In this 82nd episode of Philosophy Bakes Bread and our 16th “breadcrumb” episode, Eric Thomas Weber and Anthony Cashio invite Dr. Marilyn Fischer back on the show to talk about the relationship between Jane Addams and John Dewey.
As a reminder, Marilyn is a Professor Emerita at the University of Dayton where she specializes in political philosophy and American Pragmatism. She focuses especially on Jane Addams’s philosophy. She has a strong passion for interdisciplinary work. She is the author of several books, including Ethical Decision Making in Fundraising (2000), On Addams (2003), and in 2008, she released a co-edited volume titled Jane Addams and the Practice of Democracy.
Reach out to us on Facebook @PhilosophyBakesBreadand on Twitter @PhilosophyBB; email us at philosophybakesbread@gmail.com; or call and record a voicemail that we play on the show, at 859.257.1849. Philosophy Bakes Bread is a production of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). Check us out online at PhilosophyBakesBread.com and check out SOPHIA at PhilosophersInAmerica.com.
On one of SOPHIA's founders & Emeritus Trustee, Wednesday, October 3, 2018
The Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA) is saddened to learn of the passing of John J. McDermott, one of SOPHIA’s founders and a Trustee Emeritus. The messages gathered here speak to his influence and the importance of his work, life, and friendships.
Dr. John J. McDermott
John McDermott was the embodiment of American philosophy: intelligent, vital, caring. In the years when American philosophy was unappreciated, he was a lone voice crying in the wilderness. He kept James, Dewey and Royce alive and fought to return the profession to its historic mission. He combined a keen aesthetic sense with urban practicality. His colleagues loved him and even his adversaries paid him grudging admiration. He was a teacher and deserves the gratitude of thousands of his students whose lives he touched.
– John Lachs, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Centennial Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University
John McDermott embodied the spirit of American Philosophy as he explored the depths (both dark and rich and uplifting) of human experience. He also provided us with rich resources for exploration of American philosophy with his edited volumes on William James and Josiah Royce. He supported younger scholars, mentoring and encouraging them, and was always a gadfly for making all that we do as philosophers deeper and clearly relevant to life and to change for the better.”
– Jacquelyn Kegley, Trustee and Professor of Philosophy at California State University Bakersfield
Among John McDermott’s innumerable contributions to American academic philosophy, within SOPHIA’s history he especially added stability and a cosmopolitan spirit just as SOPHIA became less restricted and more open to a broader mandate and membership. John knew how to look forward. Intellectually he was unafraid to push connections between the literary and the philosophical. A favorite example is his textbook, A Cultural Introduction to Philosophy: From Antiquity to Descartes, which for me provided a tantalizing example of the fruitfulness of such connectivity. John knew how to link ‘story’ to American central experiences, ideas, and arguments. He will be missed as a comrade in arms, deeds, and words and as a versatile, pliant, opinionated critic!
– Jack Loughney, SOPHIA Trustee Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Westfield State University
I literally do not have the words to say what needs to be said about John. He was simply the most amazing teacher and mentor I have ever known. And together with John Smith, he was the best scholar of American philosophy in the twentieth century. His character and influence will be with the world for a very long time through the work of his many students and those he mentored.
– Doug Anderson, Emeritus Trustee and Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Texas
With the passing of John McDermott philosophy in America has suffered an enormous loss, but, even more sadly, many of us have lost an irreplaceable friend and inspiration. At a time when the analytic establishment was making philosophy in America boring and irrelevant, John McDermott led the fight that brought back classical American philosophy and launched the pluralist movement, not merely through his voluminous writings and unique, spirited style of writing but also through his personal example, friendship, and encouragement. I like many of my generation would not have remained in philosophy had I not met John, and philosophy in America would have a very different face today if it had not been for him.
