Inaugural Summer Conference on Continental Ethics
Existentialist Ethics
June 20-22, 2019
Philosophers from across the globe will present research on the ethical discoveries and teachings of Existentialism, notably the works of Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Albert Camus, with the intent of making them more accessible to the public and for the good of society. Organized jointly by the WVU Department of Philosophy and the Emmanuel Levinas Center at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences in Kaunas, Lithuania, the conference marks the first of a planned ten years of meetings on Continental ethics, with the inaugural theme of Existentialism.
The conference's presentations are free and open to the public. The public program (subject to change) is below, with all events in Oglebay Hall, room 118.
Thursday, June 20
10–10:15 a.m.: Welcome from Sharon Ryan, Chairperson and
Professor of Philosophy, West Virginia University
10:15–11:15 a.m.: Mélissa Fox-Muraton (ESC Clermont,
Clermont-Ferrand, France), "Toward a Positive Theory of Existential Ethics"
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: Andrew Jampol-Petzinger (Fordham University, Bronx, New York), "Possibility
as an Aesthetic and Ethical Category"
2–3 p.m.: Peter
Antich (Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut), "An Existentialist Virtue
Ethics"
3:15–4:15 p.m.: Anthony Halstead (Franciscan University of Steubenville,
Steubenville, Ohio), "An Ethic of Affectivity: The Centrality of Feeling in
Existentialist Ethics (Sartre, Marcel, Cioran)"
4:30–5:30 p.m.: Clayton G. Bohnet
(Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington), "Laughter, Dance, and
Decline: Sartre, Bataille, and an Ethics of Communication"
Friday, June 21
10–11 a.m.: Alyssa Lake (Fordham
University, Bronx, New York), "'Men die; and they are not happy': Violence
and Suffering in Albert Camus' Caligula"
11:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m.: Jo-Jo Koo (Grinnell
College, Grinnell, Iowa), “De Beauvoir's Ethics of Ambiguity and W. D. Ross's
Ethical Pluralism: An Attempt at Integration"
2–3 p.m.: Jason Stephens (University of Southern California, Los Angeles,
California), "The Meaning of Silence in the Moral Universe: Camus's Concept of
Pure Presence"
3:15–4:15 p.m.: Viktoras Bachmetjevas (LSMU Emmanuel Levinas Center,
Kaunas, Lithuania), "Ethics is a Humanism: A Levinasian Critique of Sartre"
4:30–5:30 p.m.: Steve Matusic (Independent scholar, Morgantown, West Virginia), "A
Worthwhile Ethics: The Demands and Entailments of de Beauvoir's Existential
Ethics"
Saturday, June 22
10–11 a.m. Scott Davidson (West Virginia University, Morgantown, West
Virginia), “What Is Existential Ethics about? Re-Reading Nabert’s Elements for
an Ethic"
11:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m.: Daniel O'Shiel (Instituto de Filosofía, Universidad
Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile),
A Third Sex? De Beauvoir, Equality and
Technology"
2–3 p.m.: Dana LaCourse Munteanu (Ohio
State University, OSU-Newark, Newark, Ohio), "The Darkest Side of
Existentialism: Emil Cioran's Moral Lessons from the Greeks"
3:15–4:15 p.m.: Kriszta
Sajber (Misericordia University, Dallas, Pennsylvania), "Existentialism and
Biomedical Ethics: The Case of Ellen West's Assisted Suicide"
4:30–5:30 p.m.: David Hoinski (West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia), “The Deadlock of
Political Economy and the Choice To Be Ethical"