Category Archives: Workshops

Tomorrow’s Workshop : Solidarity in EU refugee and asylum policy

06 Sunday Jun 2021

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7 -8 June 2021

About the workshop

Almost everyone thinks that the current EU system of rules governing asylum seekers and refugees is problematic. The system has failed to harness the bloc’s collective resources to address, in a just manner, the challenge posed by the sudden influx of migrants in 2015 and the continued arrivals since. And it is no doubt ill-prepared for the future of regular and irregular flows to Europe. But what would be a better system and why? In September 2020, the European Commission released its ‘New Pact on Migration and Asylum’. The pact includes a reform package to Dublin regulations; significantly, it purports to strike the right balance between responsibility and solidarity. But many commentators are skeptical that the new pact brings anything new to the table, and, in many areas, may be a step back.

The aim of this workshop is to bring together top legal and policy-oriented scholars with political philosophers working in related areas to discuss what a just system of rules for EU asylum seekers and refugees would look like. In particular, participants are encouraged to reflect on the question of what a fair distribution of responsibilities for the protection of asylum seekers and refugees requires in Europe. The aim of the workshop is to be bold in its proposals and principles, in the realization that ‘to achieve the possible we must sometimes reach out for the impossible’ (Weber). The workshop is funded by an ERC Grant, no. 771635, ‘Solidarity in the European Union’ (EUSOL) and is in collaboration with RefMig

For more information and registration (required):  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/solidarity-in-eu-refugee-and-asylum-policy-tickets-153981971221

Review: Asylum Monologues from Ice&Fire

08 Thursday Apr 2021

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by Winnie Ma (PhD candidate)

“You’re lying.” 

“I don’t believe a word you’re saying.” 

“I think you’re just trying to game the system.” 

Hearing these words when you’re trying to report an injustice you’ve experienced is to experience an additional, often overlooked and underestimated kind of injustice – testimonial injustice, which Fricker defines as a kind of injustice that occurs when prejudice causes a hearer to give a deflated level of credibility to a speaker’s word. In recent times, we’ve heard about these sorts of responses and this kind of injustice being perpetrated against women who report sexual harassment and sexual assault, as well as against members of minority ethnic groups (think about responses to Meghan Markle’s recent interview on racism and attitudes toward mental health issues). 

The performance of Asylum Monologues by Ice&Fire, in which actors performed three asylum seekers’ first-hand accounts of their experiences of the UK asylum system highlighted the prevalence and the negative consequences of testimonial injustices perpetrated against asylum seekers. For example, in the first-hand account of Denise, a woman from Nigeria who sought asylum in the U.K. on the basis of her LGBTQIA+ identity, her claim for asylum was met with similar incredulous responses by various officials who accused her of lying about her sexual orientation. In addition to the hardships that led her to seek asylum then, Denise suffered the further injustices of being disbelieved and of being accused of being disingenuous. One consequence of these further injustices, which compounded other experienced injustices, was the deterioration of Denise’s mental state to the point of an attempted suicide. 

Perhaps, just as the #BelieveWomen movement went viral in the wake of the Prof. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony about being sexually assaulted by now U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, we need support for a similar movement for asylum seekers whose experience of testimonial injustices compounds the injustices and hardships they already face – #BelieveAsylumSeekers ? – and really for members of all marginalized groups who are often forced to suffer being silenced in silence.

Final Call – today at 3pm, Career Panel

24 Wednesday Mar 2021

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Wednesday, 24th of March 3:00-4:30pm, ZOOM LINK DISTRIBUTED THROUGH KING’S EMAIL.

Now is a good time to begin reflecting on your future career. Next week the department will be co-hosting a panel with the King’s College Alumni Association (KCLA) on careers for philosophy graduates. This is an opportunity for you to hear about the types of work recent alums of the department have gone into, and be supported on your next steps. Panellists will give some practical tips to you about applying for jobs to enable you to feel more confident. There will also be an opportunity for you to ask questions. Please find the Zoom link below. 

The panel will consist of:

  • Hannah Bondi – Public Affairs Coordinator at the International Justice Mission, a non-governmental anti-slavery organisation. 
  • Kristina Pakhomchik – Strategy Officer at the World Ethical Data Forum, a non-profit organisation focused on the ethical development of technology. 
  • Esther Ezegbe – Digital Relationship Manager at ikigai, a start up app which combines wealth management and everyday banking. Founder of Root2philosophy, which aims to improve access to study philosophy for Black and minority ethnic people.  

The session will be introduced and compered by Benjamin Hunt, previous President of the King’s students’ union 2016-17, who now works in education policy at the regulator for higher education, the Office for Students.  

Kneading Knowledge.

30 Friday Oct 2020

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In May 2020, the Arts & Humanities Research Institute (AHRI) worked in collaboration with the charity Migrateful on the project Breaking Bread, providing King’s staff with the opportunity to participate in online cookery classes that were led by refugees, asylum seeker and migrants. Kneading Knowledge builds on the success and positive feedback from this project, and registration is now open for King’s student and staff to take part in eight online cookery classes running across October to November 2020

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To find out more about Migrateful, a charity supporting asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants on their journey to employment, independence and integration into the community, click here.

One of the key academics involved in this project is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy Dr. Sarah Fine.

To register for one of the delicious remaining classes, maximum 10 per class, please use the links below.

