Dr. Clarence Shole' Johnson

Professor

Dr. Clarence Shole' Johnson
615-904-8309
(615) 904-8055
Room 304C, James Union Building (JUB)
MTSU Box 73, Murfreesboro, TN 37132

Degree Information

  • PHD, McGill University (1986)
  • MA, Dalhousie University (1978)
  • BA, University of Sierra Leone (1975)

Areas of Expertise

Early Modern Philosophy, particularly Locke and Hume; Ethics; Computer Ethics; Social and Political Philosophy; and Philosophy and Race.

 

Biography

Clarence Sholé Johnson earned his doctorate from McGill University in Canada, concentrating in Early Modern Philosophy and specializing in the philosophy of David Hume. In addition to his research and teaching in Modern Philosophy, Johnson works in the areas of Ethics, Epistemology, Social and Political Philosophy and Africana Philosophy. An active teacher-scholar, Johnson is author of Cornel West and Philosophy (Routledge, 2002), and has also published articles in a variety o...

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Clarence Sholé Johnson earned his doctorate from McGill University in Canada, concentrating in Early Modern Philosophy and specializing in the philosophy of David Hume. In addition to his research and teaching in Modern Philosophy, Johnson works in the areas of Ethics, Epistemology, Social and Political Philosophy and Africana Philosophy. An active teacher-scholar, Johnson is author of Cornel West and Philosophy (Routledge, 2002), and has also published articles in a variety of major scholarly journals such as The Journal of Social Philosophy, Social Philosophy Today, The Journal of Philosophical Research, DIALOGUE: Canadian Philosophical Review, Metaphilosophy, The Southern Journal of Philosophy, The Southwest Philosophy Review and The Journal of Thought, to name a few. He has also contributed chapters to a number of books including The Oxford Handbook on Philosophy and Race (Oxford, 2017) (ed.) Naomi Zack, White on White/Black on Black (Rowman and Littlefield, 2005) (ed.) George Yancy, as well as entries in The Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics (ed.) Henk ten Have (Springer, Digital Format 2015 and Print Format 2016), and Encyclopedia of African Religions and Philosophy (ed.) V. Y. Mudimbe/Kasereka Kavwahirehi (Springer, 2021).

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Publications

PUBLICATIONS:  BOOK

 Cornel West and Philosophy: The Quest for Social Justice (Routledge, 2002).  

ARTICLES, BOOK CHAPTERS, & REVIEW ESSAYS  

  • "Philosophy, Race, and Social Practices in George Yancy's Scholarship." In George Yancy: A Critical Introduction. (Eds.) Kimberley Ducey, Clevis E. Headley, and J...
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PUBLICATIONS:  BOOK

 Cornel West and Philosophy: The Quest for Social Justice (Routledge, 2002).  

