Philosophy Department Colloquium
Upcoming events with the Department of Philosophy
Richard Kimberly Heck "Riki", Brown University, will be giving a talk.
Title: "Sexual Fantasy and the Eroticization of Evil"
Friday, October 6. 2023
3:30 pm
Location: CSOM: 1-132
Abstract: Many people have what John Corvino once called 'naughty' sexual fantasies: ones that involve actions that, if actually performed in real life, would be morally wrong (indeed, profoundly wrong, in some cases). Many authors have argued that such enjoying such fantasies is itself morally wrong. The best argument for this claim is that 'naughty' fantasizers 'eroticize' actions (sexual assault or incest, say) to which the appropriate response would instead be moral condemnation. I argue here that such arguments wrongly conflate eroticization with some form of desire and, more generally, conflate sexual desire with sexual arousal. They also fail to distinguish fantasizing from what we might call `realistic' imagination. The argument has implications for questions about the ethics of BDSM and for the debate over pornography.
Igal Kvart, Hebrew University, will be giving a talk
Title: TBA
Friday November 3, 2023
3:30 pm
Location: CSOM: 1-136
Audrey Yap, University of Victoria, will be giving a talk.
Title: TBA
Friday, December 1, 2023
Location: Zoom
Samia Hesni, Boston University will be giving a talk.
Title: TBA
Friday February 9, 2024
3:30 pm
Location: CSOM: TBA
Talia Mae Bettcher, State University of California - Los Angeles, will be giving a talk.
Title: TBA
Friday April 5, 2024
3:30 pm
Location: CSOM: TBA
Alisa Bokulich, Boston University, will be giving a talk.
Title: TBA
Friday, April 19, 2024
3:30 pm
Location: CSOM:TBA
