Session 4 -- 2:45 p.m.
In its two-hundred years as a philosophy, existentialism has waxed and waned in importance, but today it still evokes fascination and gathers followers. Join us as we discuss the central features of existentialist philosophy, as they were formulated by two of the philosophy’s founders, Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche.
The Heart of Existence-- Dr. Jason Powell
Desert vs. Utility -- Dr. David W. Concepción
Participants in this session will make decisions about how scarce life-saving resources should be distributed. If all people have an equal right to life, but only some people can be saved, should a person who partially caused their life threatening illness not be treated so a more innocent person can be? Does it matter how many children the sick person has depending on them? Desert based accounts of distributive justice will be contrasted with consequentialist accounts.
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.
Right Stuff: Normative Theories of Ethics -- Daniel Klinestiver
What is the right thing to do is? It’s a question that we ask ourselves every day and it has sparked one of the most significant debates in the history of philosophy. Today, there are three main theories that philosophers look to to answer this question. These are known as normative theories of ethics. We’ll look at each of these theories, compared their strengths and weaknesses and think about how to apply them in real world situations.
What's the Beef: Al-Ghazali vs. Avicenna-- Mendim Akiti
Do you want to understand one the most significant yet significantly misunderstood debates within Medieval Islamic philosophy? We will examine the arguments of prominent Islamic philosophers Al-Ghazali and Avicenna and view them through the lens of contemporary beefs, to see what the beef really is, what its real consequences are, and maybe learn a thing or two in the process.