Dorit Bar-On: Students Selected to Speak at “Practical Mental Representation” Conference

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Congratulations to Professor Bar-On‘s graduate students Nimra Asif and Drew Johnson for being selected to give talks at the “Practical Mental Representation” conference at Chapman University! There were only two slots available for contributed talks and both will be discussing the aspect of Ruth Millikan’s work.

The “Practical Mental Representations” conference focuses on exploring solutions to answer two questions:

 If mental representations have descriptive contents, how exactly do they fulfil their fundamentally practical functions? How can a description, whether accurate or inaccurate, itself motivate or set the normative standards for any sort of practical engagement with the world?

Check out this link for more information:

Practical Mental Representations

Heather Battaly: Templeton/Applied Research on Intellectual Humility

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Congratulations to Professor Heather Battaly, one of the Principal Investigators on a $6.6 Million grant that supports Applied Research on Intellectual Humility, funded by the John Templeton Foundation and the Center for Stress, Trauma, and Resilience at Georgia State University. The request for proposals can be found below. The deadline for letters of intent is January 15, 2023. Interdisciplinary empirical proposals that address the facilitation of Intellectual Humility are encouraged.


Request for Proposals

Lewis Gordon: Seminary Co-Op Book for 2022

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Congratulations to Professor and Department Head Lewis Gordon‘s, whose book Fear of Black Consciousness has been chosen as one of the Seminary Co-Op Notable books for 2022!

Now in its seventh year, the Seminary Co-op Notables list celebrates the books published in 2022 that helped define scholarship and inquiry. With the release of this annual list, it continues to advocate for the increased visibility of the crucial work of serious presses and authors and aims to invigorate and inspires readers.

Mary Gregg: APA Member Interview

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Congratulations to Mary Gregg, a recent UConn Ph.D. Alumna, for being selected for an APA Member interview! This section of the APA Blog is designed to get to know our fellow philosophers a little better. Profiles of APA members spotlight what captures their interest not only inside the office, but also outside of it.

 

What excites you about philosophy? 

Its ability to reach, unite, and inspire persons from all backgrounds and disciplines. As a discipline characterized by critical reflection on the beliefs, assumptions, and principles we often leave unquestioned, philosophy encourages its participants to think carefully about why and how they think the way they do about the world around them in ways they might not have thought possible. In its aptitude for constant reflection and revision, philosophy provokes a useful humility in its thinkers, which cultivates a learning environment marked by openness and curiosity in such a way that even the often unflinching instructor-pupil power differential is usefully broken down, allowing each person to learn, with gratitude, from one another, both in the classroom and beyond it.

Lewis Gordon: Interview with Tavis Smiley

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Why does Black consciousness pose such a threat to racist power structures?

 

In his celebrated book Fear of Black Consciousness, Professor, Head of the Philosophy Department at UConn, and leading philosopher Lewis Gordon answers this question while unpacking “the historical development of racialized Blackness, the problems this kind of consciousness produces, and the many creative responses from Black and non-Black communities in contemporary struggles for dignity and freedom.” He joins Tavis for a conversation centered around his latest text.

 

"The Tavis Smiley Podcast" airs on weekdays 9 AM - 12 N

Insightful conversations with thought leaders, opinion makers, celebrities, authors and artists. Plus, socially conscious commentary that challenges listeners to re-examine the assumptions they hold, and expand their inventory of ideas.

 

One of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People In The World,” Smiley has interviewed a veritable who’s who list of influencers, has penned multiple New York Times Bestselling books, and has already been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Tracy Llanera: Symposium on “Richard Rorty”

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Congratulations to Assistant Professor of Philosophy Dr. Tracy Llanera on the symposium on her book Richard Rorty: Outgrowing Modern Nihilism! This symposium is now published (early view) in the journal The Philosophical Forum. 

Drawing on an original interpretation of Richard Rorty’s writings, [Richard Rorty: Outgrowing Modern Nihilism] challenges the orthodox treatment of nihilism as a malaise that human beings must overcome. 

Lewis Gordon: Best Philosophy Books for Beginners

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Check out Professor and Department Head Lewis Gordon’s picks for the best philosophy books for beginners!

“Why create a reading list of the best philosophy books for beginners? Well, Bertrand Russell once said that ‘science is what you know, philosophy is what you don’t know’, and when it comes to philosophy – I don’t know nearly enough. The vastness and occasional intangibility of the subject can make it feel inaccessible for novices. Like trying to find the end of a piece of sellotape, it can be frustrating to know where to start. In situations like this, there is only one thing you can do – ask the experts what they’d recommend as philosophy books for beginners. Luckily for me, I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing some of the world’s finest philosophical minds.”

-Phil Treagus Evans, “Philosophy Books for Beginners”

Alexandra Stamson: “Narcissist Fathers and Powered Daughters”

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Alexandra Stamson, one of our talented philosophy graduate students, has a book chapter coming out titled “Narcissist Fathers and Powered Daughters: Examining Narcissism and Gender” in N. K. Jemisin’s The Obelisk Gate in February.

 

“This chapter is a deep-dive into kinship and the links between the patriarchal figure, the patriarchy system, and the agency of daughters within that system, and how narcissism plays into the roles of family by looking at the ways that the father/daughter relationship plays out in N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy.”