All posts by Rachel

“The Creeps as a Moral Emotion”

philosophy

Have you ever felt the creeps? I sure have! But it turns out that historically, philosophers have pretty much ignored this emotion, and there are lots of philosophical questions about the creeps and about creepiness that are definitely worth considering.

I had a lot of fun co-writing “The Creeps as a Moral Emotion” with Jeremy Fischer, and the final version of the article has now been published by Ergo! Ergo is an open access academic journal (which means that anyone with an internet connection can find and read the article for free), so hurray for that! 

Co-writing is still pretty rare for philosophers, but bouncing ideas off each other can be invigorating, challenging, and rewarding. I probably wouldn’t commit to doing it if I didn’t already know my co-author pretty well, but based on my experience, I would recommend it as an interesting change of pace for folks who have a track record of productive philosophical exchange.

Ripping off the Band-Aid …

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At the end of February, I had fun presenting some of my research about climate ethics at conferences in Atlanta and in Chicago. And I was looking forward to writing a post about those conferences …

And then in early March, COVID-19 threw a wrench in the works. Surprise! I got busy adjusting to online teaching, trying to support my students in a really challenging time, not getting to swim regularly anymore, processing my heightened emotions regarding all sorts of vulnerable people, trying to figure out how best to use my resources in a changing world, and on and on and on.

Every so often, I would imagine myself coming up with something really great to post here. But what kind of “great” was even the right one to aim for? Something clever? Useful? Inspiring? Thought-provoking? Motivating? Cathartic? Darkly humorous? And if I could, for a moment, settle on one of those, how was I to meet that standard in such momentous times?

So I didn’t write here for a while, which is not so unusual for me. But this time, it was because I was letting the hope of perfection prevent me from taking any steps toward my goal. And given all the times I’ve advised students not to do that, I decided to just post something, to just get my first post of the coronavirus era over and done with. The new, replacement hope is that by posting this, I’ll get over the mental hurdle and pave the way for more posts in the future.

(Probably book reviews.)

Fridays for Future

justice

This semester, I’m joining with students and community members at noon every Friday under Ball State’s bell tower as part of the Fridays for Future climate strike movement.

Please join us! The students who are organizing and participating in these events are welcoming, thoughtful, and passionate young people who deserve our support and solidarity.

And thank you to all the passers-by who honk, wave, smile, or otherwise show us their encouragement!

Forward STEPS Sustainability Challenge 2019

justice

Being a part of the Forward STEPS community is one of the best parts of my life in Muncie! Forward STEPS is a relationship-based poverty alleviation initiative of Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana; together we (people from all walks of life) work on all sorts of projects that empower people as they move from merely surviving to thriving.

Our “Big View” programming focuses on dismantling the systemic barriers that keep many people under-resourced. One such barrier is the decreasing stability of the climate and other natural systems. We all have a role to play in ensuring that essential resources will be available to future generations, but participating in environmental stewardship activities often takes resources, like time and money, that are in short supply for folks who are struggling just to get by.

We were fortunate to receive some financial support from a few donors who want to support all the members of our community who are interested in developing more sustainable habits. So with their support, I was able to organize and facilitate a whole bunch of activities around the theme of sustainability this fall, and I’ve been just thrilled with what we are able to accomplish together. Trees were planted, resource usage was reduced, lessons were shared, and it felt good to do it all together!

So, if you want to see a poster I made with a more detailed report of what we accomplished together during our Forward STEPS Sustainability Challenge 2019, please click here.

Climate Strike!

justice, philosophy

Today millions of people around the world acted in solidarity to bring attention to the climate catastrophe and demand climate action now. Want to learn more about the Global Climate Strike? Start here.

I was pleased to be able to support the approximately 10% of my students who engaged in climate activism today instead of coming to class. They wrote me justifications for their choice, so they were doing some philosophy, too!

In addition to participating in a local rally organized by Muncie Resists this afternoon, I’ve been working for the past few weeks to organize a Sustainability Challenge for the members of my favorite community poverty-alleviation group (Forward STEPS) during the month of October. We’re doing some educational programs (including a couple of vegan cooking classes led by yours truly) and making commitments to do various sustainability-promoting activities. If you want to play along with us (for a chance to earn prizes!), just send me an email about how to get involved.

Philosophy for all!

philosophy

People who know me know that pessimism and perfectionism are part of who I am. So I’m not great when it comes to doling out praise and celebrating (partial) successes – it is something I’ve worked on over the years, and gotten better at thanks to practice in my volunteer community, Forward STEPS. But I’ve got a ways to go.

One thing that I do enjoy, and that people say I’m pretty good at, is giving public speeches. So this fall I was asked by the Dean’s office in the College of Sciences and Humanities to give a brief celebratory speech at the reception for the students on the dean’s list and their loved ones. I took it as an opportunity to step out of my comfortable pessimist zone and recognize some of the great stuff being done by students at BSU.

