Le Département de philosophie de l’Université de Montréal a le plaisir de recevoir Michael Kremer (U. Chicago), pour une conférence intitulée « Animals, Infants and Idiots’: The Exclusion of Intellectual Disability in Gilbert Ryle’s Philosophy of Mind  ».

Jeudi 29 février, de 13h à 15h, local 422, 2910 Édouard-Montpetit, Montréal.

Résumé:

« Gilbert Ryle’s project in The Concept of Mind (1949) explains human mindedness in terms of the mesh of capacities and tendencies that constitute the form of a  human life. He thus presents a broadly Aristotelian alternative to the dualism he rejects. However, this philosophy also involves a problem somewhat parallel to that raised for Aristotle’s anthropology by his treatment of « natural slaves. » Ryle specifies the phenomenon he wishes to capture through a contrast with « animals, infants, and idiots, » thus excluding intellectually disabled human beings from the class of beings endowed with minds. I place this exclusion in the historical context of 20th century eugenics discourse (and Ryle family connections to that discourse); discuss ways in which this exclusion affects Ryle’s philosophy of mind; and consider whether a basically Rylean picture of the mind can survive if we purify it of its ableist/eugenic aspects. »