SOPHIA aims to build communities of philosophical conversation, which can take the form of video or audio recordings, as well as interactions in writing. In addition, SOPHIA gathers and produces materials to be used for our events and publishes pieces that analyze or disseminate insights about our meetings and practices.
SOPHIA offers this One-Sheet document for groups to use to make a fun, meaningful conversation easy to hold on the subject of Episode 2 of Philosophy Bakes Bread, which concerned “The Ethics of Dentistry” with Dr. Bill Myers. Naturally, some of the issues raised in this one-sheet overlap topics of interest in medical ethics, but also concern ways in which people think differently about dental insurance and care versus general medical insurance and care.
This document was created by James William Lincoln, SOPHIA’s Secretary and a member of the Lexington SOPHIA Chapter, and edited by Erik Jarvis, Derek Daskalakes, Lila Wakeman, and Eric Thomas Weber of the Lexington SOPHIA Chapter.
The Shining Network SOPHIA Chapter at Kamala Nehru College at the University of Delhi launched their inaugural chapter meeting on the topic of “The Nature of Good and Daily Life.“ They created a SOPHIA One-Sheet Document for their meeting that they have kindly shared with SOPHIA’s central office to offer for other chapters’ meetings and conversations. We are grateful to the Shining Network, to Professor Balaganapathi Devarakonda, head of the department of Philosophy at the University of Delhi and Dr. Geetesh Nirban. The One-Sheet Document is available by clicking here or on the thumbnail photo of the one-sheet on the right hand side.
Dr. Geetesh Nirban and two members of the Shining Network SOPHIA Chapter at Kamala Nehru College in August 2018.
SOPHIA’s abbreviated name comes from a loose shortening of “The Society of Philosophers in America.” The “in America” is historical and identifies the nation of origin of the national non-profit organization. It is not, however, meant to limit our members or our friends to the borders of the United States. SOPHIA may be a national nonprofit founded and run in the United States, but we encourage philosophical discourse everywhere and are grateful and excited about our work together with the Shining Network SOPHIA Chapter in New Delhi.
Bryan is currently Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple Professor at Yale-NUS College. A recipient of Fulbright, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Mellon fellowships, he has been honored as one of The Best 300 Professors in the US by The Princeton Review. He is also Chair Professor in Philosophy in the School of Philosophy at Wuhan University, China, and Professor of Philosophy at Vassar College (USA). He has authored, edited, or translated a number of books on Chinese and comparative philosophy, including Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy (2011), Readings in Later Chinese Philosophy (2014, with Justin Tiwald), and Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy (2nd ed., 2005, with P.J. Ivanhoe).
Listen for our “You Tell Me!” questions and for some jokes in one of our concluding segments, called “Philosophunnies.” Reach out to us on Facebook @PhilosophyBakesBread and on Twitter @PhilosophyBB; email us at philosophybakesbread@gmail.com; or call and record a voicemail that we play on the show, at 859.257.1849. Philosophy Bakes Bread is a production of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). Check us out online at PhilosophyBakesBread.com and check out SOPHIA at PhilosophersInAmerica.com.
For our future “You Tell Me!” segments, Bryan posed the following question in this episode:
“When you’re on your deathbed and you look back on your life, what kind of accomplishment do you think will make you proud of the life you’ve lived?”
Following up on that: “Are you going to be proud of how much money you earned, about the car you bought in 2019, or about the time you showed integrity in a time of crisis, or the time you stood up for somebody who could defend themselves, or the time you spent with your family?”
Let us know what you think! Via Twitter, Facebook, Email, or by commenting here below.
Click on the image here for a printable, Adobe PDF of our One-Sheet on “Clutter.”
SOPHIA has created our journal, Civil American, and our radio show and podcast, Philosophy Bakes Bread, in part to offer content for conversations among our local chapters. The Chairman of SOPHIA’s Board of Trustees John Lachs published his short essay, “Clutter,” in the 2017 edition of Civil American not very long after his wife passed away. The objects in our lives can seem mundane, but they can also bear great emotional weight for us. The leaders of the Lexington SOPHIA Chapter selected his essay as the focus of one of our “One-Sheet” documents, which will serve as the topic and guiding document for an upcoming chapter meeting. You can click on the thumbnail image of the one-sheet on the right hand side or you can open it by clicking here for a printable version of the “One Sheet” document on “Clutter.”
SOPHIA is grateful both to Dr. Lachs for his essay a well as to the leaders of the Lexington SOPHIA Chapter for drafting the questions that groups can use to jump easily into fun philosophical conversation. Thanks to Caroline A. Buchanan, Derek Daskalakes, Erik Jarvis, James William Lincoln, and Eric Thomas Weber. If any groups choose to make use of this one-sheet also, we encourage them to let us know how the conversation went as well as what thoughts their group has for possible improvement of this one-sheet or for future pieces.
John Lachs of Vanderbilt University
This piece includes the full content of Lachs’s short essay, thanks to Civil American Editor Shane Courtland. The author, John Lachs, is Centennial Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.
SOPHIA has organized two panels to be held at the Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association. The second will take place on Thursday, January 10 from 1:30–4:30 p.m. See program code: G17B for the room location. The panel is titled:
SOPHIA offers this One-Sheet document for groups to use to make a fun, meaningful conversation easy to hold on the subject of Episode 2 of Philosophy Bakes Bread, which concerned “The Ethics of Dentistry” with Dr. Bill Myers. Naturally, some of the issues raised in this one-sheet overlap topics of interest in medical ethics, but also concern ways in which people think differently about dental insurance and care versus general medical insurance and care.
Dr. Bill Myers is professor of philosophy at Birmingham Southern College, Treasurer of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, and editor of Philosophers of Process. He teaches the ethics of dentistry in the University of Alabama-Birmingham’s School of Dentistry.
