Last weekend I presented two papers at the Central American Philosophical Association Meeting in St. Louis. I had a great time having fruitful discussions and just kicking my feet up.
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
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
Check out my latest for HuffPost: Minorities, State Violence, and the Price of Self-Respect. Here is an excerpt. When phrases like “I am Sean Bell” is articulated, it is said in hopes that people will realize that we are all vulnerable
If you are available, stop by.
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
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.
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
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
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,
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
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
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…
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
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
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
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:
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
Here is a wonderful video animation about the difference between empathy and sympathy by Dr. Brene Brown.
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
Check out my new article at HuffPost, “10 Thoughts on Tyler Perry and Bishop Jakes, Evangelicals, and Money”. Below is an excerpt. 8. If a church is the best looking and biggest site in an urban neighborhood I find that
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.
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.
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
Some may find this Profane but the message is brilliant: We have everything we need on this earth, but we’ve found ways to mess it all up. Good Work Louis CK. Good Work.
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
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
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
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
“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
My Brother: Tell your brethren who are part of your ministerial coalition to “live their faith and not legislate their faith” for the Constitution is designed to protect the rights of all. We must learn to be more than
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
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
What if Dr. Seuss studied social and political philosophy? I’m pretty sure these would be some of the books we would be left with.
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
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
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