On October 18-19, the Philosophy and Religious Studies Programme hosted the international conference “Philosophy of Gambling” in collaboration with UM’s Department of Communication and the Alberta Gambling Research Institute in Canada.
12 scholars from Asia, Australia, Europe and North America reflected on the gambler as a citizen, consumer and seeker of fortune. Questions addressed during the conference included: What theories are best suited to understand gambling in Macau, Asia and at a global level? How do gambling industries reproduce and unsettle national, class, ethnic and gender identities within and between nation states? What is the impact of the gamification of everyday life? How has gambling been represented in film and other media? What is the relationship between gambling and traditional philosophical concerns about reason and the passions, necessity and chance as well as the good life?
Participants included Cesar Albarran-Torres (Melbourne), Nahum Brown (Miyazaki), Rick Dolphijn (Utrecht), Michael Hemmingsen (Guam), Kah-Wee Lee (Singapore), Melody Lu (Macau), Darrel J. B. Manitowabi (Greater Sudbury), Fiona Nicole (Edmonton), Csaba Olay (Budapest ), Judith-Frederike Popp (Würzburg), Tim Simpson (Macau) and Mario Wenning (Macau).
A selection of the conference papers will be published in a special issue of the journal Critical Gambling Studies.