Course Epistemic Virtues and the Practice of Dialogue F22

Description:

The topic of ‘epistemic virtues’ has received a great deal of attention in the past decades. Epistemic virtues such as Aristotelian phrônesis, intellectual humility, open-mindedness, and the willingness to correct one’s own mistakes and misperceptions are fundamental for both academic discourses and every-day life. Moreover, epistemic virtues are essential for a peaceful coexistence of people with differing convictions and ways of life in multicultural societies. However, although epistemic virtues are indispensable, they are hard to conceptualize. The following questions need to be investigated more closely:

• How to define the relation between cognitive and affective aspects of epistemic virtues?
• Is it possible to change one’s mind and one’s framework of beliefs on the basis of one’s own reflections, or does that require a dialogical encounter with another person and his or her conflicting beliefs, and if so, why?
• How can we peacefully handle competing accounts of reality in intercultural and/or -religious dialogue, and what kind of epistemic virtues and ‘mindsets’ are most relevant?
• In what ways does the practice of dialogue respond to the development of epistemic virtues?

This course and conference seeks to offer an interdisciplinary approach to these questions, inviting a discussion with scholars not only from philosophy and theology, but also from, for instance, psychology, anthropology, cultural and educational studies, and the arts.

We invite PhD papers (20 minutes’ presentation plus 10 minutes’ discussion). If you are interested, please submit an abstract (300-500 words) by May 1, 2022.

Aim:

The aim of this course is to provide

1. an introduction into classic and contemporary texts on epistemic virtues
2. an exploration of epistemic virtues in an interdisciplinary research field
3. a discussion of the possibilities and limits of epistemic virtues in the context of dialogical processes.

Form:

• keynote lectures
• reading and discussing classic texts
• short paper sessions in which PhD students can present their work

Target group/participants:

All PhD students, postdoctoral research fellows and other colleagues interested in the theme

ECTS credits:

1,5 ECTS for preparation and participation without paper

2,5 ECTS for attending the course and presenting a paper

Keynote speakers:

Luca di Blasi, University of Berne

Menachem Fisch, Tel Aviv University

Elad Lapidot, University of Lille

Heiko Schulz, Goethe-University Frankfurt

Venue:

Aarhus University, Studenterhuset, 

15 Juni 2022 from 09.00 – 16.00, Richard Mortensenstuen

16 Juni 2022 from 09.00 – 14.00, Mogens Zielerstuen

Literature that will be discussed during the course:

• Extract from Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, on phronesis
• Martin Heidegger: “Aus einem Gespräch von der Sprache” in: Unterwegs zur Sprache, Pfullingen: Verlag Günther Neske 1959, 83-155 (and translation)
• Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak: "Can the Subaltern Speak?” in: Cary Nelson/Lawrence Grossberg (eds.): Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, University of Illinois Press: Urbana 1988, 271-313

Articles from the keynote speakers:

• Menachem Fisch’s 4th Dagmar Westberg Lecture (Dialogues of Reason – Science, Politics, Religion, Goethe-University Frankfurt 2020): “Reflective Emotions and the Politics of Love”
• Heiko Schulz, “Changing One’s Mind”

Course dates:

• 15 June 2022 09:00 - 16:00
• 16 June 2022 09:00 - 13:00