The Royal Institute of Philosophy

Wednesday 10th January 2024, 12:30-1:30, ERI G51

Is Withholding Blame Dehumanising?

Nadine Elzein is Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of Warwick, where she has been since 2021. She obtained her PhD at University College London and has previously held positions at King’s College London, the University of Southampton, and the University of Oxford.

Nadine is interested in a range of philosophical topics, ranging across ethics, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind. She has published papers addressing issues in free will, moral responsibility and moral psychology

ALL WELCOME. ADMISSION FREE BUT REGISTRATION REQUIRED

Abstract:

Philosophers working on moral responsibility and punishment often defend a view which seems puzzling to those outside of philosophy: The view that we would not be treating someone as a person if we did not blame them for their wrongdoings and view them as deserving punishment for their crimes. Given that systems of punishment themselves often look quite dehumanising (UK prisons are rife with mental health problems and suicide), why would we think that withholding punishment might be worse? One worry is that a society that didn’t punish wrongdoers would instead have to treat them like animals or machines to be retrained or reprogrammed; We could manipulate them into better behaviour or “treat” their behaviour as if it were an illness, but we would fail to treat them as rational adults who make their own choices. I want to challenge this picture and to say something about how we might keep personhood but reject punishment.

In collaboration with Ema Sullivan-Bissett and Anna Ichino’s project on Conspiratorial Ideation and Pathological Belief (British Academy funded) and with project EPIC (Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare, Wellcome Trust funded), TRIP at Birmingham invites you to a special screening at Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) on 18 March 2024, from 17:30 to 19:30, entitled “In the mind of a conspiracy theorist”.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion by experts in conspiracy theories, delusional beliefs, misinformation, disagreement, and fake news. The audience will have the opportunity to actively participate with questions and comments.

Admission free but registration required. Programme suitable for secondary school and sixth-form college students.

Email Lisa Bortolotti for more details.

Panel members

Wednesday 8 May 2024, 1-2pm,  ERI G51

The Philosophy of Travel and Mary Wollstonecraft

Emily Thomas is Professor of Philosophy at Durham University. Prior to this she obtained a BA from the University of Birmingham, a PhD from the University of Cambridge, and held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Groningen. She has published widely on the history of metaphysics, especially space and time.

She is the author of the scholarly monograph Absolute Time: Rifts in Early Modern British Metaphysics (2018, Oxford University Press) and the trade book The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad (Oxford University Press, 2020). Thomas' work has been funded by the NWO, the AHRC, and the British Academy. In 2020 she won a Leverhulme Prize for excellence in research. Over the years, Thomas has appeared on many radio shows, including BBC’s In Our Time, and ABC’s Nightlife; and contributed popular philosophy pieces to venues such as Aeon, The Conversation, and the New Statesman.

ALL WELCOME. ADMISSION FREE BUT REGISTRATION REQUIRED.

Abstract

Drawing on Emily Thomas’ book The Meaning of Travel, this talk explains what the philosophy of travel is. It goes on to explore philosophical issues in travel through the life and work Mary Wollstonecraft: an eighteenth-century philosopher and travel writer. Along the way we’ll look at Wollstonecraft’s travels around Scandinavia, the male history of travel, the history of feminism, and the nature of travel writing.