PhD Student
Philosophy
Email:
aspenc04@uoguelph.ca
Website links:
Amber Spence
That rape is morally wrong is not controversial; we can all seem to agree that it is wrong. What philosophers can’t seem to agree on, however, is where that moral wrongness is located. Some believe that the objectifying nature of the act constitutes its essential wrongfulness, while others situate the absence of consent as the wrongness of rape. Still others posit that it’s neither objectification nor lack of consent, but rather that the wrongness is to be found in the concept of coercion, or perhaps the ways that rape is linked to gender inequality and rape culture.
In my research, I investigate these claims to construct a trauma-informed view of the moral wrongness of rape. I argue that rape is a unique kind of wrong, and while my views are still tentative, I suspect that the wrongness of rape lies in multiple wrongs involved in the act as well as its potential to cause deep and long-lasting harm to the survivor.
2011-2013 Master of Arts, Philosophy, Ryerson University
Major Research Paper: Finding Identity Through Trauma
2007-2011 Bachelor of Arts with Honours, Philosophy with an emphasis in applied ethics, Trent University
2021 Chair, “Upon Moral and Genetic Stereotyping”, a virtual Webinar put on by the CSSPE. December 12th
2021 Panel Member, GradPathways event, jointly hosted by the Society of Undergraduate Philosophers (SUP) and the Philosophy Graduate Student Association (PGSA)
2021 Presenter, “The Responsive Diversity Worker” at The Canadian Society for the Study of Practical Ethics (CSSPE) held online June 4th
2021 Chair, Feminist Session on June 2 at The Canadian Philosophical Association, conference held online May 31st – June 3rd
2021 Presenter, “The Responsive Diversity Worker” at The Canadian Philosophical Association (CPA), held online May 31st – June 3rd
2021 Chair, at Reel Politics: Film, Radical Politics, and Solidarity, University of Guelph, held Online May 26th – 27th
2021 Invited Presenter, “Ethical Help During COVID-19: To Visit, or Not To Visit?" at the Department of Philosophy Speaker Series, University of Guelph, March 26 2021, held Online
2020 Presenter, “The Responsive Diversity Worker” at The Association for Feminist Epistemologies, Methodologies, Metaphysics, and Science Studies (FEMMSS) 8, postponed due to COVID-19
2020 Presenter, “Telling Tales: Recovering in the Aftermath of Trauma” at the Interdisciplinary Conference in Psychology (ICP) 2020, May 7-9 2020, held Online.
2020 Presenter, “The Responsive Diversity Worker” at The Canadian Philosophical Association (CPA) held at Western University, June 1-4 2020. Conference Cancelled due to COVID-19.
2020 Presenter, “The Responsive Diversity Worker” at The Canadian Society for the Study of Practical Ethics (CSSPE) held at Western University, May 31-June 2 2020. Cancelled due to COVID-19.
2020 Presenter, “The Responsive Diversity Worker” at ENGAGE 2020, March 28th 2020. Cancelled due to COVID-19.
2020 Invited Presenter, “The Responsive Diversity Worker”, at The Great Lakes Philosophy Conference 2020 held at Siena Heights University, April 3-5. Conference cancelled due to COVID-19.
2020 Presenter, “The Responsive Diversity Worker” at Critical Reflections Conference 2020 held at the University of Windsor, March 27-29, 2020. Conference cancelled due to COVID-19.
2019 Volunteer for the Canadian Society for Women in Philosophy (CSWIP): The Flavour of Feminism Food, held at the University of Guelph October 25-27
2013 Comments for Canadian Philosophical Association in response to Lisa Pelot’s “Mistakes in Reasoning: The ‘Sexed’ Brain and Gendered Behaviour”
2011 Presenter and Commenter, Ryerson/Concordia Graduate Workshop: Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception
Forthcoming "An Outlandish Hero: How Jamie Fraser Counteracts Rape Culture" in #MeToo: Rape Culture in American Television
2021 “The Responsive Diversity Worker”, The Canadian Journal of Practical Ethics, Volume 7.
2020 “The Precarity of Happiness in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics” GNOSIS: Graduate Journal of Philosophy 19/20, Concordia University
2020-2021 Awarded the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS)
2021 Fall Term Classic Thinkers, Teaching Assistant. University of Guelph
2021 Winter Term Introductory Philosophy: Social and Political Issues, Teaching Assistant. University of Guelph
2020 Fall Term Philosophy of Sex, Love and Friendship, Teaching Assistant. University of Guelph
2020 Winter Term Ethics, Teaching Assistant. University of Guelph
2020 Winter Term Philosophy of Love, Grader. Trent University
2019 Fall Term Philosophy of Sex, Love and Friendship, Teaching Assistant. University of Guelph
2013 Winter Term Critical Thinking, Grader, Ryerson University
2012-2013 Critical Thinking, Teaching Assistant, Ryerson University
2011-2012 Existentialism, Art and Culture, Teaching Assistant, Ryerson University
2021 – present Secretary & Executive Member at Large, Canadian Society for the Study of Practical Ethics (CSSPE)
2021 – 2022 Vice President of Communications, Philosophy Graduate Student Association (PGSA)
2021 – 2022 Executive Member, Sexual Violence Advisory Committee for Students at University of Guelph
2021 - 2022 Executive Member (Graduate Representative), Canadian Society for Women in Philosophy (CSWIP)