Month: February 2019

Renewing Public Discourse: HCPL Capstone Workshop

Registration has now opened for the “Renewing Public Discourse: The HCPL Capstone Workshop” for the Humility and Conviction in Public Life (HCPL) project, to be held April 4-5, 2019 on the UConn Storrs campus. The workshop will be a celebration and summation of the project’s efforts at renewing public discourse, from Global Research Projects, to public engagement, and more.

 

The complete list of participants will include:

Registration (free, but mandatory) is now open for this event.

 

We hope that you will be able to  in join us, and we look forward to providing you with more information very soon. In the meantime, please keep an eye out for future emails and check the HCPL website for all information.

The Conviction Workshop – February 1-2, 2019

“How ought we to believe?” For the participants at The Conviction Workshop, this question raised a number of concerns about the nature, function and appropriateness of “conviction.” As a moral, cultural, emotional and political concept, conviction bridges the ground between belief and action. For some, moral convictions can serve to protect or correct normative structures; it might mean committing oneself to action or detachment; be uncritical or allow for evaluation; can be a product of one’ s social atmosphere or the proof of one’s individuality; and be the difference between blind acceptance or true knowledge. In exploring this concept, the workshop examined questions, such as 1) What is a conviction? 2) How do we acquire convictions? 3) What is required to hold or express a conviction?
This interdisciplinary workshop featured talks given by Jen Cole Wright (Psychology), Matthew Pianalto (Philosophy & Religion), Deborah Mower (Philosophy), Christiane Heibach (Media Studies) and Justin E. H. Smith (History). The papers from this workshop will be gathered together in a larger collection so that conviction can be better understood, communicated, and practiced today.