Dan Sperber’s response to an invitation from Pogge

Dan Sperber has sent us this to share:

The letter below that I just sent in response to an invitation by Profs. Pogge and Meldolesi (and that I posted on Facebook) may be relevant:
Dear Prof. Meldolesi,

I am very surprised by this invitation to a conference on on Albert Hirschman’s Legacy that you co-organise with Professor Thomas Pogge from Yale. Even if he were, implausibly, to think he is unjustly accused (see https://sites.google.com/site/thomaspoggeopenletter/), Professor Pogge should not, until he has cleared his name (if he can), even think of organising an academic conference: asking people to participate to a conference of which he is a co-organizer is tantamount to asking them to pretend that Prof. Pogge’s moral authority is not at issue, that, for instance, the academic benefit conferred by such an invitation couldn’t be used by him as what he might consider an aid to seduction and what might be better described as a tool of sexual harassment. To accept such an invitation is, in fact, to give him tacit support. When, moreover, the conference involved is intended to honor the legacy of a man of such moral integrity as Albert Hirschman, this is just sick.

This is a serious matter. I will post this letter on Facebook and other web venues.

Sincerely,

Dan Sperber

SAF at Central APA 2017, CFP

Society for Analytical Feminism

Feminist Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition

CALL FOR PAPERS

SAF Session at the Central Division APA, Sheraton Kansas City at Crown Center, Kansas City, MO, March 1-4, 2017

The Society for Analytical Feminism invites submissions for a session at the 2017 Central Division APA meetings.

Deadline for submissions: August 8, 2016.

The Society seeks papers that examine feminist issues by methods broadly construed as analytic, or discuss the use of analytic philosophical methods as applied to feminist issues. Authors should submit full papers of a length appropriate to a 20-minute presentation time. Please delete all self-identifying references from your submission to ensure anonymity.

Send submissions as a word attachment to Kathryn Norlock

(kathrynnorlock at gmail dot com).

Graduate students or underfunded professionals whose papers are accepted will be eligible for the Society’s $250 Travel Stipend. Please indicate in your email if you fall into one of these categories and wish to be considered for the stipend.

*****

The Society for Analytical Feminism provides a forum where issues concerning analytical feminism may be openly discussed and examined. Its purpose is to promote the study of issues in feminism by methods broadly construed as analytic, to examine the use of analytic methods as applied to feminist issues, and to provide a means by which those interested in Analytical Feminism may meet and exchange ideas. The Society meets yearly at the Central Division meetings of the APA and frequently organizes sessions for the Eastern Division and Pacific Divisions.

Membership in the Society is open to all who are interested in and concerned with issues in Analytical Feminism. Annual dues are $25 for regularly employed members, $15 for students, unemployed, underemployed, and retired members. For more information about SAF, including membership form, please visit our website.

Jo Cox

Readers will no doubt have heard this on the news already, but I am moved to mark this event here. British MP, Jo Cox, was brutally murdered last Thursday, in what seems to have been a terrorist attack by a right-wing extremist. Jo Cox was elected very recently. She did a lot of work to try and improve things for refugees. Such work was apparently the motive for her assassination.

There is so much more that I could write, but I will leave you with just this – the statement made by her husband, Brendan Cox:

Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. I and Jo’s friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo.

She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn’t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous.

There are a great number of articles about this online right now if you want to know more. Here is one from Aljazeera.