Bill McKibben

uncategorized

This past Saturday, I was fortunate to be able to see (and hear!) Bill McKibben receive the 2014 Sarah Josepha Hale Award in Newport, NH. This award is given annually to distinguished writers, and the list of past winners is pretty amazing.

I really enjoyed hearing McKibben speak eloquently about his own love of the beautiful New England landscape and how it, combined with his work as a scientist, inspired him to begin doing the climate change activism that makes him such an important figure in these times. If you aren’t familiar with his work, I recommend that you check out 350.org.

When I drove up to the Dartmouth library to check out some books the next day, reflecting on his words helped me to appreciate the terrific fall color even more, and it encouraged me to renew my own commitment to environmental activism. So thanks to everyone who put together such a lovely event!

It’s On Us

justice

I have been talking to students quite a bit lately about sexual assault: what it is, what makes is wrong, what the law says about it, how to prevent it, how to talk about it, and what to do if it happens to you or someone you care about.

There are lots of resources I could point out to help us not only think and talk about this serious issue in appropriate, productive ways, but also, most importantly, to prevent sexual assault. I want to take a moment to point out one in particular:

It’s On Us

This campaign, recently launched by the White House, is designed to raise awareness about the issue of sexual assault on college and university campuses, and to encourage individuals to make a commitment to take action in ways that will help stop sexual assault.

Colloquium on 9/25

philosophy

Classes start on Monday, so I am getting my ducks in a row for the new school year, but I am also looking forward to the public presentation that I am giving as the first event of Colby-Sawyer’s Fall Faculty Colloquium Series on Thursday, September 25th at 4:00 p.m. in Wheeler Hall.

During the presentation, I’m going to talk about a paper that I presented at philosophy conferences in Washington, DC and Lisbon, Portugal earlier this year. Since the paper is rather long and technical for a general audience, during the presentation, I will just focus on one argument for the claim that jealousy can help people protect the personal relationships that they value, and thus protect the basis of their self-respect.

I am hoping to have a diverse audience for the talk, since I think the paper is a good way for students and community members to get a little taste of a growing philosophical sub-discipline, called moral psychology, which focuses on the ethical significance of our beliefs, desires, emotions, and character traits. Because these are things that we all have personal experience with, philosophical research on these topics is generally more interesting and accessible to a broader audience than some of the more abstract work that philosophers do. I’m certainly going to try to keep it light with some examples that are likely to be familiar to everybody in the audience! I’m also planning to give a bit of historical background about this kind of research and why I personally find it so exciting.

Vegetarian Food in Portugal and Spain

food, travel

One of the things I like most about traveling is tasting new foods and learning about other cultures through their food-related practices. Being a vegetarian can complicate this a bit, but I had no trouble finding plenty of delicious vegetarian food at reasonable prices everywhere I went in the Iberian peninsula!

Vegetarian or not, there is lots to enjoy in the food culture of Portugal and Spain. Since I do my best writing early in the day, I like the practice of eating meals later (than most Americans do). I also enjoy being in a restaurant where the assumption is that you want to take the time to enjoy your food, rather than be rushed or interrupted regularly. In my experience, Portugese and Spanish people take a lot of pride in their cuisine, and are pleased to bond with others by sharing it!

In case you are interested in some recommendations, here are a sampling, in no particular order:

Lisbon, Portugal: Lisbon has tons of excellent and inexpensive food, and since almost everyone can and is willing to speak some English, knowing little to no Portugese won’t be an obstacle to a happy belly. Consider trying: Jardim do Sentidos, The Green Room, Taste of Lisboa (a food tour: I recommend the one at Campo de Ourique), Cruzes Credo, Pois Cafe, La Creperie da Ribeira, Santini, Primo Basilico, Casa Nepalesa, Time Out’s Mercado de Ribeira, Queijaria Nacional, and/or Restaurante Oasis. There were so many places I wanted to try that after five weeks in Lisbon, I still had only made it about halfway through my list!

Guimaraes, Portugal: I wasn’t in Guimaraes for long, but Cor de Tangerina was so good that I went there multiple times.

Madrid, Spain: There seem to be a lot more vegetarian and vegetarian-friendly food options in Madrid than when I visited a friend there in 2007. Some of my favorites include: Yerbabuena,  Restaurantes Vegetarianos Artemisa, Guaranga Transcendental Food, Mercado de San Miguel, Indian Aroma, El Estragon Vegetariano, and/or Phuket.

 

EPSSE in Lisbon

philosophy, travel

Last night, I returned to the US after nearly two months of writing and traveling in Portugal and Spain. How did I manage to pull off that trip, you might ask? A paper of mine, called “Jealousy and Self-Respect,” was accepted for presentation at the first annual conference of the European Philosophical Society for the Study of Emotions (EPSSE), which took place in Lisbon, Portugal, and I was fortunate to receive some faculty development funds to pay for my plane ticket and conference registration fees. Thank you, Colby-Sawyer College!

In my presentation, I explained an argument that some people have used to defend the claim that the emotion jealousy can help maintain or enhance morally valuable relationships, which can in turn ground people’s morally valuable self-respect, and thus that some jealousy is morally praiseworthy. I then discussed multiple objections to that argument, and concluded that the argument should be rejected. I got lots of productive feedback during the lively Q&A, and I look forward to presenting some similar material in a faculty colloquium at CSC in the coming academic year.

The whole conference was a truly wonderful experience. Philosophy of emotion is has grown a lot in recent years, but it is still very unusual to have an entire conference devoted to it, so spending three long days with other philosophers of emotion is a rare treat. During the conference, I saw 32 presentations by people from 6 continents about a huge range of philosophical issues! I learned an immense amount, met dozens of lovely and stimulating people, reconnected with some folks I already knew, and came away with pages of notes and ideas relating to both teaching and research that I look forward to drawing from well into the future.

Documentary: “After Tiller”

movies

This past weekend, I went to Vermont to watch the powerful documentary, After Tiller, which is about third trimester abortions and the American doctors who provide them in the wake of Dr. George Tiller’s murder.

It was great to see this film with one of my colleagues (who also teaches gender studies classes) and to stay for the panel discussion afterwards. For one thing, I learned about a great organization called the Concord Feminist Health Center. The next step for me is to figure out how I can get involved with the good work that they do.

Thanks to White River Indie Films for hosting this event!

Georgetown University Philosophy Conference

philosophy

This past week, I enjoyed myself at the conference on Emotions and Emotionality at Georgetown University. It was a real treat to engage with a bunch of philosophers who have similar interests; as some of us noted, specialist conferences about philosophy of emotion are rather few and far between! Now I am all fired up to push forward on some related research projects over the summer.

WOGAP

philosophy

Since moving to New London, I have been very fortunate to be able to attend multiple meetings of the Workshop on Gender and Philosophy (WOGAP), which are hosted by MIT in Boston. It is a really welcoming group; every time we meet, I learn something cool and get to chat with smart, kind people. This past week, we discussed a fascinating article by Miranda Fricker!