Erin McCarthy (St. Laurence University)
Title: “Transformation Embodied”
Abstract: Discussions of the connections between Buddhism and social justice rarely focus on the role of women. Comparing various Buddhist, feminist and social justice philosophies, I consider what each can learn from the other. I first analyze the life and work of some of the key female figures in Buddhist philosophy (ancient and contemporary) and then suggest what contemporary feminist philosophers might have to learn from these groundbreaking women and their reception in the tradition. Taking concerns of social justice and feminism seriously requires us to not just think these ideas through, but to act on them — and so I close by considering their implications for social transformation.
Bio: Erin McCarthy is Chair and Professor of Philosophy at St. Lawrence University where she also teaches in the Asian Studies Program. A comparative feminist philosopher, in her work and teaching she brings together Japanese philosophy, ethics, feminist and continental philosophy. Author of the book Ethics Embodied: Rethinking Selfhood through Continental, Japanese and Feminist Philosophies (Lexington, 2010), her work has been published in several anthologies and journals in both French and English. Her current research looks at medieval Japanese philosopher Dōgen as a resource for contemporary feminist philosophy; early Japanese feminist philosophers; and another strand integrates feminist and contemplative pedagogies. In 2019 Dr. McCarthy was named a Fellow of the Mind and Life Institute. In 2016, she was the recipient of St. Lawrence’s J. Calvin Keene Award and she was an inaugural recipient of the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation Residential Fellowship for Buddhist Studies and American Culture and Values at Naropa University in 2009. In addition, Dr. McCarthy is a trained teacher of Mindfulness for stress management and Mindful Self-Compassion, modalities which she brings to her teaching, the campus community as a whole, and the community in which she lives.
