Social Philosophy Today

Social Philosophy Today is an annual peer-reviewed forum for the philosophical discussion of contemporary social issues. Each volume contains a selection of the papers presented at the International Social Philosophy Conference, an event held each year under the auspices of the North American Society for Social Philosophy (NASSP). These meetings bring together leading social philosophers, political scientists, lawyers, and social scientists from various countries to discuss major issues of contemporary concern. Each conference is organized around a particular set of issues and the content of each volume of Social Philosophy Today reflects the thematic organization of that meeting. Each conference volume is published the year after the conference, and membership in the North American Society for Social Philosophy includes the current volume. To join the society go here.

Electronic access is provided through POIESIS: Philosophy Online Serials and the searchable fulltext is available to institutions that subscribe both to Social Philosophy Today and POIESIS. Tables of contents for these issues, searchable by author and title, are freely available to visitors who register here. Descriptions of recent volumes and tables of contents are provided below. Abstracts and tables of contents are also available through EBSCO's Current Abstracts.

Social Philosophy Today is indexed in Academic Search Premier, Bibliographie de la Philosophie, Current Abstracts, Humanities International Index, Index Philosophicus, Index to Social Sciences & Humanities Proceedings, International Bibliography of Periodical Literature (IBZ), International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, Periodicals Index Online, Philosopher's Index, Reference and Research Book News, Sociological Abstracts, and Worldwide Political Science Abstracts.

"Social Philosophy Today is a unique outlet for careful, critical scholarship in various fields of practical ethics. Scholars who read or publish in this series agree with Socrates that philosophy is crucial to resolution of real life issues." -- Mary B. Mahowald, MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, University of Chicago

· ISSN 1543-4044 · Annual · 2008 Subscriptions: Institutions $65, Individuals $40 (includes annual membership in NASSP) · Single/Back Issues: Institutions $65, Individuals $40, Members of NASSP $25

Science, Technology, and Social Justice

Social Philosophy Today, Volume 22
John Rowan, Editor
· ISBN 978-1-889680-49-1 · Published April 2007 · Softbound · 262 pages · Institutions $65, Individuals $40, NASSP members $25

Various questions at the intersection of these concepts are explored in this volume, which also offers a feminist perspective on the impact of these discussions on women. These essays were selected from among the best papers presented at the 22nd International Social Philosophy Conference in 2005.

Human Rights, Religion, and Democracy

Social Philosophy Today, Volume 21
John Rowan, Editor
· ISBN 1-889680-43-5 · Published September 2005 · Softbound · 233 pages · Institutions $65, Individuals $40, NASSP members $25

The concept of human rights is surrounded by questions of substance, justification, and universality, and it has an obvious application to political democracy. The basis of democracy in turn is typically thought to be a fundamental commitment to some form of human rights. Questions of democracy also generate normative discussions that touch on religious convictions, and those with significant religious commitments can experience a tension between those commitments and basic democratic principles. Various questions at the intersection of these concepts are explored in this volume, which also offers a feminist perspective on the impact of these discussions on women. These essays were selected from among the best papers presented at the 21st International Social Philosophy Conference in 2004.

War and Terrorism

Social Philosophy Today, Volume 20
John Rowan, Editor
· ISBN 1-889680-40-0 · Published July 2004 · Softbound · 233 pages · Institutions $65, Individuals $40, NASSP members $25

In this timely volume a number of important questions are carefully examined: How are reasonable responses to terrorism to be determined? Is the military action in Iraq spearheaded by the US "reasonable" in that sense? What role do human rights play in this thinking? Can human rights also be used as a justification of terrorism in certain circumstances? What are we to make of arguments that terrorist actions are carried out in an effort to protect innocents or in self-defense? Would moral culpability be mitigated if the perpetrators of terrorist violence were in relevant ways ignorant of the evil they were inflicting? What exactly is terrorism? These essays were selected from among the best papers presented at the 20th International Social Philosophy Conference in 2003.

Environmental Philosophy as Social Philosophy

Social Philosophy Today, Volume 19
Cheryl Hughes and Andrew Light, Editors
· ISBN 1-889680-35-4 · Published August 2004 · Softbound · 256 pages · Institutions $65, Individuals $40, NASSP members $25

This volume includes an assortment of papers on the social dimensions of environmental problems. These essays break new ground with work on the built environment and the genetically modified environment. Several essays make connections between environmental concerns and ongoing avenues of research in social philosophy, including problems of deliberative democracy and distributive justice. The volume also includes essays on contemporary political crises, race relations, and human rights. The essays in this volume were selected from among the best papers presented at the 19th International Social Philosophy Conference in 2002.

