9-10-2013: Muhammad
Iqbal in the context of an improving
Muslim world
Yusuf Kavakci
This talk will present an overview of
the philosophical system of Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), a prominent
classical poet in the Sufi tradition of Jalaladdin Rumi and a modern
Muslim philosopher. Iqbal sought to reform the Muslim world and
Islamic understanding as a source for sociopolitical liberation and
unification and denounced political divisions. The talk will also
present selected poems from Iqbal’s Turkish counterpart, Mehmet Akif.
9-24-2013: Language,
Alienation, Inspiration: With Remarks on Leonard Cohen, Going Home
Philipp Rosemann, Ph.D. ,University
of Dallas
There
is no such thing as a relationship to language that is not alienated.
But some types of alienation are worse than others. When colonialism
destroys the linguistic heritage of a people, or when copyright laws
transform language into the property of corporations, we are dealing
with avoidable forms of alienation. Other forms, however, are
structural and thus inescapable: there is no language that is capable
of capturing the individual as such, since all concepts are universal
and abstract. We need to acknowledge, then, that language points to the
radical finitude of human existence. It structures us, rather than
being a simple tool for human expression that we can master. Poets have
often expressed the transcendent aspects of language by imagining that
it comes to us from a beyond--from the Muses, or even from God. Leonard
Cohen's beautiful song "Going Home" illustrates this belief.
10-8-2013:
Capitalism: How Great Thou Art
John Beesley
Modern
capitalism has radically diverged from its liberal economic roots and
has become unfit for purpose. The talk will discus this divergence,
which has been promoted by the neo-conservatives. Two salient
characteristics are discussed in detail; both of which have
ramifications at the national and international level. He will outline
proposals for a more dynamic, yet more stable capitalist system.
10-22-2013:
Plato’s Treatment of Justice in a Christian
Worldview
Robert
Wood, Ph.D., Professor
of Philosophy, University of Dallas
Christians
are taught to keep the
rules laid down by God in order to avoid punishment and obtain reward
in the
afterlife. A recent survey showed that, if there were no threat of
punishment
or promise of reward, people would do what they wanted to do. Plato
conducts a
thought-experiment that abstracts from rewards and punishments by
employing the
myth of the Ring of Gyges. The ring made
the wearer disappear from the sight of others--and this is crucial:
even the
gods. The question that poses to Plato's
reader is: what would you do if you had such a capacity?
Plato's aim is to get us to see that there is
an intrinsic order to the soul apart from exterior rewards and
punishments. It
is based upon directing oneself to the Good that is the Principle of
the
cosmos.
11-12-2013:
The Ethics of Beauty: Plotinus on the Nature of
Morality
Danel
Tomulet, Ph. D., Eastfield
College
Modern
ethics, in general, conceives morality as a form of obligatory
behavior. Thus, morality becomes a property of actions, rather than a
condition of the concrete human self. It emphasizes the external, at
the expenses of the inner. In addition, modern ethics conceives
morality as a matter of obligation, social (utilitarians) or rational
(Kant), an idea that makes morality oppressive. The divine tyrant
becomes the social or the rational tyrant. Today, after the
hermeneutical revolution in philosophy, such ethical theories seem to
be impossible, since they require the compromised notion of absolute
discursive truth. Truth is neither absolute, nor relative, but
hermeneutical. The rules of morality, therefore, become themselves
hermeneutical. In this context, Plotinus’ ancient ethics becomes
surprisingly significant. In his view, morality is intrinsic to the
human soul, immorality being the consequence of forgetting our inner
beauty for the sake of the attractive things. In order to become moral,
therefore, the human being does not need to follow any rule, but the
rule of his/her inner beauty. Morality becomes a matter of attraction,
instead of being a matter of obligation. The tyrant yields to the
lover.
11-26-2013:
Jainism
(Ancient Indian Religious and Philosophic Tradition) and Ecology
Dr. Pankaj Jain, UNT
Jainism
is an ancient religion/philosophy from India that teaches that the way
to liberation and bliss is to live lives of harmlessness and
renunciation. Jains are one of the smallest minority communities of
India with more than 2600 years of practicing vegetarianism which
eventually influenced the larger Hindu and even some Muslim people to
adopt vegetarianism. Depletion and contamination of natural
resources are the main cause of present day problems in the
environment, and are a threat to sustainable development. How
this Jain ethic can be environmentally effective will be discussed.
12-10-2013:
Do you have a Self, and does it Matter?
Dr.
Kenneth Williford, UTA
Drawing
from relevant work in the Analytical, Phenomenological, and Buddhist
philosophical traditions as well as the findings of contemporary
neuroscience and psychology, I defend the view that, strictly speaking,
there is no such thing as a self, at least as the self is
commonsensically imagined. I then discuss the putative
ethical
and practical implications of the no-self view: the
venerable view that the no-self doctrine should, if embraced, have the
tendency to heighten one’s concern for others and make one’s behavior
less selfish; and the equally venerable argument that the no-self
doctrine renders the concepts of moral responsibility and praise and
blame inapplicable.