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Religion and Political Theory conference
I chaired a session of the Religion and Political Theory Conference at UCL in June 2015, organised by Prof Cecile Laborde. Details are here.
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Gender in the History of Early Modern Political Thought
I was delighted to be a representative of contemporary political philosophy, talking about Feminism in Philosophy, in this year’s Balzan-Skinner conference in the History of Political Thought. Find details here. The conference is on 22 May 2015.
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David Miller Conference
I was neither an organiser or paper-giver at this conference for David Miller in May 2015, but I was honoured and delighted to give a toast to David, who supervised my DPhil with Lois McNay. Thanks to Chris Bertram for the photo, and to Dan Butt, Sarah Fine and Zofia Stemplowska for organising the conference.
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Political Theory and Impact Roundtable
I was part of a roundtable on Political Theory and Impact in March 2015, run by the PSA and held at the House of Lords. The participants were:
Lord Parekh FBA (chair)
Prof Thom Brooks (Law, Durham)
Dr Clare Chambers (Philosophy, Cambridge)
Prof Elizabeth Frazer (Politics, Oxford)
Dr Emily McTernan (Political Science, UCL)Dr Martin O’Neill (Politics, York)
Prof Michael Otsuka (Philosophy, LSE)
Prof Albert Weale (Political Science, UCL)Details are here.
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WOW festival
I spoke at the WOW – Women of the World – Festival in Cambridge in March 2015, on a panel on Women’s Bodies, Private Places.
Women’s bodies, who do they belong to? A wide- ranging, multi-generational and diverse panel will explore issues around life as a woman. From boobs and body hair to body image and periods, how have attitudes changed and who decides what’s ‘right’? In conversation will be Dr Clare Chambers, author of ‘Fat is a Feminist Issue’ Susie Orbach, Roz Hardie, CEO of campaign group Object, Debra Bourne from All Walks Beyond the Catwalk, poet, singer, writer and actor Keisha Thompson, Alice Wroe from the Herstory project, trans woman Dr Rachael Padman and Becky Talbot from Dhiverse.
See the programme here.
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Beauty Demands Workshop
I’m speaking at the first of four workshops on Beauty Demands in Warwick this March. Find details of the workshop here.
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Seminar in Contemporary Political Thought (LT 2015)
The seminars will take place on Fridays between 1.00-2.30pm in the Coleridge Room, Jesus College. All are welcome.
Convenors: Dr Clare Chambers (Philosophy) and Dr Duncan Bell (POLIS)
16th January: Hillel Steiner, University of Manchester
Levels of Non-Ideality30th January: Jeff McMahan, University of Oxford
Liability, Proportionality, and the Number of Aggressors13th February: Kimberlee Brownlee, University of Warwick
Social Contribution Injustice27th February: Andrea Sangiovanni, King’s College, London
Moral Equality, Respect, and Cruelty -
Seminar in Contemporary Political Thought (MT 2014)
Faculty of Philosophy and POLIS
Convenors: Dr Clare Chambers (Philosophy) and Dr Duncan Bell (POLIS)
The seminars take place on alternate Fridays between 1.00-2.30pm in the Coleridge Room, Jesus College. All are welcome.
Michaelmas Term 2014
10th October (week 1)
Miriam Ronzoni, University of Manchester
“Republicanism and Global Politics: Three Requirements in Tension”24th October (week 3)
Elizabeth Frazer, University of Oxford
“Reading Shakespeare Politically”7th November (week 5)
Tracy Strong, UC San Diego
“Where Do We Find Ourselves? Hawthorne and the Actuality of Political Space”21st November (week 7)
Moya Lloyd, Loughborough University
“Naming Absence: The Politics of Body Counts” -
Seminar in Contemporary Political Thought (MT 2014)
Convenors: Dr Clare Chambers (Philosophy) and Dr Duncan Bell (POLIS)
The seminars take place on alternate Fridays between 1.00-2.30pm in the Coleridge Room, Jesus College. All are welcome.
Michaelmas Term 2014
10th October (week 1)
Miriam Ronzoni, University of Manchester
“Republicanism and Global Politics: Three Requirements in Tension”24th October (week 3)
Elizabeth Frazer, University of Oxford
“Reading Shakespeare Politically”7th November (week 5)
Tracy Strong, UC San Diego
“Where Do We Find Ourselves? Hawthorne and the Actuality of Political Space”21st November (week 7)
Moya Lloyd, Loughborough University
“Naming Absence: The Politics of Body Counts” - all posts on culture and religion, all posts on feminism, all posts on marriage, all posts on social construction, media, read
3am magazine
An interview with me, focusing on my work in Sex, Culture, and Justice. Read the interview here.
Clare Chambers chews over the core philosophical issues of sex, culture and justice for liberal feminists, brooding on practices of physical modification, social construction’s role in negotiating claims of universalism and tolerance, Foucault and the panopticon, Bourdieu and habitus, Mackinnon’s critique of liberal feminism, taking violence against women seriously, Benhabib’s discourse ethics, how not to be a relativist, of what kind of universality is worth defending and of the state of academic philosophy and feminism. This is a voice from a war zone. Listen up!
