sic@liv: The Social Imagination Collective

We look closely at the fringes of social phenomena, we push unusual perspectives, and we take minority views seriously. We are a collective because we pursue research jointly. Our shared question is: How is a better social world achievable, and what do neglected forms of social imagination bring to the table in this pursuit? 

Social philosophers and theorists often imagine a better world. One strand of thinking, popular in philosophy, fixates on creating models of a just society. Relatedly, philosophers have tended to valorise certain means of social change: through theory, reasoned debate and argument. More subtle means of persuasion, or the use of rhetoric, art and emotion, are viewed with suspicion. On this received view, any reasons or arguments that we offer must be justified from a neutral perspective. The Social Imagination Collective approaches things differently. While we recognise the force and value of a good argument, we want to explore the potential of other means of social change. What role can imagination or art play in social change? What is the function of the activist? How do empathy and embodied understanding help us better understand one another?  

We are interested both in what some of these neglected forms of persuasion can bring to social discourse, and how existent, reason-governed institutions can be amended to become more socially responsible. For instance, how should public policy be formulated to better respond to the needs and concerns of citizens? What would a more socially responsible science look like? If objective reason has long been the dominant ideal for achieving social change, we study the alternatives to this ideal: here gathered under the label ‘social imagination’. 

Activities 

Aesthetics and Political Epistemology: BSA Connections Conference 

Art Against the World 

BBC / AHRC New Generation Thinker 2021 (Simoniti) 

Epistemic Vices: Individual and Collective 

How Does it Feel? Interpersonal Understanding and Affective Empathy 

Integrating Values into Evidence-Based Medicine Network 

Listening-to-Learn-to-Understand: A Forgotten Virtue? 

Normative Implications of the Metaphysics of Extra-Corporeal Gestation 

Objectivity and Activism (Celebrating Ruth First)   

Philosophy of Digital Images 

Reducing coercion in psychiatric care 

Robin McKenna on his book Non-Ideal Epistemology  

Robin McKenna on the ethics and epistemology of persuasion 

Sufficiency and Sufficientarianism: Theory and Practice 

The Psychology and Epistemology of Political Cognition 

Through the Eyes of the Displaced: Contemporary Art and Political Change for Ukrainian Displaced Persons 

Vid Simoniti's Artists Remake the World: book launch at Open Eye 

Vid Simoniti on BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Series 

 

Selected Publications 

2024 

Schramme, T. (2024). Empathy with Future Generations? Topoi, 43(1), 29-37. 

2023 

Furman, K (2023) Epistemic Bunkers, Social Epistemology 37 (2), 197 - 207  

McKenna, R. (2023). Non-Ideal Epistemology. Oxford University Press 

Simoniti, V. (2023) Artists Remake the World: Contemporary Art as Politics. New Haven:  Yale University Press.  

2022 

Schramme, T. (2022). Determining Oneself and Determining One’s Self. In Philosophical Studies Series (pp. 33-52). Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-80991-1_3 

Simoniti, V. (2022) Post-Internet Art and the Alt-Right Visual Culture. In Dada Data:  Contemporary Art Practice in the Era of Post-Truth Politics. Eds. Mara-Johanna Kölmel and Sarah Hegenbart. London: Bloomsbury. 

2021 

Furman, K (2021) What Use are Real-World Cases to Philosophers? Ergo 7 

McKenna, R. (2021). Persuasion and Intellectual Autonomy. In Epistemic Autonomy. Eds. K. Lougheed and J. Matheson. Routledge. 

Schramme, T. (2021). Capable deliberators: towards inclusion of minority minds in discourse practices. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 1-24. doi:10.1080/13698230.2021.2020550 

Simoniti, V. (2021) Art as Political Discourse, British Journal of Aesthetics, 61 (4), 559-574. 

2020 

Furman, K (2020) Emotions and Distrust in Science. International Journal of Philosophical Studies. 28:5, 713 – 730  

Furman, K (2020) On Trusting Neighbours More Than Experts: An Ebola Case Study. Frontiers in Communication Science and Environmental Communication. 

McKenna, R. (2020). Persuasion and Epistemic Paternalism. In Epistemic Paternalism: Conceptions, Justifications, and Implications. Eds. G. Axtell and A. Bernal. Rowman & Littlefield. 

Schramme, T. (2020) "Properly a Subject of Contempt": The Role of Natural Penalties in Mill’s Liberal Thought, Journal of Social Philosophy, 51 (3), 2020, 391-409. 

 

Image credit: Jennifer Vanderpool, Youngstown to Liverpool, 2020, 84"x 84", courtesy of the artist.

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