The UPLB Philosophy Division under the Department of Humanities is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the institution of its BA Philosophy program with the theme “2+5=25: Philosophy against the post-truth world”. Envisioning itself as a mediator between the sciences and the humanities, the BA Philosophy program was created in 1997. In line with its goal to be a contributor to the formation and understanding of the Filipino consciousness and identity in a fast-growing globalized world, it came up with a series of activities.
Kicking off the anniversary was Dr. Celia Bardwell-Jones’ lecture themed “Moral and Epistemological Lucidity Informed by Cultural Values: The Case of Placental Ethics.” It was successfully held last 12 September 2022 at the NCAS auditorium, which was also live-streamed on YouTube. The GE Conversation lecture series will continue for the whole month of February 2023. It will feature four lectures by the faculty members of the Division and four lectures by the students of the Philosophy program. The lectures will highlight the different philosophical issues that the division engaged in all throughout its 25 years. This is also a response to the current social and political unrest that undermines the virtue of truth.
Continuing the commitment to gender justice, a sharing session event entitled ‘Towards Safer Classrooms: Sharing Experiences of Sexual Violence in Philosophy’ was also conducted on 21 November 2022 from 1:00PM-4:00PM via Zoom. This event is in collaboration with Times Up Ateneo (TUA) and Women Doing Philosophy (WDP).
A partnership is also in the works between the UPLB Philosophy Division and the University of Hawaii at Hilo. A project collaboration with the University of Connecticut is also in the pipeline. This is a first in the division’s history and the Philosophy Division is hopeful that there will be more opportunities for collaboration and partnerships with other universities and institutions in the future.
Finally, the anniversary will be capped off with the gathering of the UPLB philosophy community for a night of thanksgiving in April 2023. This event will showcase a lighthearted celebration of talents and philosophical wit displaying the diversity of interests that has been consistently present in the philosophy division. Finally, it is expected that the Philosophy Division podcast and official newsletter will be launched during this event.