The board of officers of the APA has voted unanimously to issue the following statement:
Leading up to the United States presidential election one month ago and in the weeks since, the nation has experienced increasingly divisive rhetoric and a rise in bias-based attacks on members of vulnerable groups. In light of this polarized post-election climate, the board of officers of the American Philosophical Association reaffirms the association’s core values of inclusion and diversity, open and respectful dialogue, and academic freedom.
The board of officers further commits to continue working to ensure that all in the philosophical community and beyond have the opportunity to study, work, and engage in free inquiry across cultural, linguistic, and other social boundaries. Today, philosophy and other humanistic disciplines remain fundamental to our nation’s most deeply held ideals of justice and freedom of expression, and as such, the work of philosophers and humanists is needed now more than ever.
Building on the commitments expressed in the statement above and recognizing that spaces where many philosophers work—schools, colleges, and universities—have experienced reported examples of increased intolerance, upcoming APA meetings will include a number of sessions addressing issues of inclusion and diversity, open and respectful dialogue, and academic freedom.
A selection of these sessions, which have been organized by various groups including APA committees, program committees for their respective meetings, and affiliate groups, appears below. Full details of these sessions, plus information on many other sessions touching on topics relevant to the post-election context, are available in the meeting programs.
2017 Eastern Division Meeting: Baltimore, MD, January 4–8
- Presidential Address: The Moral Significance of Being Human
Speaker: Eva Feder Kittay - 1E — Voting
Speakers: Matt Whitt (Duke University), Jon Garthoff (University of Tennessee), Thomas Mulligan (Georgetown University), Piers Turner (Ohio State University) - 4C — Living, Thinking, and Teaching “Black Lives Matter”
Arranged by the APA Committee on Public Philosophy
Speakers: Robert Birt (Bowie State University), Anika Simpson (Morgan State University), Calvin Warren (George Washington University), Michael Cryor (OneBaltimore) - 5I — A Vision for Black Lives as/and Philosophy
Arranged by the APA Committee on Public Philosophy
Speakers: Devonya Havis (Canisius College), Qrescent Mali Mason (Berea College) - 5J — Women of Color Feminism
Arranged by the APA Committee on the Status of Black Philosophers and the APA Committee on the Status of Women
Speakers: Naomi Zack (University of Oregon), Joy James (Williams College), Tommy J. Curry (Texas A&M University), Celena Simpson (University of Oregon) - G6J — Liberalism and Creative Democracy in the Age of Clinton v. Trump
Arranged by the John Dewey Society
Speakers: Shane Ralston (Pennsylvania State University – Hazleton), Dan Reyes (University of Dayton), Stefano Oliverio (University of Naples Federico II), Joseph Betz (Villanova University) - 10K — Academic Freedom in Foreign and Branch Campuses
Arranged by the APA Committee on International Cooperation
Speakers: Kevin W. Gray (Boston College), John Ryder (American Institute of Malta), Michael Gow (Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University, Suzhou, PRC) - G10B — Philosophy of the City—in Color
Arranged by the Philosophy of the City Research Group and the Committee on the Status of Black Philosophers
Speakers: Lewis Gordon (University of Connecticut–Storrs), Eduardo Mendieta (Pennsylvania State University), Jane Gordon (University of Connecticut–Storrs), Robert Birt (Bowie State University) - G10F — Respecting People with Disabilities in Public and Private Life
Arranged by the Society for Philosophy and Disability
Speakers: John Vorhaus (University College, London), Alice Crary (The New School), Adam Cureton (University of Tennessee), David Wasserman (National Institutes of Health, Department of Bioethics) - 14C — Sexual and Gender Identity and Choice
Arranged by the Committee LGBTQ People in the Profession
Speakers: Esa Diaz-Leon (University of Barcelona), Robin Dembroff (Princeton University) - 15J — Philosophy and Refugees
Speakers: Serena Parekh (Northeastern University), Luara L. Ferracioli (University of Amsterdam), Bat-Ami Bar On (Binghamton University) - 17F —The Philosophy and Politics of (in)Civility
Speakers: Alison Reiheld (Southern Illinois University–Edwardsville), Amy Olberding (University of Oklahoma), Karen Stohr (Georgetown University)
2017 Central Division Meeting: Kansas City, MO, March 1–4
- Presidential Address: The Well-Being of Philosophy
Speaker: Valerie Tiberius - GIII-1 — Doing Philosophy in Prisons
Arranged by the Committee on Public Philosophy
Speakers: Lori Gruen (Wesleyan University), Jennifer Lackey (Northwestern University), Myisha Cherry (University of Illinois at Chicago), Geoffrey Adelsberg (Edgewood College) - IV-F — Author Meets Critics: David Shoemaker, Responsibility from the Margins
Speakers: David Shoemaker (Tulane University), Matthew Talbert (West Virginia University), Michael McKenna (University of Arizona), Gary Watson (University of Southern California) - GIV-2 — Social Norms and Structural Injustice
Arranged by the Society for Analytical Feminism
Speakers: Ann J. Cahill (Elon University), Jessica Payson (Bentley University), Audrey Yap (University of Victoria) - GIV-6 — Power, Public Reason, and Justice
Arranged by the North American Society for Social Philosophy
Speakers: Sarah Conrad (Western Connecticut State University), Esme Murdock (Morehouse College), Sebastian Purcell (SUNY Cortland) - GV-4 — Philosophy of Liberation after Ferguson and Orlando
Arranged by the Society for Philosophy in the Contemporary World
Speakers: Christian Matheis (Virginia Tech University), Ayanna Spencer (Michigan State University), Geoffrey Pfeifer (Worcester Polytechnic Institute ) - GV-5 — Bathroom Bills, Religious Freedom and Anti-LGBTQ Legislation in the U.S.
