The Dialectic: Philosophy Summer Camp
2022 Topic: Why don’t they get it? How to engage disagreement.
We are constantly bombarded by disagreement — with our friends, with our parents, on social media, on the news — it seems to be around every corner. Moreover, these are not inconsequential disagreements, they are about things that we care about — things that matter to us. We try to explain to people why we believe what we believe but they just don’t seem to get it. Why don’t they get it?
This year's summer camp is going to have this issue as its focus.
Some of the topics we will be addressing are:
- What is good argumentation?
- What does good reasoning look like?
- What do values have to do with disagreement?
- How do we respect people’s values when we disagree?
- Should we respect people’s values?
- What is good evidence?
- What do we do when we have different evidence than someone else?
- Is my point of view uniquely accessible to me?
- How can I share it with others?
- What could reasonable political dialogue look like?
- How can I engage with disagreement?
For one week, you’re a college student. Rigorously examining evidence, beliefs, values and reasoning. You come to ASU’s Tempe Campus in the morning and leave in the evening. You are working with ASU’s rigorously trained philosophy graduate students to figure out the answer to this question: Why don’t they get it? And, maybe even more importantly, a secondary question: How should I engage? In the meantime, you’re hanging out with your peers that want to look at life a little more carefully. You are part of an intellectual community. You’re running around campus, eating in dining halls, peeking into the life of a college student.