Discussions of college faculty professionalism most often address the ethical responsibilities or failures of "professors." Yet the majority of college faculty are not "professors," and work in conditions that preclude or prevent acting in accordance with high-minded statements like the AAUP's Statement on Professional Ethics, In addition, ignorance of the actual working conditions of both tenure-track and tenuous-track faculty has induced a crisis of ethical responsibility for all college faculty. Because official statements about college faculty professionalism neglect the reality of (...) college faculty work, the ethical responsibility of faculty requires a new basis. (shrink)

French phenomenology focused on “the body” to avoid the supposed transcendental idealism of Husserl’s phenomenology, and to provide an “existential” or “empirical” account of the origin of meaning, as Ricoeur put it. In practice, however, this has implicitly presupposed a Cartesian problematic of the relation between body and mind or “subject.” This is the source of the ultimate frustration of this effort, as well as the persistence of a “mystery” of meaning (to cite Merleau-Ponty and Henry). This essay offers an (...) alternative, considering the embodiment of any meaningful experience, suggesting finally that embodiment must be accounted for in terms of subjection. (shrink)

There appear to be two rules for writing a book about Hegel. First, one must not claim to give a final, accurate, authoritative interpretation. Perhaps in some fields of academic endeavor, this would be merely pretense of humility; in Hegel scholarship, there is an abiding faith that the open debate of Hegel’s work is essential. Second, it is usually a good idea to claim that Hegel was at least not entirely cognizant of what he was doing.

There appear to be two rules for writing a book about Hegel. First, one must not claim to give a final, accurate, authoritative interpretation. Perhaps in some fields of academic endeavor, this would be merely pretense of humility; in Hegel scholarship, there is an abiding faith that the open debate of Hegel’s work is essential. Second, it is usually a good idea to claim that Hegel was at least not entirely cognizant of what he was doing.