Please join us for a Philosophy Work In Progress Talk with Dr. Ken Shockley, Professor of Philosophy (CSU). Dr. Shockley will present “Vulnerability, Adaptation, and the Illusion of Control” on Wednesday, Sept. 23rd at 5 p.m. in the Behavioral Sciences Building, Room 107.

Abstract: Vulnerability is often defined as susceptibility to harm. But this definition overlooks both the way vulnerability enables positive features of human flourishing (such as friendship) and the possibility that things might be vulnerable even if they cannot be harmed (such as watersheds and economic systems). In this paper, Dr. Shockley will argue that understanding vulnerability in terms of exposure yields a framework that is both more inclusive and more practical. Traditional treatments of vulnerability – understood through the lenses of harm and compromised systems – motivate efforts to manage whatever it is that is causing a particular vulnerability. Reframing vulnerability in terms of exposure makes apparent the dangers of such a control-based response.