Category: PHILOSOPHY

The UnMute Podcast: Episode 002 w/ Justin Clardy on Love

Our next episode is up. Go ahead and check it out. Here I chat with Justin Clardy about the nature of love, polyamory, and so much more. Press Play below and also head to the www.unmutepodcast.co for show notes and resources.

Introducing the UnMute Podcast

I have a new project that I’ve started for 2015. I have been in the business of making philosophy accessible for several years. This year I want to focus on doing it in a different way that will have a reach for beyond what I can do physically. In my twenties, I co-hosted a two […]

Paper Invite for OUP Handbook of Philosophy and Race

I have been invited to write a paper for Oxford University Press Handbook of Philosophy and Race. My paper will be on the new racism that lurks within the criminal justice system. I’m looking forward to contributing and also reading other articles from my brilliant colleagues. The book is being edited by Naomi Zack. She […]

New Piece: Praise the Lord or Praise the Person?

  Check out my latest piece where I argue that God should not be praised at the expense of denying praise for Human good. Here’s an excerpt: Humans should also be praised because positive reinforcement and validation teaches and encourages people to be better. Moral and character education has proven that the more we praise […]

Critical Philosophy of Race Journal Article

Some comrades and I (Liam Bright, Tina Botts, and & Quayshawn Spencer ) co-wrote an article called “What is the State of Blacks in Philosophy?”. It has been just published in Penn State’s “Critical Philosophy of Race” journal. It’s a piece that gives an empirical look into blacks in the US doing philosophy.  This is the empirical part […]

My Summer at the Rutgers Institute For Diversity in Philosophy

For almost twenty years, Howard McGary and the Rutger’s Summer Institute for Diversity in Philosophy have been doing their part to make the profession more diverse. This summer at the Institute, I served as a panelist as well as a mentor to undergraduate students for seven awesome days. I was inspired by them, amazed by […]

My Latest Piece at HuffPost: “What’s So Bad About Being Good”

My Latest Piece at HuffPost Examines what’s so bad about “acting like a man” and “acting like a Lady” from an Aristotelean and feminist perspective. You can check out the article Here. Excerpt is below. Please share with others. Gendered virtues also perpetuate patriarchy. To have “feminine virtues” like chastity, modesty and obedience is what […]

Inside “Masculinities”: A Free Online Journal

Does Masculinities studies sound strange to you? As a feminist I think it’s important that I see not only women as victims of patriarchy but men as well. Masculinities studies aim to examine the latter and so much more. There is a new journal covering work in Masculinity studies. You can visit the PDF version […]

Jesse Prinz on How Atheists Can be Spiritual

“When you stand before an art work, you lose yourself to something great but you also become greater because you feel this sense of connection to other people, to other aesthetic traditions, to beauty….”–Jesse Prinz (Philosopher, CUNY Graduate Center) Awakening the Journey with Jesse Prinz from Mel M on Vimeo.

Philosopher’s Cocoon Conference (Report)

A few weeks ago I presented at the first annual Philosopher’s Cocoon philosophy conference at the University of Tampa. Philosopher’s Cocoon is a community that seeks to help, assist, and support young career philosophers. I had the opportunity to meet some interesting people. It was fun and intimate and I was able to receive some […]

John Jay Website Faculty Highlight

I was recently highlighted in John Jay College website about a few things Ive done this summer. You can check out the actual article here.

Diversity In Philosophy Conference

Myself along with others Members of The Society of Young Black Philosophers (Quayshawn Spencer and Luvell Anderson) presented at the Diversity In Philosophy Conference on the Status of Blacks in Philosophy. It took place at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Our presentation was well received. I learned so much, met some great people, and […]

A Theory of Justice: A Very funny & Accurate Online Musical

Can you believe it? Some folks got together and decided to do a musical about Rawls’ political philosophy treatise, “A theory of Justice”. Yes, there actually is a musical filled with melodies about the veil of ignorance, the original position, and principles of justice. It bought me back to the day when my colleague Sophia Wong played a Rawls […]

Philosophy For Everyone

The folks at Public Philosophy Network in New York City has a cool conversation series happening on the East Side. They are bringing philosophy to the public, the way it’s suppose to be. Check out the schedule below for some interesting topics. Then go to the bar with an open mind and talk/think your heart […]

The Power of Criticism

A lot of us hate to be criticized. No one likes to be told that their idea sucks or they are not living up to their potential, that they are not doing what they are suppose to, or they are not as good as they thought they were. Criticism can hurt and scar you if […]

