Philosopher to Discuss Race, Criminal Justice in UA Lecture

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dr. Elizabeth Anderson, a philosophy scholar at the University of Michigan, will speak about race and criminal justice during the second lecture of The University of Alabama’s Philosophy Today Series.

The lecture, titled “Outlaws,” will be presented Thursday, Nov. 3, at 7:30 p.m. in room 205 of Smith Hall on the UA campus. It is free and open to the public.

During her lecture, Anderson will discuss hyper-incarceration, racial profiling by the police, and the Black Lives Matter movement through a philosophical lens. Additionally, she will address the philosophy behind what should be done to create a just society.

“Anderson’s work is a really good example of how philosophy can have great practical importance,” said Dr. Rekha Nath, UA associate professor of philosophy. “She uses the tools of critical thinking to reflect on, and point in, the direction of remedies to pressing social problems that are facing us today.”

Anderson is a John Dewey Distinguished University Professor, a John Rawls Collegiate Professor, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, and the chair of the department of philosophy at the University of Michigan.

She specializes in ethics, political philosophy, and feminist theory and has written numerous papers and books, including “The Imperative of Integration,” which was published by Princeton University Press in 2010. She is also the winner of the American Philosophical Association’s 2011 Joseph B. Gittler Award for “an outstanding scholarly contribution in the field of the philosophy of one or more of the social sciences.”

Lectures in the Philosophy Today series are geared toward a general audience and are of interest to those in any profession or academic discipline.

The College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and Truman Scholarships.