A new year offers an opportunity to reflect on the significant events of the previous year. But what ideas and events took shape over the past twelve months that challenged our assumptions and made us think about things in new ways? Join John, Ken, and their special guests as they celebrate the examined year with a philosophical look back at the year that was 2015:
•The Year in CampusCulture Warswith Kate Manne from Cornell University, co-author of "When Free Speech Becomes a Political Weapon"
•The Year in Refugees and Migrationwith Beverly Crawford from UC Berkeley, author ofPower and German Foreign Policy: Embedded Hegemony in Europe
•The Year in Science and Climate Changewith Allen Thompson from Oregon State University, co-editor ofThe Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics(forthcoming)
This episode is one of many trades, from the climate change agreement and what it represents to the push to create a more tolerant environment, one of heightened sensitivities and “safe spaces,” to the refugee crisis.
John and Ken first welcome guest Kate Manne, Professor of Philosophy at Cornell University and co-author of “When Free Speech Becomes a Political Weapon.” Is there a culture war going on in college campuses, asks Ken? Kate prefers not to describe it in militaristic terms, but explains that she sees it as an exciting time. Challenging gender and race hierarchies goes against a lot of ingrained social instincts, and for students to be saying that those who are in authority should be sensitive to the political and emotional ramifications of our words and actions is major. John asks Kate about her experiences in philosophy courses, and Kate describes an upsetting incident regarding slurs which took place during her time at graduate school. Shouldn’t people get used to things like graphic material without needing trigger warnings, asks John? Kate explains why she absolutely thinks not. And, as Ken asks, are we coddling students by creating this sort of hypervigilant and self-aware environment? Tune in to find out!
The following segment features guest Beverly Crawford, Adjunct Professor in International and Area Studies at UC Berkeley and author ofPower and German Foreign Policy: Embedded Hegemony in Europe．肯说，对于国际研究来说，这是相当重要的一年，因为移民和难民危机以及随之而来的政治压力。他认为难民是更大的移民问题的一部分。但是难民和移民到底有什么区别呢?贝弗利解释说，难民身份意味着逃离自己国家的迫害或酷刑——因为这些情况而被迫离开。这是一种法律地位。另一方面，移民是各种各样的，其中有经济移民、气候移民和战争移民。约翰想知道我们目前处理难民的制度是否不够完善。贝弗利解释说，联合国已经要求美国接收65000名难民，这个过程需要大约两年的时间进行广泛的审查。不过，她并不认为这个过程有什么问题。 Ken believes that European politics is now showing its ugliness; Beverly thinks the situation in Europe is worse than in the U.S., which is the country that takes in the most refugees. It’s a problem, she says, of dealing with the Other. Ken is torn between two viewpoints: why should the accident of where you were born dictate the rest of your lives? On the other hand, a nation is a shared project of the citizens, and there is no reason why one country should feel obliged to take in everybody. The conversation continues between John and Ken.
The third segment is with Allen Thompson, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of Graduate Studies at Oregon State University and co-editor ofThe Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics(forthcoming). John wonders if, given that most of us have been worried about climate change for so long, we can finally relax a little now that all nations have come together during the Paris Agreement. Allen says that we can certainly worry less than we would have to were the agreement not in place. He highlights the unprecedented and historic nature of this deal and emphasizes that we need to work on implementation, for agreements without that are nothing but empty words. Ken wonders if he should be more optimistic about the capacity of humans collectively taking on the problems that humans collectively caused. Allen says that while we don’t know with certainty if we can face the challenges, we can – and must – be hopeful. What we lack today are sufficient institutional structures to allow us to solve these collective issues. The trio talks about previous agreements and the future of climate negotiations and change.