Detective Philosopher: A Short Lesson On Clarity (Humor)

They say, “you can take the woman out of philosophy but you cant take philosophy out of the woman.” (I dont know who said this, but someone said it). Philosophers are not only obsessed with questions but also with clarity and when and where our  obsessions comes out is not restricted to spaces of academia […]

The Truth About Brilliant Thinking

By the video above by Steven Johnson, I guess you have figured out that I do not agree with the myth of the arm chair philosopher, a person one sits and receives ideas and produce great philosophical thought all by his lonesome. No, I think differently. I believe that ideas are never self created. They […]

Tales from Rutgers Summer Philosophy Institute 2012

This past week I had an opportunity to attend the Rutgers Summer Institute for Diversity in Philosophy. The week long institute was founded by Howard McGary as a way to recruit underrepresented students into philosophy and has been going strong for 20 years. Each day students read the work of philosophers and then engaged themselves […]

The Writer’s Life and George Orwell

This summer, in addition to teaching a summer course, I’ve been writing. I’ve been working on two papers, one for a chapter for a book and another is my writing sample. My summer has been filled with days and night full of research, writing, editing, rewriting, feedback, and more editing. Writing is not a task […]

Superstition and Reason

Today is Friday the 13th and I’m led to think about superstition. We all are somewhat familiar with it. It’s the rituals or the signs we interpret as bringing us good luck or bad luck. Here are some examples: “If your hand itches that means money is coming. If you walk under a ladder or […]

The Examined Life: (Full Video)

The Examined Life is by far my favorite philosophy film. Filmmaker, Astra Taylor, takes philosophers’ walks with some of the most renowned figures in philosophy. During the walks they speak on topics such as meaning, our obligation to the poor, disabilities, meaning of philosophy, and the state’s role in the life of the individual. Some […]

Race and Gender In The Philosophy Field: A Free Collection of Essays

Hypatia has just released a free online collection of essays that focuses on gender and race issues in the field of philosophy. The Purpose of the collection is to … bring together essays published by Hypatia over a twenty year timespan that address the question of women’s place in the profession of philosophy. It includes […]

The 10 Commandments Of Good Thinking

KungfuHobbit prefers to call critical thinking; ‘How to think, not what to think’. That’s just fine with me. And if critical thinking is that, than I guess I am #TeamCritical. It would be great if our culture were not closed minded and instead less obsessed with collecting facts and open to learning how to think […]

Philosophy is Not a Science

When I fell in love with philosophy I did not perceive it as a science but as a part of the humanities. Matter of fact, I did not like what I believed to be the uncreative world of empirical research and knowledge. Although I knew that chemistry and biology helped our lives, I did not […]

Breaking the “Thou Shall Not Critique Religion” Commandment

In my Western Civilization course, students and I discuss the biblical books of Genesis, Job, and Mark in several meetings of the course. We do this in order to examine what life was like living in the Ancient Near East and in an occupied area of the Roman Empire. We also discuss the scriptures to […]

Lessons from the Philosophical Bouncer

It’s the first week of classes and it’s during this time that I attempt to sell my kids on philosophy. I want them to know what philosophy is and what philosophers do way before we actually get deep into material. What I do in class is also what I’m interested in doing outside of it. […]

What Does Your Moral Reasoning Look Like?

In my Philosophy 62 course my students and I have been reading out of Michael Sandel’s Justice. We have started the semester off discussing moral theories. I explained to my students, according to Sandel, that usually when we engage in moral reasoning our decisions will be based on which of these three we consider most: […]

Must Read Links on Race, Sex, & Politics

Well its Monday. There is no better way to start the week off than with some intellectual goodies about race, sex, and politics. In the Guardian there is a good chunk of a chapter of Faramerz Dabhoiwala’s book on the first sexual revolution. It gives a historical account on how sexual liberation began. The Human Rights Campaign […]

Take a Philosophy Course for Free 99 at Harvard and MIT

Ever wish you took that philosophy course in college? Ever wonder exactly what philosophy really is?? Thanks to the internet you can take a philosophy course at institutions like Harvard and MIT for Free!!! Now you will not get a degree or degree credits, but you will have the opportunity to sit in on the […]

Did God Really Tell You That?

Governor Rick Perry, Congresswoman Michelle Bachman, and Entrepreneur Herman Cain all said that God had told them to run for President. Recently, Pat Robertson announced that God had told him who the next president will be and also gave him a message to give to the world. Let me also add that Deanna Laney killed […]