Symposia and Lectures
Fall 2024 Colloquium Series:
September 27, 2024
Samantha Matherne
Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University
Location: Miner 225
3:30-5:30pm
"Toward a Social Theory of Aesthetic Autonomy: Schiller and Staël"
In the aesthetic domain, a form of autonomy is often prized: rather than letting our aesthetic judgments be determined by others, we seek to determine for ourselves whether something has aesthetic value. In recent discussions, aesthetic autonomy has been cast primarily in individualist terms, as a matter of an individual exercising their capacities to arrive at an aesthetic judgment. This focus on the individual is something encouraged by Immanuel Kant’s original and influential vision of the aesthetically autonomous person as someone who arrives at aesthetic judgments not by ‘collecting votes’, but through an exercise of their ‘own taste’. Though acknowledging these individual dimensions is important, a wholly individualist theory of aesthetic autonomy neglects its equally important social dimensions. In order to bring this social dimension to the fore, I draw on the work of two philosophers writing immediately in Kant’s wake who were especially alert to the social aspects, both real and ideal, of aesthetic autonomy: Friedrich Schiller and Germaine de Staël. Taking my cue from their work, I propose a social theory of aesthetic autonomy as a kind of social good that should, but might not obtain, and that serves as a condition of individual aesthetic autonomy.
October 11, 2024
Shaun Nichols
Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences in Philosophy and Director of Cognitive Science, Cornell University
Location: Miner 225
3:30-5:30pm
"Not for me: On the external function of guilt"
The function of a system—what a system is for—is typically conceived of in terms of the benefits the system confers to its owner. For example, the function of zebra stripes is whatever stripes do to advantage zebras. In the case of guilt, however, this leads to a puzzle, since while “it seems that it is good for you that others are guilt-prone, … it is less clear that being guilt-prone is good for [you]” (Deem & Ramsey 2016b, 571). Many philosophers and cognitive scientists have addressed this puzzle by trying to show that, appearances notwithstanding, guilt is indeed good for its owner, in that it attracts cooperators. In this article, we argue that this cooperation-based approach to the puzzle of guilt faces several challenges, and we put forward an alternative solution. Some systems, we propose, have an external function, that is, a type of function that has to do with the benefits the system confers to somebody other than its owner. Guilt is one such system. Guilt involves both a programmer and a recipient—i.e., an individual that instills or modifies the guilt system and an individual that gets so programmed—and it serves the interests of the programmers, not that of the recipient. The function of my being guilt prone is not for me.
November 8, 2024
Lucas Stanczyk
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University
Location: Miner 225
3:30-5:30pm
"The Invisible Police State"
Most people think that the United States is a free society in two fundamental respects. First, they think that the constitution of the United States formally bestows an identical set of basic rights and liberties on all of its non-incarcerated citizens. Second, people think that in contrast to the diversity of illiberal authoritarian regimes abroad, the United States is a constitutionally liberal state that is at least formally committed to the rule of law. In this talk, I will argue that these widely shared beliefs cannot survive an encounter with the laws that govern the police.
Spring 2025 Colloquium Series
January 17, 2025
Matthew Mandelkern
Associate Professor of Philosophy, NYU
Location: Miner 225
3:30-5:30pm
"Title (coming soon)"
Abstract (coming soon)
March 14, 2025
Zoë Johnson King
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University
Location: Miner 225
3:30-5:30pm
"Title (coming soon)"
Abstract (coming soon)
April 25, 2025
Shamik Dasgupta
Associate Professor of Philosophy, UC Berkeley
Location: Miner 225
3:30-5:30pm
"Title (coming soon)"
Abstract (coming soon)
Annual Hugo Bedau Memorial Lecture
April 11, 2025
Kit Wellman
Professor of Philosophy, Washington University in St. Louis Berkeley
Location: Braker 001
3:30-5:30pm