Believe it or not, I follow the advice in this video every day. It’s brilliantly simple. It’s also serious. If each of us were really to make a little effort of this kind, the impact would be enormous. It saves on paper use, which cuts down on costs, and it slows the growth of landfills, one hand-washing at a time.
Get comfortable with criticism
A professor from my undergraduate years gave me some of the most important advice I’ve ever received for a career in academia. First, he asked me: “How are you at taking criticism?”
With a bit of a shrug, I said “Ok, I suppose.”
He then explained that “If you can take criticism well, you can go very far.”
He could not be more right. Nonsense criticism needs to bounce off and be forgotten quickly, but most criticisms have substance to learn from. Criticism is a vital means by which we learn and improve. If one can come to want criticism, at least the useful kind, which has some truth to it, then one will continually grow in one’s craft.
Good people won’t be willing to rule for the sake of either money or honor… Now, the greatest punishment, if one isn’t willing to rule, is to be ruled by someone worse than oneself. And I think that it’s fear of this that makes decent people rule when they do.
Plato
Republic (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Classics, 2004), Book I, 347b–c.
Republic (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Classics, 2004), Book I, 347b–c.
“The Law and Morality”
by Cherita Brown, Richard Gershon, and Eric Thomas Weber
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In Legal Terms - Call-in Show
July 21, 2015
July 21, 2015
Presentation:
“A Culture of Support and Merit: Promoting Independence without Stigmatizing Dependency”
Abstract:
In A Culture of Justice, I argue that a society has a shared, public obligation to foster self-respect and a sense of positive power in all people. Libertarians like Robert Nozick deny that there is a shared obligation to provide people the means to develop and exercise their self-respect, such as free and reduced lunch programs. While the libertarian is right to value the cultivation of independence, he is wrong, I argue, to stigmatize people who must depend upon government support. I propose a way to advance a culture of support and merit, promoting independence without stigmatizing dependency.
Looking forward to visiting Michigan State University’s Philosophy department, known for their publicly engaged work.
Here’s the flyer for the event.
| Date: | February 12, 2016 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 03:00-04:00 p.m. |
| Event: | Talk: “A Culture of Support and Merit: Promoting Independence without Stigmatizing Dependency” |
| Topic: | Public Philosophy |
| Sponsor: |
Dept of Philosophy, Michigan State University 517.355.4490 |
| Venue: | Distinguished Lectures & Colloquia Spring 2016 |
| Location: | 134 S. Kedzie Hall East Lansing, MI 48824-1032 |
| Public: | Public |
If you're interested in inviting me to give a talk, visit my Speaking page.
Invited to give a talk in The Purdue Lectures in Ethics, Policy, and Science series.
| Date: | February 10, 2016 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 04:00-06:00 p.m. |
| Event: | Giving a talk on "Poverty, Culture, and Justice" |
| Topic: | "Poverty, Culture, and Justice" |
| Sponsor: |
Purdue University 765.494.4600 |
| Venue: |
Dept of Philosophy, Purdue University 765.494.4276 |
| Location: | West LaFayette, IN 47907-2098 |
| Public: | Public |
If you're interested in inviting me as a speaker, visit my Speaking page.
Heading to the University of Southern Mississippi to talk about Uniting Mississippi for their Mississippi Humanities Council-supported “Philosophical Fridays” program.
| Date: | January 29, 2016 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 08:00-09:00 p.m. |
| Event: | Talk on Uniting Mississippi then Book Signing |
| Topic: | Public Philosophy and Leadership |
| Sponsor: |
Philosophical Fridays, University of Southern Mississippi, supported by the MS Humanities Council 601.266.4518 |
| Venue: |
Room TBD, University of Southern Mississippi 601.266.4518 |
| Location: | Hattiesburg, MS 39406 |
| Public: | Public |
If you'd invite me to speak for your event or organization, visit my contact page.
Excited to have been invited to comment on John Lachs’s work, after his keynote address.
| Date: | November 7, 2015 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 02:00-03:00 p.m. |
| Event: | Commenting on John Lachs's keynote address |
| Topic: | John Lachs, American philosopher |
| Sponsor: |
Southwestern Philosophical Society Organizer: Mark Silcox, University of Central Oklahoma, msilcox@uco.edu |
| Venue: |
Dept of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University 615.322.2637 |
| Location: | 111 Furman Hall Nashville, TN 37240 |
| Public: | Private |
| More Info: | Click here for more information. |
If you're interested in having me come speak with your group, visit my Speaking page.
Looking forward to visiting folks at the Clinton School for Public Service at the University of Arkansas, in Little Rock, where I’ll be talking about Uniting Mississippi: Democracy and Leadership in the South.
| Date: | October 19, 2015 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 12:00-01:00 p.m. |
| Event: | Book signing and talk on 'Uniting Mississippi' |
| Topic: | Book signing |
| Sponsor: |
University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service 501.683.5200 |
| Venue: |
Sturgis Hall 501.683.5200 |
| Location: | 1200 President Clinton Ave Little Rock, AR 72201 |
| Public: | Public |
Excited to be talking with folks in Oxford about leadership in Mississippi and the South.
| Date: | September 9, 2015 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 05:00-06:00 p.m. |
| Event: | Book signing and talk on 'Uniting Mississippi' |
| Topic: | Book signing |
| Sponsor: |
The University Press of Mississippi 601.432.6205 |
| Venue: |
Square Books 662.236.2262 |
| Location: | 160 Courthouse Square Oxford, MS 38655 |
| Public: | Public |
This is the interview I gave Cherita Brown of Mississippi Public Broadcasting, MS’s NPR affiliate, and Professor Richard Gershon of the University of Mississippi School of Law on the relationship between the law and morality. Cherita also interviewed me about my forthcoming book, Uniting Mississippi: Democracy and Leadership in the South.
I hope to joint them again soon, as I had a great time. This is just one example of the collaborations I’ve enjoyed with the School of Law at the university, now that I’m an affiliate faculty member there.