When? March 24th @4pm
Where? Zoom (meeting ID 873 2282 1699)
When? March 18, 2022 @5pm
Where? Zoom (meeting ID 860 7466 6079)
Abstract: Ethical intuitionism is a view in moral epistemology according to which the basic moral principles are self-evidently true. Ethical intuitionists like W. D. Ross and Robert Audi generate numerous deontological principles using this approach. I will argue that there is higher-order evidence about some of these supposedly self-evident moral propositions serves as a defeater for their self-evidence. Specifically, the fact that there is cross-cultural disagreement about some of the moral propositions we appraise as self-evident is evidence that the origin of these intuitions is epistemically untrustworthy. Since the moral philosophers who defend these claims often only support them through intuition, these claims are unjustified, and instead must be supported by argument.
When? March 15 @ 5pm
Where? Zoom (Meeting ID 822 1201 3026)
Abstract: "I argue for a plausible African idea and practice of substantive individual rights based on a communal system of the moral correlativity of rights and duties. This system specifies, (a) the priority of self-regarding and other-regarding duties, and, (b) the reciprocity of duties. These duties, which are a means of promoting general welfare and enhancing substantive rights and dignity, include perfect duties of non-interference that are engendered by rights. Communalism also emphasizes imperfect duties that do not necessarily correlate to rights, including supererogatory duties that are beyond the call of duty, and prima facie duties that can be overridden by different moral considerations. The ideas of priority and reciprocity of duties are exemplified in the social-communal nature of humans as implicated in African normative conception of 'personhood'. 'Personhood' involves an earned status that derives from, (a) human metaphysical capacities and, (b) social-moral recognition based on how properly these capacities are used in agency for moral excellence, by performing relevant duties."
Event organized by the Association of Philosophy Students.
All students welcome.
"Philosophers of art commonly believe that a characteristic feature of works of art is that they warrant interpretation. But what fixes the proper object of interpretation, how do we adjudicate interpretative disagreements, and are our interpretative activities subject to any ethical constraints? In this talk, we will explore the relationship between these questions, focusing on intentionalism, the view that the proper object of art interpretation is fixed by the intention of the artist. I will discuss recent attempts to defend this view by appeals to the ethics of conversational interpretation. I will argue that, on the contrary, conversational ethics suggests that some important properties of works of art — their aboutness-properties — are fixed not by the intention of the artist but by the ongoing and revocable tacit agreement between the artist and the audience."
Event organized by the Association of Philosophy Students.
All students welcome.
"Cases of past absence (prāṅnâstitāsthala) involve agents noticing in retrospect that an object or property was absent, such as when one notices later that a colleague was not at a talk. Such cases pose substantive questions for the epistemology of absence: how is that we become aware that an object or property was previously absent, now that its absence is temporally and spatially distal? And in the process, do wegainknowledge that the object or property was absent? Or are we somehow recalling its absence, even though we did not take note of its absence at the time? We'll look at two competing views from the Sanskrit philosophical tradition about how agents learn of absence in retrospect: one from the 11th century Bhāṭṭa philosopher Pārthasārathi, and another from the 14th century Nyāya philosopher Gaṅgeśa, who raises a series of convincing objections to Pārthasārathi's view."
Event organized by the Association of Philosophy Students.
All students welcome.
Professor Sedivy gave a talk on "Wittgenstein, Plurality, and Context: Art as a Case Study" for the Twenty-Fifth British Wittgenstein Society Lecture Series on June 1, 2021.
Using Art as her example, Sedivy proposes that Wittgenstein’s later work suggests that we need to understand historically specific arts in their contexts and how this gives us just the outlook we need to understand art and art practices in their diversity.
The talk is accessible via the British Wittgenstein Society website here. Be sure to check it out.
The Zoom Link is:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/87800990504
Meeting ID: 878 0099 0504
Passcode: 639653
James Anderson – Bioethicist, Sick Kids Hospital
Eric Mathison – CEO, Canmore Ethics (Health Ethics Consulting); Clinical Ethicist, Alberta Health Services
Victoria Shelep – Coordinator, Research Ethics, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
The panel will be moderated by Professor Andrew Franklin-Hall and Maja Soltysiak (Philosophy Course Union Bioethics Liaison).
We hope to see you there!
Date: Mar 23, 2021
Time: 2:00 - 3:15pm
Photo Credit: A. M. Cassandre, ‘Bijoux Modernes‘
The biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky wrote that nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. Is there an even more general theory that can make sense of all the sciences? The various scientific disciplines each have their own methods, theories, and practices. This is the case even when different sciences try to explain the same phenomena. Can we translate between these distinct disciplines? What does this even mean? Might all of science be reduced to physics one day? Panel to discuss reduction, emergence, and the unity of the sciences.
Speakers
Philip Ball
Science Writer and Editor, Nature
Vanessa Seifert
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Bristol
Jessica Wilson
Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto
For any queries, email events@lse.ac.uk
All Welcome.
Join Dr. Ariella Binik (McMaster University) and Dr. Angel Petropanagos (Impact Ethics) on Thursday, March 25, 2021 from 4-5pm for an informative webinar.
Email guerre2@mcmaster.ca to register.
If so, join us on Thursday, Oct. 22nd from 5:00-6:00pm for our annual Applying to Grad School workshop. Our panelists for this event are:
Prof. Amy Mullin, Director of Graduate Studies
Prof. Peter King, Director of Undergraduate Studies
Andriy Bilenkyy, PhD Student
Jashan Mavi, MA Student
Please RSVP to eric.correia@utoronto.ca by Wednesday, Oct. 21st.
A Zoom link for the event will be sent to all student who RSVP.