Philosophy 0710 Presentations

7:30 PM Maggie Connolly, “Aristotle’s Civic Friendship in Modern-day Polarized America”
The United States finds itself in one of the most heightened periods of political animosity in the country’s history. In addressing many of the same questions we continue to grapple with today, Aristotle proposed his theory of civic friendship as a key element to a functioning society. In this paper, I argue that Aristotle’s civic friendship can help us navigate polarization today by shedding light on timeless aspects of human nature that we must learn to work with rather than against.

8:00 PM Isabel Lickey, “Reexamining Aristotle on Anger”
This paper examines Aristotle’s theory of moral emotions in light of developments in psychology’s understanding of emotions. I argue that a causal evaluative theory of emotion is most compatible with Aristotle’s view, and apply this understanding to give an account of moral anger in the political realm.

8:30 PM Nam Nguyen, “What is “Reasonable”? Reconciling the Reasonable Person Standard with Cultural Cognition Theory”
The reasonable person standard is a legal standard used to establish negligence by comparing a person’s acts with the expectations of what a reasonable person would have done. I argue that contemporary psychology casts doubt on our ability to ascertain how a reasonable person ought to act and offer amendments to the reasonable person standard to best reflect our understanding of psychology.