In the spirit of building communities of philosophical conversation, locally and online, we are continuing to record little introduction videos for our members and leaders. Here’s one for Dr. Bertha Alvarez Manninen. For each of these videos, we are asking 1) Who are you? 2) Why are you interested in philosophy and in SOPHIA? and 3) What’s something unique or unusual about you? We want these videos to put a face and a voice to a name. Here’s Dr. Manninen’s profile page.
If you’d like to make a video, reach out to SOPHIA’s Executive Director and we’ll record one. Getting together for that purpose also gives us an opportunity to chat. Enjoy this little intro video featuring Dr. Manninen:
Here below is the video of our first online symposium, which we organized on the topic of trigger warnings. Note that the audio in the first 8-10 minutes includes some background noise from participants getting set up. We eventually got those sounds under control and know now how to avoid such problems in future discussion. We hope that you enjoy this video and that you’ll join us in the future. Also, send us ideas about topics that you want to talk about. We are looking to put on regular discussions like this one on a variety of topics. We hope you enjoy:
SOPHIA is holding our first online symposium, a conversational meeting open to all, on the subject of “trigger warnings,” the act of alerting students in advance about potentially offensive messages or images to be covered in an educational setting. Controversy arose in part in reaction to a letter from the Dean of Students at the University of Chicago, which you can find here, and which we ask that each participant in our conversation read prior to joining us (1 page).
Title:Trigger Warnings: Offense, Respect, and Freedom [Online Video Symposium]
Day and time: Wednesday, 10/19/16 from 2:00-3:30 p.m. Eastern.
Place: Online. In advance, click this link to download a small tool that will enable participation. If you have used Zoom online video conferencing before, you may not need to download the little app.
SPECIAL NOTE: This conversational meeting will be recorded and then posted on YouTube. You can participate either with video and audio or you can just watch the discussion and comment in the platform’s chat section. Those unable to participate at the time of the discussion can watch the video later on YouTube.
Facilitators:
Dr. Bertha Manninen, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Arizona State University
and
Dr. Shane Courtland, Managing Director of the Center for Free Enterprise at West Virginia University.
In addition,
Dr. Eric Thomas Weber, Executive Director of SOPHIA, will serve as the moderator of our online forum.
And featuring a special Guest:
We are also very fortunate to have a special guest joining us from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE):
Ari Cohn, J.D., Senior Program Officer for Legal and Public Advocacy for F.I.R.E.
Finally, you can also call us and leave us a voicemail with a comment or question, by calling: 859.257.1849. Please introduce yourself, tell us where you’re from, and please limit your message length to 1 minute or less.
Date:
October 19, 2016
Time:
02:00-03:30 p.m. Eastern
Event:
Trigger Warnings: Offense, Respect, and Freedom [Online Video Symposium]
Topic:
Education, Academic Freedom, Respect for Victims of Trauma
Two SOPHIA members have independently suggested that we hold a discussion on the topic of “trigger warnings.” Remember that SOPHIA discussions generally begin with a very short text (whether written, audio, or video), which can help spark the discussion. It also allows us all to be literally on the same page as we begin our discussions. Both Trustee Dr. Bertha Manninen and member Dr. Annie Davis Weber have suggested that we have a discussion on “trigger warnings,” and both of them independently suggested that we use the University of Chicago letter on the subject, which has been in the news recently.
If you would be interested in participating in an online video conference discussion on this topic, whether or not you’re a member of SOPHIA, and whether or not you’ve ever studied any philosophy, you can comment below, email us, or let us know on Facebook or on Twitter. In addition, reach out to us if you have ideas about other topics that you think would be rewarding to talk about in a SOPHIA group meeting, whether with a local group, at a national event, or via an online video conference call.
Of course, if you are interested and have not yet officially joined or renewed your membership in SOPHIA, you can do so here.
