Second Breakout Session
Speed Philosophy -- Students and Faculty
Do you want to have good discussions about a wide variety of philosophical topics? Do you think a philosophical topic sounds interesting and want to learn more? Are you interested in learning other people's perspectives on your favorite ideas and philosophies? Then Speed Philosophy is for you! Join Ball State students for a series of brief but robust discussions about a wide variety of philosophical topics. Learn from your peers and yourself during this opportunity to learn more about philosophy.
Merit, Rights and Utility -- Dr. David W. Concepción
In this session you will make decisions about how scarce life-saving resources should be distributed. Students will learn whether their moral intuitions are more like those of Immanuel Kant or those of John Stuart Mill.
How to Live… According to Some Dead Guys -- Daniel Klinestiver
While many people today think philosophy involves a lot of sitting around, talking about abstract concepts with little bearing on everyday life, this wasn’t always the case. In ancient Greece, it was widely believed that philosophy helped people live better lives. In fact, many important schools of ancient philosophy believed that good philosophy should be lived as well as talked about. We’ll examine how these ancient schools lived their philosophies and think about how they can help us live our own philosophies today.
Gender & Race & Class…Wait, Is that Right? -- Dr. Sarah Vitale
Intersectionality is a critique of an additive analysis of oppression, which sees certain people as oppressed by racism & sexism & classism and so on… What is wrong with the additive approach? This discussion will this question and the way the additive approach covers over the experiences of certain groups of people, such as black women. We will look at advertisements and examples from the news to talk about the importance of an intersectional approach.
Treehuggers 101 -- Jen Rowland
We know we have obligations to one another as humans—not to do harm to one another unjustifiably, to set aside our own interests in favor of the social good at times. But do we have such obligations to the non-human natural world? When should I set aside my own interests in favor of the good of nature? Does it make sense to say a tree or a river has rights? Do I have obligations to future generations not to destroy the environment? We’ll explore some of the major questions of environmental ethics and philosophy.