ARTICLES, BOOK CHAPTERS, & REVIEW ESSAYS  

  • "Philosophy, Race, and Social Practices in George Yancy's Scholarship." In George Yancy: A Critical Introduction. (Eds.) Kimberley Ducey, Clevis E. Headley, and Joe Feagan. Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.
  • " Essence." In Encyclopedia of African Religions and Philosophy, (ed.) V.Y. Mudimbe/Kasereka Kavwahirehi. Commissioned  article. The Netherlands: Springer Inc. 2021. ISBN: 978-94-024-2067-8 (Print + eBook).
  • "Modernity, the Normative Gaze, and Black Embrace of Christianity." In Sacrum Testamentum, Vol 1: Black Reflections on Christian Studies. (ed.) Kevaughn Mattis. https://sacratestamentum.wixsite.com/sacrum-testamentum/volume-1-1 (2018).     
  • “Cornel West, American Pragmatism and the Post-Obama Racial/Social Dynamics.” In the Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Race (ed.) Naomi Zack. Oxford University Press, 2017.        
  •  “Life: Definitions.” In Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics. (Ed.) Henk ten Have. SpringerReference Online, 2015; Print, 2016.  
  • Pedagogical Contours of Race and Racism.” In Exploring Race in Predominantly White Classrooms: Scholars of Color Reflect.(Eds.) George Yancy and Maria del Guadalupe Davidson. Routledge, 2014.            
  • “Morality as a Constraint on Technology.” In Ambiguous Technologies: Philosophical Issues, Practical Solutions, Human Nature.Proceedings of the 2013 Computer Ethics Philosophical Enquiry (CEPE) Conference. Eds. Elizabeth A. Buchanan, Paul B. de Laat, Herman T. Tavani and Jenny Klucarich. Published by the International Society for Ethics and Information Technology, 2014.    
  • “Resistance to Modernity: Two Contesting Viewpoints.” In Western Fictions, Black Realities, Eds. Isabel Soto and Violet Showers Johnson. Collegium for African American Research FORECAAST Series, (Hamburg and Munster:Lit Verlag and Michigan State University, 2011). This is the lead chapter in the book.         
  • “Reading Between the Lines: Kathryn Gines on Hannah Arendt and Antiblack Racism.” In Southern Journal of Philosophy, Vol. XLVII (2009), pp.77-83.   
  • "Reconceptualizing Blackness and Making Race Obsolescent." Commissioned chapter contribution to volume entiled White on White/Black on Black (ed.) George Yancy. Rowman and Littlefield, 2005.  
  •  “Author Meets Critics Session on Cornel West and Philosophy at the APA Eastern Division Meeting December 27-30, 2003: Response to My Critics.” In the APA Newsletter on Philosophy and the Black Experience, Vol. 4 No.2, (spring 2005), pp.6-9.   
  • “A Critique of Cornel West’s Christo-Marxian Prescription for Social Justice.” In Cheryl L. Hughes (ed.), Race, Social Identity, Human Dignity, Social Philosophy Today Book Series, Vol. 16, (Philosophy Documentation Center, 2002). 
  • “Reading Cornel West as a Humanistic Scholar: Rhetoric and Practice.” In George Yancy (ed.), Cornel West: A Critical Reader, (Blackwell, 2001).
  • “Cornel West, African American Critical Thought, and the Quest for Social Justice.” The Journal of Social Philosophy, Vol. 32, No.4 (Winter 2001), 547-572.
  • "Paulin Hountondji, African Philosophy and Philosophical Methodology." Southern Journal of Philosophy, Vol. XXXVI (1998), pp.179-195. 
  • “Scholarship, Power, and Moral Decency.” The Journal of Thought, Vol. 33 (1), (Spring 1998), pp.9-14. This is the lead piece in the volume. 
  • "Cornel West as Pragmatist and Existentialist." In Lewis R. Gordon (ed.), Existence  in  Black: An Anthology of Black Existential Philosophy,  (Routledge, 1997).
  • "An Analysis of John Mbiti's Treatment of the Concept of Event in African Ontologies."  QUEST: An International  Journal of African Philosophy, Vols. IX (2) and X (1), (1996), pp.139-157.      
  • "Annette Baier on Reason and Morals in Hume's Philosophy."  DIALOGUE:  Canadian Philosophical Review, Vol. XXXIV, No.  2 (Spring 1995), pp.367-380. 
  • "Teaching the Canons of Western Philosophy at Historically Black Colleges and Universities:  The Spelman College Experience." Metaphilosophy, Vol. 26, No.4 (October 1995), pp.413-423.             
  • "Capaldi's Copernican Reading of Hume." DIALOGUE: Canadian Philosophical Review, Vol. XXXIII  No.1 ( Winter 1994),  pp.71-78.   
