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August 23, 2007
PHILOSOPHER ROBERT TALISSE TO PRESENT LECTURE FOR FACULTY AT WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY ON SEPTEMBER 4
A lecture on the meaning of higher education, presented by William Paterson University alumnus Robert Talisse, will be held on Tuesday, September 4, the beginning of the fall semester. Talisse, who earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1993 from William Paterson University, is a specialist in contemporary political philosophy, and is an associate professor of philosophy and political science at Vanderbilt University.
The lecture will be held at 4 p.m. in the University Commons Ballroom. Admission is free and the event is open to the public.
The lecture, “Is Liberal Education Elitist? Socrates, Democracy and Higher Learning,” part of a series of programs held for faculty, is meant to open a campus discussion.
“We hope the lecture will be the first of an ongoing series of opportunities for University-wide discussion and reflection,” says Edward Weil, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “Talisse, a noted philosopher, will address the faculty about the meaning of higher education today in the light of our traditional understanding of teaching and learning.”
Talisse’s areas of interest and research include ethics, pragmatism, ancient philosophy, democracy, pluralism, and political justification. “Much of Talisse’s work is in the philosophical field of 'pragmatism,' a distinctly American philosophical development that is notable for its engagement with issues of public knowledge, policy, and concern, and for its openness and emphasis on the process of determining the basis of truth-claims,” says Stephen Hahn, associate provost at William Paterson. “Pragmatism, which was overshadowed by the dominance of analytic philosophy after World War II, has seen a resurgence as a topic of philosophical interest in recent years, and Professor Talisse was a principal organizer of conferences that received national media recognition in 2002 and 2003.”
He earned a master’s degree in philosophy from New York University, and a doctorate in philosophy from the City University of New York Graduate School.
Talisse is the author of numerous books including Aristotle’s Politics Today, which is in press; A Pragmatist Philosophy of Democracy; Democracy After Liberalism; On James: Philosophy as Vision; Priorities Without Dogmas, Sidney Hooks Reconsidered; Sidney Hooks on Pragmatism, Democracy, and Freedom: The Essential Essays; Dewey’s Logical Theory: New Studies and Interpretations; On Rawls: A Liberal Theory of Justice and Justification; and On Dewey: The Reconstruction of Philosophy.
www.wpunj.edu
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