Art critic Eric Gibson pronounces: “Objectivity is a cardinal rule in the discipline of art history. Mr. [Paul] Johnson’s book, by contrast, abounds in strong opinions.” (“Bold Strokes, Strong Opinions,” WSJ) But literary critic Tracy Kidder sneers: “As every graduate student knows, only a fool would try to think or bear witness to events objectively […]
Competing epistemological imperatives in the arts Read More »
Four quotations from Canadian philosopher Lorraine Code’s What Can She Know? Feminist Theory and the Construction of Knowledge. 1. On how perceptual knowledge is gendered: “Proposing that the sex of the knower is significant casts doubt both on the autonomy of reason and on the (residual) exemplary status of simple observational knowledge claims. The suggestion
Code on gender feminist epistemology Read More »
Two quotations from Bert Hamminga’s “Epistemology from the African Point of View”: “In the traditional African view, knowledge is not acquired by labor but ‘given’ by the ancestors. Second, it is immediately social: not ‘I’ know, but ‘we’ know. Thirdly, knowledge is not universal but local tribal: other tribes have different knowledge.” (p. 57) And:
Hamminga on African epistemology Read More »
The syllabi for Ethics and Business and Economic Ethics this semester are now online at my Courses page.
Spring 2017 course syllabi Read More »
Jagiellonian University is one of the ancient universities of Europe. 1364 was its founding year, and I am officially in residence — temporarily for my two guest lectures. Market square is huge and lively. Nicholas Copernicus was a student here, and Kraków has some smog issues, so this statue of Copernicus has a mask added
Jagiellonian University in Kraków visit Read More »
Interview conducted at Rockford University by Stephen Hicks and sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship. Hicks: I am Stephen Hicks. Our guest today is Professor Terry Noel, who teaches Entrepreneurship and Management at Illinois State. He is here today at Rockford College speaking on the theme of the virtuous entrepreneur. Interesting title, but
Dr. Terry Noel on the Virtuous Entrepreneur [video interview transcript] Read More »
Professor Kevin Hill drew my attention to Auerbach’s review of Herman Philipse’s Heidegger’s Philosophy of Being (Princeton, 1998) and this excerpt from Philipse in particular: Heidegger’s individualistic notion of authenticity, according to which Dasein has to liberate itself from common moral rules in order to choose one’s hero freely, tends to collapse into a collectivist
Philipse’s book on Heidegger — David Auerbach’s review Read More »
The Decline of the West By Oswald Spengler Translated from the German by Charles Francis Atkinson New York: A. A. Knopf, 1918 Spengler’s Preface to the First Edition The complete manuscript of this book — the outcome of three years’ work — was ready when the Great War broke out. By the spring of 1917
Spenger’s Introduction to *The Decline of the West* [text] Read More »