2022 Central Division APA Group Session, Chicago

This February PPN is starting what we hope will be a tradition of organizing a session of contributed papers with commentaries at one of the divisional APA meetings each year. The advantage of this format is that it provides an opportunity for scholars who are new to writing and thinking about forms of public philosophy to submit a piece. When group sessions are organized based on established work, they may not highlight new work and new scholars. We’re also excited to use the commentary format because of the networking opportunities and intellectual exchange when we engage with each others’ ideas.

The contributed paper session this year will feature discussion of methods for engaging the public, for organizing conversations in local place-based communities, and for addressing equity. Please join us in late February!

Thursday evening, February 24, 7:15pm - 10:15pm
G3E. Public Philosophy Network
How To Do Public Philosophy - In Print, In Person, Online
Chair: Ben Almassi (Governors State University)

"Using Our Outside Voices: Public Philosophy as Pandemic Era Storytelling"
Speaker: Anna Gotlib (City University of New York - Brooklyn College)
Commentary: Evelyn Brister (Rochester Institute of Technology)

"Lawrence Talks: Community Engaged Philosophy"
Speaker: Alejandro David Tamez (University of Kansas)
Commentary: Saba Fatima (Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville)

"The 'How' of Public Philosophy: Building Skills and Ensuring Equity"
Speaker: Beba Cibralic (Georgetown University)
Commentary: Taylor Rogers (Northwestern University)

"Climate Ethics" in the Field

On Tuesday, Nov. 9, 4:30 - 6:00 pm (Eastern) PPN is co-sponsoring a webinar on integrating philosophy, science, law and policy for climate justice with Princeton’s Climate Futures Initiative and ISEE (the International Society for Environmental Ethics). This event will take the form of a panel discussion on how to support collaborative engagement among philosophers, legal scholars, scientists and policymakers, and the panelists will be offering concrete and practical advice for applying philosophical skills in science, policy and management contexts. The speakers are Robert Hockett (Edward Cornell Professor of Law at Cornell University and author of “Financing the Green New Deal: A Plan of Action and Renewal”), Deborah McGregor (associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Environmental Justice at York University), and Nancy Tuana (DuPont/Class of 1949 Professor of Philosophy and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Penn State).

A video of this event can be viewed here.

6th PPN Conference, October 21 - 23, 2021: Conference Schedule

Below is the conference schedule with all times given in Eastern US timezone. Conference registration is here. For registered participants with password access, conference access can be found here.

Thursday, 21 October 2021

Conference Welcome (1:00 – 1:15 PM)

Plenary I (1:15 PM – 3:00 PM)

Climate Change and Our Common Future
Andrew Light | Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, U.S. Department of Energy
David Morrow | American University and George Mason University

Concurrent Afternoon Sessions (3:30 PM – 5:00 PM)

Public Philosophy: Theory and Practice (Lightning Talks)
Chair: Danielle Lake

Anna Peterson & Sam Snyder, “Public Philosophy, Ethics, and Activism”
Marie Sandy & Benjamin Trager, “Revisiting John Dewey's Social Philosophy during the ‘Original’ Liberal Turn: Implications for Service Learning with Democratic Values in a Neoliberal Context”
Catherine Womack, “The Making of a Proud Public Philosopher, or How I Learned to Love Writing on Deadline”
Landon Frim, “Mill, Mao, or Socrates: Three Strategies for Dealing with the Alt-Right in the Public University Classroom”
Britt Holbrook, “Engaging the Public as a Field Experiment in Engineering Ethics Education”

Public Engagement with Science and Policy (Lightning Talks)
Chair: Ben Almassi

David Henderson, “Who Am I to the Crow?”
Elizabeth Hoppe, “Hindsight is 20/20: Anticipatory Technology Ethics and the Boeing 737 MAX”
Siobhain Lash, “Environmental Racism and Governance: A Case for an Ostromian Approach towards an Alternative Institution in Louisiana”
Kian Mintz-Woo, “Reflections on Speaking to Non-Profits and Decision-Makers”

The Adversities of International Displacement: Refugees (Panel)
Chair: Michelle Pham

Mlado Ivanovic, “The Fictions of Refuge”
Ezgi Sertler, “A Structural-Epistemological Approach to Forced Displacement”
Anna Malavisi, “Integrity as an Institutional Virtue as a Form of Political Responsibility”

Roundtable on the Blackwell Companion to Public Philosophy (Panel)
Chair: Sharyn Clough

Speakers: Nancy McHugh, Lee McIntyre, and Ian Olasov

Engaging the Public in Philosophy on Social Media (Panel)
Chair: Cristina Cammarano

Timothy Barczak, “Social Media as the New Technological Public Sphere”
Kristan Barczak, “An Exploration of ‘Truth’ on Social Media in a Post-Truth Era”
Beththena Johnson, “Audience and Interaction: Thoughts on Engagement via Social Media”
Katie O’Keefe, “Using Design to Calibrate Philosophical Discussion on Social Media”
Jamie Herman, “Concerns and Limitations in Conducting Public Philosophy via Social Media”

Evening Workshops (6:30 PM – 8:30 PM)

Workshops require pre-registration.

