As the days get longer and our campus bursts out in bloom, the Department of Philosophy bustles like a beehive. We continue our renewed efforts to reach out and beyond the campus walls. Our #PhilosophyResponds: Conversations after the Election series was a great success, filling the halls around our communal table with people… Read more
Some people’s lives play out like a movie. Lonnie Robinson, University of Washington Class of 1939, is definitely one of those people.
In Act One, 17-year-old Lonnie, after growing up in West Seattle, begins attending the University of Washington in the fall of 1933. At this time, many of Seattle’s streets are still made of dirt. The country is in the midst of the Great Depression and, as Lonnie puts it, “…[it’s] a great time to be a student because there [are] no jobs to be had.” … Read more
The Benjamin Rabinowitz Symposium in Medical Ethics on Race, Health & Justice took place on March 31 at the University of Washington. The purpose of the symposium was to bring together an interdisciplinary group of students and faculty, as well as researchers and policy-makers from the surrounding community, who are interested in health equity, and who think critically about race and justice. Despite a professed commitment to equality, the US continues to manifest systematic inequalities in… Read more
Professor Emeritus Ken Clatterbaugh has found a new passion in his retirement—writing fiction. Clatterbaugh’s novel, The Freedom of Will, is the story of Will Tillit, an abandoned child from east Texas being raised by his loving, devout evangelical aunt and uncle, who are determined to do their best by their young nephew. We had the pleasure to sit down with Professor Clatterbaugh and discuss the book. (This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)
What drew you… Read more
The Department of Philosophy hosted the first discussion in our series #philosophyresponds: Conversations After the Election on Friday, January 20th. The goal of these conversations is to think productively about how the Department of Philosophy community can reach out beyond the classroom by deploying the tools, skills, and content of philosophy to grapple with pressing social issues.
The first topic, “Hate Speech and Slurs,” was led by Professor Luvell Anderson of University of… Read more
During the Winter of 2016, Professor David Schlosberg served as a visiting scholar at the Program on Values in Society. Schlosberg is Professor of Environmental Politics at the University of Sydney, and Co-Director of the University’s Sydney Environment Institute. In this interview, the Program on Values Research… Read more
Professor Michael Blake thinks a March for Science is needed because basic scientific knowledge is under attack - especially from the right. But Blake told KUOW's David Hyde that liberals are partly to blame, and that the problem goes way beyond science: listen to interview on KUOW.org
My worry is not just that science is under attack but that a whole bunch of good things that depend on science are at risk. … Read more
Congratulations to Professor Michael Blake on his new appointment as Commissioner on the King County Board of Ethics. The Board of Ethics oversees the administration and interpretation of the Code of Ethics for King County Employees. The Code deals with ethical issues that arise in the course of working for King County and describes the specific ethical obligations held by employees and elected officials alike. There are provisions in the Code about both rights and responsibilities—what King… Read more
Professor Stephen Gardiner recently appeared on Cultures of Energy - the Energy Humanities Podcast run by the Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences (CENHS) at Rice University. In the podcast Prof Gardiner discusses a range of issues related to his philosophical work on climate change. To listen to the podcast and find out more please visit the CENHS website here.
The Department of Philosophy hosted the second discussion in the series #philosophyresponds: Conversations After the Election, on Friday, February 3rd. The goal of these conversations is to think productively about how the Department of Philosophy community can reach out beyond the classroom by deploying the tools, skills, and the content of philosophy to grapple with pressing social issues.
The second topic, “Facts and Fake News” was led by Amanda Hornby, Head of Teaching and Learning at… Read more
The Department of Philosophy hosted the third discussion in the series #PhilosophyResponds: Conversations After the Election, on Friday, February 17, 2017. The goal of these conversations is to think productively about how the Department of Philosophy community can reach out beyond the classroom by deploying the tools, skills and the content of philosophy to grapple with pressing social issues.
The third topic, “Recognizing and Combatting Racism and Sexism” was led by Professors Sara… Read more
The Department of Philosophy hosted the fourth discussion in the series #PhilosophyResponds: Conversations After the Election, on Friday, March 10, 2017. The goal of these conversations is to think productively about how the Department of Philosophy community can reach out beyond the classroom by deploying the tools, skills and the content of philosophy to grapple with pressing social issues.
The fourth topic, “Civil Disobedience” was led by Professor Bill Talbott and Graduate Student… Read more
From 2014-2016, Dr Augustin Fragnière was a visiting post-doctoral scholar at the University of Washington’s Program on Values in Society (POV). Dr Fragnière hails from Lausanne, Switzerland and holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Paris 1 (France) and the University of Lausanne (Switzerland). During his visit, he undertook a range of research into the ethics of climate change - specifically looking at areas such as the… Read more
On the February 27, 2017 edition of The Daily’s Sound Bite weekly podcast, Professor Colin Marshall spoke with Alex Bruell about his upcoming book Compassionate Moral Realism.
Listen to Colin Marshall starting at 19:52 on the podcast.
In an overview article entitled “Climate Change and Individual Duty” recently published in WIREs Climate Change, Program on Values in Society visiting post-doctoral scholar Augustin Fragnière reviewed a decade of philosophical debate over questions of individual responsibility for climate change. His work was featured on the front page of Advanced Science News, a website dedicated to … Read more
The UW Center for Philosophy for Children hosted the 2017 Washington State High School Ethics Bowl held on February 4, 2017, at the University of Washington School of Law. The Ethics Bowl is a collaborative yet competitive event in which teams analyze a series of wide-ranging ethical dilemmas. Over 100 high school students and teachers and 40 judges, lawyers, UW faculty and other educators participated.… Read more