Excited to be joining Loyola’s part-time Computer Science faculty in the fall!

This fall, I’ll be joining the part-time faculty in Loyola’s growing Computer Science Department teaching Social, Legal and Ethical issues in computing. I will join a part-time faculty (which includes Loyola Philosophy alum Matt Butcher) who all work professionally in their respective fields, while teaching in computer science — it’s an interesting feature of that department.

This course covers privacy, encryption, freedom of speech, copyrights and patents, computer crime, and computer/software reliability and safety; understanding of different philosophical perspectives; some of the basics of the US legal system; and the social, ethical and legal issues raised by new technologies, like self-driving cars and the ‘internet of things.’

I’m very interested to learn more about what concerns the students who are preparing to work on the systems that keep us connected to one another and to the information we require.

I’m also considering how to bring some of the engagement, dialogue and collaboration methods from my social and political philosophy and philosophy and persons courses to the computer science majors.

I’ve been writing quite a bit this month, and haven’t had too much time to delve into the applied ethics pedagogy literature, but I did come across an interesting recent essay (being married to a librarian has many perks!).

Daniel Hartner’s article appeared in Teaching Philosophy and it asks what the proper content is for professional ethics courses. He notes there’s an important distinction between different conceptions of ethics that may be involved in building and teaching applied ethics classes. As someone who has experience in developing course content for ethics courses, but not applied ethics courses, I hadn’t considered this before. From the abstract:

What is the proper content of a course in professional ethics, such as business ethics, engineering ethics, or medical ethics? Though courses in professional ethics have been present in colleges and universities for decades, the question remains largely unsettled, even among philosophers. This state of affairs helps to sustain and even exacerbate public misconceptions about ethics and professional ethical training in higher education. I argue that the proper content of such courses remains a potential source of confusion because the term ‘ethics’ is ambiguous between philosophical and nonphilosophical forms of normative inquiry into behavior, where the former involves broad, context-sensitive reflection on moral obligation, and the latter involves the narrower analysis and codification of behavioral norms with less sensitivity to context. Failure to distinguish between these two senses of ethics can result in conflicting conceptions of and expectations for training and courses in professional ethics. I sketch some of the specific problems generated by the ambiguity. I conclude by proposing an initial step toward a solution, one which focuses on making more explicit the distinction between courses that aim to teach professional policy and “best practices” and those that encourage genuine philosophical inquiry into morality and the good life.

Is this a distinction you account for in writing applied ethics courses —  in your introductory material, or at certain points throughout a course, or in some other way? What’s your take on it? The full essay is currently available online.

Acorn Symposium at Texas State

Earlier this month, I participated in the Acorn Symposium at Texas State University. As far as philosophy conferences go, the breadth of faculty participation and humanities fields represented was truly impressive. I felt very lucky to be able to participate in the panels and have extended discussions with several other scholars from different fields over the course of the week. In that way, it was really unlike other philosophy conferences I’ve attended, and overall an enriching experience.

Poet Nikki Giovanni is a participant in this month’s events, which I was sorry to have to miss! You can read about the dialogue series the symposium was a part of here.

The Texas State students whose seminars and classes we presented to were quite engaged in the discussions, sometimes interacting with one another to disagree in lecture. The participation in the symposium from the public at the San Marcos Public Library was also quite impressive! The university has partnered with the public library in a way that would likely please anyone who values the public humanities.

Here’s a photo from one of the presentations I was invited to give, “Experiences in civic engagement and the role of the humanities in a democratic society“. This is a newer area of research for me following on an assistantship last year with Illinois Humanities, and one that I’m excited to be able to integrate into my teaching and contributions in social philosophy.

Photo credit: Dr. Greg Moses

After the conference concluded, fellow philosopher (and current Texan) Dr. Tom Brommage drove in from Houston to show me around San Antonio and Austin. Tom is one of my oldest friends, and one of the co-founders of Phi Org, the undergraduate philosophy club at University of South Florida that we were so excited to establish way back in 2002-03 — a club I believe still exists!

Tom performing his solemn duty as a Texan at the Alamo.

Tom’s arrival opened up another opportunity for some days of discussion, this time about the field of philosophy, the ongoing economic and political crises, and of course… music, music, and more music.

We even made a proper pilgrimage to Waterloo Records on Sunday.

As many friends told me it would be, central Texas was absolutely beautiful. It’s also an interesting place with a rich history that I wish I’d known more about before arriving… in part, because it is changing so rapidly.

Before returning, me to Chicago and Tom to Houston, we visited the George Washington Carver Museum in Rosewood and got some context for the investment-driven change taking place in the area. It was a very pleasant surprise to discover the special exhibits there on the Texas origins of Juneteenth and the struggle for civil and social rights in the state.

In a way, Texas is more enigmatic to me now than it was before I visited. It felt very familiar to me, much like Florida, but that’s probably illusory. I look forward to returning.

San Marcos.

2018 is looking good so far!

While a new semester of undergrad teaching is always exciting, in January I also managed to write a good deal and cap off the month with a lively portrait session. Here are a few previews from the shoot with singer/songwriter Mike Meo and bandmate Glen Roberts.

Later this month, I’ll be traveling to sunny San Marcos as a guest of Texas State University’s Acorn Symposium. The conference organizers invited me to present some philosophical reflections on the experience of building Illinois Speaks, Illinois Humanities’ state-wide civic engagement program.

It’s mildly embarrassing to admit this will be my first trip to Texas, a Gulf Coast state this Floridian has seen from the water but never managed to visit! I hope to bring some photos and stories to share with you from the symposium.