Truth and Objectivity in Social Ethics

Social Philosophy Today, Volume 18
Cheryl Hughes, Editor
· ISBN 1-889680-31-1 · Published December 2003 · Softbound · 210 pages · Institutions $65, Individuals $40, NASSP members $25

This collection includes the best papers presented at the 18th International Social Philosophy Conference in 2001, which invited critical reflection on problems of truth and objectivity in social ethics. The volume features an essay by Charles Mills defending a radical Enlightenment theory committed to rationalism, humanism, and the concept of objectivity in the Enlightenment tradition. Other contributions include a discussion of problems of objectivity in environmental ethics, an exploration of ideology as distorted communication, a critical look at the claim that whiteness is a form of “innocent racism,” an assessment of the inadequate concept of truth that distorts our understanding of human rights abuses in the Gaza Strip, and an examination of objective inquiry in science as a possible paradigm for social ethics.

Communication, Conflict, and Reconciliation

Social Philosophy Today, Volume 17
Cheryl Hughes and James Wong, Editors
· ISBN 1-889680-30-3 · Published April 2003 · Softbound · 289 pages · Institutions $65, Individuals $40, NASSP members $25

This volume explores the intersections between the issues of conflict, communication, and reconciliation. Topics include careful analysis of the language used to describe and condemn conflict, consideration of the public use of reason in political debate, presentation of certain problems of group dynamics that can undermine communication and cooperation, a creative exploration of the role of humor in conflict resolution, a consideration of ethical questions for mediators engaged in alternative dispute resolution, analyses of the role of critical communication in the politics of gender and race, explorations of social criticism and reconciliation processes in post-communist societies, and a reconsideration of the task of social philosophy as critical social theory. The articles in this volume were selected from those presented at the 17th International Social Philosophy Conference in 2000.

Race, Social Identity, and Human Dignity

Social Philosophy Today, Volume 16
Cheryl Hughes, Editor
· ISBN 1-889680-23-0 · Published July 2002 · Softbound · 256 pages · Institutions $65, Individuals $40, NASSP members $25

This volume brings together current work on race and racism in an effort to explain why differences of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, class, ability, age, and sexual orientation still serve as barriers to equality and universal respect. Unlike many recent English language titles dealing with race, this collection is not exclusively focused on the problems of racism in the US. Also included is theoretical work on the nature of social identity, problems of essentialism and identity politics, and the key social ingredients in human dignity—mutual recognition, trust, and self-respect. While the ideal of universal respect for human dignity is certainly admirable, these papers argue that it cannot be achieved by simply ignoring the realities of discrimination, privilege, and oppression. This volume was assembled from the best papers presented at the 16th International Social Philosophy Conference in 1999.

Tables of Contents

John R. Rowan, Editor
ISSN 1543-4044 · ISBN 978-1-889680-49-1 · Published April 2007· 262 pages

Introduction

Sandra Harding, Modernity, Science, and Democracy
Martin Gunderson, Human Rights, Dignity, and the Science of Genetic Engineering
Matthew R. Silliman, Two Cheers for Reductionism

Carol C. Gould, Global Democratic Transformation and the Internet
Drew Pierce, Toward a Critique of Systematically Distorting Communication Technology: Habermas, Baudrillard, and Mass Media
Johann A. Klassen, Contemporary Biotechnology and the New "Green Revolution": Feeding the World with "Frankenfoods"?

William L. McBride, The End of Liberal Democracy as We Have Known It?
Joseph Betz, The Definition of Torture
Jean Harvey, The Burden of Securing Social Justice: Institutions, Individuals, and Moral Action
Wade Roberts, Autonomy, Pluralism and the Future of the Species: Agar and Habermas on Liberal Eugenics
Roger Foster, Rethinking the Critique of Instrumental Reason

Gaile Pohlhaus, Knowing (with) Others
Helga Varden, A Kantian Conception of Rightful Sexual Relations: Sex, (Gay) Marriage, and Prostitution
Patricia Marino, Seeking Desire: Reflections on Blackburn's Lust

Jeremy Bendik-Keymer, Why Can't Democracies Be Universal? How Do Democracies Resolve Disagreements over Citizenship
Marilyn Fischer, Comments on The Rights of Others: Aliens, Residents and Citizens
Johann A. Klaassen, Economics, Citizenship, and the Possibility of "Economic Cosmopolitanism"
Seyla Benhabib, Democratic Boundaries and Economic Citizenship: Enhancing the "Rights of Others"

Contributors

John R. Rowan, Editor
ISSN 1543-4044 · ISBN 1-889680-43-5 · Published September 2005 · 233 pages

Introduction

Gary B. Herbert, On the Misconceived Genealogy of Human Rights
Theresa Weynand Tobin, The Non-Modularity of Moral Knowledge: Implications for the Universality of Human Rights
Jeremy Bendik-Keymer, Common Humanity and Human Rights