  • "Hume's Theory of Moral Responsibility: Some Unresolved Matters." DIALOGUE: Canadian Philosophical Review, Vol. XXX1, No.1 (1992), pp.3-18.  This is the lead article in the volume and it has been reprinted in Roland G. Bonnel (ed.), Facets of the Eighteenth Century (Ontario: Captus University Publications, 1991), pp.79-92. The reprint in Facets appeared before the original publication in DIALOGUE because DIALOGUE, as a result of a backlog, rescheduled  the  manuscript from its originally slated issue.     
  • "Yet Another Look at Cognitive Reason And Moral Action in Hume's Ethical System." Journal of Philosophical Research, Vol. XVII (1992), pp. 225-238.   
  • "Lehrer and the Analysis of Knowledge." The Southwest Philosophy Review, Vol. 8, No. 2 (July, 1992), pp. 89-96.       
  • "Hume on Character, Action and Causal Necessity." AUSLEGUNG: A Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Summer 1990), pp. 149-164. This article has been indexed in the select bibliography of The Cambridge Companion to  Hume (ed.) David Fate Norton. Cambridge University Press, 1994.       
  •  
  • REFEREED BOOK REVIEWS   
  • Review of Naomi Zack White Privilege and Black Rights: The Injustice of US Police Racial Profiling and Homicide. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2015. In The APA Newsletter of Philosophy and the Black Experience.  Vol. 16, No. 2 (spring 2017), pp. 23-25.           
  • Review of Frederick Ochieng’-Odhiambo, Roxanne Burton and Ed Brandon (eds.) Conversations in Philosophy: Crossing the Boundaries. Cambridge Scholars Press, 2008. In Shibboleths: A Journal of Comparative Theory 3.1 (2008-2009): 65-70.        
  • “Democratic Governance and (Transitional) Postcolonial States: A Review of George Carew’s Democratic Transition in Postcolonial Africa – A Deliberative Approach” (Mellen, 2006). In the APA Newsletters, Vol. 7, No.1 (fall 2007), pp.5-10.
  • Commissioned review of Kwasi Wiredu's (ed.) A Companion to African Philosophy (Malden, MA and Oxford UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2004). In APA Newsletter on Philosophy and the Black Experience, Vol.4, No.2 (spring 2005), pp.11-13.
  • Commissioned review of Rosemary Cowan's Cornel West: The Politics of Redemption (Cambridge, UK and Malden, MA: Polity and Blackwell Publishers, 2003). In the APA Newsletter on Philosophy and the Black Experience, Vol. 3 (1), Fall 2003, pp.52-56.  
  • Commissioned review of Rosemary Cowan's Cornel West: The Politics of Redemption (Cambridge, UK and Malden, MA: Polity and Blackwell Publishers, 2003). In The A.M.E. Church Review, Vol. CXX (January-March, 2004), pp. 139-140.
  • Review of Paulin Hountondji's African Philosophy: Myth and Reality, 2nd. ed. (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana  University Press, 1996). In DIALOGUE: Canadian  Philosophical Review, Vol. XXXVIII (3), 1999, pp.684-688.                                 
  • Review of Kwasi Wiredu's Cultural Universals and Particulars (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1996). In Philosophy in Review, XVII (4), 1997, pp.300-302. 
  • Review of Gilles Deleuze's Empiricism and Subjectivity: An  Essay on Hume's Theory of Human Nature (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991). In AUSLEGUNG: A Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 20, Number 1 (Winter 1995), pp. 35-37.
  • Review of African Philosophy: The Essential Readings (ed.) Tsenay Serequeberhan (New York: Paragon House, 1991). In AUSLEGUNG:  A Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 19, Number 1, (Winter 1993), pp. 104-109.
  • Review of Trudy Govier's  God, The Devil and The Perfect Pizza:  Ten Philosophical Questions (Peterborough & New York: Broadview Press, 1989). In AUSLEGUNG: A Journal of  Philosophy, Vol. 18, Number 1, (Winter 1992), pp. 82-85. This review is a descendant of my comments as referee of the book's manuscript for Broadview Press. Excerpts from this review have been quoted in at least two promotional fliers of Broadview Press.
  • Commissioned review of The Philosopher As Writer (ed.) Robert Ginsberg, (Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press 1987). In Canadian Philosophical Reviews Vol. VIII, No. 6 (June  1988), pp. 210-213.

