Symposium Honoring Amélie Oksenberg Rorty to Take Place at Tufts this September
A symposium honoring Amélie Oksenberg Rorty (1932-2020) will be held on September 16, 2022, sponsored by the Department of Philosophy at Tufts University and in partnership with the Department of Philosophy at Boston University and the Department of Philosophy at Harvard University. Speakers include a welcome address from Tufts Philosophy Chair Avner Baz, Michael Della Rocca (Yale), Christiana Olfert (Tufts), and our own Professor Sally Sedgwick. Professor Sedgwick will present her paper, “Consolations of World History: Kant versus Hegel” during the morning session of the symposium.
Amélie Oksenberg Rorty was a celebrated philosopher who focused in moral psychology and ethics. In addition to her work as a philosopher and educator at other institutions, Professor Rorty served as a Visiting Professor for BU Philosophy from 2008 – 2013 and was our John Findlay Visiting Professor during the 2011-2012 academic year. Professor Rorty “wrote about a range of issues in moral philosophy, including character, identity, the emtions, self-knowledge and self-deception, and weakness of will, as well as on many figures in the history of philosophy, such as Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Spinoza, Rousseau, and others,” describes her obituary in the Daily Nous. “An appreciation of the complexity of the human condition was a hallmark of her work.” Professor Rorty was described as having a generous spirit as a person and an intellectual, and she continues to be celebrated for her contributions to BU, Tufts, Harvard, and the many institutions, students, and colleagues she worked with.
The September 2022 symposium in her honor will include papers and discussions on a broad range of subjects in the history of philosophy, but will be “organized such as to be conducive to philosophical conversations á la Amélie,” describes one of the event’s organizers.
To pre-register to attend the symposium (free admittance), go to https://sites.tufts.edu/shp.