A1: Peace Literacy 101: Human Aggression and Its Anatomy
Shari Clough & Paul K. Chappell

A2: We Know What You Did Last Summer…: Incorporating the P4C Pedagogy into a Summer Camp Setting
Claire Katz, Daniel Conway, Haley Burke & Michael Portal

A3: Transforming Undergraduate Philosophy Curricula
Clair Morrissey & Caro Brighouse 

A4: Using Public Philosophy to Increase Diversity and Inclusion
Kristen Intemann, Jingyi Wu & Krushil Watene

Friday, 22 October 2021

Morning Workshops (10:00 AM – 12:00 PM)

Workshops require pre-registration.

B1: Philosophical Fieldwork: Strategies for Participatory Engagement
Evelyn Brister & Robert Frodeman

B2: Public-Facing Assessments in Graduate Seminars
Colin Marshall, Erica Bigelow, Nic Jones & Darcy McCusker

B3: Descriptive Inquiry: A Process for Doing Public Philosophy
Cara Furman & Cecelia Traugh

B4: Empowerment through Dialogue: Creating Communities of Philosophical Inquiry in Elementary Schools
Karen Emmerman & Debi Talukdar

Plenary II (1:15 PM – 3:00 PM)

Science and Technology for the Public Interest
David Rodin | Principia Advisory and University of Oxford
Tony Pfaff | U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute 
Rachel Gillum | Salesforce, Office of Ethical and Humane Use and Stanford University 
Moderated by Jesse Kirkpatrick, George Mason University

Concurrent Afternoon Sessions (4:30 PM – 6:00 PM)

Applied Ethics and Policy (Lightning Talks)
Chair: Clair Morrissey

Elizabeth Fenton, “Reciprocity and Resources”
Alyssa Adamson, “Budgets as Moral Documents”
Michael Lissack & Brenden Meagher, “Lessons from Covid-19: Decisions Based on Truthiness Need More Solid Foundations”
Michelle Pham & Ashley Feinsinger, “What's the Value of Participant Engagement in Basic Human Neuroscience Research?”
N.A.J Taylor, “The International Ethics of Australian Nuclear Heritage”

Classroom Activities and Pedagogy (Lightning Talks)
Chair: Ramona Ilea

Kate Brelje, “Tradespeople, Hypnotherapists, and Refugees: Utilizing Interviews in the Philosophy Classroom and Beyond”
Cristina Cammarano, “Writing and Reading Philosophy across Walls”
Timothy Stock, Cristina Cammarano & Michele Schlehofer, “Public Philosophy at the Heart: A Chair’s Perspective”
Jana McAuliffe, “Philosophy after Graduation: Conversations between Students and Alums”
Michele Schlehofer, “‘Listening First’: Community-Based Research Meets Public Philosophy”

Reflecting on the Methods of Field Philosophy (Panel)
Chair: Jeremy Bendik-Keymer

Jessica Luther Rummel & Torrey Lynne Henderson, “Field Philosophers and Direct Action – Tools for Liberation Movements”
Adam Briggle, “Field Philosophy in the Bowels of Bureaucracy”
Jared L. Talley, “Field Philosophy in an Actual Field: My Body and My Engaged Philosophy”

Prisons and Philosophy: Being an Insider While Being an Outsider (Panel)
Chair: Michael Burroughs

Speakers: Shannon Fyfe, Elizabeth Lanphier & Amy McKiernan

The Inhumanity of Fake News (Panel)
Chair: Ian Olasov

Jennifer Foster, “Fake News, Real Fears: How Misinformation Makes It Hard to Be (Doxastically) Courageous”
Megan Fritts, “Digital Misinformation and the Exploitation of Humane Virtues”
Seth Goldwasser, “How Fake News Keeps Us Dumb: The Role of Function in Modeling Pathologies”
A. G. Holdier,  “On Useless Wights: An Aristotelian Critique of Fake News”

Saturday, 23 October 2021

Morning Workshops (9:00 AM – 11:00 AM)

Workshops require pre-registration.

