The panel forms part of "The Europe We Need", a series of discussions running throughout the festival and held during Ireland's EU Presidency. Each session brings together colleagues from across the arts and humanities to consider questions of democracy, war and peace, climate change, migration and identity, drawing on disciplines from philosophy and history to music, film and religion.
Rowan, who joined the Department of Philosophy this year, works on the ethics of group action, examining how what a group ought to do can differ from what each of its members ought to do individually. His research asks what individuals owe each other when acting collectively, and how ideas of joint responsibility and solidarity bear on real-world problems, from legal doctrines of joint enterprise to reparations for historic injustice.
He will be joined on the panel by Jonathan Hodgers (Music), Jennifer O'Meara (Film) and Jude Lal Fernando (Religion), reflecting the festival's aim of showing how the humanities help us understand the world as it might, and perhaps should, be. The panel is open to all on a walk-in basis, with no registration required.
The panel runs as part of the Trinity Arts and Humanities Research Festival, organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub and running from 18 to 28 September. The festival brings together researchers from across College for talks, workshops and discussions open to the public, including a conversation on AI and the Vatican Archives, a look at how technology shapes live theatre, and a festival finale interview with author Colm Tóibín on his novella Testament of Mary.
