Tag Archives: academic freedom

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036: Ep32 – The Public Philosopher and the Gadfly

Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show & podcast

This thirty-second episode of the Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show and podcast features a follow-up interview with Dr. Tommy J Curry of Texas A&M University (who featured in Ep9 before this one), on the controversy and death threats that he endured when a piece was published mischaracterizing his work in The American Conservative.

Photo of Dr. Tommy Curry.

Photo of Dr. Tommy J. Curry, courtesy of Benjamin Rasmussen for the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Image of the cover of The Man-Not, by Dr. Tommy Curry. Dr. Curry is the author of The Man-Not: Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood, which was published in July of 2017 with Temple University Press. Dr. Curry’s work and the attacks he received were examined closely in a piece published on Snopes.com, which shows the dangerous error that the AC piece made. An excellent bit of reporting and writing came out in The Chronicle of Higher Education on Tommy’s story too, though it is situated behind a “pay wall.” Get the story straight from Tommy in this episode for free!

Listen for our “You Tell Me!” questions and for some jokes in one of our concluding segments, called “Philosophunnies.” Reach out to us on Facebook @PhilosophyBakesBread and on Twitter @PhilosophyBB; email us at philosophybakesbread@gmail.com; or call and record a voicemail that we play on the show, at 859.257.1849. Philosophy Bakes Bread is a production of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). Check us out online at PhilosophyBakesBread.com and check out SOPHIA at PhilosophersInAmerica.com.

 

(1 hr 6 mins)

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Notes

  1. Tommy J. Curry, The Man-Not: Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood (Temple University Press, 2017).
  2. Rod Dreher, “When Is It Ok to Kill Whites?” The American Conservative, May 8, 2017.
  3. Bethania Palma, “Did a Texas A&M Professor Advocate Killing White People?” Snopes.com, June 2, 2016.
  4. On “Paleo-conservatives,” see Samuel Francis, “The Paleo Persuasion,” The American Conservative, December 16, 2002 and Dylan Matthews, “Paleoconservatism, the movement that explains Donald Trump, explained,” Vox.com, May 6, 2016.
  5. The Shoah Foundation preserves memories and history of the Holocaust of World War II. For more information, see this 2017 CNN story: Sara Ashley O’Brien, “Shoah Foundation Is Using Technology to Preserve Holocaust Survivor Stories,” CNN.com, April 4, 2017.
  6. The American Philosophical Association’s “Statement on Valuing Public Philosophy,” May 2017.

 

 

You Tell Me!

For our future “You Tell Me!” segments, Dr. Curry proposed the following question in this episode, for which we invite your feedback: “Should the ‘Alt-Right’ or white supremacist publics constrain the mission and the discourse of universities?”

What do you think?

Let us know!  Twitter, Facebook, Email, or by commenting here below.

 

Transcript

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VIDEO – Trigger Warnings: Offense, Freedom, and Respect

Photo of SOPHIA's first online philosophical conversation, on trigger warnings.

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:

If you haven’t already, you can “like” our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. You can also JOIN SOPHIA here.

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“Trigger Warnings” – Topic for a SOPHIA Symposium?

This is a photo of the letter that the University of Chicago sent to incoming students about 'trigger warnings.' Clicking the photo opens a printable PDF file of the letter, with optical character recognition applied.

Looking for info on the event? Click here.

A photo of a symbol that reads "Trigger Warning: Explicit Content," and which is made to look like the "Explicit Content" warnings used on mature media sold to the public in the United States.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.