Philosophy

Forthcoming Event: 2018-2019 Grunebaum Lecture February 7, 2019, 3-5pm Zemsky Presentation Room, Alumni Center, Myisha Cherry, "Breaking Racial Rules Through Rage"

Abstract: It has been argued that members of oppressed groups break "feeling rules" when they express anger at injustice. For this reason philosopher Alison Jaggar and law professor Janine Young Kim refer to emotions such as anger as outlaw emotions and affective transgressions, respectively. But I think more can be said. I shall argue that rage at racial injustice not only breaks feeling rules but "racial rules"--- emotive, cognitive, and behavioral rules that enforce white superiority, entitlement, and respect. Such rule breaking threatens racial domination projects. This helps explain why some are resistant to and critical of rage--particularly the apt, motivational, and productive kinds--and why a person who has this rage is a resistant figure.

December 2018: Professor John Torrey gives talk on "How Social Recognition Prevents Rectifying Injustices Against Black Americans" Listen to the podcast

Abstract: Black Americans have made many arguments that racial injustices committed against them should be rectified.  Two issues arise from these arguments - how should we understand what is it to rectify these injustices; and what can explain why these arguments have not been taken seriously in America?  I argue two things.  First, that rectificatory justice, a type of justice specifically designed to set unjust situations right, can explain what it is to rectify those injustices.  Second, that how Black Americans are socially recognized affects their ability to receive rectificatory justice.

August 2018: The Department is happy to welcome John Torrey as a Provost's Faculty Fellow! John joins us from the University of Memphis. He specializes in African-American Philosophy, Social and Political Philosophy, and Applied Ethics. He will be teaching a topics class in African-American Philosophy in the Spring.