– Kenneth William Stikkers, Trustee and Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University Carbondale
John was an inspiration to legions of philosophers and resisted some of the worst trends of the philosophical profession. He helped to create a better way forward. He was named one of the 50 most influential living philosophers in 2016, yet had the consideration and kindness to reach out to young scholars with an ear, sympathy, and advice. A towering scholar and force championing American philosophy, John also worked to include philosophers of all levels and positions into dialogue in SOPHIA, rejecting the traditional pretenses of the ivory tower. He will be missed, but his voice and heart continue to inspire.
– Eric Thomas Weber, Executive Director and Associate Professor of Educational Policy at the University of Kentucky
In this forty-fourth episode of the Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show and podcast, Dr. Anthony Cashio decides that “turn-about is fair play.” He had been the guest in the very first episode of the show, and in this episode, he turns the tables and grills co-host Dr. Eric Thomas Weber as the guest for the day. The show focuses on Weber’s 2013 book, Democracy and Leadership, and then relates Weber’s theory of democratic leadership to his work as Executive Director of the Society of Philosophers in America, a.k.a. SOPHIA.
Dr. Weber is the author of four books, including most recently Democracy and Leadership(2013) and Uniting Mississippi (2015). In 2015 he was awarded the Mississippi Humanities Council’s Humanities Scholar Award in their Public Humanities Awards program. At the University of Mississippi, he was associate professor of public policy leadership from 2007 to 2016. In 2016, he moved to the University of Kentucky, where he is visiting associate professor in the philosophy department. In 2017, SOPHIA was awarded the major prize from the APA and the Philosophy Documentation Center for excellence and innovation in philosophy programs.
Listen for our “You Tell Me!” questions and for some jokes in one of our concluding segments, called “Philosophunnies.” Reach out to us on Facebook @PhilosophyBakesBread and on Twitter @PhilosophyBB; email us at philosophybakesbread@gmail.com; or call and record a voicemail that we play on the show, at 859.257.1849. Philosophy Bakes Bread is a production of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). Check us out online at PhilosophyBakesBread.com and check out SOPHIA at PhilosophersInAmerica.com.
Listen for our “You Tell Me!” questions and for some jokes in one of our concluding segments, called “Philosophunnies.” Reach out to us on Facebook @PhilosophyBakesBread and on Twitter @PhilosophyBB; email us at philosophybakesbread@gmail.com; or call and record a voicemail that we play on the show, at 859.257.1849. Philosophy Bakes Bread is a production of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). Check us out online at PhilosophyBakesBread.com and check out SOPHIA at PhilosophersInAmerica.com.
In this episode, Eric Weber mentions that people from 67 countries have downloaded episodes of Philosophy Bakes Bread. That was true at the time of recording this episode. As of the release of this episode in our podcast that number has risen to 79.
You Tell Me!
For our future “You Tell Me!” segments, Drs. Shook and Auxier proposed the following question in this episode, for which we invite your feedback:
“What do you think we ought to be trying to do to make America better? What do we need to be doing that we could be doing better?
“Are you content to ride the crest of a high civilization and do nothing whatsoever to pass that wave on to the next generation and the generation after that?”
A digital, peer-reviewed journal run by The Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA).
The Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA) announces the opening of Civil American, our latest venue for public philosophical engagement, released as a peer-reviewed digital journal on our Web site. Each piece will be released individually and will then be archived in a yearly volume. Civil American is a place for scholars in philosophy or other fields, students, and SOPHIA members to submit short essays, between 700 and 3,000 words (shorter and longer pieces will be considered), on topics of importance for living and policy-making, as individuals and communities.
Given our 2015 strategic planning initiative, the mission of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA) is “to use the tools of philosophical inquiry to improve people’s lives and enrich the profession of philosophy through conversation and community building.” In pursuit of that mission, two of our four strategic goals are “to use technology effectively” and to “to engage with the profession on public philosophy and digital humanities.”
To these ends, we open up SOPHIA’s online space as a forum for publicly engaged philosophy, to talk about issues and problems that matter to people both in and beyond the academy. Our emphasis is on accessibility of style and importance of subject matter. Following trends of digital publishing, we will consider the pieces released here to be in a volume gathered by year.
