Judith Butler is an American post-structuralist philosopher, who has contributed to the fields of feminist philosophy, queer theory, political philosophy, and ethics. She is a professor in the Rhetoric and Comparative Literature departments at the University of California, Berkeley, and is also the Hannah Arendt Professor of Philosophy at the European Graduate School. Butler received her PhD in philosophy from Yale University in 1984, for a dissertation subsequently published as Subjects of Desire: Hegelian Reflections in Twentieth-Century France. In the late-1980s she held several teaching/research appointments, and was involved in "post-structuralist" efforts within Western feminist theory to question the "presuppositional terms" of feminism. Considered "one of the most influential voices in contemporary political theory" and as "one of the most influential feminist theorists" today, she is best known for her seminal work Gender Trouble.
Martha Nussbaum is an American philosopher with a particular interest in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, political philosophy, feminism, and ethics, including animal rights. She is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, a chair that includes appointments in the philosophy department and the law school. Nussbaum is the author or editor of a number of books that have been influential within her field, including The Fragility of Goodness (1986), Sex and Social Justice (1998), a work with Juha Sihvola, The Sleep of Reason (2002), Hiding From Humanity: Disgust, Shame, and the Law (2004), Animal Rights (2004, co-editor with Cass Sunstein), and Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership (2006). "The capabilities approach, as I have developed it, as a theory of justice, begins with the idea that ll human beings have an inherent dignity and require life circumstances that are worthy of that dignity." Some Common Sayings: "Those people don't pay their own way." "[supporting a new group of people]...This has become a drag to on our economy" [Based on views expressed in the film The Examined Life (2008)] Kwame Anthony Appiah is a Ghanaian-British-American philosopher, cultural theorist, and novelist whose interests include political and moral theory, the philosophy of language and mind, and African intellectual history. Kwame Anthony Appiah grew up in Ghana and earned a Ph.D. at Cambridge University. He is currently the Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. Issues: Cosmopolitanism, Globalization Peter Singer is an Australian moral philosopher. He is currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, and a Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne. He specialises in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secular, preference utilitarian perspective. He is known in particular for his book, Animal Liberation (1975), a canonical text in animal rights/liberation theory. Issues raised: Consumerism, Poverty, Factory Farming, Suffering of beings, Aminal Rights On Fifth Ave. According to Singer, applied ethics, a relatively new field of study, is an attempt to make philosophy less academic and more directly related to the concerns of everyday life. Singer himself became a vegetarian when he asked himself, after reading about factory farming, ‘am I justified in eating meat?’—the answer for him was no. For Singer, ethics is about the basic choices we make in our daily lives. In thinking about the decisions we make, Singer believes it is just as important to think about what we not do—this seems to raise the issue of values. Like Socrates, he believes that when you begin to think things through, you begin to question common sense morality. In contrast with religion, Singer thinks while ethics is more important because it comes from ourselves, this does not mean that ethics is purely subjective, in fact, ethical studies becomes interesting when we try to into account the role of others. He also believes that we have a moral obligation to help others. For Singer, life is meaningful if we help prevent the suffering of others and try to make this world a better place for all. More explicit than the speakers we have heard before, Singer sees the value in taking up a cause. [Based on views expressed in the film The Examined Life (2008)] --MW Avital Ronell is a Professor of German, comparative literature, and English at New York University, where she co-directs the Research in Trauma and Violence project. Professor Ronell is much influenced by Martin Heidegger’s later writings and was a student of Jacques Derrida. A Walk in the Park: What is meaning? Professor Ronell is very much engaged with the later writings of Martin Heidegger— ‘Heidegger ditched philosophy for thinking’ she reminds us. In a certain respect, professor Ronell could be said to follow in the existentialist line: she believes that we must address ‘the wound of non-meaning’ in an appropriate manner. Ronell is skeptical of meaning, in the sense of ready-made meaning, as I shall call it (Ronell's "emergency supplies of meanings" )—something happens and we appear to have an explanation or answer for it already and take it in uncritically. Ronell, like West is concerned with politics. She is critical both of Bush and certain consumer tendencies in contemporary America. She expressed her weariness of the fast development of society and our ability to ‘box up meaning and put it away’. Likewise, professor Ronell distrusts the need for absolutes and guarantees ("The promise of meanings"): she believes in the need for dialogue, negotiation and ‘openness’, and not making the relation with ‘the other’ one of antagonism. Ethics for Ronell is about addressing ‘the wound of non-meaning’, doubting ready-made meanings and in this respect anxiety is prescribed. Philosophy for professor Ronell is discursive and in a way, about the trajectory. [Based on views expressed in the film The Examined Life (2008)] --MW Cornel West. West is a 1973 graduate of Harvard University and received his Ph.D. at Princeton University. He is currently a professor of African American Studies at Princeton and of Religious Philosophy and Christian Studies at the Union Theological Seminary in New York. What is philosophy about for Cornel West? One can say that for West, philosophy is intertwined with the political aspect of human existence. While he states that ‘philosophy is about finitude and our being towards death’, it seems that for West, philosophy is ultimately about 'the preservation of the fragile structure of democracy in the face of dogmatism, white supremacy, imperialism and domination'. West promotes dialogue and the resistance against dogmatism. [Based on views expressed in the film The Examined Life (2008)] --MW |
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June 2013
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