Lectures, Workshops & Webinars

The Perils of Naivety in Moral Epistemology: Ethical Intuitionism and Cross-Cultural Disagreement with Martin Dimitrov

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.

Substantive Human Rights, Priority of Duties, and African Communalism with Kent State University's Polycarp Ikuenobe

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.

Pārthasārathi and Gaṅgeśa on Absence in Retrospect with Jack Beaulieu

"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.

The Zoom Link is:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/87800990504

Meeting ID: 878 0099 0504

Passcode: 639653

Our Panelists:

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!

Our own, Dr. Jessica Wilson will be a panelist at the event, "A Theory of Everything?" organized by LSE's Forum for Philosophy

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.

Attention Biomedical Ethics Students: Want to get familiar with the publishing process?

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.