Since Fall 2022, the Arthur Levitt Center for Public Affairs has offered its current version of the Public Philosophy discussion group, “with the aim of providing a relatively informal space for Hamilton Community members…to discuss philosophical ideas and how they relate to social dynamics and issues,” as Zack Schuman, Assistant Director of Community-Based Learning at the Levitt Centertold
The Spectator
.
In forming each of these sessions, which all take place in the Levitt Center Conference Room, Levitt Media Fellow Simon Stanco chooses articles to guide the conversations. Compared to seasons past where “discrete topic[s]” were selected for each meeting, this fall has aimed to center on “philosophical thinking around technology, especially on how it changes our relationship with meaning,” says Schuman. Many such articles have been drawn from the American Philosophical Association’s blog, though other forms of media including a Byung-Chul Han — philosopher and cultural theorist — interview and “The Question Concerning Technology,” an essay by Martin Heidegger. Throughout the technological theme, the Public Philosophy program has touched on topics including “filmic depictions of AI and the influence on how they think about consciousness, technologies like ChatGPT and their ramifications for aesthetic meaning and smartphones and meaningfulness,” says Schuman.
Looking ahead to the next semester, the program hopes to invite speakers from within the Hamilton community and beyond to discuss societal issues and relationships.
However, the Public Philosophy discussions are not the only way for community members to get involved with the Public Philosophy sphere, as the discussion series makes up only a component of the Public Philosophy Initiative, a combined endeavor from the Levitt Center and the Philosophy Department at Hamilton. The Initiative is vast and offers a range of activities and events for students to be a part of including “conferences on Food, Justice, Aesthetics and Morality organized by Professor Alex Plakias, a human rights trip to Ireland led by Professors Justin Clark and Ashley Gorham, The Community Conversations Project led by Professor Alma Lowry and
Book XI
, a journal of literature and philosophy, edited by Professor Marianne Janack and Hamilton College students,” says Schuman.
There is one more session remaining in the semester for students interested in attending. It will take place on Dec. 6 at 4:00 p.m. and is titled, “Smartphones and Meaningfulness.” The session will be held in the Levitt Center Conference Room (with Clinton Cider Mill refreshments).
