Oct 10, 2016
A short essay from one of the H&C Core Faculty members Paul Bloomfield (Philosophy) on arguing about racism,
“Race is real, but this fact does not support the existence of any deep or important differences between the races. Racial differences are superficial: race is skin deep.” Read the full essay here.
Peter Zarrow
10/18
Babbidge Library, 4th Floor, Room 4/209
The Injustice League lecture series brings together philosophers and political theorists working on issues of injustice. We focus on inviting junior faculty who aren’t typically given this kind of forum.
Amy Shuster (Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy The Ohio State University)
Date: 10/14
“The finest rule of life we have” on the value of ambiguity for democratic praxis
Danielle Allen’s Our Declaration (2015) revitalized interest in the U.S. Declaration of Independence among those committed to equality as a foundational American ideal—especially feminists, anti-racists, and anti-colonialists. But the meaning of the document has a checkered history in the United States and abroad. While some—like David Walker, Justice Taney, and Malcolm X—point to the civil and political subordination of women, slaves, freed persons, the poor, American-Indians, and the indigenous people in other parts of the world at the founding (and in various forms to this day) as reason to think that the document is merely political cover for domination, others—like Abraham Lincoln, Anita Whitney, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Ho Chi Minh—have found in it a promise of equality for future generations, regardless of nationality. What are the principles of interpretation that lie behind such a diverse set of readings, especially of the document’s distinctive phrases like “all men are created equal”? Are all of them equally defensible upon reflection? I aim to weaken both the starry-eyed disposition to find too much in the Declaration and the hard-nosed determination to find too little. In the end, I vindicate its meaning for democrats who are committed to a principle of equal inclusion in an on-going political community characterized by a variety of differences among its members.
Follow our tweets @PublicHumility #publicdiscourse. For the list of partners:
http://nicd.arizona.edu/debate-standards-partners
Humility and vulnerability are no longer values that are rewarded in the political arena, and it’s up to individuals, and their relationships, to begin a sea change that could “trickle up” into political leadership.
That was the message Tuesday evening as prominent political figures, journalists, educators, academics and nonprofit leaders came together for a public forum, titled “Humility in Politics,” in Washington, D.C.
The event, sponsored by UConn’s Humanities Institute and a $5.75 million investment in UConn by the John Templeton Foundation, kicked off a three-year research initiative, aptly named The Humility and Conviction in Public Life project.
The project aims to investigate how intellectual humility – through being aware of our own innate biases and responses to new evidence – can overcome current political divisiveness.
“This is an unprecedented attempt to apply humanities and social science research to solve problems in the political sphere,” said Michael Lynch, professor of philosophy and director of the Humanities Institute, in his opening remarks.
read more
The UConn Humanities Institute has received a $5.75 million grant from the Templeton Foundation for its project on public discourse. The project will examine the role that traits such as humility and open-mindedness can play in meaningful public discourse, with the hope of promoting healthier and more constructive discussion about divisive issues in religion, science, and politics.
Read more at UConn Today.
Middle and high school teachers participating in the Upstander Academy are learning how to use human rights education to discuss complex historical and current issues in productive ways.
Read more at UConn Today.
A brief walk with Glenn Mitoma, the Director of UConn’s Dodd Center and Upstander Project collaborator, as he explains the meaning and hopes behind this week’s INTELLECTUAL HUMILITY in SECONDARY EDUCATION: UPSTANDER ACADEMY August 1-5, 2016, UConn Storrs Campus. A human rights-based professional development opportunity for educators.
Sponsored by the UConn Humanities Institute Intellectual Humility in Public Discourse Project through the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation.
By Michael P. Lynch | Contributor
Aug. 14, 2016, at 7:00 a.m.
Over the last month, there has been a steady drumbeat of talk about America’s “greatness” – whether it was making it great again (Donald Trump) or already being the greatest country on Earth (the Obamas and Hillary Clinton). Yet what does it really mean to say America is “great” – now or in the future? Not surprisingly, it depends whom you ask: their politics, their views on the health of the economy and so on. But differences on the meaning of “greatness” go deeper as well and often concern a single idea that is of increasing national importance: American Exceptionalism. read more
“Consistency, Emerson said, is the hobgoblin of little minds. Perhaps no one in American public life channels this thought more than Donald J. Trump. He not only doesn’t fear contradiction, he embraces it. And he is downright scornful of those little minds that are bothered by his performances.” – Michael Lynch on Donald Trump, truth, and contradiction at The Stone.
Read the full article at the NYTimes.
