Den Ouden Contributes Work to Birmingham Institute for Civil Rights

Bernard den Ouden, professor of philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences, was invited by The Birmingham Institute for Civil Rights in Alabama to contribute written material for its website, archives, and displays.

His task was to provide a description of the philosophical origins of the significance and dignity of individual human beings and the necessary correlates of societies based on equality, freedom, and justice. Part of the requested task was to connect the Civil Rights Movement with the United Nations Covenants and Declarations of Universal Human Rights.

In April 2011, den Ouden and Willie James, a graduate of the University of Hartford philosophy program and a staff member in the Office of Institutional Advancement, spent a week in residence in Birmingham. James focused on connecting the speeches of civil rights leaders with philosophical ideas and with the UN Covenants. In June, den Ouden published an extensive article in the Shelburne Falls Independent and West Country News tracing key events in the Movement and describing the work that he and James had done. The article was called “Reflections on the Civil Rights Movement.”

From July 31 through August 3, 2011, den Ouden hosted and moderated the annual meeting of Realia: The Institute for the Advanced Study of Philosophy here at the University of Harford. The Institute meets at different universities each year. Recently meetings have been held at Cornell University and the University of Toronto. Both den Ouden and Brian Skelly, an adjunct faculty member in the Philosophy Department, presented papers at this forum. The keynote speaker was Miran Bozivic, professor of philosophy at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia.