This conference will discuss the role of digital spaces such as social media in being a public philosopher or theologian. The conference will choose papers that explore different digital platforms, how these platforms can aid in being a public philosopher or theologian, as well as the specific challenges these spaces pose. Sessions will explore how digital spaces have become arenas for philosophers and theologians to discuss ideas with other scholars and with the public, and how the discussion of concepts in this format affects the delivery and reception of the ideas. We will solicit papers that specifically discuss how digital spaces can positively facilitate the goals of public philosophy. Internet spaces are an important tool for the contemporary public philosopher and the full implications of their usage has not yet been fully explored.
Main speakers: Barry Lam, Vassar College
Contact Information
You should come to one of the three (3) Ask a Philosopher booths we have scheduled for the month of September!
Saturday 9/7, 10:00-2:00 @ the Borough Hall Greenmarket
Saturday 9/14, 11:00-3:00 @ the Market at the Brooklyn Museum
Saturday 9/21, 10:00-2:00 @ the McCarren Park Greenmarket
You should come to one of the three (3) Ask a Philosopher booths we have scheduled for the month of September!
Saturday 9/7, 10:00-2:00 @ the Borough Hall Greenmarket
Saturday 9/14, 11:00-3:00 @ the Market at the Brooklyn Museum
Saturday 9/21, 10:00-2:00 @ the McCarren Park Greenmarket
You should come to one of the three (3) Ask a Philosopher booths we have scheduled for the month of September!
Saturday 9/7, 10:00-2:00 @ the Borough Hall Greenmarket
Saturday 9/14, 11:00-3:00 @ the Market at the Brooklyn Museum
Saturday 9/21, 10:00-2:00 @ the McCarren Park Greenmarket
Certain intellectual challenges can neither be resolved by the discovery of missing pieces of information nor by construction of better arguments. Yet what is called for in such cases is not mere persuasion, but a form of intellectual transformation. Wittgenstein sought to respond to the problems of philosophy along similar lines. And the need for the notion of intellectual transformation arises in other contexts, as well, including the context of moral progress, which Cora Diamond explores in her recent work. But various philosophical difficulties stand in the way of embracing the idea that transformation has any role to play when it comes to questions or truth and of value. In particular, it seems that we must either bracket the psychological, historical and anthropological perspectives that the notion of transformation opens up, or else succumb to some form of relativism. My aim in this paper is to show how Wittgenstein and Diamond chart a middle course between these two extremes
Recently, Rebecca Kukla – among others – has argued that consent language is too narrow to adequately capture the ethical obligations and failures arising in the context of sex. Instead, she offers more nuanced scripts for the kinds of communication that occur throughout sex, not just at the beginning. I agree with Kukla that consent language is too narrow; however, I argue that she overlooks the fact that intimate personal communication requires an emotional attunement to context precisely because it cannot be fully scripted. To demonstrate this I turn to Cavell’s category of the passionate utterance which gestures at this dynamic dimension of performatives, but doesn’t deliver a detailed account. In this paper I will expand on Cavell’s idea of the passionate exchange in order to shed light on the active interpretive role of the audience, and how it contributes to performative success.
- This Saturday, November 16th from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, we have an Ask a Philosopher booth at the Brooklyn Museum.
- Next Saturday, November 23rd from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM or so, we’re doing the Ask a Philosopher thing at Same Same But Different: This Year’s Harvest, a concert/meditation/house party in Bed Stuy.
- The last Philosophy in the Library talk of 2019 is coming up on December 4th at 7:00 PM! Sebastian Purcell is talking about “Good Habits Aren’t Enough: The Aztec Conception of Shared Agency!” If you’re into indigenous philosophy, the history of philosophy, virtue ethics, or collective action, you should enjoy it. More info soon!
- This Saturday, November 16th from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, we have an Ask a Philosopher booth at the Brooklyn Museum.
- Next Saturday, November 23rd from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM or so, we’re doing the Ask a Philosopher thing at Same Same But Different: This Year’s Harvest, a concert/meditation/house party in Bed Stuy.
- The last Philosophy in the Library talk of 2019 is coming up on December 4th at 7:00 PM! Sebastian Purcell is talking about “Good Habits Aren’t Enough: The Aztec Conception of Shared Agency!” If you’re into indigenous philosophy, the history of philosophy, virtue ethics, or collective action, you should enjoy it. More info soon!
NYC Wittgenstein presents:
Professor Rupert Read (Personal Website link) will be joining us on the 22nd of October from 1-3 PM EDT on Zoom in presenting the introduction from his book, Wittgenstein’s Liberatory Philosophy: Thinking Through His Philosophical Investigations, in which he argues that “the key to understanding Wittgenstein’s later philosophy is to understand its liberatory purport.”