Category: ETHICS

Presentation on Django and Masculinity

  Recently I had the opportunity to present a paper at the American Society for Aesthetics. The panel I sat on was on Slavery and Cinema. My paper was entitled “Man Up, Man Down: Django Unchained and Black Masculinity.” In the paper, I explore hegemonic masculinity in the Old South and explained how Django, in […]

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 […]

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 […]

HuffPost Live Interview: Violence on Queer Black Women

I joined an important discussion about violence against Black Queer Women on HuffPost Live today. The episode was hosted by Marc Lamont Hill and guests included myself, Darnell Morre, Eboni Rafus, and Irene Monroe.  

My SAAP Talk

This past weekend, I attended and presented a paper at the 41st meeting of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy in Denver, Colorado. My paper was “Acting Mean: Queering Hegemonic Masculinity through the Cultivation of Virtues.” It’s a shorter version of a larger project I am working on. The audience was gracious and […]

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 […]

Russia Thanks Us for Our Intolerance

We would like to think that we are not like our once cold war enemy, Russia. “They” are intolerant and oppressive. And “they” are presently doing an injustice to gay people. But before we start throwing stones from our red, white, and blue glass house, we need to take a look at our own intolerance. […]

Dale Hansen On Micheal Sam

Michael Sam is a NFL prospect who just came out as gay to the public. If he is drafted, and he will be, this will make him the first openly gay man in the NFL. Questions have been raised, “Is the NFL ready for an openly gay player.” We’ve heard some strange answers to that […]

My Latest Piece: Drug Abuse and our Biased Compassion

Here is my latest piece at Huffington Post, “Drug Abuse and our Biased Compassion.” Visit here to take a read and please join the conversation on the site. Below is an excerpt. I am not arguing that we should treat rich white men and their drug problems like we inhumanely treat the poor and people […]

Oppressed Majority: (clever short film on sexism)

    On what seems to be just another ordinary day, a man is exposed to sexism and sexual violence in a society ruled by women… (10 minutes) With Pierre Benezit, Marie-Lorna Vaconsin, Marie Favasuli, Céline Menville…    

Oxytocin: The “Moral Molecule”

Yesterday I shared a video of neuroscientist Paul Zak explaining how stories can change our brains and our behavior. In this video, Paul Zak delivers a TED talk where he argues that “oxytocin (he calls it “the moral molecule”) is responsible for trust, empathy and other feelings that help build a stable society.”

Anita Hill Documentary Trailer

Against a backdrop of sex, politics, and race, ANITA reveals the intimate story of a woman who spoke truth to power. Directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Freida Mock, the film is both a celebration of Anita Hill’s legacy and a rare glimpse into her private life with friends and family, many of whom were by […]

How stories can change our brains & behavior

I am so intrigued by empathy as well as neuroscience. In this video, neuroeconomics pioneer Paul Zak, with the help of editor & director Kirby Ferguson and animator  Henrique Barone, takes us inside his lab, where he studies how people respond to stories. What he found was: “Stories are powerful because they transport us into […]

Character as Moral Fiction

Moral psychologist and Experimental Philosopher, Mark Alfano released a book a few months ago called Character as Moral Fiction. I enjoy reading interesting moral psychology and ethical stuff so I find his work fascinating. Here’s a summary of his book: Everyone wants to be virtuous, but recent psychological investigations suggest that this may not be […]

Jennifer Saul and Implicit Bias

On Philosophy Bites, philosopher Jennifer Saul, discusses the range of ways in which we are prone to implicit bias and the philosophical implications of these biases. Jennifer Saul is the executive director of the implicit bias project. To find out more about implicit bias, visit biasproject.org.  Awesome resources there. Take a LISTEN to her interview about […]

Empathy vs Sympathy

Here is a wonderful video animation about the difference between empathy and sympathy by Dr. Brene Brown.

My New Article: Why Women Are Not Taken Seriously In Sports Conversations

I have a new article up on HuffPost called “Why Women are Not Taken Seriously In Sports Conversations”. To answer the question, I rely on Miranda Fricker’s concept of “epistemic injustice” and also offer up some solutions to end this type of bias treatment. You can view the full article here. Thanks to FeministPhilosophers.com for […]

The Power of Empathy (Video)

Philosopher and author Roman Krznaric explains how we can help drive social change by stepping outside ourselves. It is a wonderful talk on the power of empathy.

The Truth About Dishonesty (Video)

Here in another animated speech, Dan Ariely, one of the world’s leading voices on human motivation and behaviour, talks about cheating. This is a great talk and it may change the way you think about cheating and dishonesty.

My articles on Privilege and Sex Scandals

I published two articles in the last few days. There is an article up at Salon.com in which I analyze why privilege is so hard to give up. I also have another one at the Huffpost on the reasons we are obsessed with sex scandals. Check, Check, Check it out.

Separate Church and State: The Hit Song (Video)

There is no doubt in my mind that church and state need to separate. There is good rationale behind it. Plus isn’t it written in our constitution? Well not exactly, argues Garrett Epps in the Atlantic but the idea of separation is in the constitution. At times it seems hypocritical when the phrase is thrown […]

Advice from Martha Nussbaum

I love Martha Nussbaum. Its not only because we share similar philosophical interests (value of the emotions, philosophy of law, political theory, and cosmopolitanism) but because I also think that she combines brilliance, class, grace, and confidence in a very beautiful way. James Harmon has a book out called “Take My Advice” and has included […]

SCOTUS, Kerry Washington, Myths, and Affirmative Action

Yesterday Supreme Court Justices began hearing arguments against and in support of affirmative action as an ethical necessity in achieving the goal of diversity in higher education. While this is not a new issue in public policy or within philosophy (Bernard Boxill & Howard McGary has written great articles about this issue), affirmative action is […]

How Sensitivity to Disgust Affects Your Moral and Political Views

A.J. Ayer in “Critique of Ethics” argues that moral judgments are not objective. He denies that they are even propositions at all. So for Ayer, when we say Fornication is wrong it is meaningless because there is no way to verify its truth or falsity. Ayer argues that moral judgments are simply expressions of disapproval […]

New York City and Activism

“Every revolution requires its thinkers. Every movement is grounded in a philosophy”- Dr. Anthony Monteiro. The Museum of the City of New York has a wonderful exhibit called “Activist New York”. It is a well informed exhibit that chronologically takes a look at activism since New York City’s inception. It begins with the Quakers fight […]

Animals and Their Sense of Morality

I know there is something about our human species that makes us believe that we are special and superior. In his GroundWork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant believed that the thing that points to our personhood is our ability to reason. With that rationality, he suggest that ethics has more to do with […]

How Men Are Trained to Hate Women

This Article by David Wong at cracked.com is simply Brilliant. It’s a humorous yet solid argument of how men are trained to hate women. He provides five reasons how that happens: 1) men are taught they are owed a beautiful woman, 2) men are trained at birth to see women as decorations, 3) men are […]

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: […]

Are We Born Greedy & Selfish?

If you look within American culture you will agree that greed and self-interest dominate our way of living. Greed echos in our music and on our TVs. It’s on 5th Avenue and on Wall Street. It seems that the American Dream is just another way of saying “A life in which I get mine by […]

Ron Paul, Race, & Responsibility

Ron Paul is leading the pack in Iowa. Yes Im surprised as well. The Libertarian may have a chance. But when you are in the lead, look out because your past will come to haunt you or at least be forced to resurrect from the grave in an effort to expose you and render you […]