A Culture of Justiceby Eric Thomas Weber (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2026)
Argues that there is a shared public obligation to establish and maintain a culture of justice, with implications for education, poverty, free speech, and “PC” culture.
In A Culture of Justice, Eric Thomas Weber shows how culture can enable or inhibit the pursuit of justice. Weber argues that there is a shared, public obligation to establish and maintain a culture of justice. Culture can be employed to threaten people’s self-respect, to diminish their sense of positive power to pursue meaningful life plans. Weber also addresses problems of poverty and stigmatization as well as of racism and threats conveyed by means of public speech and the cultivation of hatred. Advancing John Dewey’s idea that democracy is a way of life, not merely a set of political mechanisms, he draws implications for policies and practices related to poverty, education, free speech, and the inadequately named set of norms that we call “political correctness.” Written in an accessible style, A Culture of Justice offers numerous everyday examples and conflicts for the reader to consider.
Eric Thomas Weber is Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation at the University of Kentucky and serves as Executive Director of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). He is the author and editor of several books, including Uniting Mississippi: Democracy and Leadership in the South.
“A pleasure to read, A Culture of Justice will appeal to a wide audience of social and political philosophers, scholars and practitioners of education, and people thinking about racial justice. Weber makes clear the relevance of the great American pragmatists to addressing current social and political problems such as poverty, hate speech, and racism.”
— Nicholas Tampio, Fordham University
Freedom in Education: A Philosophical Critique of Current Educational Policies
Video, 1 hr & 6 mins
This video is a recording of the presentation I gave in Middle Tennessee State University’s Applied Philosophy Lyceum speakers series on November 17, 2023, in Murfreesboro, TN.
The talk is titled, “Freedom in Education: A Philosophical Critique of Current Educational Policies,” and the abstract for the presentation reads as follows:
Parents and guardians are naturally concerned about what their children are taught in schools. Some lament what they feel is a lack of control over curricula and what are thought to be forces or agendas that they believe are not in kids’ best interests. The arguments advanced in recent conflicts take two main forms. The first, advanced in similar fashion on opposing sides of issues concerning gender and early education, takes the form of arguments to “protect” children. The second, typically arising in discourse about desire for exclusion or selection of curricular messages or content, typically focuses on parents’ rights, in particular, to freedom of choice, whether regarding selection of schools, book banning, or inclusion or exclusion of desired or undesirable subject matters from curricula. In this talk, Dr. Weber will defend the importance of students’ and teachers’ freedom and challenge the overreach of dominant parental views that seek to silence the lived experiences and concerns of marginalized groups.
NOTE: At one point, I accidentally said “Transylvania State University,” which was intended to refer to Transylvania University, which is a private institution. This was an accidental case of misspeaking. The point was to contrast with state institutions, which was on my mind, and probably led me to use that word, “state,” resulting in the opposite of my intended meaning… My mistake!
Philosophical Research Methods: This talk was delivered in fall 2023, when I was teaching a course on Philosophical Research Methods in the University of Kentucky’s College of Education. I mention this because in this talk, I describe my methodology explicitly for the project beginning at minute 14 until minute 19. For those interested in that portion of the talk, you can jump to those minutes.
2023 Commonwealth Ethics Lecture at Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY
In the spring of 2023, the Ethics and Social Justice Center at Bellarmine University issued a call for proposals for their yearly Commonwealth Ethics Lecture. They invited scholars from around the state to propose a talk to be delivered for their 2023 lecture, considering approaches from all disciplines and with special interest in interdisciplinary dialogue and topics, encouraging “critical reflection, dialogue, and constructive action on contemporary ethical issues in society.” They also welcomed proposals “related to politics, societal well-being, and individual happiness,” as well as that “intersect these themes with regional issues.”
I pitched my proposal in relation to the fact that Kentucky is a state that continues to permit and make use of corporal punishment in public schools. I have long thought about corporal punishment especially as an example of a practice long outmoded and for which evidence has become increasingly clear that better alternatives are available and that long-term effects of the practice are psychologically and medically discouraged. Given this opportunity, it was a great chance for me to focus on corporal punishment directly, so I jumped at the chance finally to focus extensively on this topic.
Kentucky has decreased the use of the form of discipline in public schools to nearly negligible levels, with 17 recorded instances of corporal punishment in the 2020-2021 school year, which suggests that the practice would not be difficult to end at the state level. Given that, Kentucky could serve as a leader among states that presently permit and engage in the practice, to show how others can follow the lead of the Commonwealth state of Kentucky, to end the practice around the country. The video here above is 1hr and 1 min long, concluding at the end of my talk, not including the question and answer session, though that was fun and rewarding for me also.
I am especially grateful to Dr. Kate Johnson for being a welcoming and great host at Bellarmine University for the talk. The attendance and recording of the talk were great and much appreciated.
