Corvino is speaking on the 29th at Rice U, and in looking for some background I discovered he’s got a DVD on GLBT sex and its morality. (Thanks to John in comments for the correct date!) There is also an extended trailer; see below.
In fact Corvino is a very experienced speaker, and though I didn’t see new arguments in the trailor, the presentation is great.
However, the point for me of putting this up is really connected with the thoughtful post here about civility. Unlike a number of people commenting on that post, I do not think of philosophical discourse as particularly calm and reasonable. Somewhat relatedly, I am wondering what people would expect from students who were asked to watch the DVD in class. Here in Houston I wouldn’t count on all my students remaining calm. Also, I’d probably be protecting myself by giving those who found it upsetting permission to leave. I’d probably cast it as asking people who cannot respect the humanity of LGBT students to leave.
What would you expect? And what would you do?
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No doubt my view about philosophy’s civility was shaped in part by seeing some fairly volatile philosopher commenting on blatant and culpable philosophical error. I do remember remarking on US seminars when I first returned to the country that they were interestingly different from Oxford’s. The bullwas still forced to its knees, but no one was insisting in spilling blood.
Actually, I’m speaking on the 29th (Wednesday). But thanks for the post!
John, thanks!
I expect you will have a great audience. Rice is taking really strong steps to support diversity.
My fav line, John, from the clip was “Yes. They. Do.” :)
Agree with Katy — that is a great line, John! As an aside, the autocaptioning has some pretty amusing errors, which adds to the enjoyment of viewing. Abomination = Obama nation
heterosexual lives = heterosexual lies
…the question I want to explore tonight is why = …the question I want to more tonight is wine.