“What’s with that?” a student asked me. Our classroom this semester was on the third floor of Barker Hall at the University of Kentucky. The flights are tall and there is no elevator. “How is that allowed?” The young woman was asking about accessibility. It’s 2016. Don’t campus buildings have to be accessible? [featured-image single_newwindow=”false”…
I and others may well be guilty of romanticizing public philosophy. Fellow Dewey scholar and a prolific writer, Shane Ralston, has published a warning for people interested in engaging in public philosophy. In “On the Perils of Public Philosophy,” Ralston rightly recognizes both that there is a resurgence in the movement for publicly engaged philosophy…
[featured-image link=”http://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article107993347.html” link_single=”http://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article107993347.html” single_newwindow=”true” alt=”Thumbnail photo of my piece in the Herald Leader, titled, ‘Trump’s Blind Faith in Tax Cuts Won’t Work, Just Look at the Evidence.’ The link leads to the article on the Herald Leader’s site.”] After watching the first Presidential debate, I was struck by how little Donald Trump had to offer…
Yesterday, I was deeply troubled to hear that Trump referred to suicidal veterans with PTSD as people who “can’t handle it” (CNN). It sounded, read in the news, like another incredibly callous remark, like so many that he has made. When you watch the video of him saying the words, you see that he was…
On September 4th, The Herald Leader of Lexington, KY, published an in-depth news article on the subject of corporal punishment in public schools. It was still early in the school year, which makes such topics timely. I had written a draft to send them on the subject, but the news article offered many specifics to…
It’s an honor and a pleasure to be interviewed for The Tehran Times. I am especially grateful that the put the very philosophical interview I gave on the front page of the newspaper. The Tehran Times is Iran’s major English language newspaper. I have had the opportunity to talk quite a few times about philosophy…
My regular, public writing is starting up again, as we’re getting settled in. Over the course of a few busy months, some of my pieces have come out in academic outlets, like the essay I posted last week. Here’s a further piece published this year (2016) in The Journal of Speculative Philosophy. It’s titled “Self-Respect…
Hi folks. It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted. There’s a reason that they say moving is one of the most stressful times in life. It certainly is. Among the many things I’ve been meaning to post is my latest essay, which is a commentary piece I wrote and originally delivered at the 2015…
While Annie and I make the move to the University of Kentucky, our virtual stuff has to move as well as our physical stuff. So, I’ve begun transferring spaces and tools like this Web site to a new host. I’ve been very fortunate to have the support of the University of Mississippi’s IT department, and…
David Brooks has been challenging young people lately to think about more than what he calls the “résumé virtues.” His latest book is called The Road to Character, and he has been touring the country to talk about what’s more important than the many small steps we take in advancing our careers. Which matters more:…