Quaker Philosophy Roundtable

The following questions were raised at the most recent meeting of Friends Association for Higher Education as part of a roundtable discussion about what it means to be a Quaker and a philosopher and how these things intersect with issues facing Quakers (i.e., Peace, Justice, and Sustainability). As one participant put it, all three days of the conference could have been spent on these questions; because of the interest in and complexity of these questions, this blog has been started in order to foster an ongoing discussion.These questions are intended to be a starting point, rather than boundaries around discussion.

• How do we, as philosophers, each see ourselves as "scholars for peace, justice, or sustainability"?
• What is it that you are trying to accomplish in your teaching, in your research, and in your service?
• What is philosophy, anyway?
• Is it the task of philosophy to connect with real world problems, or not?
• How do you see your primary identity? Quaker? Philosopher? Quaker-Philosopher? Teacher? Scholar? Something else?
• Do you ever find your Quaker identity in conflict with (or in tension with) your academic-philosophy identity? How do you respond to these situations?
• Is there something that could be called "Quaker Philosophy"?
• Do Quakers have anything distinctive to offer to academic philosophy?

Anyone is welcome to reply, but we hope others will join this blog in order to write at greater length.