In Hope, Trust, and Forgiveness: Essays in Finitude, John Lysaker develops a new ethics of human finitude through three experimental essays. This week, Lysaker was named director of Emory University’s Center for Ethics, an academic institution whose purpose is to inspire and advance scholarship and education in ethics, to ignite the moral imagination of leaders in all walks of life, and to foster lives of moral meaning and ethical engagement. In this guest post below, Lysaker considers the role of professional philosophers in charting our ethical future. I am a philosopher who works in ethics ..read more

In An Artificial History of Natural Intelligence, David W. Bates offers a new history of human intelligence that argues that humans know themselves by knowing their machines. In this excerpt from the book, David describes a philosophical malaise in our approach to AI and argues that we have come to a point when we must fundamentally rethink what it means to be human. The historical evolution and development of artificial intelligence (AI) has long been tied to the consolidation of cognitive science and the neurosciences. There has been, from the start of the digital age, a complex and mutuall ..read more

In her new book, The God Behind the Marble, Alice Goff relates a history of Germans’ attempts to transform society through art in an age of revolution. Considering art as an instrument of ideology that could act as a beacon of freedom, she follows a variety of art objects through conflicts over their ownership, interpretation, conservation, and exhibition. In the following excerpt, Goff invites us to imagine ourselves as the Laocoön–an emotionally charged marble work depicting a violent struggle between a man, his two sons, and sea snakes. From here, she unpacks key points in the life of the L ..read more

In The Best Effect, Ryan Darr describes the theological origins of consequentialism—the notion that we can morally judge an action by its effects alone. In this adaption from the book’s introduction, Ryan explores why we are so fascinated by (and may need to reconsider!) consequentialist ethics today. The moral puzzles that a culture considers particularly interesting or difficult offer a unique window into its ethical presuppositions. In the Anglophone world, no moral puzzle has captured more attention in recent decades than the trolley problem. The philosopher Philippa Foot first introduced ..read more

For the past 6 years, the France Chicago Center at the University of Chicago has collaborated with the Press to help bring seminal works of French literature and thought to an English-speaking public. Based on this success, we are excited to announce a new partnership called the “France Chicago Collection,” which will be a series of at least five books to be published over the next 5 years.  While this collection is new, the Press’s commitment to French scholarship—as well as their support of University of Chicago faculty toward this endeavor—dates back to the 1970s. This histo ..read more

Highlighting the first decade of Chicago-based philosophical magazine The Point, The Opening of the American Mind brings together responses to some of the most significant events and issues of the last ten years. We spoke with some of The Point’s team to hear more about the new book, their current work, and how this whole project got started. To learn more about The Point, check out their website: https://thepointmag.com/ First of all, could you each say what your roles are at The Point? Jonny Thakkar: I am one of the editors. This involves a mixture of tasks. Sometimes I’m the lead editor on ..read more

In The Evolution of Pragmatism in India: Ambedkar, Dewey, and the Rhetoric of Reconstruction, Scott R. Stroud relates the untold story of how the Indian reformer Bhimrao Ambedkar embraced and reimagined John Dewey’s pragmatism throughout his work. In the guest post below, Stroud offers both an introduction to Ambedkar for the uninitiated and a brief sketch of why this story is important to the history of philosophy, democracy, and rhetoric. When Bhimrao Ambedkar, a prominent political leader and activist in twentieth-century India, reached New York in June 1952, he learned that his teacher, J ..read more

The great Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca lived and worked two thousand years ago, but his insight and everyday advice still hold resonance for our lives today. As we move further into the new year, past the season of new year’s resolutions and holidays, Seneca’s practical wisdom can help us to step back and take stock of ourselves, our values, and our priorities. We spoke with Margaret Graver and A. A. Long, who translated and provided commentary for a new book of Seneca’s letters, Seneca: Fifty Letters of a Roman Stoic, to hear more about this philosopher and his letters and to get a ..read more

This Valentine’s Day, we turn to Aaron Ben-Ze’ev, author of The Arc of Love: How Our Romantic Lives Change Over Time, for a little romance advice. In the book, he provides an in-depth, philosophical account of the experiences that arise in early, intense love—sexual passion, novelty, change—as well as the benefits of cultivating long-term, profound love—stability, development, calmness. Ben-Ze’ev analyzes the core of emotions many experience in early love and the challenges they encounter, and he offers pointers for weathering these challenges. Read on for an excerpt. “The regret of ..read more

In his new book, Samuel Fleischacker delves into the work of Adam Smith to draw out an understanding of empathy that respects both personal difference and shared humanity. We sent him a few questions to learn more about Smith, empathy, and how it all relates to our world today. Your book uses the philosophy of Adam Smith to explore the nature and value of empathy. To start us off, can you give us a quick introduction to Smithian empathy? Smithian empathy is the kind of shared feeling that arises when I imagine myself into your situation. David Hume had understood empathy (what he and Smi ..read more