Sep
22
Thu
Paul Kottman: Love as Human Freedom @ Wolff Conference Room, Albert and Vera List Academic Center, rm D1103
Sep 22 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Paul Kottman, Associate Professor of Literary Studies, gives a lecture entitled “Love as Human Freedom”.

Rather than see love as a natural form of affection, or as a reflection of reigning ideologies, this lecture presents love as a practice that changes over time, through which new social realities are brought into being. Love brings about, and helps us to explain, immense social-historical shifts—from the rise of feminism and the emergence of bourgeois family life, to the struggles for abortion rights and birth control and the erosion of a gender-based division of labor. Drawing on Hegel, via interpretations of literary works, Kottman argues that love generates and explains expanded possibilities for freely lived lives, and is a fundamental way that we make sense of temporal change, especially the inevitability of death and the propagation of life.

About the speaker:

Paul Kottman is the author of Tragic Conditions in Shakespeare (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009), A Politics of the Scene (Stanford University Press, 2008) and is the editor of Philosophers on Shakespeare (Stanford University Press, 2009), and The Insistence of Art: Aesthetic Philosophy and Early Modernity (Fordham UP, forthcoming). His next book is tentatively entitled Love as Human Freedom. He is also the editor of a new book series at Stanford University Press, called Square One: First-Order Questions in the Humanities.

Sponsored by the Department of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research.

Dec
9
Fri
Elizabeth Miller (Yale), Jonathan Bain (NYU): What Explains the Spin-Statistics Connection? @ NYU Philosophy Dept. rm 101
Dec 9 @ 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Metro Area Philosophy of Science Presents:

Elizabeth Miller (Yale),

Title: TBA.

Jonathan Bain (NYU)

What Explains the Spin-Statistics Connection?

The spin-statistics connection plays an essential role in explanations of non-relativistic phenomena associated with both field-theoretic and non-field-theoretic systems (for instance, it explains the electronic structure of solids and the behavior of Einstein-Bose condensates and superconductors). However, it is only derivable within the context of relativistic quantum field theory (RQFT) in the form of the Spin-Statistics Theorem; and moreover, there are multiple, mutually incompatible ways of deriving it. This essay attempts to determine the sense in which the spin-statistics connection can be said to be an essential property in RQFT, and how it is that an essential property of one type of theory can figure into fundamental explanations offered by other, inherently distinct theories.

Feb
1
Wed
Buddhist Meditation, Mental Freedom, and Free Will @ Cornelia Street Cafe
Feb 1 @ 6:00 pm

It is a generally accepted principle of Buddhist philosophy that it denies the ultimate reality of the self as an autonomously existing entity. Yet the philosopher Rick Repetti, who is also a seasoned practitioner and instructor of meditation and yoga, argues that the Buddhist view of meditation is in fact a method of cultivating mental freedom, and that such cultivation simultaneously increases free will. Join Dr. Repetti as he takes us on a journey into the Buddhist perspective in order to dissolve the apparent tension of free will for selves that do not exist.

Wednesday, February 1 at 6pm. This event is part of the Philosophy Series at The Cornelia Street Café, located at 29 Cornelia Street, New York, NY 10014 (near Sixth Avenue and West 4th St.). Admission is $10, which includes the price of one drink. Reservations are recommended (212. 989.9319)

Dr. Repetti is Professor of Philosophy at CUNY Kingsborough, the co-founder and co-leader of the CUNY Contemplatives Network, and a Fellow with the Center for the Contemplative Mind in Society. He has published over a dozen articles, chapters, and books about, Buddhism, meditation, mental freedom, and free will, among other articles in the areas of ethics, philosophy of religion, and contemplative philosophy of education. His most recent book is Buddhist Perspectives on Free Will: Agentless Agency? (London: Routledge, 2016)

Mar
30
Thu
The Value of Privacy Beyond Autonomy – Tobias Matzner @ Wolff Conference Room, D1103, Albert and Vera List Academic Center
Mar 30 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Abstract || Traditionally privacy is valued for protecting individual freedom and autonomy. Such concepts of privacy and the underlying idea of autonomy have drawn criticism from various quarters. Feminist thinkers and critical theorists have advanced such criticism on normative grounds. In the recent years, they have been joined by arguments on a pragmatic level, which show that such concepts of privacy no longer can orient life in a world permeated with new threats to privacy, in particular due to the development of information technology. In consequence, many theories have reconstructed concepts privacy in light of this criticism, often by invoking more relational concepts of autonomy.  The talk proposes a different approach. Using a more socially situated concept of the subject, which is derived from Hannah Arendt’s thought, it shows that privacy plays a more fundamental value for the constitution of subjectivity, beyond autonomy.

