Philosophy Colloquium Series


Winter 2024

MEETING TIME: 3:00PM-4:30pm

MEETING LOCATION: BLL-110 MAK 

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Winter 2024

Date: Winter, 2024 (Full Schedule Below)

For more information about events contact Professor Alycia LaGuardia-LoBianco [email protected]


March 15, 2024

GVSU Philosophy Alum Talk

On Duty to Not-Vote: Three Perspectives

Patrick Anderson (Central State University)

Talk Description

Voting ethics is a quickly growing area within the field of social ethics, but philosophers have not seriously considered arguments in defense of a duty to not-vote, meaning that citizens may have, in some cases, a duty to refrain from voting at all. Not only does the notion of a duty to not-vote contradict a prevailing popular assumption that citizens to in fact have a duty to vote, it also represents a challenge to predominant philosophical positions on the matter. In this talk, I present three perspectives on the potential duty to not-vote, examining positions inspired by the works of Simone Weil (mysticism), W.E.B. Du Bois (anticolonialism), and George Carlin (cynicism). First, I provide a brief summary of prevailing scholarly positions on the duty to vote—represented by Jason Brennan’s The Ethics of Voting and Julia Maskivker’s The Duty to Vote. Second, I introduce the distinction between natural duties and special duties to contextualize the duty to not-vote. Third, I examine the ways in which the critical positions of Weil, Du Bois, and Carlin suggest that under certain conditions, citizens of a democracy may have a moral duty to abstain from voting at all. 


March 29, 2024

Interdisciplinary Panel: Philosophical Perspectives on Mental Illness and Mental Health

Gwenden Dueker (Grand Valley State University Psychology), Larry Burns (Grand Valley State University Psychology), William Parkhurst (Grand Valley State University Philosophy),

and Alycia LaGuardia-LoBianco (Grand Valley State University Philosophy)

 

Panel Description

Mental illness is receiving more popular and professional attention than ever. Yet beyond an intuitive grasp of what it means to be ‘mentally ill’ or ‘mentally healthy,’ these concepts and their roles in our lives remain vague. This panel will explore the philosophical implications of mental illness and mental health: what does it mean to have a mental illness? How do we distinguish behavior that is merely abnormal from that which is unhealthy? How do these definitions differ across cultures and time? What does mental health look like? Is mental illness a disability or a difference? Should we understand mental illness as an individual problem or is it a symptom of a systemic issue, some evidence of a sickness of our societies?

 

Join us for an interdisciplinary panel on these and other philosophical questions!


April 12, 2024

Confucian Humility in the Analects

Wenhui Xie (Grand Valley State University Philosophy)

Talk Description

 The growing literature on humility in general has sparked interests regarding humility in Confucianism. Scholars such as Jin Li, Sara Rushing, Alexus McLeod and Shun have offered related but distinct accounts of Confucian humility. Building upon their accounts and adding the new element of li 禮, I argue that in the Analects, there are two strands of Confucian humility. Focusing on the agent herself, the first strand can be characterized as vigilance rooted in loving learning. Focusing on others and responsibilities in general, the second strand can be characterized as devotion to responsibility. When they are effectively communicated through li, both strands are recognized as Confucian humility proper.



Page last modified February 23, 2024