  NONREFEREED BOOK REVIEWS  

  • Review of W.J. Mander, The Volitional Theory of Causation: From Berkeley to the Twentieth Century. (Oxford, 2023). In Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries: Vol. 61, No.12, August 2024.
  • Review of Nathalie Etoke, Black Existential Freedom (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022). In Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries: Vol. 61, Issue 1, September, 2023.
  • Review of Devon Johnson, Black Nihilism and Antiblack Racism (Rowman and Littlefield, 2021). In Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries: Vol. 60, Issue 3, November, 2022.   
  • Review of Philip Petit, The Birth of Ethics: Reconstructing the Role and Nature of Morality (ed.) Kinch Hoekstra; commentary by Michael Tomasello. Oxford, 2018. In Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries: Vol. 56, Issue 10, June 2019.   
  • Review of Hume’s Rececption in Early America (ed.) Mark G. Spencer. Expanded ed. Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.InChoice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries: Vol 55, Issue 2, October, 2017.
  • Review of David Fate Norton (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Hume (Cambridge UP 1993). In Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries: Vol. 54, No.2, Review No. 54-0599, October, 2016. 
  • Review of The Cambridge Companion to Hume’s Treatise (eds.) Donald C. Ainsley and Annette Butler (Cambridge UP, 2015). In Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries: Vol.53, No. 2, Review No. 53-0701, October, 2016.
  • Review of Uchenna B. Okeja Normative Justification of a Global Ethic (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2013). In Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries: Vol.51, No.3, Review No. 51-1419, November, 2013.
  • Review of David Coady’s What to Believe Now: Applying Epistemology to Contemporary Issues. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012). In Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries: Vol.50, No.3 Review No. 50-1383, November, 2012.  
  • Review of Lewis Gordon’s An Introduction to Africana Philosophy (Cambridge, 2008). In Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries: Review No.46-3172, February, 2009.
  • Review of Gilbert Harman and Sanjeev Kulkari’s Reliable Reasoning:Induction and Statistical Learning Theory.(MIT Press, 2007) In Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries: Review No. 45-3711, March, 2008.
  • Review of Donald Rutherford (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Early Modern Philosophy (Cambridge, 2007). In Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries: Review No. 45-0208, September, 2007.
  • Review of Joseph Margolis, Introduction to Philosophical Problems (Continuum, 2006). In CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Review No. 44-3229, February, 2007.
  • Review of Andrew Lawless, Plato’s Sun: An Introduction to Philosophy (Toronto, 2005). In CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Review No. 43-3324, February, 2006.
  • Review of Mathias Steup and Ernest Sosa (eds.) Contemporary Debates in Epistemology (Blackwell, 2004). In CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Rev. No. 43-0232, September 2005.
  • Review of Kwasi Wiredu's (ed.) A Companion to African Philosophy (Malden, MA and Oxford UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2004). In Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Rev. No. 42-1478, November, 2004.
  • Review of Roy Sorenson's A Brief History of the Paradox: Philosophy and the Labyrinths of the Mind (Oxford, 2003). In Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Rev. No. 41-6462, July, 2004.
  • Review of Barry Hallen's A Short History of African Philosophy (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2002). In Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Rev. No. 403328, February, 2003.     
  • On-line Review of Andrew B. Schoedinger’s Our Philosophical Heritage, (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1999). In Amazon.com.

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Presentations

“Cornel West, American Pragmatism and the Post-Obama Racial/Social Dynamics.” Presented at the 25th National Association of African American Studies conference, Dallas Texas, February 13-18, 2017. Also presented earlier at The International Journal of Arts and Sciences (IJAS) Conference, Grand Hotel Excelsior, Malta, March 6-10, 2016.          

  • “Morality as Constraint on Technology.” Presented at the Tenth International Conf...
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“Cornel West, American Pragmatism and the Post-Obama Racial/Social Dynamics.” Presented at the 25th National Association of African American Studies conference, Dallas Texas, February 13-18, 2017. Also presented earlier at The International Journal of Arts and Sciences (IJAS) Conference, Grand Hotel Excelsior, Malta, March 6-10, 2016.          

