Departments

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philosophy

  • SOURCE: Boston Review
    5/10/2023

    Forum: Is "Equal Opportunity" the Wrong Goal?

    by Christine Sypnowich

    A political philosopher introduces a forum on inequality and justice by arguing that the focus on opportunity at the expense of equalizing outcomes will inevitably allow significant inequality to continue. 

  • SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
    2/22/2023

    Drawing the Line between Assigning and Endorsing

    by Steve Mintz

    Controversies about recent books about the history and legacy of colonialism raise questions about what it means to assign – or refuse to – a book for students to read, discuss, and potentially critique, and how provocation works in the liberal model of inquiry. 

  • 11/13/2022

    Are the Modern Stoics Really Epicureans?

    by Emily A. Austin

    The Modern Stoicism movement has embraced the classical philosophy, often as part of project of disciplining emotion with rationality. Perhaps adherents should consider the rival philosophy of Epicureanism, which is even more in line with the modern embrace of science. 

  • SOURCE: The New Yorker
    9/5/2022

    Can We Do Better than Liberal Democracy?

    by Adam Gopnik

    Critic Adam Gopnik examines two recent books on alternatives to representative democracy that respond to the recent use of institutions by power-seeking authoritarians. 

  • SOURCE: Noēma
    12/7/2021

    Michael J. Sandel on the Dark Side of Meritocracy

    by Nils Gilman

    "The growing awareness of the problems with meritocracy in recent decades is a direct result of the deepening divide between winners and losers. The divide has poisoned our politics and set us apart."

  • SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
    9/20/2021

    Why a Liberal Education is Worth Defending

    by Steve Mintz

    Roosevelt Montas’s forthcoming "Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation" makes a powerful case for engagment with the Great Books as a way to subvert hierarchies and promote equity. 

  • SOURCE: National History Center and Woodrow Wilson Center
    9/17/2021

    Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience (Thursday, 9/23)

    Nancy Sherman addresses the Washington History Seminar to discuss the maladaptation of Stoicism to the modern self-help industry and a fuller understanding of the lessons of the school. Zoom, September 23, 4:00 EDT. 

  • SOURCE: The New Yorker
    8/23/2021

    Simone de Beauvoir's Lost Novel of Early Love

    “I loved Zaza with an intensity which could not be accounted for by any established set of rules and conventions,” Beauvoir recalled in her memoirs, almost thirty years after her friend’s death. 

  • 4/18/2021

    What Do John Dewey's Century-Old Thoughts on Anti-Asian Bigotry Teach Us?

    by Charles F. Howlett

    A century ago, the American philosopher and educator took a sabattical to China and concluded that, if encouraged to learn about other cultures, White Americans could be brought to acceptance of Asian Americans and other immigrants as equal participants in democracy. COVID-inspired bigotry shows this dream remains unrealized.

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    4/5/2021

    The Muslims Who Inspired Spinoza, Locke and Defoe

    by Mustafa Akyol

    "In this age of anxiety, anger and contestations between the West and the Islamic world, many epoch-shaping stories of intellectual exchanges between our cultures are often forgotten."

  • SOURCE: The Nation
    2/23/2021

    The Broken System: What Comes After Meritocracy?

    by Elizabeth Anderson

    Philosopher Elizabeth Anderson reviews Michael Sandel's critique of meritocracy, a book that locates an explanation for the Trumpian moment in the rise of competitive individualism in the platforms of both major parties. 

  • SOURCE: Public Books
    2/24/2021

    What Counts, These Days, In Baseball?

    by David Henkin

    A cultural historian considers recent baseball controversies in light of new books on the sport, and concludes that ideas of fair competition have much more to do with our social context than fans acknowledge. 

  • 2/14/2021

    History, Evidence and the Ethics of Belief

    by Guy Lancaster

    Untrammelled freedom of belief has been enshrined as an American civic virtue. The nation, democracy, and possibly the planet are imperiled without a collective commitment to respect belief only to the extent available evidence supports it. 

  • SOURCE: The Economist
    12/11/2020

    An Inspiring History of the Enlightenment

    A new book focuses on the generation of the body of Enlightenment thought through debate and dispute which foreshadows many of today's debates about the merits of universal humanism and liberal democracy.