Global Philosophy Research Interest Group Talk (Sofia Ortiz-Hinojosa, Vassar)

The Global Philosophy Research Interest Group is delighted to welcome Sofia Ortiz-Hinojosa, an assistant professor of Philosophy who teaches in both the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Latin American and Latino/a Studies at Vassar College. She specializes in contemporary philosophy of mind, philosophy of cognitive science and psychology, and metaphysics. Read her piece on diversifying the canon, published on the Blog of the APA in 2018.

Join the meeting: https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/82978639161

Passcode: 365752

Talk Title

A Dream to Know Everything: On Curiosity and Pursuing Irrational Questions

Talk Abstract

According to an epistemic utilitarian theory posed by the late Sylvain Bromberger, it is rational to confine one’s curiosity to a narrow range in order to maximize the value and minimize the costs of decreasing one’s ignorance. Not trying to answer every question is a precondition on successfully undertaking inquiry, one could say. I will suggest that in her masterpiece and epistemological poem, First Dream, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz subtly champions even wanton curiosity and the overall pursuit of a desire to know everything, while acknowledging their high costs. She gives us reason to think that perhaps the desire to know everything is not irrational – or, if it is irrational, that this may not be a sufficient reason not to pursue the desire.

The Global Philosophy Research Interest Group explores the benefits of drawing on diverse traditions of thought in approaching philosophical questions. These include novel insights into familiar problems, new questions and research directions, and fresh methodologies. We work to deprovincialize and decolonize all aspects of philosophy in the academy. The group currently has strengths in Sanskrit philosophy, and Chinese philosophy, Indian philosophy in English, and classical Islamic philosophy.