[SydPhil] MQ Philosophy Work in Progress (WIP) seminar Tuesday 12th of May Kael McCormack (UNSW)

[Emily Hughes]

Dear all,

You are warmly invited to the next MQ Philosophy Work in Progress (WIP)
seminar which will be given by *Kael McCormack (UNSW)*

The details are as follows:
Date: Tuesday 12th of May
Time:   13:00-14:00
Room: 17WW 113

*Title: Solving the Paradox of Passion*

*Abstract:*
Our ordinary conception of desire involves two intuitions that produce a
paradox Tamar Schapiro (2014, 131) has called “the paradox of passion.” On
the first intuition, my desire for X is a constraint on agency; I am
subject to my desire. On the second, my desire for X is an exercise agency;
I enact my desire. How could a desire be at once a constraint on, and an
exercise of, agency? I dissolve the paradox by showing how these intuitions
are consistent. I say that a desire for X results from an exercise of a
capacity to discriminate value. I am subject to my desire because this
capacity is spontaneous, involuntary, and determined by extra-mental
factors. Yet, I enact my desire because this capacity is a personal-level
mental activity and a way of responding to reasons. Desiring is both a
constraint on agency and an exercise of agency because it is a basic way of
rationally taking in the world, much like perception.

Further information about the seminar series including the zoom link and
details on future talks can be found at the seminar webpage:
https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/J_vFCgZ0N1imgrpKjTNf7U4dZCt?domain=mqphilosophy.github.io

We look forward to seeing you there.


*Dr Emily Hughes *(she/her)

ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) Fellow in Philosophy

School of Humanities, Faculty of Arts

Michael Kirby Building, 17 Wally's Walk

Level 2, Room 233

Macquarie University – Wallumattagal Campus, Dharug Country

NSW 2109 Australia

E: emily.hughes at mq.edu.au

W: https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/zaZYCjZ1N7i362PDwcRh8UmUpgH?domain=researchers.mq.edu.au



*I acknowledge that Macquarie University stands on the land of the Dharug
Nation, land that was never ceded. I pay my respects to the Dharug
people, the Wallumattagal clan, and their Elders past and present. Always
was, always will be, Aboriginal land.*