Monthly Archives: May, 2025

Wikipedia in the Classroom

Academics and Wikipedia   Among many academics, Wikipedia has a poor reputation. It’s not uncommon for college professors to discourage students from using the site or...

The Machiavellian Moment, Weak Covenantal Politics, and Co-existential Anxiety in the American Republic

The unpredictable character of contemporary history has become increasingly overwhelming, to the point that, when waking up in the morning, I experience the anxiety...

Philosophy of Medicine, Adrian Erasmus

This course, which I teach at the University of Alabama, emerged from my primary research specialization, medical epistemology, and medical decision-making. I’m interested in...

Insights from “A History of the Self”

Introduction  A year and a half ago, I embarked on my first college philosophy class titled "A History of the Self" at the University of...

Faculty Morale, Steven M.Cahn

According to a well-worn witticism, faculty morale is always at its lowest. This quip, although at odds with my experience, suggests a question: Even...

The Ethics of Loneliness

“I wanna go home where I belong'Cause now I'm just a lonely teenager When I was sixteen, ran away all alone on a strayWhat can...

Imagination, the Engine of Possibility

When I was thirty, I told some coworkers about my plan to enter grad school to become a psychotherapist. We were technical writers for...

Reflections on Service, the Profession, and the Graduate Student Council

“Service” is a tricky category in a grad student's career planning. The general advice one gets usually says to keep it to a minimum...