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

FREEDOM! LIBERTY! AUTONOMY! liberalism!!!!! Coleen is joined by Cullin Brown and Eric Janec to discuss the joys and agonies of abiding by the principles of liberty and autonomy and liberalism's often complicated relationship with democracy. 

Works Referenced and Cited:

Why Do Jehovah's Witnesses Respectfully Abstain from Participating in Nationalistic Ceremonies?

West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette

Democracy- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Liberalism - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction - David Miller

John Rawls - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Conception of the Good- Peter Murray

Toleration- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Political Liberalism- John Rawls

A Letter Concerning Toleration - John Locke

Toleration and Democracy - Rainer Forst

Democracy in America - Alexis de Tocqueville

On Liberty - John Stuart Mill

Positive and Negative Liberty - Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy

Personal Autonomy - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

On the Social Contract - Jean Jaques Rousseau 

Timeline: America's War on Drugs

Take this Sabbath Day - Season 1, Ep 14, The West Wing 

Today's episode is a recording of a public discussion that The Wisdom of the People hosted at the Broome County Public Library. Hear what community members (who aren't academic philosophers) have to say about what worth democracy has and what the necessary components and problems our democracies need to face.  

More Info on Issues Discussed

Ranked Choice Voting

Open vs Closed Primaries

Literacy Rates in Broome County, NY

FDR's New Deal

Climate Change Threats to Bangladeshi Farmers

Campaign Contribution Laws 

Consensus Government and Countries with Government by Concensus

NIFI: National Issues Forum

Civilian Conservation Corps

The conversation about democracy's goals and values continues here in the last part of episode 2! We return to our heroes hanging on tightly to the cliff Coleen, Nick, Aaron, and Adam ... will a benevolent dictator be just as good or better at delivering what we want out of governance as democracy is? 

Works Referenced and Cited:

Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction – David Miller

Democracy- Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy

Religious Pluralism- Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

“Democracy: Instrumental vs Non-Instrumental Value” – Elizabeth Anderson in The Democracy Reader

Democratic Reason: Politics, Collective Intelligence, and the Rule of the Many- Helene Landemore

Why Deliberative Democracy- Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson

Considerations on Representative Governments - John Stuart Mill

A Letter Concerning Toleration- John Locke

Justice as Fairness – John Rawls

Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk about It) - Elizabeth Anderson

Letter from a Birmingham Jail - Martin Luther King Jr.

The Federalist Papers- James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay

The full unabridged interview with ancient philosophy expert Dr. Tony Preus. You may have heard the 15-minute clip of this in our most previous episdeode. But The People deserve the whole thing... Enjoy!

What are we trying to do in a democracy anyway?? Coleen talks about the goals and values of democracy with fellow philosophers Adam Renner, Aaron Schultz, and Nick Kreuder. Ancient philosophy expert Dr. Tony Preus also joins in to tell us what governments and democracies were like in Ancient Greece and Rome. Join us for a great conversation … and an exciting cliffhanger!

Works Referenced and Cited:

Democracy- Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy

Social Contract Theory- Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Chickenhawk Nation Series- James Fallows

Aristotle’s Politics

The Republic – Plato

The Laws – Plato

The Racial Contract – Charles Mills

Justice as Fairness – John Rawls

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelias

The Republic and The Laws- Cicero

The Enchiridion- Epictetus

“Funeral Oration” – Pericles in The Democracy Reader

“Democracy: Instrumental vs Non-Instrumental Value” – Elizabeth Anderson in The Democracy Reader

Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction – David Miller