Bulletin

Issue: April 2004

Seminars & Festivals

War and Peace - and Ethics

A noted American authority on political ethics and anti-war activist discussed the ethics of American involvement in Iraq at a public seminar entitled 'War and the Ethics of Complexity' at La Trobe University in February.

Dr Chris Cuomo, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies at the University of Cincinnati, was guest of La Trobe's Philosophy and Women's Studies programs.

Professor Cuomo is a prominent anti-war activist with strong views on her country's reaction to the events of September 11 and its involvement in the Iraq war. She spoke on the current anti-war movement in the U.S.

Her most recent book published last year, The Philosopher Queen: Feminist Essays on War, Love, and Knowledge, published by Rowman and Littlefield, includes philosophical, artistic, and activist reflections on war and peace, as well as essays on sex, science, and culture.

Dr Cuomo's is a specialist in ethics, feminist and political philosophy, race, environmental philosophy, and sexuality. The search for an ethic that is broadly life-affirming, yet politically and scientifically realistic, is at the root of her recent philosophy.

In her talk, Dr Cuomo discussed various influential sectors of the US anti-war movement that emerged in New York after September 11 and the lessons they provided regarding the current strengths and challenges of democracy in America and elsewhere.

The main thrust of her presentation was an argument that the post-September 11 anti-war movement in America, and elsewhere, made evident some surprising good news about aspects of the on-the-ground functioning of democracy, including the potential for productive coalition-building across historically significant differences.•

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