CEPPA Talk – Mark Schroeder (University of Southern California)

Title: ‘Conflict, Discord, and Strife’

Abstract: Given that interpersonal relationships are relationships between persons, we might hold out hope that a better philosophical understanding of the nature of persons can help us to better understand the structure and dynamics of interpersonal relationships. In this talk I will argue that this thought is correct. In particular, I will argue that the right kind of philosophical theory about the nature of persons can help us to recognize the possibility of an underappreciated form of silencing that can lead us to misunderstand one another, explain why these forms of misunderstanding can often be symmetric, and illustrate how such symmetric forms of misunderstanding can drive and perpetuate good-faith conflicts even between perfectly well-meaning parties.