about opp

philosophical inquiry can have a critically influential role on cultural consciousness by articulating often implicit conceptual systems at play, so that we may examine dominant presuppositions and attempt to give expression to our patterns of thought and the rules we actually do and think are justified to make arguments for practice. a new student-produced journal, oxford public philosophy, endeavours to focus this inquiry on the institutionalized philosophical discipline students encounter here: to test its presumptions, effects, responsibilities, and possibilities.

embedded in and concerned with the world, the journal strives to cultivate access to public discussion through groups, publishing, online material, and events, transgressing traditional boundaries of form and content, questioning invocations of 'objectivity' and 'universality' as well as the narrow scope of whose voices and issues are valued. what we study is political. who speaks changes the possibilities available to social structures. if philosophers are concerned with the world, which includes their philosophizing, they must examine their own presuppositions and strive to challenge their own horizons. opp aims to create a space where not only students but a more comprehensive philosophical community can contribute to this methodological and ethical –political– philosophical reflection.

- alicehank winham