Traditions of Ideology Critique
Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, July 22-25, 2015
The 9th annual conference of the International Society for MacIntyrean Enquiry
Conference Secretaries: Ruth Groff and Greg Beabout
Keynote Speakers
Christian Thorne, Williams College
Vanessa Wills, Saint Joseph’s University
Jeffery Bishop, Saint Louis University
Fredric Jameson described Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue as one of the best works on ideology in the 20th century. In the spirit of this assessment, the 2015 meeting of the ISME will be focused on the theme “Traditions of Ideology Critique.” ISME brings together scholars and activists working from Aristotelian, Thomist and Marxist perspectives to understand and potentially transform our present social-historical circumstances. This year we are encouraging conference participants to take up the issue of ideology directly.
What should we mean by the term ideology? Has the nature of ideology changed?
How is ideology reproduced, both inside and outside of the academy?
In the latter case, what does it look like in the humanities and social sciences in particular?
What do we mean by ideology critique? What is the role of religion vis-a-vis such an activity?
What do Aristotelians and Thomists stand to learn from Marxists, and vice-versa, when it comes to engaging in meaningful counter-hegemonic analysis?
What can virtue ethicists learn from critical theorists, and vice-versa?
Should those who challenge unjust social relations call for local change rather than (or in addition to) national, international or global change? Is action at the local level uniquely or differentially open to being virtuous and/or connected to a tradition?
How does ideology function in concrete cases, e.g., the events in Ferguson, MO?