Barry Lam - The Use of Narrative in Public Philosophy
Seminar
For those interested in public philosophy, there is a question about how to go about doing it in a way that is highly impactful, accessible, but faithful to the work, and reaches new audiences. In this talk I'm going to go through the two year history of building Hi-Phi Nation into the first…
MSPT seminar - Ryan Muldoon (Buffalo) - Equality of Opportunity, Meritocracy, and Social Cohesion. Pick Two
Seminar
There exists a trilemma between these three liberal desiderata. I argue that social cohesion and meritocracy combine to generate a preferential attachment-type process, which undermines equality of opportunity, and ultimately, reasonable versions of meritocracy itself. I argue that,…
Emily C. Parke (Auckland): What are biosignatures signatures of?
Seminar
NASA has spent decades, and billions of dollars, looking for life in our solar system. Just this month they issued a major press release announcing that they have found organic matter on Mars. It is far from clear whether they have found life, however. This is partly because what they found is a…
Brett Calcott - Genetic Programs, revised and upgraded
Seminar
A commonly expressed idea in biology is that DNA contains a program or a set of instructions for building a complex multicellular organism. A number of philosophers and biologists have argued that this analogy is mistaken, misleading, and that such talk should be replaced or reinterpreted.…
MSPT Seminar - David Bakhurst (Queens) - Practice, Sensibiligy and Moral Education
Seminar
This paper considers the style of moral philosophy that emerged in the mid-1970s in the writings of John McDowell and David Wiggins and examines its implications for moral education. After characterizing the position, I examine whether it broadens or narrows the horizons of moral philosophy.…
Jeanette Kennett (Macquarie): Self-Control and Moral Security
Seminar
Self-control is integral to successful human agency. But self-control requires external support. This paper explores the connections between social conditions, self-control, agency, and the self. Part one offers a taxonomy of self-control. Part two examines the external conditions that support…
Massimo Renzo (KCL): Consent and Intentions
Seminar
What does it take to give morally valid consent? Is it enough that the consenter forms a particular mental state or does one need to communicate (or perhaps attempt to communicate) the presence of that mental state? This question has received significant attention in the news recently, primarily in…