Kellogg Center hosts in-person workshop to celebrate launch of Center

The Kellogg Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics will host a one-day workshop to celebrate in-person the launch of the Center. The workshop brings together a select group of scholars to discuss their most recent work at the intersection of philosophy, political science, and economics. The workshop will take place on August 13, 2021 from 8:45am-6:10pm in the conference room (ground floor) of the Hyatt Place Blacksburg.

1. Speakers

Harrison Frye is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Georgia. He is a political theorist whose research interests include the ideal of freedom, the morality of the market, and the value of social norms. In general, he believes that it is important for normative political theory to engage with the social sciences and the realities of how social and political institutions function. His work appears in venues such as Journal of Political Philosophy and Economics and Philosophy.

Mary Eschelbach Hansen is a Professor of Economics at American University. She is an expert in U.S. social policy and is widely published in the fields of child policy, bankruptcy, and economic history. Her work addresses key issues in race, gender, and economic inequality. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Institute for New Economic Thinking. She has been quoted or cited by various news outlets and has given public testimony before the DC City Council and in Federal District Court.

Dan Haybron is the Theodore R. Vitali C.P. Professor of Philosophy at Saint Louis University. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy at Rutgers University. His research focuses on ethics, psychology, and political philosophy, particularly issues of well-being. He has published numerous articles in these areas and is the author of The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being (Oxford University Press, 2008) and Happiness: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2013).

Jennifer Jhun is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and a Faculty Fellow at the Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University. She works in the philosophy of economics, but has many auxiliary interests in the philosophy of other sciences, social and political philosophy, and applied ethics. Her work has been published in journals such as Philosophy of Science, Synthese, and Erkenntnis, and the The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Economics (forthcoming).

John Thrasher is an Associate Professor in the Philosophy Department and the Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy at Chapman University. His research focuses on the relation of individual practical rationality to social rules. He is the author, with Dan Halliday, of The Ethics of Capitalism (Oxford University Press, 2020) and, with Jerry Gaus, of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics: An Introduction (Princeton University Press, 2021). His articles have been published in numerous journals, such as Philosophical Studies, The Journal of Politics, Synthese, Political Studies, and edited volumes.

2. Workshop schedule

8:45-9:00. Welcoming Remarks: Michael Moehler

9:00-10:20. John Thrasher: “Contract and Consensus”

10:40-12:00. Jennifer Jhun: “Economics and Epistemic Infrastructure”

12:00-1:30. Lunch Break (at the Kellogg Center)

1:30-2:50. Harrison Frye: “The Threat of Domination at Work”

3:10-4:30. Dan Haybron: “Snapshots of Well-Being for Policy”

4:50-6:10. Mary Eschelbach Hansen: “Economics and Ethics in Adoption Policy”

7:00. Dinner (on invitation)

3. Attendance, format, and papers

The workshop is open to the public. All faculty and students are cordially invited to attend. Each speaker will provide a presentation of their work. The sessions will allow plenty of time for discussion and interaction with the speakers and PPE faculty.

In order to receive a copy of the papers to be presented in advance, please contact Michael Moehler (moehler@nullvt.edu).

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Holly Belcher (hollymb2@nullvt.edu) at least ten business days before the event.

Here is a link to the VT News feature about the workshop.