New philosophy videos from Clayton Littlejohn

27 Friday Mar 2020

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As everyone is locked up, Clayton Littlejohn has been helpfully recording and gather talks on some recent work in philosophy. This talk is an informal presentation of a paper written with Julien Dutant on epistemic rationality and defeat. It presents a new unified theory of defeat according to which the toxicity of rationality defeaters has to do with the way in which they serve as indicators that we cannot know certain things. The paper engages with recent work on epistemic paradoxes, epistemic rationality, and recent work on defeat. 

If you are interested, there are more videos available here.

Inaugural London Post-Kantian Workshop

03 Tuesday Dec 2019

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Image result for kant

On the 10th of December, King’s will be hosting the inaugural London Post-Kantian workshop on the topic ‘Philosophy’s Relationship to Pre-Philosophical Experience’. The workshop will feature papers on Kant, Hegel, and Wittgenstein.

Programme  

1000-1015: Welcome to LPKS and King’s

1015-1130: Stephen Houlgate (Warwick) ‘The Presuppositions of Hegel’s Presuppositionless Logic’

1130-1200: Refreshments

1200-1315: Danièle Moyal-Sharrock (Herts) ‘Wittgenstein’s Non-Intellectual Epistemology’

1315-1415: Lunch at KCL (Provided)

1415-1530: Sacha Golob (KCL) ‘Innocence and the Phenomenological Method’

1530-1545: Break

1545-1700: Martin Sticker (Bristol) ‘Kant on the Common Rational Cognition of Duty Prospects and Problems’

1700-1730: Group Discussion of LPKS Future Events

1730: Close, Drinks.

Location

Tuesday 10th December, Small Committee Room, Strand Campus, King’s College London

Registration

Please Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lpks-workshop-1-philosophys-relationship-to-pre-philosophical-experience-tickets-74960215021

Maps and Access https://www.kcl.ac.uk/visit/strand-campus

Questions to londonpostkantianseminar@gmail.com

Frege Workshop

25 Friday Oct 2019

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The department will be hosting a workshop on the philosophy of Gottlob Frege on Friday 1st of  November in Room 405, Philosophy Building.

11am-1pm: Robert May (University of California, Davis): ‘Sense’

Abstract: What is sense? Frege’s answer is this: Sense is what makes a reference thinkable such that in virtue of thinking this way an agent has grounds for making a judgement. In this talk, I explore this conception, which places sense at the crux of Frege’s account of judgement. The central claim is that sense is a composite notion, split between what makes a reference thinkable (mode of determination) and how we think of references (mode of presentation). These are related via grasp: an agent who grasps a mode of determination of a reference has a mode of presentation of that reference, and accordingly has grounds for making a judgement. This is crucial to understanding how Frege responded to the threat to logicism posed by the identity puzzle, viz. that a = b requires a special act of recognition in judgement. But it does, perhaps surprisingly, leave open the analysis of a = a.

2.30pm-4.30pm: Mark Textor and Eliot Michaelson: ‘Frege on Thinking in Signs and Sense’

Abstract: Contemporary Fregeans standardly take the theory of sense and reference to apply to natural languages, and to earn its keep by helping to explain communicative success and failure in such languages. So construed, Frege’s theory of sense and reference faces serious difficulties. We argue for an alternative understanding of Frege’s project: following Humboldt, Trendelenburg, and others, Frege held that languages, systems of signs, are primarily means of thought and that beings like us can only think ‘in signs’. On this alternative construal of Frege’s work, his theory of sense and reference applies first and foremost to the sentences in which we think rather than sentences of natural languages like English or German. Not only is this understanding of Frege historically motivated, but viewing his work in this manner actually makes many of the puzzling features of the theory which have so preoccupied more contemporary Fregeans effectively disappear.

Date: Friday 1st November (11am- 4.30pm)

Venue: Room 405, Philosophy Building

Reading Groups this Term

22 Tuesday Oct 2019

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There are currently several reading groups running in the department. Even if you haven’t attended any before, you are more than welcome to drop by. MA students are particularly welcome.

(Mostly) Metaphysics Reading Group: Wednesday 1pm, Room 508, Philosophy Building

This term: Individuals by P.F. Strawson 

Email: roope-kristian.ryymin@kcl.ac.uk

Philosophy of Mind: Wednesday, 11am, Room 508, Philosophy Building

(alternates with A Spirit of Trust)

Email: patrick.butlin@kcl.ac.uk

A Spirit of Trust: Wednesday, 11am, Room 508, Philosophy Building

(alternates with Philosophy of Mind)

Email: fintan.mallory@kcl.ac.uk

Phenomenology in Analytic Philosophy: Wednesday 3pm, Room 508, Philosophy Building

Email: gregor.boes@kcl.ac.uk

Minorities and Philosophy: Date/Time varies

Email: alice.c.wright@kcl.ac.uk 

The Formal Methods Group

Friday, 2-4, Room 508

Keep an eye on the Events tab for more updates!

Masterclass on Higher-Order Metaphysics with Andrew Bacon

20 Thursday Dec 2018

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Prof. Andrew Bacon (USC) will give a masterclass on Higher-Order Metaphysics at King’s College London on May 8th-10th, 2019. The masterclass will include guest talks by Nick Jones (Birmingham), Jessica Leech (KCL), and Timothy Williamson (Oxford).

The event is open to graduate students and researchers from any institution. Attendance is free but registration is required. To register fill in the form below.

You can download a pdf version of the programme.

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