Organized by Prof. Manuel Knoll and Dr. Douglas Giles.
Weekly meetings will take place on Mondays 9 – 11 a.m. (US Central Time) beginning on April 20, 2026. There will be 8 seminar sessions.
Content
Conflicts today are often caused by deep disagreements — disagreements in which opposing sides no longer share basic truths, beliefs, plausibilities, or criteria of relevance. In these cases, arguments fail not because participants are uninformed or irrational, but because they are oriented within different horizons of meaning, sustained by distinct moralities, environments, and identities. Mass media and social media amplify these differences by creating self-affirming orientation worlds, such as “filter bubbles” and “echo chambers” where people become blind to the interests of their own morality, while rejecting other morals as “evil.”
Ethical differences go beyond reason and raise the question of how we orient ourselves in a world of incommensurable differences that lead into deep conflicts affecting not just our daily lives but also entire societies, cultures, and global politics. In this seminar, we will explore, via the philosophy of orientation, the phenomenon of deep disagreement as well as its societal, ethical, media, and political dimensions.
The seminar is discussion-based; this means participants are expected to read the respective chapters before the meetings to be able to discuss them with the group during the seminar sessions. Prior philosophical or academic training is helpful, but not necessary to participate. Please apply by April 15, 2026, via the application form below by briefly explaining 1.) your professional and/or academic background, 2.) your philosophical interests, and 3.) your motivation for joining the seminar (50 words per field).