The YTL Annual Lecture: Prof Susan Wolf (UNC) Humble Apologies

This year the Yeoh Tiong Lay Centre for Politics, Philosophy & Law's Annual Lecture will feature keynote speaker Susan Wolf (University of North Carolina).

Schedule:

16:00 - 18:00: Lecture

18:00-19:00: Drinks Reception

 

Biography:

Susan Wolf is the Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Emerita from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her work ranges widely over topics in moral philosophy and adjoining issues in aesthetics, political theory, and the philosophy of mind. Wolf served as President of the American Philosophical Association (Eastern Division) in 2010-11; she was a Phi Beta Kappa Romanell Professor (2009-10) and the Spinoza Chair at the University of Amsterdam (2018). In 2004-07 she was honored with the Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Achievement Award in the Humanities, and in 2022 she received the Lauener Prize for an Outstanding Oeuvre in Analytical Philosophy. Some of her most notable works include “Moral Saints”, Freedom Within Reason (Oxford, 1990), Meaning in Life and Why it Matters (Princeton, 2010), and The Variety of Values: Essays on Morality, Meaning, and Love (Oxford, 2015).

 

Title and abstract:

Humble Apologies

In light of the significant benefits of apologizing for preserving and repairing personal relationships, it is remarkable how reluctant so many people are to offer them. This lecture explores the reasons behind this. It argues that part of the reluctance stems from a visceral association between apologizing and a self-abasing kind of humility. This association is unfortunate and misguided, and we should do our best to get rid of it. Yet a different kind of humility, concerning our ability to know when we have done wrong, is salutary. When conjoined with a plausible and appealing conception of apology, this should make us more willing to apologize, and to reap the benefits in social harmony.