SOPHIA Trustees Dr. John Shook and Dr. Eric Thomas Weber first envisioned Civil American as a journal targeting general-audiences, a philosophical equivalent to the great publication, Scientific American. The United States have an immensely rich intellectual tradition, yet much discourse in the public sphere tends to be sensationalist, rather than civil and philosophical.
We welcome proposals for panels of submissions from groups interested in writing on topics in common. Gathered pieces may also be invited to join together in further advancement of their projects for growth in The Public Philosophy Journal‘s developmental and open peer-review process. Shorter projects can begin here and, if desired, be lengthened and deepened through such collaborations.
More information about Civil American is forthcoming now that we have selected the new editor for the journal, Dr. Shane Courtland. If you have any questions or proposals for submission to Civil American, you can email the Editor here.
| By Casey Dorman |
I was listening to NPR recently and an interviewer was talking to Thomas Hegghammer, a Norwegian professor of political science, who had just published an edited collection of essays/research studies called Jihadi Culture: The Art and Social Practices of Militant Islamists. One of the interviewer’s questions was “Aren’t you afraid that ...
| By Dale E. Miller |
I consider myself a Millian—that is, a follower of the Victorian philosopher of morals, social life, and politics (and much else besides) John Stuart Mill (1806–73). Usually I’m a fairly confident Millian; some might even say smug. Mill’s work has, like the work of all important philosophers, been subjected to ...
| By John Lachs |
When our ancestors lived in caves, every tool was a prized possession. Furs for comfort and drawings to decorate the cave were difficult to come by. They were passed down from generation to generation.
Later, when human productivity made the goods of the world readily available, our grandparents became collectors. Growing control ...
| By George R. Lucas |
A Moral and Legal Challenge in the Cyber Domain |
Skeptics (e.g., Thomas Rid, 2013) have cast doubt on the notion of authentic cyber warfare. Cyber conflict consists, the skeptics argue, solely of activities which fall well short of full scale warfare: e.g., crime, vandalism, “hacktivism” (political activism by individuals and ...
| By Sergia Hay |
I’d like to thank Shane Courtland for his reply to my response to his original posting, “Faith and Betrayal of the Philosophical Method.” I’m eager to continue this conversation about an important and timely subject: free speech in the classroom, and perhaps more broadly within public discourse. As such, it is also ...
| By Shane Courtland |
After reading a thoughtful response from Dr. Hay regarding my previous blog post, I thought it would be helpful to discuss my philosophical pedagogy. Even if you have never taken a philosophy class before, the core elements of my teaching method are still applicable outside of the classroom. Moreover, describing how ...
| By Sergia Hay |
I wholeheartedly agree with Shane Courtland when he writes in Civil American that being a philosopher means “giving pride of place to open discussion, encouraging intellectual diversity, and allowing a difference of opinion regarding even dangerous ideas.” I also believe it means, among other things, laying bare assumptions, defining terms, distinguishing between seemingly ...
| By Shane Courtland |
Please note: The following essay is autobiographical. I thought it might be helpful to share my experience. As with all personal events, those who have experienced this on the other side have very different feelings about the situation.
The way I have always viewed philosophy, regarding its practice and how it ...
| By Shane Courtland |
For approximately 5 years, I was the director of the Center for Ethics and Public Policy (CEPP) at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. As the director, I was charged with producing and executing various campus wide events. My specialty, was the panel discussion. This would bring multiple experts to the table ...
| By Shane Courtland |
One often hears the expression “You should live your life without regrets” in the same situations that one hears expressions such as “carpe diem” and “YOLO.” The basic idea is that you should live your life to the fullest. One day, if you are lucky to be living, you will be ...
In this 82nd episode of Philosophy Bakes Bread and our 16th “breadcrumb” episode, Eric Thomas Weber and Anthony Cashio invite Dr. Marilyn Fischer back on the show to talk about the relationship between Jane Addams and John Dewey.
