Philosophy Program and Dean of the College Present
Blaming the System: Lecture by Yarran Hominh, PhD Candidate, Columbia University
Friday, February 12, 2021
Online Event
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm EST/GMT-5
Join via Zoom: https://bard.zoom.us/j/82970869747?pwd=elp0TnN5a2wvT002VkFlalBxUVhOdz0912:00 pm – 1:30 pm EST/GMT-5
What does it mean to “blame the system”? Blame in its paradigm case is second-personal. Persons blame other persons for wronging them. But, many argue, large-scale social and political systems and the structural injustices that are part of such systems are not reducible to individual persons and their actions. What does it mean for the system to be the object of blame?
Beginning from activists’ calls to “blame the system,” I argue that blaming the system is second-personal in the following sense. It involves the activist second-personally calling another to a particular kind of self-knowledge through blame. Blame is the mode by which the blamer comes to know how the system has formed them. It can thus motivate them to change themselves and the system. This call evinces a humanist response to structural injustice that resists common technocratic and objectivizing cultural tendencies.
Zoom Meeting ID: 829 7086 9747 / Passcode: 050296
For more information, call 845-758-7280, e-mail [email protected],
or visit https://bard.zoom.us/j/82970869747?pwd=elp0TnN5a2wvT002VkFlalBxUVhOdz09.
Time: 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm EST/GMT-5
Location: Online Event