The U.S. Declaration of Independence at 250 Years: Critical Perspectives From American Philosophy

As the U.S. Declaration of Independence marks 250 years, American society is in political and intellectual turmoil over its guiding ideals: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. There are related conflicts over issues such as democracy, justice, race, immigration, gender identities, women’s rights, and the environment. Do American philosophical traditions afford ways to interpret these ideals? Can they help us understand, diagnose, and resolve these conflicts?

Speakers include:

• Kim Díaz, assistant professor of philosophy, El Paso Community College. From 2015 to 2025,  Díaz served as director of the Shadows to Light project for the Philosophic Systems Institute, where she taught philosophy and mindfulness to returning citizens for the United States Department of Justice. She is the managing editor for the Inter-American Journal of Philosophy, coeditor of the Philosophy of the Americas Reader: From the Popol Vuh to the Present (2021), and coeditor of the forthcoming book Building Bridges Between Latin American and Indian Philosophies.
• Jose-Antonio Orosco, professor of philosophy, Oregon State University. Orosco specializes in social and political philosophy, particularly democratic theory, multiculturalism, social movements, and global justice. He teaches classes in American philosophy, Latino/a and Latin American thought, and peace and justice studies. He is author of Cesar Chavez and the Common Sense of Nonviolence (2008), Toppling the Melting Pot: Immigration and Multiculturalism in American Pragmatism (2016), and Star Trek’s Philosophy of Peace and Justice (2022).

Moderated by Professor Daniel Campos, Philosophy. The event is sponsored by the Ethyle R. Wolfe Institute for the Humanities, the Jay Newman Chair Fund, and the Department of Philosophy at Brooklyn College.

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