VIDEO: Freedom in Education for Diversity of Flourishing
This video was recorded at Vanderbilt University on October 15th, 2022, at the John and Shirley Lachs Conference on American Philosophy. My presentation was titled “Freedom in Education for Diversity of Flourishing.” Here’s the program for the conference. I am grateful to Vanderbilt University’s Philosophy Department for support for my participation in the conference and for permission to post the video.
I feel honored to be among the presenters at this important event honoring the incredible contributions of Dr. John Lachs of Vanderbilt University. I will be presenting my paper, “Freedom in Education for Diversity of Flourishing,” on both the incredible importance of freedom in education as well as some of its dangers.
John Dewey was America’s greatest public philosopher. A prolific and influential writer for both scholarly and general audiences, he stands out for the remarkable breadth of his contributions. Dewey was a founder of a distinctly American philosophical tradition, pragmatism, and he spoke out widely on the most important questions of his day. He was a progressive thinker whose deep commitment to democracy led him to courageous stances on issues such as war, civil liberties, and racial, class, and gender inequalities.
This book gathers the clearest and most powerful of Dewey’s public writings and shows how they continue to speak to the challenges we face today. An introductory essay and short introductions to each of the texts discuss the current relevance and significance of Dewey’s work and legacy. The book includes forty-six essays on topics such as democracy in the United States, political power, education, economic justice, science and society, and philosophy and culture. These essays inspire optimism for the possibility of a more humane public and political culture, in which citizens share in the pursuit of lifelong education through participation in democratic life. America’s Public Philosopher reveals John Dewey as a powerful example for scholars seeking to address a wider audience and a much-needed voice for all readers in search of intellectual and moral leadership.
Endorsements
In these troubled times, Eric Thomas Weber has compiled a magnificent set of essays by John Dewey, the preeminent American public philosopher of the twentieth century. With the help of Weber’s commentaries, all Americans will be able to see how Dewey still speaks to us today, with wisdom and urgency. — Elizabeth Anderson, author of Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don’t Talk about It)
In this collection Eric Weber presents expertly curated essays by one of America’s great public intellectuals. John Dewey’s insights into the core issues of American life, then as now, are as fresh today as when they were first published. They provide ample evidence of his continuing relevance for our exceptional time. — Larry A. Hickman, editor of The Correspondence of John Dewey
John Dewey is the American philosopher of democracy. He understood that democracy, making choices together, is an end in itself, and that attempts to short-circuit democratic processes in the name of something else, whether it’s ethnic nationalism or globalization, diminish us as human beings. His wisdom never goes out of style. There is no better (or worse) time to read him again. — Louis Menand, author of The Metaphysical Club
This is an outstanding collection, unique and most timely, that should receive attention from the sphere of public policy and politics. Weber has chosen writings that speak to America and the world today. — John Robert Shook, coeditor of Dewey’s Enduring Impact: Essays on America’s Philosopher
Reviews
John Dewey is on the short list of America’s greatest philosophers. He has changed how many people think about democracy, politics, education, economics, and science. The problem, however, is that many of Dewey’s books are impenetrable for those without time and philosophical training. His book Democracy and Education, for instance, was a textbook that Dewey wrote for his philosophy of education students at Teachers College, Columbia University, and it sometimes can be hard to figure out how the discussion of Plato and Rousseau, for instance, matters for the question of how to educate children here and now. Fortunately, John Dewey wrote lively articles for newspapers and magazines. If Dewey was not the first public intellectual, he was certainly one of the most energetic, publishing hundreds of articles in The New Republic, Atlantic Monthly, and outlets that no longer exist. But how can a newcomer find these articles and make sense of them? — Nichlas Tampio, author of Common Core: National Education Standards and the Threat to Democracy
An Essay Addressing Philosophers, Parents, Teachers, and Educational Policymakers
It takes a village. Raising children takes all hands on deck, including parents or guardians, teachers, administrators, and educational policymakers. This paper examines common philosophical norms relevant to each of these groups. The norms include the idea of wanting a better future for our children than we had; the idea that human beings are rational animals; and that the unexamined life is not worth living. What does that mean for parents, teachers, administrators, and policymakers when our children are intellectually or communicatively impaired?
My daughter Helen in 2019.
WARNING: At least for me, rereading this paper inspired an emotional response. The stoicism called for in the paper is intended to help ease emotional reactions, but the fact of such a need for some readers (and others have let me know that they have shared such a reaction) is itself worth noting in advance.
Download the paper here.
We think of the norms I have mentioned as cultural. Philosopher John Dewey saw philosophy as the critique of culture, essentially as thinking about thinking. How we think plays a powerful role in how we treat people and how we educate ourselves and others. In this context, this paper examines one of the difficult contexts for education and the raising of children. And, I offer my own and my family’s experience for consideration, bringing philosophical ideas to bear on tough moments, decisions, and questions.
I first presented a draft of this essay at the annual meeting of the eastern division of the American Philosophical Association in January of 2019. It has just now been published in Disability and American Philosophies, edited by Nate Whelan-Jackson and Daniel J. Brunson in January of 2022 with Routledge Press of London.
