2nd Issue
We are delighted to share a selection of papers from some of our undergraduate and Master’s level students from the 2023-2024 academic year. This is the second issue of the CEP’s Occasional Series. Our first issue came out during the depths of the pandemic. This present issue is coming out against the backdrop of less extraordinary events, but many of these remain profoundly unsettling: war, devastation, and destruction, as well as growing xenophobia, sexism, and popular unrest caused by wealth inequality seem to have become the global public backdrop of much of our philosophical lives. All the while, the climate crisis rolls on unabated, with more and more damaging consequences. There is a sense of loss of control, maybe even the feeling that we now live in an era defined by ‘polycrisis’. But there are also signs of popular awakenings and the conditions for social hope seem to make themselves visible from time to time.
The papers in this issue exemplify how philosophical attention to a great variety of problems and topics can both make valuable contributions to our understandings of these and, sometimes, provide practical recommendations for amending our ways. The essays in this issue cover a highly diverse range of topics: the role and ethics of using ‘poverty porn’ in poverty alleviation efforts, how the restriction in access to abortion caused by the Dobbs decision in the US Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade affects the USA’s standing in international law, Shelby’s ‘naturalistic’ conception of exploitation, whether lying necessarily involves the intention to deceive, the value of appealing to ideal world scenarios when debating the case for prison abolition, Mencius on human nature and Confucius on filial and fraternal respect, responsibility for the wrongs involved in consumption, the authenticity of observer perspective memories, the rights and wrongs of boycotting a company when it is unlikely to make a practical difference, and the legitimacy of breaching international law in order to intervene in a humanitarian disaster.
Like in the previous issue, the editorial team is composed of students (Natalie Heasman-Tree and Rikzar Amin) and an academic staff member (Joshua Forstenzer) from the department of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield. The presentation of the essays, despite some cosmetic edits, remains largely in keeping with the referencing conventions and structural presentations (parts, numbering, headings, sub-headings) selected by each author, rather than in a harmonised fashion. We also present here essays that adopt quite different styles: some more argumentative, others more interpretive; some highly contemporary, others more historical; some very clearly ethically- or politically-motivated, others more influenced by scientific or empirical debates. We are very happy to do this because sharing these essays together allows us to show that engaged philosophy is richly diverse and draws on a great variety of sources, debates, methodologies, and styles. At the very least, we believe that these essays show the depth of philosophical passion and talent in our department. We enjoyed reading them and we dare to hope that you may as well. Good reading to you!
1st Issue
We are delighted to introduce a selection of papers from our third year and MA students from the 2020-2021 academic year. It has been a challenging year: the global pandemic rages on, the climate crisis intensifies, and as a result social inequalities have been magnified and exacerbated. The papers in this issue exemplify how philosophical attention to these issues can both make valuable contributions to our understandings of these epoch-changing events, and provide practical recommendations for how to move through them – as well as, on occasion, lighthearted escape from them! We also think these essays provide rich examples of engaged philosophy. We invite you to read and think about them and to let us know if you wish to contribute your own thoughts to the conversation.
The Centre for Engaged Philosophy Occasional Series’ 1st Issue is available at the link below:
Centre for Engaged Philosophy 