Self Among Selves
Emotion and the Common Life
An Interdisciplinary Conference
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29th, Tolley Building
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30th, Eggers Public Events Room
Registration: To register for either the Graduate Syposium or the Main Conference please email campbell@maxwell.syr.edu. Please specify, Graduate Symposium, Self Conference or both.
View the Conference Brochure (PDF)
Directions and Other Useful Information
September 29: Graduate Conference Schedule
September 30: Self Among Selves Conference Schedule
Self Among Selves aims to present the work of both new and established scholars in order to connect people who are pushing the boundaries of their fields in their thinking about the nature and quality of selfhood, the self’s relations to others, civil society, and the democratic polity. It particularly pinpoints the superb work emerging today in a few key subfields not ordinarily brought together in the same conversation or venue. It seeks to attract a multidisciplinary audience from the Campbell Institute, the Maxwell School, Syracuse University, Syracuse and the Central New York region, and the larger community of scholars and others interested in the self and its limits and possibilities for our shared existence.
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Self
 Today, self-concern and self-expression are a central preoccupation—one could say obsession—of Western culture. Recent scholarship on the self has largely focused on changes in individual modes of self-creation or self-understanding. Much of it has centered on personal or group identity to the exclusion of broader collective concerns. And instead of being part of a common conversation, it is often divided by academic specialization, stopping short of weighing in on questions of vital importance to our broader public life. But this conference asks:
•What are the ramifications of changing notions of selfhood—for the self and beyond?
• How do notions and practices of the self influence our bonds with one another, our civic life, and our polity?
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Emotion
As a major component of human selfhood, emotion has  recently drawn significant attention among some of the most penetrating thinkers in a variety of fields. These scholars are addressing questions of vital importance and common concern.
• What role does emotion play in the way we live our lives (how we think, make decisions, behave, etc.) both in private and in public? What role should it play, if any?
 • Are certain notions of the self, and certain emotions, more or less conducive to a flourishing shared existence? If so, how are they to be discouraged or cultivated?
Can they be?
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The Common Life
Each of these writers raises concerns about the state of democracy today. They deba te which approaches to selfhood provide the best foundation for revitalized citizenship, ask why desirable emotions are lacking while destructive emotions proliferate, and explore what can be done, seeking to locate new and/or resurrect old, even ancient, sources for a meaningful social world:
• How do we foster the self that thrives best alongside other selves, helps us confront both personal desires and struggles and public imperatives and quests?
• What notions and practices regarding the self might keep our hopes both for fulfilling individual lives and a vibrant democratic culture alive?
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Invited Speakers
Self Among Selves conference panels will reflect a range of approaches and fields.
Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, Conference Organizer, Professor of History and Senior Research Associate, Campbell Public Affairs Institute, Syracuse University
The presenters include:
Jean Bethke Elshtain, (keynote speaker), Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics, The Divinity School, University of Chicago
Albrecht Diem, Associate Professor of History, Syracuse University
Darrell Driver, Adjunct Professor in the Graduate School of Security and Global Studies, American Public University System
Rick Anthony Furtak, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Colorado College
Rochelle Gurstein, Independent Scholar
Ralph Ketcham, Maxwell Professor of Citizenship and Public Affairs and Professor Emeritus of History, Political Science, Public Affairs, and American Studies, Syracuse University
Peter Levine, Director, Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, and Research Director, Jonathan Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, Tufts University
Wilfred M. McClay, SunTrust Bank Chair of Excellence in Humanities, University of Tennessee at Chatanooga
Edward Fiske Mooney, Professor of Religion and Philosophy, Syracuse University
Marcia Robinson, Assistant Professor of Religion at Syracuse University
This event is being sponsored by the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University
Co-Sponsor, Graduate Symposia: 
• The Syacuse University Humanities Center
Contributing Sponsors:
• The Maxwell School
• Department of History
• Department of Philosophy
• Department of Religion
• Judaic Studies Program
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For More Information
Conference Chair: Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, Professor of History, Syracuse University
edlasch@maxwell.syr.edu
Images: Top Image: Philippe de Champaigne, "Saint Augustine," ca. 1645-1650, Gift of the Ahmanson Foundation, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Conference Description Image: Martin Luther King Jr. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, U.S. News & World Report Magazine Collection, [LC-DIG-ppmsc-01269]. Self Image: Artist Unknown, "Ecclesiastical Figure in Prayer" (ca. 1400-1450) Gift of Anna Bing Arnold, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Digital Image Museum Associates/LACMA. Emotion Images: John William Waterhouse, “La Belle Dame sans Merci” (1893) Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, Germany., and Francisco Goya, “Duel with Cudgels” (1820-23) Museo del Prado, Madrid. Web Gallery of Art # 1354*650. Common Life Image: Giovanni Paolo Panini, "Interior of the Pantheon (Roma)" (ca. 1734) Samuel H. Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art.