Dear all,

I am writing to remind you that this Saturday, March 17^th and Sunday, March 18^th, Boston University’s Philosophy Department will be hosting its third annual Graduate Conference titled “Societal Implications:  Applying Academic Philosophy Outside of the Academy.”  The conference will take place on BU’s campus in the West End Lounge on the 9^th floor of the Photonics Center (8 St. Mary’s Street, Boston, MA).  This conference is sponsored by the BU Philosophy Department and the Society for Applied Philosophy.  We will be hosting seven graduate presentations, two keynote addresses (by Lynne Tirrell, UConn, and Kieran Setiya, MIT), and a roundtable discussion on contemporary issues at the intersection of philosophy and society. The conference will commence each day at 10 AM and will run till 5 PM, breaking for lunch around noon.  There will be light refreshments both before and after the event.  Below you will find a detailed description of the conference as well as a schedule of events.  This conference is free and open to the public, so please circulate this letter to anyone who might like to attend.  For more information, please email the conference organizers, Jordan Kokot ([log in to unmask]) and Elliott Risch ([log in to unmask]).

 

We hope that you all will be able to join us this weekend for what promises to be a rich and invigorating conversation concerning some of the most pressing issues of our contemporary academic and social landscape.

 

Conference Description:

 

What work can philosophers do to influence the world beyond the walls of the academy?  In what way does contemporary philosophy impact social norms? How can philosophers help us better understand the “safety” said to be found in safe spaces?  In what ways can philosophers help us navigate delicate questions concerning the second amendment? What about the ‘me too’ movement, pleasure politics and women’s health equity?

 

These questions and others like them have occasioned Boston University’s third annual graduate conference in philosophy, “Societal Implications: Applying Academic Philosophy Outside of the Academy.”

 

Presented by Boston University’s Department of Philosophy and the Society for Applied Philosophy, this conference will feature presentations by seven graduate students from across the United States and abroad, two keynote addresses, one from Professor Lynne Tirrell (UConn) and one from Professor Kieran Setiya (MIT), as well as a round table discussion focused on contemporary topics in applied social and political philosophy.  This conference is free and open to the public and has been designed to be accessible and engaging to both the thoughtful member of the public and the entrenched academic thinker. We warmly invite you to join with us this Saturday and Sunday for what promises to be a series of rich and potent conversations concerning some of the most pressing issues in our fraught social and political landscape.

 

Schedule:

 

Day 1, Saturday, March 17th

10:00-10:50

“What Can Philosophers Do?”
Aaron Yarmel (University of Wisconsin—Madison)

11:00-11:50
“What is Safe About ‘Safe Spaces’ Within and Beyond the Academy?”
Alice Monypenny (University of Nottingham)

1:30-2:20
“Passionate Utterances and the ‘Me too’ Movement”
Tara Weese (Duke University)

2:30-3:20
“Warped Social Norms: The Influence of Philosophy”
Kate Schmidt (Washington University)

3:30-5:00

Saturday Keynote Address
Dr. Lynne Tirrell, Ph.D. (University of Connecticut)

5:00-6:30  Reception

Day 2, Sunday, March 18th

10:00-10:50
Applied Philosophy Roundtable with the Speakers
Moderated by Elliott Risch (Boston University)

11:00-11:50
“Does the Second Amendment Place the United States in a Kantian State of Nature”
Eugene Lancaric (The New School)

1:30-2:20
“Furthering Women’s Health Equity: Reconceptualizing Family Planning”
Elisa Reverman (University of Portland)

2:30-3:20
“At the Intersection of Pleasure and Politics: Applied Theory in the Context of Disease”
Sophia Pavlos (Michigan State University)

3:30-5:00

Sunday Keynote Address
Dr. Kieran Setiya, Ph.D. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

5:00-6:30  Reception

Thank you for your time. 

 

Sincerely,

 

The BU Philosophy Conference Organizers

(Jordan Kokot, Elliott Risch, and Rachael Molenaar)

 

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Jordan Kokot

PhD. Candidate

Department of Philosophy

Boston University