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Department of Philosophy Presents: Sukaina Hirji, University of Pennsylvania

Date: Thursday, January 28th, 2021

Time: 4:00 pm

Location: Zoom

Title: Outrage and the Bounds of Empathy

Abstract:  Recent defenses of the political value of anger have focused on what I call “reform anger”, anger that serves to hold an abuser to account and to demand repair or reform. Defenders of the political value of anger have either ignored or unfairly dismissed a second kind anger that I call “outrage anger”. I argue that the very features that seem to be bad about outrage anger — that it is not aimed at repair or reform, and that it is insensitive to nuance or discrimination — are also the features that make it politically and morally important in some cases. Outrage anger, I will suggest, is valuable in certain cases precisely because of how it blocks one’s ability to feel empathy with an abuser. 

Sukaina Hirji, "Outrage and the Bounds of Empathy", Poster (PNG 295 KB)