Arranged by the Society for LGBTQ Philosophy
Speakers: Loren Cannon (California State University, Humboldt), Claire Lockard (Loyola University Chicago), Richard Nunan (College of Charleston), Erik Zimmerman (New School for Social Research) - VII-E — Disability
Speakers: Kevin Timpe (Calvin College), Joseph Stramondo (San Diego State University), Melinda C. Hall (Stetson University) - VIII-C — Human Dignity: Perspectives From Political Outsiders
Speakers: Charles W. Mills (CUNY Graduate Center), Lori Gruen (Wesleyan University), Lori Watson (University of San Diego) - VIII-N — Swinburne’s Argument about Homosexuality
Arranged by the Committee on LGBTQ People in the Profession
Speakers: John Corvino (Wayne State University), Rima Basu (University of Southern California)
2017 Pacific Division Meeting: Seattle, WA, April 12–15
- 3O — Enforcing Immigration Law: Philosophical Issues
Arranged by the APA Committee on Philosophy and Law
Speakers: José Jorge Mendoza (University of Massachusetts Lowell), Alex Sager (Portland State University), Stephanie J. Silverman (University of Ottawa), - 5D — Race
Speakers: Quayshawn Spencer (University of Pennsylvania), Ron Mallon (Washington University in St. Louis), Jeanine Schroer (University of Minnesota Duluth) - 7M — Inclusiveness in Crisis: How Do We Address Social and Political Flashpoints in Philosophy Courses?
Arranged by the Committee on Inclusiveness in the Professionand the University of Washington Department of Philosophy Climate Committee
Co-sponsored by the Committees on the Status of Black Philosophers, Hispanics, the Status of Women, Teaching Philosophy, and Pre-College Instruction in Philosophy, and the Pacific Division of the Society for Women in Philosophy
Speakers: Stephen Esquith (Michigan State University), Christian Hoeckley (Westmont College), Ruth Groenhout (Calvin College), Christina VanDyke (Calvin College) - 8B — Book Symposium: Linda Martín Alcoff, The Future of Whiteness
Speakers: Linda Martín Alcoff (The Graduate Center, CUNY), Barbara Applebaum (Syracuse University), Kim Hall (Appalachian State University), Falguni Sheth (Emory University) - 8F — Rawls and Racial Justice
Speakers: Brian Thomas (Simon Fraser University), Elizabeth Edenberg (Fordham University), Joseph Frigault (Boston University), Wendy Salkin (Harvard University) - 8K — Outreach and Issues of Recruitment/Retention
Arranged by the Committee on Inclusiveness in the Profession and the University of Washington Department of Philosophy Climate Committee
Co-sponsored by the Committees on the Status of Black Philosophers, Hispanics, the Status of Women, the Teaching Philosophy, and Pre-college Instruction in Philosophy, and the Pacific Division of the Society for Women in Philosophy
Speakers: Adam Blazej (Columbia University), John Fantuzzo (Valparaiso University), John Torrey (University of Memphis), Liam Kofi Bright (Carnegie Mellon University), Eva Kittay (Stony Brook University) - 9B — Book Symposium: Ryan Muldoon, Social Contract for a Diverse World
Speakers: Ryan Muldoon (University at Buffalo), Samuel Freeman (University of Pennsylvania), Hélène Landemore (Yale University), Nicholas Southwood (Australian National University) - 9D — Black Students & American Philosophy
Speakers: Tina Botts (California State University, Fresno), Tommy J. Curry (Texas A&M University), Irami Osei-Frimpong (University of Georgia), Camisha Russell (Colorado College) - G9B — Roundtable: Religion, Philosophy, and Prison Abolition
Arranged by the Political Theology Group
Speakers: Andrea Pitts (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), Joy James (Williams College), Colby Lenz (University of Southern California), Natalie Cisneros (Seattle University), Brady Heiner (California State University, Fullerton), Dan Berger (University of Washington), Dean Spade (Seattle University), Vincent Lloyd (Villanova University) - 14A — Book Symposium: Tommie Shelby, Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform
Speakers: Charles Mills (Northwestern University), Ronald R. Sundstrom (University of San Francisco), Naomi Zack (University of Oregon), Tommie Shelby (Harvard University)
