The Bishop John Fletcher Hurst Philosophy Lecture was initiated by the Department of Philosophy and Religion and named for the founder of American University, who was himself a philosopher. Offered annually in the spring, it brings to the American University campus some of the most distinguished thinkers from this country and abroad. As a result, our students have immediate contact with those shaping philosophical theory in many fields. The department has consistently invited lecturers who are working on the frontiers of contemporary thought and who are relevant to many other disciplines, including aesthetics, the social and natural sciences, history, literature, ethics and the philosophy of religion.
54th Annual Bishop Hurst Lecture
Spring 2013 Brochure
"Changing Norms of Friendship: Social Relations in the Age of Social Network Sites"
Dr. Beate Roessler
Professor, University of Amsterdam
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Butler Boardroom
11:00 a.m.
Professor Roessler analyzes the problem of whether our normative ideas of social relations undergo a significant - normative - change under the influence of new communication technologies. More specifically, she is interested in the question if what we mean by friendship changes under the influence of social network sites; and if so, whether - and in which ways - this could be problematic.
Beate Roessler is Professor of Ethics at the University of Amsterdam. From 2003 to 2010 she also taught as Socrates-Professor for the Foundations of Humanism at Leiden University. She formerly taught philosophy at the Free University, Berlin, Germany, and at the University of Bremen, Germany. She is a co-editor of the European Journal of Philosophy.
Since October 2006 Dr. Roessler has served as Program Director of the research program Philosophy and Public Affairs (Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis, ASCA). In 2003/2004 she was a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study (Wissenschaftskolleg) in Berlin, and in November 2011 she was a fellow at the Center for Agency, Value, and Ethics at Macquarie University, Sydney.
Dr. Roessler's publications include The Value of Privacy (Polity Press, 2005) and numerous articles on different topics in ethics and social philosophy.
List of Past Lectures
53. 2012 Susan Brison, Dartmouth College,"The Embodied Self: Trauma, Narrative, and Personal Identity"
52. 2011 Ladelle McWhorter, University of Richmond, "Savages and Throwbacks: A Foucauldian Genealogy of Racism in the 20th Century"
51. 2010 Claudia Card, University of Wisconsin, Madison, "Evils and Inexcusable Wrongs"
50. 2009 Simon Critchley, New School for Social Research, “To Philosophize Is to Learn How to Die”
49. 2008 Robert Bernasconi, University of Memphis, “The Policing of Race Mixing and the Birth of Biopower”
48. 2007 Nancy Tuana, Pennsylvania State University, "Witnessing Katrina: Feminist Contributions to Socially Responsible Science"
47. 2006 Alison M. Jaggar, University of Colorado, "The Poorest of the Poor: Justice and the Feminization of Global Poverty"
46. 2005 Debra B. Bergoffen, Professor of Philosophy, George Mason University, "From Genocide to Jusstice: Women's Bodies as a Legal Writing Pad"
45. 2004 John J. McDermott, University Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Texas A & M University, "Living Without a Canopy of Ultimate Explanation"
44. 2003 Nancy Sherman, University Professor at Georgetown University and Former Distinguished Chair in Ethics, United States Naval Academy, "Stoicism and a Warrior's Anger"
43. 2002 Herman J Saatkamp, Indiana University, Purdue,“The New Genetics and Human Values”
42. 2001 Shaun Casey, Wesley Theological Seminary,“The Just War Ethic, Human Rights, and Humanitarian Intervention”
41. 2000 Petr Kolar, Charles IV University, Prague, “Academic Freedom in Times of Turmoil”
40. 1999 Lucius Outlaw, Haverford, "On Race and Philosophy"
39. 1998 Hugo Adam Bedau, Tufts,"Anarchical Fallacies or Utilitarian Fantasies: Bentham's Critique of Human Rights"
38. 1997 Wesley Robbins, Indiana, "Pragmatism and Religious Freedom"
37. 1996 Rom Harré, Oxford, "Varieties of Relativism"
36. 1995 Amelie Rorty, Mt. Holyoke, "Rights: Educational Not Cultural"
35. 1994 David Crocker, Colorado State, "Consumption, Well-Being and Virtue"
34. 1993 Robert Sokolowski, Catholic University of America, "What is Philosophical Thinking?"
33. 1992 Thelma Lavine, George Mason, "American Philosophy and the Contradictions of Modernity"
32. 1991 Tom Beauchamp, Georgetown, "Why is the Topic of Animal Rights So Ticklish?"
31. 1989 Anthony Quinton, Oxford, "Alien Intelligences: Reflections on the Separation of Anglo-Saxon from Continental European Philosophies"
30. 1989 Joseph Margolis, Temple,"Explanation in the Human and Natural Sciences"
29. 1988 Antony Flew, Reading, "The Logic of Mortality"
28. 1987 G.E.M. Anscombe, Cambridge, "A Reputation Ruined by a Comma"
27. 1986 Basil Mitchell, Oxford, "The Enforcement of Morals"
26. 1985 Jacques Taminiaux, Louvain, "Art and Truth in Schopenhaur and Nietzsche"
25. 1982 John Lachs, Vanderbilt, "Mediation and Psychic Distance: Alienation Reconsidered"
24. 1981 Stanley Rosen, Pennsylvania State, "Philosophy and Revolution: Pre-Socratic Origins"
23. 1980 Michael Novak, Syracuse, "The Philosophy of Democratic Capitalism"
22. 1978 Albert Hofstadter, New School for Social Research, "The Courage for Truth"
21. 1976 Basil Mitchell, Oxford,"The Philosophical and Religious Dimensions of Ethics" and "Is Religious Ethics Necessary or Possible?"
20. 1974 R.M. Hare, Oxford, "Abortion"
19. 1974 Dieter Henrich, Columbia, "Autonomous Negation: A Key to Hegel's Science of Logic"
18. 1972 Stephan Körner, Yale, "The Structure and Function of Metaphysical Propositions"
17. 1972 Alasdair MacIntyre, Brandeis, "The Sources of Unpredictability in Human Affairs"
16. 1971 J.N. Findlay, Yale, "The Critical Predicament"
15. 1970 W.H. Walsh, Edinburgh, "Social and Personal Factors in Morality"
14. 1968 P.F. Strawson, Oxford, "Imagination and Perception"
13. 1968 Norman Malcolm, Cornell, Title Unknown
12. 1967 William Muehl, Yale, "Politics of the New Left"
11. 1966 Isaiah Berlin, Oxford, "Is Philosophy a Province of Knowledge?"
10. 1966 Willfred Sellars, Pittsburgh, "Science and Ethics: A Study in First Principles"
9. 1965 Paul Weiss, Yale, "Philosophy of Art and the Modern Machine Age"
8. 1964 Ernst Nagel, Columbia, "Determinism and Human Action"
7. 1963 Brand Blanchard, Yale, "The Sane and the Eccentric in Present-Day Thought"
6. 1962 Justus Buchler, Columbia,"Reflections on a Theory of Meaning"
5. 1961 A.J. Ayer, Oxford, "The Concept of a Person"
4. 1961 George Schrader, Yale, "Ethics and Existence"
3. 1960 Maurice Mandelbaum, Johns Hopkins, "Historicism: A Key to the Nineteenth Century"
2. 1959 Richard Brandt, Swarthmore, "Ethical Relativism"
1. 1958 Walter Kaufmann, Princeton, “The Significance of Martin Buber"