Frank Cunningham, The Conflicting Truths of Religion and Democracy
Glen Pettigrove, Rights, Reasons, and Religious Conflict: Habermas and Scanlon on the Role of Religion in Public Debate
Eugene Rice, Buddhist Compassion as a Foundation for Human Rights

Alistair M. Macleod, The Right to Vote, Democracy, and the Electoral System
Brian M. Stern, Immigration Restriction in a Liberal Democracy
Joseph Betz, Proportionality, Just War Theory, and America's 2003-04 War Against Iraq
Ben Dixon, Achieving Moral Progress Despite Moral Regress
Jeffrey Paris, Rethinking the End of Modernity: Empire, Hyper-Capitalism, and Cyberpunk Dystopias

Lisa H. Schwartzman, Neutrality, Choice, and Contexts of Oppression: Examining Feminist Perfectionism
Sally J. Scholz, Human Rights, Radical Feminism, and Rape in War
Rebecca Whisnant, Rethinking Nonviolence: Intimate Abuse and the Needs of Survivors
Mary Briody Mahowald, Our Bodies Ourselves: Disability and Standpoint Theory

Sharon Anderson-Gold, Memory, Identity, and Cultural Authority
Jeremy Bendik-Keymer, Courtrooms as Disabling Remembering Positions
Johann A. Klaassen, Models of Memory and the Logic of Domination
Sue Campbell, Response to Commentators

John R. Rowan, Editor
ISSN 1543-4044 · ISBN 1-889680-40-0 · Published July 2004 · 233 pages

Introduction

Ted Honderich, Terrorism for Humanity
Whitley R.P. Kaufman, Terrorism, Self-Defense, and the Killing of the Innocent
Todd Calder, Evil, Ignorance and the 9/11 Terrorists
Richard M. Buck, Beyond Retribution: Reasonable Responses to Terrorism
Ovadia Ezra, Selective Disobedience on the Basis of Territory

Alistair M. Macleod, Terrorism and the Root Causes Argument
Doug Knapp, An Evaluation of the 'No Purpose' and Other Theories for Explaining Al-Qaeda's Motives
Matthew Silliman, Weighing Evils: Political Violence and Democratic Deliberation
Walter Riker, Rawls's Decent Peoples and the Democratic Peace Thesis
Sharon Anderson-Gold, Terrorism and the Politics of Human Rights

Nelson P. Lande, Trotsky's Brilliant Flame and Broken Reed
Christine Overall, Transsexualism and "Transracialism"

Johann A. Klaassen, Church and State: Comments and Questions
Sharon Anderson-Gold, American Constitutionalism: A Formula for Religious Citizenship
John Rowan, Citizenship and Religion In Liberal Democracies
Paul J. Weithman, Reply to Klaassen, Anderson-Gold and Rowan

Cheryl Hughes and Andrew Light, Editors
ISSN 1543-4044 · ISBN 1-889680-35-4 · Published August 2004 · 256 pages

Introduction

Catriona Sandilands, "Eco Homo: Queering the Ecological Body Politic"
Roger J. H. King, "The Place of Domesticated Spaces in Environmental Ethics"
Jeremy Bendik-Keymer, "The Idea of an Ecological Orientation"
Brian K. Steverson, "Evolutionary Emotivism and the Land Ethic"
Bradford Z. Mahon, "The Genetics of Environment and the Environment of Genotypes"
Steve Vanderheiden, "Justice in the Greenhouse: Climate Change and the Idea of Fairness"
Jordy Rocheleau, "Liberal Public Reason and the Legitimacy of Environmental Regulations"
Yolanda Estes, "Society, Embodiment, and Nature in J. G. Fichte's Practical Philosophy"

Erin E. Flynn, "Living Right: Need and Punishment in Kant and Hegel"
Andrew F. Smith, "Pluralism and Political Legitimacy"
Greg Johnson, "On the Importance of Reversibility in Deliberative Democracy"
Edmund F. Byrne, "The Post-9/11 State of Emergency: Reality versus Rhetoric"
Ovadia Ezra, "Human Rights: The Inapplicable Concept"

Edmund F. Byrne, "Commentary on Lawrence Blum's I'm Not a Racist, But...: The Moral Quandary of Race."
Matthew R. Silliman, "Racism as Personal Vice and Structural Problem: A Comment on Lawrence Blum"
Lawrence Blum, "Reply to Byrne and Silliman"

Cheryl Hughes, Editor
ISSN 1543-4044 · ISBN 1-889680-31-1 · Published December 2003 · 210 pages

Introduction

Charles W. Mills, "Defending the Radical Enlightenment"
William C. Pamerleau, "Ethical Uncertainty, Nietzschean Freedom, and the Continuing Need for an Existential Perspective"
Noel E. Boulting, "Science as a Paradigm in the Formation of Socio-Ethical Judgments"

