UN Security Council reform has been discussed for three decades but little has been done to make this principal organ more efficient and representative. The process has focused primarily on enlarging the membership and which countries can become new permanent members. Dr. Vesselin Popovski criticizes such an approach and recommends to aspiring members to abandon the entire idea of permanent membership and instead lead the UN General Assembly towards removing the major ‘cancer’ in the UN body – the veto power.

Philosophy, Disability and Social Change 4 (#PhiDisSocCh4) comprises presentations by disabled philosophers whose cutting-edge research challenges members of the philosophical community to (1) think more critically about the metaphysical and epistemological status of disability; (2) closely examine how philosophy of disability is related to the tradition and discipline of philosophy; and (3) seriously consider how philosophy and philosophers contribute to the pervasive inequality and subordination that disabled people confront throughout society.

What is the relationship between anti-democratic voices on the far-right and in pockets of European Christianity? The Alfred Landecker Programme is pleased to host the presentation of the ground-breaking book The Christian Right in Europe: Movements, Networks, and Denominations, edited by Gionathan Lo Mascolo. From LGBTQIA+ rights to abortion, traditionalism, and anti-Islamic sentiments, the book showcases the interwoven narratives and networks in over twenty European countries, providing a transnational perspective on the rise of the Christian Right in Europe.

This event will look both forward and back as 2023 marks five years since the breaking of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which involved personal data belonging to millions of Facebook users being collected without their consent and being used to assist political campaigns.

Panel 1: Cambridge Analytica, what happened and what have we learned? 14:05-15:10

Discourses of racial supremacy, with "white supremacy" employed as a campaign slogan by the conservative Democratic Party, metastasized in American politics during Reconstruction. The election cycles of 1868-1871, Varon argues, reveal the depths of white opposition to Black voting, the limits of Republican Party egalitarianism, and the rhetorical dilemmas and strategies of Black activists in the long freedom struggle.

Professor James will explore how the work of 17th century Dutch-born philosopher Baruch Spinoza can help us to examine questions of truth in our own time.

The Upton Lecture is named after Charles Barnes Upton, Professor of Philosophy at the College between 1875-1903. The lecture is held annually and alternates between philosophical and religious themes. This year’s lecture has been made possible by the generous support of The Sekyra Foundation.