@aj_wendland launched and runs the philosophy column in TheNew Statesman called Agora, which is a space for academics to address contemporary social, political and cultural issues from a philosophical point of view.
Passengers evacuated from Afghanistan landing at RAF Brize Norton station, England, August 2021. [Photo by Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images]
See this new article by Ashwini Vasanthakumar in @aj_wendland‘s Agora series @NewStatesman. Ashwini Vasanthakumar is Queen’s National Scholar in Legal and Political Philosophy and Associate Professor of Law at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. She is also the author of The Ethics of Exile(OUP).
@aj_wendland launched and runs the philosophy column in TheNew Statesman called Agora, which is a space for academics to address contemporary social, political and cultural issues from a philosophical point of view.
Thursday 17 March 2022, 4:30pm K2.40, King’s College London Strand Campus, Strand, WC2R 2LS Please register here
Abstract: In this paper, I discuss the relationship between theoretical equivalence and convention. After reviewing the idea that when we disagree over a (mere) convention, we are advocating theoretically equivalent descriptions, I consider the possibility of conventions about equivalence – i.e., conventions as to what standard of theoretical equivalence should be adopted. I argue that Carnap’s Principle of Tolerance illuminates what to say about such cases, despite initial impressions to the contrary.
Without an audience, revenge porn doesn’t work. Those who view these images need to understand they are participants in the offence, and the harm it can do. [Illustration by Darren Hopes / Ikon Images]
See this new article by Helen Frowe & Jon Parry in @aj_wendland‘s Agora series @NewStatesman. Helen Frowe is Professor of Practical Philosophy at Stockholm University and Jonathan Parry is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics.
@aj_wendland launched and runs the philosophy column in TheNew Statesman called Agora, which is a space for academics to address contemporary social, political and cultural issues from a philosophical point of view.
** Please note that, due to the high demand for this event, we have added the option of attending remotely (registration via the Eventbrite link below). If you have booked an in-person place but are no longer able to attend, or prefer to switch to online attendance, please cancel or amend your booking via the link below. This will allow one of the persons currently on the waiting list to be given an in-person place. Many thanks!
Venue: KCL Strand Campus, Bush House 8th Floor (North), 30 Aldwych, London, WC2B 4BG
“The Humanization of Endless War and the Cause of Peace”
Speaker: Professor Samuel Moyn, Henry R. Luce Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale Law School and Professor of History at Yale University
The Peace Lectures are due to Alan Lacey, a life-long pacifist who taught philosophy at King’s College London for some fifteen years, and who left a generous bequest to fund a lecture series promoting peace. The series is organized by KCL Philosophy Department.
The lecture will be followed by a reception at Bush House, 8th Floor (South) and by the announcement of the winners of the Estella Newsome Memorial Prize essay competition (sponsored by the Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament).
Call for Papers from the Journal of Philosophy in Schools– From the campus to the classroom: university philosophy outreach programs
University philosophy outreach programs are proliferating. On campuses across the world, students and staff are taking philosophy out to the wider community, and especially to children and young people in schools. Their mission is to engage the public in philosophical discussion and to make a notoriously abstract and arcane subject accessible, meaningful and useful.
As yet, there is little published research on these programs. They give rise to two clusters of questions deserving of scholary attention. First, there are questions about the rationale for philosophy outreach. What is the purpose of taking philosophy into the community? What are the intended benefits of these programs, to the children and young people who participate in them, to the students and staff who lead them, to society at large, or to the discipline of philosophy itself? How do these aims inform the selection of philosophical topics, texts, tools and techniques? The second group of questions have to do with the success of philosophy outreach. What attempts have been made to evaluate these programs and their outcomes? Do they, in fact, yield the benefits intended by those who design and deliver them? Are there any drawbacks to participation, or benefits other than the intended ones? What challenges (financial, institutional, pedagogical, psychological) have been encountered by those engaged in philosophy outreach and how have they been overcome?
Papers are invited for a special issue of Journal of Philosophy in Schools (JPS) on university philosophy outreach programs. Papers may be theoretical or empirical and may focus on any of the questions suggested above. Prospective authors are welcome to contact the editors of the special issue – Michael Hand (m.hand@bham.ac.uk) and Jane Gatley (j.o.gatley@bham.ac.uk) – to discuss their ideas.
In the first instance, please submit an abstract (max 200 words), summarising your proposed paper, to m.hand@bham.ac.uk by 31 May 2022.
JPS is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access online journal hosted by the University of Birmingham UK and affiliated with the Federation of Asia-Pacific Philosophy in Schools Associations (FAPSA).
On Thursday the 24th of February, 2022, King’s College London will be the proud host of the Regional Tournament of Ethics Cup. Professor of Philosophy Andrea Sangiovanni, whose main areas of research are in contemporary moral, legal, and political philosophy, is organising.
