A philosophy that puts ethics into everyone's hands
How do we make ethical decisions?
Some schools of thought in philosophy propose following a system of morals or beliefs.
Existentialism, on the other hand, suggests every person has the freedom—and responsibility—to
choose the most ethical way to live.
This spirit steered all 15 presentations at the inaugural International Summer
Conference in Continental Ethics, hosted at
West Virginia University from June 19 to 22 and sponsored jointly by WVU’s
Department of Philosophy and the Emmanuel Levinas Centre at the Lithuanian
University of Health Sciences in Kaunas, Lithuania.
David Hoinski
In its first year, the conference focused on existentialism, which includes thinkers
such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Albert Camus.
“Continental ethics is very diverse, and because of its complexity it hasn’t really
been distilled to the point where the general public can use it,”
David Hoinski, teaching assistant professor of philosophy at WVU and co-organizer
of the conference, said. “The goal of the conference is to gain greater clarity
about these ethical discoveries and teachings with the intent of making them more
accessible, for the good of society.”
The idea for the conference originated in the California mountains in the summer
of 2018. Hoinski and Viktoras Bachmetjevas, head of the Emmanuel Levinas Centre,
had been friends since their doctoral studies in Belgium. They were driving from
Santa Cruz to San Jose after a philosophy gathering when they realized there was
an opportunity to more clearly define continental ethics by gathering scholars
from around the world.
The two made a ten-year plan of summer meetings, alternating between West Virginia
and Lithuania, with complementary themes for each year.
Viktoras Bachmetjevas
“The field of continental ethics is really under-researched,” Bachmetjevas said.
“The idea was to approach it slowly and look at its different strands.”
Broadly speaking, there are two major schools of thought in modern philosophy: continental
and analytic. Analytic philosophy is associated with Anglo-American scholars and
emphasizes argumentative clarity and logic. Continental philosophy is associated
with European thinkers, though the agreed-upon definition ends there.
“The label continental philosophy doesn’t say much of anything about the specifics
of any philosophical views at the level of content, method or even style,”
David Cerbone, professor at WVU, said. “The label emerged and is sometimes
still used as a term of exclusion to indicate all philosophy that’s not analytic.
The suggestion is that continental philosophy is in some way obscure, irrational
or behind the curve.”
Enter the conference.
“Continental philosophy has been seen as the ‘minor’ tradition in the U.S.,” Hoinski
said. “More and more philosophy departments, like WVU’s, are recognizing the value
of pluralism—hiring faculty with backgrounds in continental philosophy and taking
those perspectives into account. We’re entering a period where we’re thinking,
‘Hey, we might have something to learn from each other.’”
Sharon Ryan, chair of the WVU Department of Philosophy and an analytic philosopher,
shares Hoinski’s enthusiasm.
“The International Summer Conference in
Continental Ethics is a stellar example of the department’s commitment to
supporting philosophical research that has the potential to improve lives,” Ryan
said. “Providing opportunities for careful and respectful discourse about ethical
issues is fundamental to the mission of a land-grant research university and
is essential to a healthy, humane and just society.”
The goal of the conference is not merely to expand academic discussion but to help
inspire changes to public policy, social movements and even medical science.
“Part of our vision is that we’d like to demonstrate that there are resources within
continental ethics that might be useful for people in government, corporations
and other institutions,” Hoinski said.
“There is a certain obligation for philosophers who work in the field of ethics to
try and get out of our classrooms and share the thinking which we have the privilege
to have access to,” Bachmetjevas said.
Clayton Bohnet, philosophy lecturer at Central Washington University, presented
his research on the existential ethics of communication. He recently finished
a book dedicated to ethics and protest.
"The conceptual and practical commitments of continental ethics have
much to contribute to the future of democratic, workers’ rights and environmental
movements," Bohnet said. "Continental ethics also provides the critical
resources necessary to undermine exploitative, objectifying or exclusionary discourses."
Mélissa Fox-Muraton
Mélissa Fox-Muraton presented her paper on a positive theory of existential ethics.
She sees her faculty position at the ESC Clermont Graduate School of Management
in France as part of her calling.
“It’s satisfying to teach business students about ethics and help them to see that
these are real issues that have a huge impact on not just their future careers
but also how they interact with others,” Fox-Muraton said. “It’s really important
that philosophy not be kept in a drawer.”
Hoinski is using the
WVU Libraries'
Research Repository to build a site for the conference that will include contributions
from all participants. He also hopes to increase broader community discussions,
from talks at public libraries to offering more K-12 philosophy instruction in
public schools.
Hoinski said, “I think there’s real potential social benefit if we gave elementary
and middle school students more opportunity to think critically, to discuss questions
like, ‘What is a friend?’”
The International Summer Conference in Continental Ethics was supported by a grant
from the WVU
Office of the Provost.
