2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Friday, April 4-2:45 pm
Paper
Disc.
Machiavelli and the Problem of Innovation
Machiavelli's praise of innovation has been overlooked in the
debates about his originality. He offers a praise of novelty and a
complex analysis of men's attachment to the past. This illuminates
his own work and the place of innovation in modernity.
Gladden J. Pappin, Harvard University
pappin@fas.harvard.edu
David Lay Williams, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point
david.williams@uwsp.edu
32-8 REVISITING RAWLS: FAMILY, AUTHORITY, AND
THE OVERLAPPING CONSENSUS
Room Suite 9-150 on the 9th Floor, Fri at 2:45 pm
Chair Johnny Goldfinger, Indiana University-Purdue University
Indianapolis
jgoldfin@iupui.edu
Paper In Defense of Overlapping Consensus: Stability, Legitimacy and
Disagreement
Contemporary critiques notwithstanding, Rawls's Overlapping
Consensus is desirable because it allows deep moral and political
disagreements to be addressed while maintaining legitimacy and
social stability.
William Phillip Umphres, University of Virginia
umphres@virginia.edu
Paper Private and Public Dilemmas: Rawls on the Family
This paper examines the relationship between family life and
politics in the thought of John Rawls, concluding that Rawls’
liberalism can address inequities in the family while maintaining a
distinction between comprehensive and political doctrines.
Mary Barbara Walsh, Elmhurst College
walshm@elmhurst.edu
Paper The Unintentional Voluntarist Liberalism of John Rawls
This paper utilizes the voluntary aspects of John Rawls' political
liberalism to defend a legitimate, justified political authority while
rejecting any political obligation to obey that authority.
Thomas M. Hughes, University of California, Santa Barbara
thomas_hughes@umail.ucsb.edu
Paper Between Comprehensive and Political Liberalism: Charting a
Third Way
This paper attempts to chart a model of liberalism centering on the
political need to foster cross-cultural understanding. I argue that
neither comprehensive nor political liberalism offers sufficient tools
to address cultural pluralism's challenge.
David Leitch, University of California, San Diego
dleitch@ucsd.edu
Disc. Johnny Goldfinger, Indiana University-Purdue University
Indianapolis
jgoldfin@iupui.edu
33-7 MODES OF LIFE AND DEATH
Room Cresthill on the 3rd Floor, Fri at 2:45 pm
Chair Erin N. Taylor, Western Illinois University
e-taylor@wiu.edu
Paper Pregnant Tensions in Embodied Care: Rethinking the
Relationship Between Corporeality and Care
This paper critically engages the embodied care literature, arguing
that an adequate ethics of care should confront a multiplicity of
embodied experiences and address important tensions between
dominant approaches to the body within feminist theory.
Hollie Sue Mann, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
hmann@email.unc.edu
Paper
Paper
Disc.
Weaponization of Life: Violence, Instrumentality, and Moral
Agency
My paper examines Sorel, Benjamin, and Schmitt at the intersection
of their reflections on violence, instrumentality, and moral agency
from the point of view of contemporary sacrificial practices in
which life is weaponized for political struggle.
Banu Bargu, New School for Social Research
bargub@newschool.edu
State Intervention into Life and Death: The Politics and Power
of Suicide
How and why do state institutions choose to intervene into the
decision to take one's own life Beginning with Foucault's theory of
biopolitics, several aspects of U.S. legal and informal response to
suicide are analyzed.
Claire McKinney, University of Chicago
cmckinney@uchicago.edu
Bruce Baum, University of Bristish Columbia
bbaum@politics.ubc.ca
34-9 MAKING CITIZENS: THEORIZING CIVIC
EDUCATION
Room PDR 8 on the 3rd Floor, Fri at 2:45 pm
Chair Claudia Leeb, Harvard University
cleeb@fas.harvard.edu
Paper Divided Schools, Divided Selves: Psychology and Character
Education
Psychology shows that learning public values in school need not
displace conflicting values in students’ private lives. Character
education’s legitimacy must be established not against conflicting
private views, but against alternative public views.
Olivia K. Newman, College of St. Benedict/St. John's University
onewman@csbsju.edu
Paper Standardized Curriculum and Privatization: A Contradiction in
Policy
No Child Left Behind was a bipartisan piece of legislation which
introduced several new policies into education. The privatization
of education has been one of the most controversial and this paper
argues one that negatively impacts democratic aims.
Donna E. Karno, Ohio State University
karno.1@osu.edu
Paper Plato’s "Gorgias:" A Precursor to Plato’s "Apology of
Socrates"
The similar arguments, topics, and themes found in the two Platonic
dialogues "Gorgias" and "Apology of Socrates" imply the teachings
found in these two Platonic dialogues are interconnected in a
fundamental way.
Megan N. Kerr, Northern Illinois University
kerr.megan1@gmail.com
Paper Marx's New Man
In Joel Feinberg’s “Nowheresville,” agents have fellow-feeling but
lack the concept of rights – and so lack respect and self-respect. In
the 1844 Marx’s communism, the concept of rights might be lacking
but agents have respect and self-respect.
Daniel Brudney, University of Chicago
d-brudney@uchicago.edu
Disc. Claudia Leeb, Harvard University
cleeb@fas.harvard.edu
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