Presented by The New School for Social Research

Tobias Matzner works in political philosophy and philosophy of technology. He is a visiting scholar at the Department of Philosophy at The New School for Social Research, and a member of the International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities in Tübingen, Germany.

May
19
Fri
The Cost of Freedom: Debt and Slavery @ Brooklyn College
May 19 – May 20 all-day

The aim of this conference is to bring scholars from numerous disciplines into conversation across the historical timeline. Just as freedom and liberty are slippery concepts, so are ideas of debt, value, and payment. But rather than simply viewing these terms as rhetorical devices that make freedom seem worthwhile, we deploy debt, value,and payment as analytical tools for understanding how freedom works – while also keeping in mind that these are concepts that themselves demand investigation. These ideas unite the discourses of freedom and liberty, from ethical and economic discourses, which describe freedom as either physical labor or a mental activity, as well as the language of religion and science. Often our innumerable ways of assessing value bleed one into another, especially in conversations regarding individual and shared liberties.

By explicitly juxtaposing the different methodologies used in asking “what does freedom cost?” from Greco-Roman antiquity to the present, we hope to explore overlapping areas of research and help expand the existing conversations in each discipline. In addition to providing vocabularies, practices and theories of freedom that we still use today, Ancient Greece and Rome provide many examples of peoples who lacked freedom but strove to obtain it, including slaves, women and conquered peoples. By simultaneously examining the Greco-Roman antiquity and modernity, we bring to light recurrent historical patterns of the costs that people have and continue pay for freedom.

We will be offering a minimum of six bursaries of up to 500 dollars to be awarded on the basis of greatest need, taking into account access to institutional funding and the distance of the conference from the participant’s home institution.

31 October 2016 is the deadline for the submission of abstracts. Please include the following as separate files:  (1) title, abstract of 300-500 words, a one page bibliography (no self identifying information please!); (2) your name, title of your proposed talk, institutional affiliation, short academic bio, and an indication of whether you’d like to be consider for a bursary, a budget for the amount requested, and any information we should take into consideration when making our bursary allocations.

Oct
30
Mon
Freedom of Speech for all: the gradual discovery, East and West – Richard Sorabji @ Archibald S. Alexander Library, Rm. 403
Oct 30 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

The Rutgers Philosophy Department, in partnership with Oxford University Press, is pleased to present the second annual Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy!  This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lectures are free and open to the public.

 

Last year, the inaugural series featured Kit Fine on a novel approach to the problem of vagueness.  This year, Rutgers is hosting Sir Richard Sorabji[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com] for three lectures on the history of free speech.  Here are the details:

 

Lecture I – Freedom of Speech for all: the gradual discovery, East and West.

Date/Time: Monday Oct. 30th, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)

Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])

 

Lecture II – Freedom of speech: voluntary boundaries when it stops discussion and the art of continuing discussion by other means

Date/Time: Thursday Nov. 2nd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)

Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])

 

Lecture III –  Freedom of Speech: Difficulties in framing and policing legal boundaries

Date/Time: Friday Nov. 3rd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)

Location: Rutgers Academic Building, Room 2125 (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/rutgers-academic-building[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])

 

All three lectures are free and open to the public.  Please see the attached posters for more details.  Abstracts for the talks are available here[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com].

About The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy:

In the Fall of 2016, The Rutgers Philosophy Department in partnership with Oxford University Press were pleased to announce the launch of The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]. This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers [na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lecturers also hold workshops with faculty and graduate students, and meet with undergraduates. The lectures are free and open to the public.

Nov
2
Thu
reedom of speech: voluntary boundaries when it stops discussion and the art of continuing discussion by other means – Richard Sorabji @ Archibald S. Alexander Library, Rm. 403
Nov 2 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

The Rutgers Philosophy Department, in partnership with Oxford University Press, is pleased to present the second annual Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy!  This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lectures are free and open to the public.

