Words like “diversity,” “racism,” “inclusion,” and “discrimination” are used a lot today. But what do these words actually mean – for you, for me, and for the society we inhabit together? While each of us likely has some opinion about this already, if we want to develop our opinion into a reasoned position, we need to activate one of the extra special powers we humans have as thinking beings. Enter philosophy, aka “love of wisdom,” aka “thinking for thinking’s sake,“ aka “the art of raising and examining BIG questions” (especially those questions that seem impossible to answer). In this workshop, we will use the superpowers of philosophy to define, examine, and understand diversity and the many other words and ideas related to it.
Some of the philosophical questions to be raised and explored at the workshop include:
What do we mean when we talk about “diversity”?
What does diversity mean to me and to you?
Should we care about diversity and, if so, what are some good ways to promote it?
What does it mean for something or someone to be racist?
What distinguishes racism from other forms of discrimination in society?
Is discrimination always a problem, or can it sometimes be OK to discriminate in a more inclusive way?
is an German-American philosopher, author, speaker, and educator. Formerly a professor of philosophy in the USA, he is now Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Philosophy at the University of Stuttgart, leader of the Philosophy Circle at the Stuttgart Volkshochschule, and director of the Kinderphilosophie program at the Hegel-Haus Museum. He has published numerous articles and essays, along with the book Kant on the Human Animal. He is host of the Deadbeat Philosophy podcast and YouTube channel, co-produced with the Hegel-Haus Museum, and publishes a weekly newsletter— focused on philosophy, politics, and culture—at deadbeatphilosophy.substack.com.
