The Levitt Center held the second installation of its Public Philosophy Discussion Series of the semester this Monday, Sept. 30. Community members, including students, professors and Levitt Center staff met over a lunch of Lafa for an hour of good food and stimulating conversation. The conversation was framed around Samantha Rose Hill’s article “Reconsidering Truth and Politics,” which examines how truth is defined in the context of politics.
Beginning with the conclusion that lies are, unfortunately, inextricable from politics, the conversation blossomed out to consider how we interact with that fact. Questions circulated about the degrees of a given truth, competing truths and the definition of truth: is it indisputable fact, or do individuals have their own truths? And how do we determine the extent to which someone’s personal truth, based on their experiences, is valid in informing how they interact with the political world and the world in general? The following only captures a few of the thought-provoking points touched on in the discussion.
In politics, when does a consistently told untruth become a real truth for people, simply because it has come to be accepted as such by a given group? The dialogue also explored the matter of morals and pragmatism in relation to truth; is it moral to lie or twist the truth in order to achieve a moral solution, such as exaggerating the poverty in a given area in order to receive more assistance in ending it? The issue of truth in the face of priorities was also raised. In the example from Hill’s article, community members living in Cancer Alley were aware of the truth of the pollution, but their economic stability was a higher priority to them. It was proposed that people can have a tendency to cherry-pick the truths they believe or acknowledge, basing their political stances and the ways in which they interact with the world at large on those select few.
These Levitt Center discussions provide a space for all Hamilton community members to engage in informal conversation “to foster critical thinking and open philosophical vantage points on social, cultural, and political issues.”
Different rationalities were offered from these areas in order to examine and understand the same issues, creating an inspiring and connective conversation.
In their own words, the Levitt Center “supports students, faculty and staff who aspire to understand and address pressing local, national and international challenges.” More sessions of the Public Philosophy Discussion Series will be held throughout the semester, as well as other events aimed at engaging and connecting the Hamilton community. The Center also offers a host of programs focused on a variety of interests and civic engagement.
The discussion Monday expands upon the work of Arlie Hochschild, a sociologist who spent five years living in “Cancer Alley,” Louisiana, a region that stretches between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, “where petro-chemical pollution has caused rampant cancer cases among the population.” Despite the disproportionate rate of disease, members of this community have consistently opposed policies that would address the pollution due to concerns about the economic ramifications.