  • “Morality as Constraint on Technology.” Presented at the Tenth International Conference of Computer Ethics Philosophical Enquiry (Cepe), Autonoma University of Lisbon, Portugal, July1-3, 2013.         
  • “Public Education, the Humanistic Disciplines and the Obligation of Citizenship.” Presented at the 8th Annual Caribbean Philosophical Association Conference, Rutgers University, 29th September-1st October, 2011.     
  • “Public Morality, Liberalism and Virtue Ethics.” Presented at MTSU Annual Scholar’s Day Conference, April 1, 2009. Also presented earlier at the First Global Conference on Ethics and Public Policy, Salzburg, Austria, March 13-15, 2009 
  • “Reading Between the Lines: Kathryn Gines on Hannah Arendt and Antiblack Racism.” Presented at the 27th Annual Spindel Conference on the theme Race, Racism and Liberalism in the 21st Century. University of Memphis, September 25-27, 2009.   
  • “On George M. Carew’s Democratic Transition in Postcolonial Africa: A Deliberative Approach (Mellen, 2006)”. Presented at the Fourth Annual Caribbean Philosophical Association conference, The University of West Indies—Mona, Kingston, Jamaica, June 27-30, 2007.      
  • “Challenges to Modernity: Two Contesting Viewpoints.” Presented at the Seventh International Collegium for African American Research (CAAR) Conference , National University, Madrid, Spain, April 18-21, 2007.         
  • “A Conversation on Double Consciousness: Molefi K. Asante and Clarence Sholé Johnson.” Co-sponsored by The Institute for the Study of Race and Social Thought, The Center for the Humanities and the Philosophy Department of Temple University; held at Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Friday, March 23, 2007.   
  • “Asante and Du Bois on Race(ism) and the Problem of Double Consciousness.” Presented at the Third Annual Caribbean Philosophical Association conference , Montreal, Quebec, Canada, August 1-3, 2006.   
  • “In Defense of Racial Eliminativism.” Presented at the Second Annual Caribbean Philosophical Association conference , San Juan, Puerto Rico, June 1-4, 2005.           
  • “Descartes, Zara Yacob and Philosophical Modernity.” Presented at the Second Annual Caribbean Philosophical Association conference , San Juan, Puerto Rico, June 1-4, 2005. 
  • “(Re)Conceptualizing Blackness and Making Race Obsolete.” Presented at the annual Collegium for African American Research (CAAR) conference in Tour, France, April 20-25, 2005. 
  • "John Locke, the Problem of Personal Identity and English Colonial/Economic Enterprise." Presented at the First Annual Meeting of the Caribbean Philosophical Association, Accra Beach Hotel, Christ Church,  Barbados, May 19-22, 2004.           
  • "Author Meets Critics: A critical dicsussion of Clarence Sholé Johnson's Cornel West and Philosophy (Routledge, 2002)" at the 100th annual meetings of the American Philosophical Association (Eastern Division), the Washington Hilton Hotel, Washington, DC, December 27-30, 2003. Critics: Robert Bernasconi (University of Memphis), Cynthia Willett (Emory University), and Albert Mosley (Smith College). Respondent: author.           
  • “Affirmative Action and the Issue of Social Justice: Why Not a Universal Class-Based Policy?” Presented at the National Association of African American Studies Annual Conference, Houston, Texas, February 11-16, 2002. Also presented earlier at the 33rd Annual Meetings of the Tennessee Philosophical Association, Vanderbilt University, November 2-3, 2001. 
  • “A Critique of Cornel West’s Christo-Marxian Prescription for Social Justice.” Presented at Middle Tennessee State University Second Annual University-wide Faculty Research Symposium, April 25, 2001.  
  • “Cornel West, the Black-Jewish Conflict and the Consequences for Social Justice.” Presented at the National Association of African American Studies (NAAAS) Annual Conference, Houston, Texas, February 12-17, 2001.         
  • “Cornel West, African American Critical Thought, and the Quest for Social Justice.” Presented at the National Association of African American Studies  (NAAAS) Annual Conference, Houston, Texas, February 21-26, 2000. Also presented earlier at the Sixteenth International Social Philosophy      Conference,  Villanova University, July 15-17, 1999.       
  • “A Humean Kant or a Kantian Hume?: A Response to Randy Cagle’s  ‘The Role of the Affective in Kant’s Theory of Moral Motivation’.” Presented at the 31st Annual Meetings of the Tennessee Philosophical Association, Vanderbilt University, November 6, 1999.           
  • “Text, Textuality, and Constructing Philosophy as a Way of Life: A Response to Samuel Oluoch Imbo.” Presented at the Twenty-Third Annual MidSouth  Philosophy Conference, The University of Memphis, Tennessee, March 5-7, 1999.           
  • “Cornel West, The Early Black Cultural Critics, and the Politics of Representation.” Presented at the National Association of African American Studies (NAAAS) Conference, Houston, Texas, February 9-13, 1999.   
  • “Paulin Hountondji, African Philosophy and Philosophical Methodology.” Presented at the 20th Third World Studies Conference, University of Nebraska (Omaha) October 9-11, 1997.                                                                                   
  • "Cornel West as Pragmatist and Existentialist." Presented at the Ninety- 1ff8 Third Annual Meetings of the American Philosophical Association, December 27-30, 1996, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia.                 