C1: Sustainability Activism Within and Outside Philosophy
Eugene Chislenko & Rebecca Millsop

C2: Deliberative Practice for the Public Sector
Alex Richardson, Delaney Thull & Michael Vazquez
(This is a 90-minute workshop.)

C3: Algorithmic Auditing: Ethics and AI
Jovana Davidovic & Shea Brown

C4: Spaces of Public Philosophy
Anna Peterson, Ali Mian & Jaime Ahlberg

PPN Business Meeting (11:30 AM – 12:30 PM)

All PPN conference participants are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Concurrent Afternoon Sessions (1:30 PM – 3:00 PM)

Teaching Inside and Outside the Classroom (Lightning Talks)
Chair: Britt Holbrook

Matthew Hastings, “Ethics of Education for Digital Technology” 
Bob Coulter, “Philosophical Grounding for Outdoor Learning”
Benjamin Hole and Ramona Ilea, “Radical Hope for Teaching Civic Engagement in Ethics Courses”
Danielle Lake & Dani Green, “Disrupting Higher Education: A Call to Action for Public Philosophers”
Nora Boyd, “Philosophy Gets Dirty: Teaching Environmental Ethics as Community-Engaged Activism”

Public Philosophy Events and Projects (Lightning Talks)
Chair: Nancy McHugh

Jesse Hamilton, “A Philosophy Book Club with the General Public”
Anna Ichino, “The Philosophy Museum”
Gene Lin, “Creating the Largest US Public Philosophy Group: 4 Key Decisions”
Rachel Robison-Greene & Richard Greene, “Ethics Slams in Person and Online”
Anastasia Anderson, “The Thinking Playground”

Theorizing Public Engagement (Lightning Talks)
Chair: Adam Briggle

Danna Aduna, “What Can Activists Do about Epistemic Injustice and Gaslighting?”
Jeremy Bendik-Keymer, “To Make a Community More Harmonious through Disagreement: Part I. Settler Colonialism”
Lauren Bialystok, “Using Philosophy to De-Polarize Public Discourse on Sex Education”

Invasion Biology and Conservation Decision-Making (Panel)
Chair: Evelyn Brister

Karen Kovaka & Jacob Barney, “Invasion Biology and Ecological Networks” 
David Frank, “Biogeographic Origin and Conservation Decision-Making” 
Jay Odenbaugh, “Endangered Ecosystems and Non-Native Species”
Carlos Santana, “Against Ecological Nativism in the Urban Community”

Drama Queens: Gender & Performance in Public Testimony (Panel)
Chair: Catherine Womack

Speakers: Jeanette “Joy” Harris, Vanessa Voss & Margaret Betz

Ethics and Policing: Philosophers Engaging with Police Reform (Panel)
Chair: Helen de Cruz

Michael Burroughs, “Forming a Community-Sourced Police Reform Initiative in Bakersfield, CA”
Ben Jones, “Turning Principle into Policy: Philosophy’s Role in Police Reform” 
Eduardo Mendieta, “Reimagining Police Ethics”
Mercer Gary, “Transforming Police and Public Safety at the University”

Plenary III (4:00 PM – 5:30 PM)

Bioethics and Forms of Public Philosophy
Jonathan Moreno | University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine
Nita Farahany | Duke University, School of Law
Anita L. Allen | University of Pennsylvania, School of Law and Department of Philosophy
Moderated by Christopher DiTeresi, George Mason University

Engagement, Policy, Practice: 6th PPN Conference

The 6th PPN Conference is taking place virtually on Oct. 21-23. The theme is “Engagement, Policy, Practice.” Please join us! The conference website is here.

Plenary Sessions:

“Climate Change and Our Common Future.” Speakers are Andrew Light (Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, U.S. Department of Energy) and David Morrow (American University and George Mason University).
Thursday, Oct. 21, 1pm - 3pm

“Science and Technology for the Public Interest.” Speakers are David Rodin, (Principia Advisory and University of Oxford), Tony Pfaff (U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute), and Rachel Gillum (Salesforce, Office of Ethical and Humane Use and Stanford University)
Friday, Oct. 22, 1:15pm - 3pm

“Bioethics and Forms of Public Philosophy.” Speakers are Jonathan Moreno (University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine), Nita Farahany (Duke University, School of Law), and Anita L. Allen (University of Pennsylvania, School of Law and Department of Philosophy)
Saturday, Oct. 23, 4pm - 5:30pm

Plenaries are free and open. Attendance at the general program, including panels and interactive workshops requires registration here.