In my speech yesterday, I shared about the work that philosophers do and the value it has for communities beyond the narrow confines of academia, in terms of skill development, self-discovery, self-expression, and relationship-building: a message that I think is essential in time of decreasing support for public education.

But I also encouraged the audience to see themselves as all being philosophers already, as all having accomplished that whether they realize it or not, because philosophical activities are part of everyday life, and do not belong only to the privileged. Insofar as we are all doing it already to some degree, we all deserve praise for grappling with tough questions and big ideas, and I’m happy to encourage all of us (myself included) to continually strive to be even better at it.

Book recommendation: Climate Matters, by John Broome

book recommendations, justice, philosophy

I’m so pleased that news media outlets are increasingly engaging with the climate crisis. It is hard, and maybe impossible, to overstate the need for us all to work together in taking action that will help stabilize the climate that we, and all living things, rely on.

For folks who are looking for an introduction to many of the key issues regarding climate change ethics, politics, and economics, might I suggest Climate Matters: Ethics in a Warming World, by John Broome? Broome has been writing about climate change through the lens of his economic expertise for decades, but this book focuses on ethics in a way that his previous work did not. I don’t agree with everything that Broome says, but it is a well-informed, accessible place to start that will give you plenty to think over, whether you are new to the climate debates or not.

Book recommendation: Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny by Kate Manne

justice, philosophy

Praising doesn’t always come naturally to pessimists like me, but oh my goodness, is Kate Manne’s Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny a brilliant book!

Manne’s writing is a wonder to behold: she guides the reader through a lot of rough territory (I mean rough in the sense of depressing and rough in the sense of grappling with lots of challenging philosophical issues) without sacrificing clarity or rigor, and her insight into important contemporary cases makes this a great read for general audiences and academics alike. Down Girl has already had such a powerful effect on my thinking that I may just immediately start re-reading it from the beginning now that I’ve finished it.

On her excellent account, misogyny is (roughly) the enforcement wing of the patriarchy, which means that it serves to threaten and punish women who do not provide the services that men have come to expect under patriarchy. This distinguishes misogyny from sexism, which is (roughly) the propaganda wing of the patriarchy, which serves to buttress patriarchy by explaining and justifying it.

I can only speak for myself, but as someone who share a lot of identity categories with Manne, her analysis of current events was revelatory. She helped me make sense of many frustrating, terrifying, and otherwise awful patterns that, though I see evidence of them all around me, I had been struggling to fully wrap my mind around before.

Kudos to Kate Manne for really getting to heart of an under-theorized but essential subject of feminist inquiry!

Book Recommendation: The Overstory by Richard Powers

book recommendations

So I heard about this novel that was about …  trees. I had no idea what a novel about trees would be like. But I like trees (that may be an understatement), so I got my hands on a copy. I started reading it, and sure, trees appeared in the initial parts. But I didn’t immediately see where things were going, or why the reviews I read had framed this as a novel about trees. That said, at some point, I’m not sure when, I really got into it.

What a world that Powers creates! His rich descriptions of all aspects of the varied trees that the cast of characters encounter and engage with took me back to childhood nature walks where I was encouraged to notice and revel in the minutiae of a natural world all around us that is all too easy to take for granted. What I’m saying is: stick with it, even if this book doesn’t immediately grab you.

In fact, if you need a break from a cubicle or other dreary workspace, or if inhospitable weather is getting you down, that might be a particularly good time to get this book, and immerse yourself in a story of twisting and turnings, both in the roots below us, the branches above us, and the lives of the people around us.

Book Recommendation: Palaces for the People by Eric Klinenberg

book recommendations, justice

Looking for a fast, fun read that gets your brain juices flowing about how to make a flourishing community? Well, look no further than Eric Klinenberg’s Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life. 

That full title is pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll give my own gloss: in that book, Klinenberg introduces the idea of social infrastructure – all the places and stuff and systems that can help us develop and thrive as social beings (or get in the way of social flourishing). With chapters about libraries, residential neighborhoods, schools, green spaces, and more, this book really gets you thinking about how those things (or lack thereof) impact quality of life for everyone in a community, whether they realize it or not.

I have very fond memories of my family walking to the local Carnegie library on Friday nights with an old, half-broken picnic basket to fill with kids books. I remember the “ka-thunk” sound of the librarian putting cards into the slot on the top of a machine that would stamp on the due date and then tucking them into the special envelopes at the back of the books. I remember the majestic-seeming stuffed bison head that hung at the top of the stairway, and the smooth glide of the drawers in the adults’ rooms card catalog. Everything about the public library was, to me, a source of wonder and delight – may we all, together, take the necessary steps to ensure that our public libraries, parks, and other elements of our social infrastructure do as much to support the flourishing of the new generation as they did for me when I was young.