This event is from the archives of The Notice Board. The event has already taken place and the information contained in this post may no longer be relevant or accurate.
Join the Department of Philosophy for the following presentation:
What's Love Got To Do With It - A Virtue Perspective of Charity in Argumentation
Guest Speaker: Nathan Fuehrer (Graduate Student)
Day/Date: Thursday, April 4, 2024
Location: C-674 (University Hall)
Time: 10 - 11:30 a.m.
Abstract: I advance the position that virtue requires interlocutors in argumentative situations to engage each other with a charitable disposition. By charitable disposition I especially mean a desire to identify with the other, rather than remain epistemically estranged. This involves an attitude of committed and loving concern rather than a strict sort of judiciousness often associated with epistemic pursuits. It also involves an open-mindedness that the epistemic estrangement might be a fault in one’s own standpoint or viewpoint. In advancing criteria for a charitable disposition I draw upon analysis from ancient texts that advocate the virtue of love/charity. I apply this concept of the charitable/loving disposition to an extant debate on the “principle of charity in argumentation” (PC). The PC prescribes a duty upon participants in argumentation to interpret arguments offered as being better than they might appear. The PC is usually obliged for epistemic reasons. I advocate for charity that is an ethically motivated disposition to love the interlocutor and desire identification with him. I use the figure of Socrates in Apology to exemplify aspects of an uncharitable disposition in argumentation. I use the speechmaking of Socrates in Phaderus to exemplify a virtuous understanding of love in argumentation.
Contact:
Bev Garnett | bev.garnett@uleth.ca | 403-380-1894 | ulethbridge.ca/artsci/philosophy