Environmental Values in Outdoor Recreation

With the restrictions placed on indoor gatherings and international travel, outdoor recreation has exploded in popularity this year. The benefits in terms of health and environmental awareness might be balanced by downsides, such as wildlife-human conflicts, harm to cultural artifacts and biodiverse natural areas, and strain on search-and-rescue teams. PPN is sponsoring a free and open panel discussion to examine the values that draw us to recreate in nature and the potential value conflicts that can arise for participants in outdoor recreation and the communities that are affected.

Monday, April 26, 7:00-8:30 pm EDT

Free Registration here.

Featured panelists:

  • Kevin Krein, Professor of Philosophy and Director of Outdoor Studies at the University of Alaska Southeast, author of Philosophy and Nature Sports (Routledge 2019), mountaineer and professional ski guide

  • Leslie A. Howe, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Saskatchewan and author of numerous articles in the philosophy of sport, as well as in existentialism and moral psychology

  • Jonathan Ellsworth, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of BLISTER (an outdoor media & gear review company), former philosophy instructor, and co-editor of Thoreau's Importance for Philosophy (2012).

  • Moderated by Evelyn Brister (Rochester Institute of Technology, Philosophy) and Jonathan Schnaufer (RIT, Outdoor Education)

Our panel will discuss three questions at the core of outdoor recreation and adventure sports:

  1. Does outdoor recreation bring us closer to nature?

  2. What are the values that attract people to outdoor recreation, and how can these values come into conflict with each other?

  3. How can outdoor recreation develop our character as individuals and communities, and what are the hazards?

This event is sponsored by the RIT Department of Philosophy, the RIT Department of Outdoor Education in the Division of Student Affairs, the Public Philosophy Network, and RocVentures Climbing Gym.

Call for Proposals: 6th PPN Conference, October 2021

The deadline to submit a proposal for a workshop, lightning talk, or panel is quickly approaching!

We’re looking forward to our 6th conference on the theme of “Engagement, Policy, and Practice”! It will be online, from Oct. 21 - 23, 2021, hosted by public philosophers at George Mason University. The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2021.

All the submission details and a link to the submission form can be found here.

Central APA group session on Public Philosophy and Advocacy

At the Central Division Meeting of the APA in February 2021, MAP International and the Public Philosophy Network are co-sponsoring a Group Session on Public Philosophy and Activism. We are inviting submissions for brief, 5-10 minute presentations on the topic of public philosophy and activism. The session is scheduled for Saturday, February 27, 10:10am-1:10pm Central Time, and will take place virtually. The session keynote is Olufemi Taiwo (Georgetown).

Speakers have the option to present live at the session, or to pre-record their presentations (giving speakers the opportunity to incorporate video footage, music, and other media into their presentations). Possible topics for presentation include but are not limited to:

- The importance of public philosophy
- Strategies and formats for public philosophy and community engagement
- The unique role that philosophy can play in activism
- Experiences in public philosophy and activism
- How public engagement can inform the practice of philosophy

Submissions can be made using this Google form. The application is not intended to be selective -- we plan on accepting as many speakers as our session time allows. The deadline for submissions is Friday, January 15. We will notify speakers by January 25.

Please send any questions and comments regarding submissions to mapforthegap@gmail.com.

PPN 2020 Elections

PPN held elections for officers and Board members. We would like to thank outgoing officers Nancy McHugh, Ian Olasov, and A. Todd Franklin. More about the recent development of PPN and their accomplishments can be found here. A warm welcome to new Vice President Michael Burroughs (CSU-Bakersfield), Secretary Clair Morrissey (Occidental College), and Treasurer Nathan Nobis (Morehouse College). Nancy, Ian, and Todd will be joining the Governing Board, as will Helen De Cruz (St. Louis University). Terms begin Sept. 1, 2020.

Public Philosophy Network on Youtube

The Public Philosophy Network has a Youtube channel. Please subscribe!

In April, we held a livestreamed workshop on “How to Write Philosophy Op-Eds,” now available for viewing on Youtube. This is an excellent opportunity to hear expert writing advice from David Johnson, Jason Stanley, Olivia Goldhill, Lee McIntyre, Regina Rini, and John Macready. They share information and suggestions for generating ideas, approaching editors, making use of the news cycle, and writing for public, rather than academic, audiences.

In May, PPN has started a series of “Short Talks,” each 10-15 minutes on topics of general philosophical interest.
#1: Megan Dean (Hamilton College), “Why It Matters How We Eat”
#2: Jennifer Scuro (College of New Rochelle), “Helpfulness and Helplessness in the Time of COVID-19”