis Gordon: Black Consciousness

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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!

Resilience and the Brown Babe’s Burden

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Tracy Llanera, Editor

Taylor and Francis, 2024

This volume examines the concept and practice of resilience from the perspective of Filipina philosophers. It investigates the double-edged nature of resilience and other key assumptions and ideas about human resilience and resilient cultures and institutions. The chapters in the collection are intersectional in approach, drawing from feminist theory, social and political philosophy, critical theory, pragmatism, virtue theory, social epistemology, and decolonial theory in their engagement of the theme.

Part of the Academics, Politics and Society in the Post-Covid World series, the book will be of interest to scholars and students of philosophy, political theory, feminist theory, philosophy of education, cultural studies, and development studies. It will be valuable to academics in Philippine Studies, Asian and Southeast Asian Studies, and Global South Studies.

Cover of "Resilience and the Brown Babe's Burden"

Lewis Gordon: The Honorable Shyne

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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.

Lewis Gordon: Final Installment in Spectrum Series

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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!