Oxford University Press and Blackwell’s are delighted to team up once again to host the Oxford Philosophy Festival to celebrate the quest for knowledge and ideas. This year, our theme centres around applying philosophy in politics. Come and join us as we discuss religious liberty and discrimination with John Corvino, the benefits of a marriage-free state with Clare Chambers, the true nature of the oil industry with Leif Wenar, and much more. If you’re not able to attend in person, please enjoy our online resources on these important issues, along with our content on World Philosophy Day.
More information, along with registration links to these free events, are below.
Clare Chambers’ Against Marriage book launch
Thursday 16th November 2017, 19:00 – 20:00 GMT
At our first event of the festival, Clare Chambers will be launching her new publication Against Marriage: An Egalitarian Defense of the Marriage-Free State. In Against Marriage Clare Chambers argues that state-recognised marriage violates both equality and liberty, even when expanded to include same-sex couples. Instead Chambers proposes the marriage-free state: an egalitarian state in which religious or secular marriages are permitted but have no legal status.
Register online for our Clare Chambers event.
Very Short Introductions speed dating event
Friday 17th November 2017, 19:00 – 20:00 GMT
The Very Short Introduction series is a fabulous way of being introduced to a new subject, containing over 500 different books in the series. At this event, audience members will have the opportunity to meet six expert authors who have each written a Very Short Introduction book. In small groups moving around the Norrington room, the groups will have a ten minute period with each author, having the opportunity to ask questions and receive a brief introduction to the subjects. The evening will feature:
- Maria Rosa Antognazza, Leibniz: A Very Short Introduction
- Ian Stewart, Infinity: A Very Short Introduction
- Simon Glendinning, Derrida: A Very Short Introduction
- Yujin Nagasawa, Miracles: A Very Short Introduction
- Susan Blackmore, Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction
- Samir Okasha, Philosophy of Science: Very Short Introduction
Register online for our VSI event.
John Corvino on Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination
Saturday 18th November 2017, 11:30 – 12:30 GMT
John Corvino is the author of What’s Wrong with Homosexuality?, and co-author of Debating Same-Sex Marriage and Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination. At this event, John Corvino will be delving into the topic covered in his most recent publication, the balance between supporting religious liberty and opposing discrimination, and what we can do regarding legislation in these areas.
Register online for our John Corvino event.
Andrew Copson on Secularism: Politics, Religion, Freedom
Saturday 18th November 2017, 13:30 – 14:30 GMT
Andrew Copson is the Chief Executive of Humanists UK, and author of Secularism: Politics, Religion, Freedom. At this event, Andrew Copson will be discussing the topics in his book further, including the deep tensions a secular state faces from resurgent religious identity politics, and those a religious state faces from insurgent secularists and will consider how secularism connects with contentious issues such as blasphemy, religious persecution, religious discrimination, and freedom of belief.
Register online for our Andrew Copson event.
Leif Wenar on Blood Oil: Tyrants, Violence, and the Rules that Run the World
Saturday 18th November 2017, 15:00 – 16:00 GMT
Leif Wenar is Professor of Politics and Chair of Philosophy at King’s College-London, and is author of Blood Oil: Tyrants, Violence, and the Rules that Run the World. At this event, Leif Wenar will be going into the topics found in Blood Oil, including how today’s natural resource trade runs on the same rule that once made the slave trade, colonialism, apartheid, and genocide legal, and how the West can lead the world the next step forward in history through a peaceful resource revolution.
Register online for our Leif Wenar event.
Richard Marshall on Ethics at 3am
Sunday 19th November 2017, 11:30 – 12:30 GMT
Richard Marshall is the author of Philosophy at 3AM: Questions and Answers with 25 Top Philosophers, and more recently Ethics at 3:AM: Questions and Answers on How to Live Well. At this event, Richard Marshall will be discussing the collection of interviews in Ethics at 3am regarding what ethicists and moral philosophers really think about, and the most pressing concerns in the discipline of philosophy today.
Register online for our Richard Marshall event.
Jonathan Birch on The Philosophy of Social Evolution
Sunday 19th November 2017, 13:30 – 14:30 GMT
Jonathan Birch is the author of The Philosophy of Social Evolution, a fascinating exploration of the role that evolutionary theory can play in understanding the social world. At this event, Jonathan Birch will be interviewed by Elizabeth Hannon on his recent publication, focusing on the evolution of altruism, microbial evolution, and cultural evolution.
Register online for our Jonathan Birch event.
David Edmonds with Jeff-McMahan on Derek Parfit
Sunday 19th November 2017, 15:00 – 16:00 GMT
In our closing event, David Edmonds will be in discussion with Jeff McMahan about the lifetime and achievements of Derek Parfit (1942–2017). Derek Parfit is the author of the bestselling three volume collection On What Matters and Reasons and Persons, one of the most influential books in philosophy of the last several decades.
Register online for our closing event.
If you are in the Oxford area between Thursday 16th and Sunday 19th November, make sure to register for any of the above events and hear from some leading academics on the application of philosophy in politics. We look forward to seeing you at Blackwell’s, Broad Street!
Featured image credit: Justitia, Goddess of Justice. Photo by pixel2013. Public domain via Pixabay.
Is library good for world????