It may be worth noting that in 2019 I was still married, something no longer true now, in 2022, when the essay has finally been released in print.
Last, but not least, I have generated a computer-created text-to-speech recording of the essay. If I had more time, I would record myself reading the essay. The following recording took me only a few minutes to generate, by contrast to over an hour or more of work to record it myself. For the sake of accessibility, and at a friend’s request, I generated this audio file, which can be listed to if that is preferred over reading the text. I did not include the notes or bibliography section in the audio file.
Citation: Weber, Eric Thomas, “Stoic Pragmatism for Parenting a Child with Disabilities: An Essay Addressing Philosophers, Parents, Teachers, and Educational Policymakers,” Chapter 11 in Disability and American Philosophies, Edited by Nate Whelan-Jackson and Daniel J. Brunson (London: Routledge, 2022), 182-198.
I’m excited to announce that my latest paper has been published in the journal, Essays in Philosophy, volume 21, issue 1/2, in 2020. If you want to read the paper, you can click on the image below or click here.
My abstract for the paper reads as follows:
This essay defends the Pragmatist’s call to activism in higher education, understanding it as a necessary development of good democratic inquiry. Some criticisms of activism have merit, but I distinguish crass or uncritical activism from judicious activism. I then argue that judicious activism in higher education and in philosophy is not only defensible, but both called for implicitly in the task of democratic education as well as an aspect of what John Dewey has articulated as the supreme intellectual obligation, namely to ensure that inquiry is put to use for the benefit of life.
I’m very grateful to Dr. Ramona Ilea for her excellent work as editor of the journal.
Guest View article on pain medicine & the opioid epidemic by Dr. Paul T. Davis in the The Courier (Findlay, OH), November 5, 2019, A4.
A moving & humane argument concerning medicare and opioid prescriptions*
Printable PDF
There is no question that every reasonable and effective method to stop the opioid epidemic should be investigated, and if proven effective, implemented. The horrors and wrecked lives this epidemic have caused are all too real to many people of all ages.
However, we must remember that the opioid epidemic was primarily caused by prescribing these medicines for those with chronic pain not caused by cancer.
In the “Other View” op ed published on Nov 2, 2019, Senators Shelley Capito and Jeanne Shaheen are featured claiming that Medicare encourages over-prescribing of opioids. They are correct in that there have been articles published showing that the number of prescriptions in the Medicare population is rising.
They are also correct that their publicizing this problem has great “optics” and could help their political careers.
However, what is missing from the reports is very important. How many of these prescriptions were written for treatment of cancer pain?
In the 1970’s I watched my friend die in agony with pancreatic cancer because his doctors were afraid of losing their licenses if they gave him adequate pain medicine. They would not treat his pain because of the fear they would addict him.
In his last six weeks of life, he never slept more than 10 to 15 minutes at a time because of the severe, unrelenting pain.
Fast forward to the early part of this century when I had to watch another friend suffer needlessly. He had multiple myeloma, a cancer that causes severe bone pain all over the body. He was getting adequate amounts of pain medicine until well-meaning politicians crafted laws that restricted access to these medicines. It affected everyone, regardless of legitimate need.
These laws did little to curb the over-prescribing of opioids judging by how bad the epidemic got even after they were passed.
But what it did do what make it very difficult for him to get the pain medicine he needed. Anything less than a narcotic, in a big dose was totally worthless.
This is a plea for more information before this gets worse. Medicare-age patients are the most likely to have cancer, and treatment of cancer pain has been a great medical victory in the last 40 years.
Well-meaning laws enacted without considering the collateral damage that could be done to those with a true need would be a horrible tragedy. Or should I say, make a horrible tragedy even worse than it is for the cancer-patients in need.
By all means make it less financially rewarding for inappropriately prescribing opioids for non-cancer pain, but it is too easy to craft a bad policy than it is to fix it later.
We as a society must protect those in the greatest need.
We must ensure that the right drugs are available to the right patients in a timely manner, while keeping harmful treatments of any kind away from everyone.
* I (Eric Thomas Weber) received and read a scan of the printed version of this article in early November and was deeply moved. Wanting to share it, I visited ‘The Courier’s’ Web site, and then reached out to them when I could not find it there. I learned that they do not post the essays of guest columnists online, and so I requested permission to share the essay here. As I have lived in Mississippi and presently now live in Kentucky, two states deeply affected by drug addiction, I believe it all the more important that our lawmakers and policymakers think carefully and humanely about the kinds of rules that they establish concerning opioids.
This article is republished here with the permission of the author and of the staff of The Courier of Findlay, Ohio.
Argues that there is a shared public obligation to establish and maintain a culture of justice, with implications for education, poverty, free speech, and “PC” culture.
“A pleasure to read, A Culture of Justice will appeal to a wide audience of social and political philosophers, scholars and practitioners of education, and people thinking about racial justice. Weber makes clear the relevance of the great American pragmatists to addressing current social and political problems such as poverty, hate speech, and racism.” 