Haim Gordon and Rivca Gordon, "Heidegger’s Understanding of Truth and the Situation in the Gaza Strip"
Jordy Rocheleau, "Communications Theory and the Future of Ideology Crique: Problems in the Normative and Explanatory Foundations of Critical Social Theory
Jami L. Anderson, "The White Closet"

Sharon Anderson-Gold, "Objective Value in Environmental Ethics: Towards a Reconstituted Anthropocentric Ethic"
Jeremy Bendik-Keymer, "A Sense of Ecological Humanity"

Alistair M. Macleod, "Freedom and the Role of the State: Libertarianism vs. Liberalism"
Simon Cushing, "Liberal Nationalism, Culture, and Justice"
John R. Wright, "Conflicts of Value and the Political Ideal of Citizenship: A Defense of Political Constructivism"

Edmund F. Byrne, "Comments on Phillip Cole’s Philosophies of Exclusion"
Natalie Brender, "Exclusion and the Responsibilities of the Liberal State"
Phillip Cole, "Reply to Professor Brender and Professor Byrne"

Cheryl Hughes and James Wong, Editors
ISSN 1543-4044 · ISBN 1-889680-30-3 · Published April 2003 · 289 pages

Introduction

Joseph Betz, "The Definition of Massacre"
So Hung-yul, "Pluralism and the Moral Mind"
Richard M. Buck, "Sincerity and Reconciliation in Public Reason"
Sylvia Burrow, "Reasonable Moral Psychology and the Kantian Ace in the Hole"
Stephen Finn, "Geometry and the Science of Morality in Hobbes"

Lou Marinoff, "The Geometry of Defection: Cascading Mimicry and Contract-Resistant Structures"
Jan Narveson, "Communication and Human Good: The 20th Century’s Main Achievement"
Nancy Potter, "Is There a Role for Humor in the Midst of Conflict?"
Alex Wellington, "Professional Ethics for Mediators: Tensions Between Justice and Accountability"

Gail Pohlhaus, "Diversity and Communication in Feminist Theory"
Heidi Hochenedel and Douglas Mann, "On the Impotence of Cultural Post-Feminism"
Letitia Meynell, "Dredging the Third Wave: Reflections on the Feminism of the Nineties"
Sally J. Scholz, "Resurrecting Language Through Social Criticism: Toni Morrison’s Paradise as Insurgent Political Discourse"
John R. Wright, "Understanding Racism as an Ethical Ideology: An Approach to Critical Communication in a White Supremacist Society"

Nicholas Kompridis, "On the Task of Social Philosophy: A Reply to Axel Honneth"
Jordy Rocheleau, "Communication, Recognition, and Politics: Reconciling the Critical Theories of Honneth and Habermas"
Irina Predborska, "Toward a New Paradigm in Social Philosophy"
Juris Rozenvalds, "The Role of Intellectuals in the Reconciliation Processes in Post-Communist Latvia"

Cheryl Hughes, Editor
ISSN 1543-4044 · ISBN 1-889680-23-0 · Published July 2002 · 256 pages

Introduction

Sharon Anderson-Gold, "Ambivalence and Identity in Black Culture"
C. Colwell, "The Politics of Characteristics"
Margaret Betz Hull, "“Wholly . . . a Daughter of Our People”: Hannah Arendt and the Jewish Question"
Cornelius Kampe, "In Defense of Nationalism with Reference to Canada and the Baltics"

Kevin M. Graham, "After the Buses Stop Running: Distributive Justice or Dialogue?"
George Carew, "Affirmative Action in Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Liberal Dilemma"
Clarence Sholé Johnson, "A Critique of Cornel West's Christo-Marxian Prescription for Social Justice"
Alistair Macleod, "Human Dignity, Individual Liberty, and the Free Market Ideal"

Ernesto V. Garcia, "The Social Nature of Kantian Dignity"
Jessica Prata Miller, "A Critical Moral Ethnography of Social Distrust"
Jan Narveson, "Race, Social Identity, Human Dignity: Respect for Individuals"
John R. Rowan, "Privacy, Safety, and Human Dignity: The Moral Status of Megan’s Laws"

Kory Schaff, "Hate Speech and the Problems of Agency: A Critique of Butler"
Shaireen Rasheed, "Power, Pedagogy, and Social Reality: A Critical Examination of Language Theory in Academia"
Yeager Hudson, "Responsible Religious Belief: The Limits of Entitlement"

Ulf Nilsson, "Making Peace with Libertarians: Comments on James Sterba’s Justice for Here and Now"
Barbara S. Andrew, "Peacemaking, Virtues, and Subjectivity"
Christopher B. Gray, "Argument and Aggression Against Humans and Animals: Philosophical Peacemaking in the Real Wars"
James P. Sterba, "Reply to Three Commentators"

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