2007-2008 Public Events

September

Sept. 21, 2007, 3:35 p.m.

Author meets Readers: Shannon Sullivan, PSU Professor of Philosophy

Revealing Whiteness: The Unconscious Habits of Racial Privilege, Paul Taylor (Temple University), respondant; Stephanie Jenkins (Penn State), moderator
106 Chambers

October

Oct. 12, 2007 3:35 p.m.

Brady Bowman, PSU Ass't. Professor of Philosophy

Inaugural Lecture, "Literary Form and Philosophical Content in German Idealism"
106 Chambers

Oct. 19-20, 2007

Reiner Schurmann Conference

301 Steidle Building
This conference is devoted to the philosophy and the memory of Reiner Schurmann (1941 - 1993). From his early works on his own personal and intellectual formation (Les Origines) and on Meister Eckhart (Meister Eckhart: Mystic and Philosopher) to his important book on Heidegger (Heidegger: On Being and Acting: From Principles to Anarchy) and his major posthumous work, Broken Hegemonies, as well as in his teaching, Schurmann maintained an intensive engagement with the history of Western philosophy and with contemporary thought and deeply probed their implications for politics and for the life of action.

Keynote Speaker: John McCumber, University of California, Los Angeles

Oct. 26, 2007, 3:35 p.m.

Noelle McAfee, Visiting Professor of Philosophy at George Mason University

The Political Unconscious, Sublimation, and the Public Sphere
106 Chambers

November

Nov. 11-17, 2007

Donatella Di Cesare, Institute for the Arts and Humanities Distinguished Visiting Professor

Professor di Cesare is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Rome, “La Spienza.” She is also a Professor of Jewish Philosophy at the Hebrew University of the Collegio Rabbinico Italiano. She has been a Visiting Professor at various German Universities, including the University of Freiburg, the University of Cologne, and the Stiftungs-University of Hildesheim. She is the author of six books in both Italian and German: Gadamer, Bologna, 2007 (forthcoming), Ermeneutica della finitezza, Guerini & Associati, Milano 2004; Utopia del comprendere, il nuovo melangolo, Genova 2003; Wilhelm von Humboldt y el estudio filosófico de las lenguas, Anthropos, Barcelona 1999; Die Sprache in der Philosophie von Karl Jaspers, Francke Verlag Tübingen-Basel 1996; La semantica nella filosofia greca, Bulzoni, Roma 1980. She is the author of several dozen articles on a wide range of topics in the history of philosophy, addressing the questions of language, in Judaica, and taking up a variety of questions concerning cultural life. Professor di Cesare also is the editor of ten books in both philosophy and Judaic Studies.

Nov. 12, 12:15 - 1:30 p.m.: Comparative Literature Luncheon Lecture, The Eclipse of the Word: On Language and Globalization, 102 Kern Building

Nov. 12, 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.: Welcome reception, 240 Sparks Building

Nov. 13, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: Undergraduate Seminar, Children and the Future of Philosophy, 240 Sparks Building

Nov. 14, 3:45 - 5:45 p.m.: Graduate Seminar, On the History of the Concept of Understanding, 306 Burrowes Building

Nov. 16, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.: Lecture, Understanding Auschwitz: A Philosophical Consideration, 4 Business Building

December

January

Jan. 23, 2008, 7:00 p.m.

Harvey Cormier, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, SUNY Stony Brook

“Consciousness and Double Consciousness;
or, How We Become What We Are”

109 Chambers Building

 

February

Feb. 5, 2008, 12:00 p.m.

Starting this semester, the Department of Philosophy will be hosting a new reading group on Alternative Philosophies. In our monthly meetings, we will engage in critical, lively reflection on texts focusing on topics such as:

  • gender
  • sexuality
  • race
  • class
  • religion
  • the meaning of "diversity" and "difference"
  • ability
  • other subjects to be determined by participants

Interested undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and friends from all departments should attend the first meeting.

Date: Tuesday, February 5th
Time: 12pm
Where: 409 Burrowes
What: Adrian M.S. Piper, "Seeing Things"

A copy of the essay as well as additional information about the reading group is available on our open ANGEL group, "Alternative Philosophies"  You may also contact Stephanie Jenkins (scj121@psu.edu) or Nathalie Nya (nun116@psu.edu) for more information.

Feb. 29, 2008, 3:35 p.m.

Rudolf Makkreel, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Philosophy, Emory University

"Kant, Reflective Orientation and the Scope of Hermeneutics"
109 Chambers Building

March

Mar. 3, 2008,7:00 p.m.

The Center for Democratic Deliberation in conjunction with The Africana
Research Center and the Rock Ethics Institute proudly present the

Deliberating Across Differences Lecture Series:

Kwame Anthony Appiah
"How to Argue with Strangers"

Foster Auditorium, Pattee Library

Kwame Anthony Appiah is Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of
Philosophy and the Center for Human Values at Princeton University. His
many books include the widely acclaimed In My Father's House: Africa in the
Philosophy of Culture; Color Conscious: The Political Morality of Race; and
Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African-American Experience.
His most recent works are The Ethics of Identity and Cosmopolitanism:
Ethics in a World of Strangers.

For more information, contact J. Michael Hogan at 865-1003.

Mar. 21, 2008, 3:30 p.m.

Dotterer Lecture and Reception: Merold Westphal, Professor of Philosophy,
Fordham University

"Inverted Intentionality: On Being Seen and Addressed"

Faculty Staff Club at The Nittany Lion Inn

Mar. 28, 2008, 3:35 p.m.

Jill Gordon, Professor of Philosophy, Colby College

"Eros and Courage in Plato's Dialogues"

109 Chambers Building

April

Apr. 7, 2008, 3:35 p.m.

Joy James, John B. and John T. McCoy Presidential Professor of Africana Studies & College Professor in Political Science, Williams College

Title TBA, 109 Chambers Building

Apr. 11 & 12, 2008

Social Thought Program Conference: "Memorialization, Community, and Justice"
Friday, April 11: 301 Steidle Building

1:30 - 2:45 PM Plenary: Lisa Beane

3:00 - 4:00 PM Panel 1: Memory, Absence J. Maltz-Schejter and A. Schejter; G. Baderoon

4:00 - 5:00 PM Panel 2: Violence and Recovery E. Seehausen; S. Kahle

5:15 - 6:45 Keynote Address: James E. Young, Professor of English and Judaic Studies, University of Massachussetts "The Stages of Memory: Berlin and New York"

Saturday, April 12: 113 Carnegie Building

9:00 - 10:00 AM Panel 3: Reconstructing Identities K. Rawls, H. Jones

10:15 - 11:30 AM Plenary: Matthew Jordan

1:00 - 2:15 PM Plenary: J. Maltz-Schejter, B. Bird, R. Sherman

2:20 - 3:30 PM Panel 4: Writing the Past G. McNamara, J. Wuestenberg

3:45 - 5:15 PM Panel 5: Memory Spaces N. Laliberte, I. Mihalache, S. Couch

5:15 - 5:30 PM Closing Remarks and Discussion: John Christman

Apr. 18, 2008, 3:35 p.m.

Thomas Short

"Objectivity"

109 Chambers Building

Apr. 28, 2008, 7:00 p.m.

Lewis Gordon, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Judaic Studies and Director of the Institute for the Study of Race and Social Thought and the Centre for Afro-Jewish Studies, Temple University

"From Civil to Human Rights and Beyond: Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Frantz Fanon"

102 Chambers Building

May

 

June

 

Calendar of Events