Program Aims & History

UNC-Chapel Hill’s Philosophy Department has a longstanding tradition of outreach and community engagement, dating back at least to 1979 when Maynard Adams founded Carolina Public Humanities (then called the Program in the Humanities and Human Values), which aimed to promote a culture of engagement within the humanities and to share the intellectual resources of the University with the community. Over the years, doctoral students and faculty members in philosophy were active in the program’s efforts to bring philosophical and humanistic reflection into schools and communities. In the early 2000s, Adam’s tradition of engaged philosophy received a welcome infusion of support that led to the creation of the present-day Outreach Program in Philosophy. In 2012 the Department and the Parr Center for Ethics together established the directorship as a permanent position, a reflection of their commitment to stable and lasting community partnerships.

The aim of our Outreach Program is to use the Philosophy Department’s and the Parr Center’s intellectual resources (1) to help people in the community think carefully and clearly about a broad range of ideas, commitments, and practices that shape their lives, (2) to expand the scope and breadth of philosophical and ethical inquiry by bringing new voices into the fold, and (3) to promote the university’s mission to produce and disseminate knowledge for the public good.