Hop on the Philosophical School Bus for a field trip to another podcast about philosophy and public discussion. Coleen joined her long-time friend and philosophy colleague at the University of Kansas, David Tamez, on his podcast Lawrence Talks. Lawrence Talks features philosophical discussion and public engagement events that bring together academics, artists, and the general Lawrence, Kansas community in conversation about local issues pertinent to philosophical matters. 

In this episode, David and Coleen specifically discuss Coleen's work in democratic theory and citizenship, as well as the importance and inevitability of philosophy in every citizen's life.

Listen and discover more about Lawrence Talks here: https://www.lawrencetalks.org/

This episode features an interview with an organization that makes the ideals of democracy in the U.S. work for its residents, the American Civic Association!

Coleen sits down with Executive Director and CEO of the ACA, Hussein Adams, and President of the ACA Board of Directors, Kent Schull. Adams and Schull explain the American Civic Association's work to help immigrants and refugees in the U.S. access legal resources, acclimate to life in the U.S. and New York community, and foster awareness of the ethnic diversity and immigrant experience of the Binghamton area.

Of course, we also talk about how this work is vital to a modern pluralistic democracy and the continuing hopes of people who come to the U.S. to forge a democratic life of their own.

Note: Because the ACA is such a busy organization and always doing amazing work, there is quite a lot of background noise in this recording. We tried to remove much of that background noise in post-production but couldn't get all of it out.

Companion Resources:

Immigration - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The American Civic Association website

American Civic Association Programs and Services

American Civic Association 2009 Mass Shooting

American Civic Association, community celebrate ‘All Nations Celebration and Parade’

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: Citizenship and Naturalization 

New Year, Free Year! Part 2 of our episode on small "l" liberalism has just dropped. Listen in to Coleen, Cullin Brown, and Eric Janec continue to talk about the philosophical and practical implications of governing with liberty, freedom, and autonomy as prime values. We even get into how the reasons that back up our political views and the media's role in keeping liberal democracies free.

Works Referenced and Cited:

Democracy- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Liberalism – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction – David Miller

John Rawls – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Political Liberalism- John Rawls

Public Reason - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The End of History and the Last Man - Francis Fukuyama

Liberalism and Its Discontents - Francis Fukuyama

Felony disenfranchisement in the United States - Wikipedia

On Hungary: Do Not Go Gentle - This American Life

The argument of the Letter concerning toleration, briefly consider'd and answer'd - Jonas Proast

Belarussian Nobel Laureate Ales Bialiatski  

What to the Slave is the Fourth of July - Frederick Douglas

History of the Equal Rights Amendment 

Justice and the Politics of Difference- Iris Marion Young

The Emoluments Clause

On the Jewish Question - Karl Marx

Conservatism - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Why Liberalism Failed - Patrick Deneen

Neoliberalism - Stanford Encyclopedia of  Philosophy

Chicago School of Economics Thought - Wikipedia