- all posts on culture and religion, all posts on liberalism, articles, liberalism, multiculturalism and religion, read
Liberal Views
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The Marriage-Free State
Proceedings of The Aristotelian Society (2013). This paper sets out the case for abolishing state-recognised marriage and replacing it with piecemeal regulation of personal relationships. It starts by analysing feminist objections to traditional marriage, and argues that the various feminist critiques can best be reconciled and answered by the abolition of state-recognised marriage. The paper then considers the ideal form of state regulation of personal relationships. Contra other recent proposals equality and liberty are not best served by the creation of a new holistic status, such as civil union, or by leaving regulation to private contracts. Instead, the state should develop piecemeal regulations that apply universally. You can read the paper and listen to the podcast here or on the OUP Philosophy Festival Reading List here.
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The Philosophers’ Magazine
My piece “Liberal views” discusses different models of separation of church and state, as they are conceptualised philosophically and as they apply to actual polities. The article is here.
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The Equality Illusion
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New Directions in Public Reason (2014)
I participated in this excellent event at the University of Birmingham. Details here.
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Seminar in Contemporary Political Thought (LT 2014)
The seminars take place on Fridays between 1.00-2.30pm in the Coleridge Room, Jesus College. All are welcome.
17th January
Christian List, LSE: Theory Construction in Political Theory: A Philosophy-of-Science Perspective31st January
Sarah Fine, King’s College, London: Migration and Distributive Justice14th February
Moya Loyd, Loughborough University: Deaths That Matter: Critical Reflections on the Politics of Mourning and the Limits of Human Belonging28th February
Matt Kramer, University of Cambridge: Torture, Morality, and Law -
Aristotelian Society
I presented my paper “The Marriage-Free State” to the Aristotelian Society on 7 January 2013. You can listen to the podcast of the presentation here.
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Seminar in Contemporary Political Thought (MT 2013)
The seminars will take place on Fridays between 1.00-2.30pm in the Coleridge Room, Jesus College. All are welcome.
Convenors: Dr Clare Chambers (Philosophy) and Dr David Blunt (POLIS)11th October
Jules Holroyd, University of Nottingham: Moral and Institutional Desert25th October
Ben Colburn, University of Glasgow: Beneficence and Blackmail8th November
Alex Voorhoeve, LSE: How Should We Aggregate Competing Claims?22nd November
Catriona McKinnon, University of Reading: Crimes Against Humanity, and Future People -
Andrea Dworkin Commemorative Conference (2006)
The Andrea Dworkin Commemorative Conference was held at the Centre for the Study of Social Justice (CSSJ), University of Oxford, in 2006. You can hear the podcasts of the day here, with thanks to the CSSJ for allowing them to be posted.
Session 1:
Sheila Jeffreys, “Not just about pornography: the radical politics of Andrea Dworkin”Alison Assiter, “Pornography: its significance for feminism”Session 2:
Finn McKay, “Prostitution and Andrea Dworkin’s relevance to young feminists”Valerie Bryson, “Andrea Dworkin, feminist political thought, and the role of men”Session 3:
Michael Moorcock, “Andrea Dworkin’s fiction”
Julie Bindel, “Myths about Andrea Dworkin”
John Stoltenberg, “What Andrea knew about her work”Plenary session:
Professor Catharine A. MacKinnon, “Going Her Own Way”
- all posts on feminism, all posts on social construction, all posts on the body and beauty, listen, media
BBC Radio 4 “Woman’s Hour”
I made a live appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, discussing ideas from Sex, Culture, and Justice in the context of a debate on cosmetic surgery and the concept of ‘normal’, on 31st July 2012. You can listen to the debate right here via the sound file below. The segment begins at 33m, I am on at 37m.
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UK Feminista Thinkpiece
Edited excerpt from Sex, Culture, and Justice published by UK Feminista as their first Thinkpiece on “Cosmetic Surgery, Culture, and Choice”. Find it here.
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UK Feminista in The Guardian
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Fabiana
My work was cited in Fabiana, the magazine of the Fabian Society Women’s Network, issue 2 p. 7 (Winter 2012). Print and on-line, on-line available here.
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www.opendemocracy.net
My chapter on “Feminism” from the Oxford Handbook of Political Ideologies was cited in Rahila Gupta, “Has neoliberalism knocked feminism sideways?” 4th January 2012. Available here.
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“Gender justice, society and the state”, IPPR
I was a keynote speaker at this IPPR event, held on 1 December 2011. Audience members included MPs, ministers, think tanks, pressure groups, journalists. Details here.
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Philosophy Bites
My Philosophy Bites podcast on “Liberalism and Intervention”, an interview with Nigel Warburton produced by David Edmonds, is part of the special series “Multiculturalism Bites”, available here.
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Qué Pasa magazine, Chile
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“Sunday with Adam Boulton”, Sky News
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I supervise students on the MPhil in Philosophy and the PhD in Philosophy, both at the Faculty of Philosophy. Admissions decisions for MPhils and PhDs are made by the Degree Committee of the Faculty of Philosophy, so I cannot make any offer of supervision directly to a student. Please visit the Faculty website for details of how to apply.
Prospective graduate students should note that admission to the MPhil is usually conditional on previous specialisation in Philosophy. PhD students are normally admitted to the MPhil in the first instance. Applicants with a Masters degree from elsewhere may be considered for direct admission to the PhD but, again, evidence of previous specialisation in Philosophy is required.
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Political Philosophy Workshop
The Political Philosophy Workshop is open to graduate students and above, from all Faculties. It discusses work in progress by doctoral students and above, usually those based in Cambridge. Papers are pre-circulated and there is no presentation, so all participants must join the mailing list and read the papers in advance. To join the mailing list email me at cec66 <at> cam.ac.uk