The Ethics Cup is a tournament in which teams of high school students match wits with each other discussing ethical issues of public concern. It’s not a debating competition and isn’t won by proving the opposing side wrong. Rather, it’s a collaborative discussion, and the team that best displays the virtues of insightfulness, thoughtfulness and civility takes home the ultimate prize, the cup itself!
Since the platform is perfectly designed for what Heidegger called “idle talk”, it’s no surprise that untruths proliferate there – @aj_wendland. [Illustration by Gary Waters / Ikon Images]
Aaron James Wendland is Vision Fellow in Public Philosophy at King’s College London and a Senior Research Fellow at Massey College in the University of Toronto. He is also the co-editor of Heidegger on Technology (Routledge) and Wittgenstein and Heidegger (Routledge).
Anna Milioni, PhD Student in Political Philosophy at KCL
By Anna Milioni
I started my PhD in Political Philosophy at King’s a year ago – roughly the same time that with a group of friends, we decided to found The Pamphlet (@the_Pamphlet_), a new philosophy magazine. The Pamphlet (https://www.the-pamphlet.com/) is an online platform for the publication of short, publicly accessible articles on philosophy which are broadly accessible to non-philosophers. Initially conceived as an online magazine, it now aspires to be much more: to contribute to the public dissemination of philosophy through the publication of articles that are topical and fun to read, but also to highlight the interactions between philosophy and other disciples, to host interviews and artistic projects with philosophical interest, to bring philosophers and non-philosophers in contact… Its main commitment, however, remains the creation or promotion of content that raises philosophical questions and is approachable to non-philosophers.
The idea was born out of a concern that is probably shared among many philosophers: while we are quite passionate about our research, and we believe that philosophy has an important role to play in society, few people read philosophy, or even know what philosophers do. As a PhD student in migration ethics at King’s, I have to contend with this in too many occasions, when people not familiar with philosophy ask me what I am doing in my life. In family reunions, family members were asking what a PhD in philosophy means. Fairly educated friends had no idea what it would mean to do philosophical research. When I explain to them my research, I keep getting the same incredulous reaction. It’s not that people don’t understand the details of my project. Most often, they simply don’t see the point in someone doing philosophical research.
Discussing this with other philosophy graduates, I realised how many of us are devastated by the thought that no one knows about all the inspiring ideas that we are studying. Therefore, with a group of friends – and philosophy graduates – we decided to take action. We thought that many people don’t read philosophy partly because of the way philosophy is written. Many academic philosophy papers are dry – maybe we could try to present their key ideas in a simpler manner, aiming not at addressing elaborate counterarguments and engaging in an advanced debate, but at demonstrating the social relevance of the work. We also decided to focus on raising questions, instead of answering them: the goal was to motivate our readers to think philosophically themselves, in a structured and organized way. Apart from me, the founders of the Pamphlet are Anita Ishaq (our Editor-in-chief), Nick Johnston, Anke Devyver, Oliver Sargeant, Casper Mullie, and Sercan Kiyak.
(Some) others on The Pamphlet team!
As our project is new but ambitious, we would love to have contributions or foster collaborations. For now, we mainly publish short articles (ideally 1000 words, max 2000 words), that go through a double-review process with an emphasis on clarity, approachability and engagement. But since we have a broader vision for our project, we would be very happy to consider publishing or sharing other kinds of content as well (we have dreams of making podcasts, videos, a forthcoming interviewing project, and much more). We also hope to expand our team with new members or Pamphlet affiliates, and we would love to hear from you if you feel that you would like to get involved in our project.
Just send me an e-mail at anna.milioni@kcl.ac.uk if you are interested in contributing in some way.
For me, the Pamphlet was a great opportunity to think and write about questions that I often thought about, but never took the time to properly explore in an organized way. The contributions I’m most proud of is a series of articles that relate operas to contemporary social and political questions (so far I’ve written about Falstaff and enjoying life, Lucia di Lammermoor and feminism, and Dr Atomic and technocracy (forthcoming), and I plan to write on Carmen and femicide, and Macbeth and power).What I find most challenging is managing to write in an accessible and engaging way: when I first tried, I realised with horror that after years of university studies, I had lost the ability to write casually! I am now in the process of regaining this skill. But the fact that everyone who contributed to The Pamphlet faced this difficulty makes me think that training ourselves to communicate our ideas to non-academic philosophers is urgently needed, if philosophy is to remain socially relevant.
Many visitors strolling around the National Gallery savour the washed evening light, pinkly flowering across the still water in Monet’s masterpiece Water Lilies in Setting Sun. Some linger just a bit longer…and unleash something deeper from that pond. A sense of regret…
King's Philosophy 