 

Last year, the inaugural series featured Kit Fine on a novel approach to the problem of vagueness.  This year, Rutgers is hosting Sir Richard Sorabji[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com] for three lectures on the history of free speech.  Here are the details:

 

Lecture I – Freedom of Speech for all: the gradual discovery, East and West.

Date/Time: Monday Oct. 30th, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)

Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])

 

Lecture II – Freedom of speech: voluntary boundaries when it stops discussion and the art of continuing discussion by other means

Date/Time: Thursday Nov. 2nd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)

Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])

 

Lecture III –  Freedom of Speech: Difficulties in framing and policing legal boundaries

Date/Time: Friday Nov. 3rd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)

Location: Rutgers Academic Building, Room 2125 (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/rutgers-academic-building[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])

 

All three lectures are free and open to the public.  Please see the attached posters for more details.  Abstracts for the talks are available here[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com].

About The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy:

In the Fall of 2016, The Rutgers Philosophy Department in partnership with Oxford University Press were pleased to announce the launch of The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]. This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers [na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lecturers also hold workshops with faculty and graduate students, and meet with undergraduates. The lectures are free and open to the public.

 

USA
Nov
3
Fri
Freedom of Speech: Difficulties in framing and policing legal boundaries – Richard Sorabji @ Rutgers Academic Bldg, rm 2125
Nov 3 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

The Rutgers Philosophy Department, in partnership with Oxford University Press, is pleased to present the second annual Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy!  This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lectures are free and open to the public.

 

Last year, the inaugural series featured Kit Fine on a novel approach to the problem of vagueness.  This year, Rutgers is hosting Sir Richard Sorabji[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com] for three lectures on the history of free speech.  Here are the details:

 

Lecture I – Freedom of Speech for all: the gradual discovery, East and West.

Date/Time: Monday Oct. 30th, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)

Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])

 

Lecture II – Freedom of speech: voluntary boundaries when it stops discussion and the art of continuing discussion by other means

Date/Time: Thursday Nov. 2nd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)

Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])

 

Lecture III –  Freedom of Speech: Difficulties in framing and policing legal boundaries

Date/Time: Friday Nov. 3rd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)

Location: Rutgers Academic Building, Room 2125 (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/rutgers-academic-building[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])

 

All three lectures are free and open to the public.  Please see the attached posters for more details.  Abstracts for the talks are available here[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com].

About The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy:

In the Fall of 2016, The Rutgers Philosophy Department in partnership with Oxford University Press were pleased to announce the launch of The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]. This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers [na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lecturers also hold workshops with faculty and graduate students, and meet with undergraduates. The lectures are free and open to the public.

Dec
14
Thu
Kant on Freedom in Thought and Action, Patricia Kitcher @ Wolff Conference Room, D1103
Dec 14 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Kant tried to explain how free moral action was possible.  Unfortunately, he is often interpreted as explaining free choice of action in terms of the unexplained free choice of a Gesinnung by a faculty of choice. By avoiding this mistake, we can see him as offering an informative decomposition of the task of free or moral action.  Further, one of Kant’s reasons for thinking that morality could not be explained by science depended on his assumptions about then current science. Since we can now reject that view of science, it is now possible to give a plausible scientific account, and so metaphysics, for Kant’s plausible account of the necessary conditions for free or moral action.

Patricia Kitcher is Roberta and William Campbell Professor of the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University.  She is the author of two books on Kant’s conceptions of cognition and the self, Kant’s Transcendental Psychology (Oxford University Press, 1990) and Kant’s Thinker (Oxford University Press, 2011).

Presented by The New School for Social Research (NSSR) Philosophy Department.

Mar
2
Sat
NYC Workshop in Early Modern Philosophy: Freedom and Evil @ Fordham Lincoln Center
Mar 2 – Mar 3 all-day

The workshop, which is now in its 9th year, aims to foster exchange and collaboration among scholars, students, and anyone with an interest in Early Modern Philosophy. This year’s workshop will focus on the topic of “Freedom and Evil” in Early Modern Philosophy (roughly the period from 1600-1800).

We welcome submissions on the conference topic, which may be broadly construed to include the problem of free will, theodicy, political and social liberty, and evil practices and institutions. For consideration, please submit abstracts of 250-300 words to newyorkcityearlymodern@gmail.com no later than December 31, 2018.

Keynote speakers:

(unaffiliated)
Boston University

Organisers:

(unaffiliated)
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan
Fordham University