Conferences

This conference will bring together UofT students and recent graduates from across disciplines to present and discuss research in the spirit of the C4E’s mission to explore the ethical dimensions of individual, social, and political life.

About the theme: The global pandemic is an ongoing battle that affects all spheres of life—including: politics, education, economics, healthcare, and our interpersonal relationships. Such dramatic changes warrant thoughtful reflection on how society shall “heal” in both a literal and figurative sense. We are interested in investigating questions such as: what constitutes an ethical approach to resuming activities given the health and access-based inequities wrought by the pandemic? What is the place of “reconciliation” in quotidian life at a personal level and a larger policy level? In light of these questions, we have selected diverse projects that either focus on the pandemic directly or concern the themes of reconciliation, community building, and overcoming adversity.

Conference Schedule

12 pm – Welcome

Panel I — Evaluating Fairness in the Community

12:05 pm – Ana Brinkerhoff, Unenforced Policy in Ontario’s Long-Term Care Homes: Unequal Access in Public and Private Healthcare in a Pandemic

12:15 pm –  Cheryl Cheung, A Brave New Age of Damages: The Need for Independent and Reimagined Autonomous Vehicle Insurance

12:25 pm — Panel I Question and Answer Period

Panel II — Promoting Reconciliation and Inclusivity

12:45 pm –  Michael Demone, Public History, Ethics, and Reconciliation

12:55 pm – James Ralph, Gender Dysphoria does not Belong in the DSM

1:05 pm — Panel II Question and Answer Period

Panel III — The Philosophy of Human Flourishing

1:25 pm –  Ariel LaFayette,  Marriage in Modernity

1:35 pm — Radheesh Ameresekere, Towards a Perfectionist Account of Human Rights

1:45 pm —  Panel III Question and Answer Period

Presented by the Association of Philosophy Students

• Keynote Speaker - Phoebe Friesen (McGill University) - Medical Aid in Dying and Suicide: How are they different and how are they similar?

• Student Speaker - Abbey Horner (University of Western Ontario) - A Realistic Analysis of rCRISPR: The Inevitability and Necessity of Research on and Regulation of Reproductive CRISPR

• Student Speaker - Kate Tsiandoulas (University of Toronto: St. George) - Arguments against Bonnie Burstow's Anti-Psychiatry Movement

• Student Speaker - Soaad Hossain (University of Toronto: Scarborough Campus) - Approaching patient-clinician relationship issues involving artificial intelligence using ethics of care and nursing ethics

Special Feature: Panel discussion on Graduate Studies in Philosophy with Tania Sleman (New York University), Sydney Campbell (University of Toronto) and Adrian Ma (University of Toronto)