  • "Causation, Sympathy and Morality: A Response to Andrew Cunningham's 'Aspects of Mind and Causation in Hume's Treatise'." Presented at the Fortieth Annual Conference of the Canadian Philosophical Association at Brock University,  Ontario, Canada, 29th May-1st June, 1996.               
  • "An Analysis of John Mbiti's Treatment of the Concept of Event in African Ontologies." Presented at the 18th Annual Third World  Studies Conference, The University of Nebraska (Omaha) Nebraska, October 12-14, 1995.           
  • "Outlines of the Main Argument on Hume's Conception of Reason in its Relation to Moral Conduct." Presented at the Bush Faculty Development Grant and Evaluation, Spelman College,  May 24, 1995.                           
  • "Teaching the Canons of Western Philosophy at HBCUs: The Spelman College Experience." Presented at the American Association of Philosophy Teachers (AAPT) Tenth International Workshop-Conference on Teaching Philosophy, Marianopolis College, Montréal, Quebec, Canada, August 5-8, 1994.           
  • "Hume's Instrumentalist Conception of Practical Reason:  A  Reply to Jean Hampton." Presented at the Twenty-First Hume International Conference,  Universita di Roma ("La Sapienza"), Rome, Italy, June 20-24, 1994.           
  • "Conflict and Conciliation:  War and Peace." A Workshop Presentation at the Curriculum Development Institute on the theme Governance, Equity and the Global Poor, jointly sponsored by Interfaith Hunger Appeal and Spelman College. Spelman College, June 9-12, 1994.
  • "Monitoring the Environmental Policies of Companies."  A presentation at the Industrial Ecology Workshop and Forum jointly sponsored by AT&T and Spelman College Environmental Task Force. Spelman College, March 20-26,1994.           
  • "Did Hume Replace Reason with Sentiment in his Moral  Enterprise?" Presented at the 45th Annual Northwest Conference on  Philosophy, Kwantlen College, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, November 5-6, 1993.           
  • "Yet Another Look at Cognitive Reason and Moral Action in Hume's Ethical System." Presented at the Joint Meetings of the Twentieth Hume Conference and the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society at the University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, July 6-10, 1993. Also presented earlier at the Spelman College faculty Brown Bag Colloquium, October, 27, 1992, and at the annual Fall conference of the Georgia Philosophical Society, Oglethorpe University, Saturday, October 19, 1991.           
  • "Annette Baier on Reason and Morals in Hume's Philosophy." Presented in a symposium to the Canadian Philosophical Association at the Thirty-Seventh Annual Congress of the Canadian Learned Societies, Carleton University, Ottawa, 30th May-2nd June,1993. Fellow symposiasts included David Braybrooke, Louise Marcil-Lacoste and Annette Baier.       
  • "In Defense of Hume's view of our Ascriptive Practices." Presented at the annual Intermountain Philosophy Conference, held at Appalachian State      University, Boone, North Carolina, April 23-24, 1993.                                                                                             
  • "Foot on Hume on Moral Responsibility." Presented at the 44th Annual Northwest Philosophy Conference, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, November 6-7, 1992. Also presented earlier at the Spring Meetings of the Georgia Philosophical Society, Georgia State University, Saturday, 2nd May, 1992        
  • "Locke and the Problem of General Knowledge:  A Cartesian Reply to  Odegard." Presented at the Canadian Philosophical Association at the Thirty-Sixth Annual Congress of the Canadian Learned Societies, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, 24-27 May, 1992.                               
  • "Hume's Theory of Moral Responsibility: Some  Unresolved Matters." Presented at the Sixteenth Annual Meetings of the Atlantic Society for       Eighteenth Century Studies, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, April 20-22, 1990.        
  • "Hume on Character, Action and Causal Necessity." Presented at the Canadian Philosophical Association, at the Thirty-Second Annual Congress of the Canadian Learned Societies, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 24-27 May,1988.

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Awards

    RESEARCH AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS AND SCHOLARSHIPS  

  • 2017: MTSU Access and Diversity Grant to present my “Cornel West, American Pragmatism and the Post-Obama Racial/Social Dynamics” at the 25th Annual National African American Studies Conference in Dallas, Texas.  
  • 2016: MTSU Access and Diversity Grant to present my “Cornel West, American Pragmatism and the Post-O...
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    RESEARCH AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS AND SCHOLARSHIPS  

  • 2017: MTSU Access and Diversity Grant to present my “Cornel West, American Pragmatism and the Post-Obama Racial/Social Dynamics” at the 25th Annual National African American Studies Conference in Dallas, Texas.  
  • 2016: MTSU Access and Diversity Grant to present my “Cornel West, American Pragmatism and the Post-Obama Racial/Social Dynamics” at the International Journal of Arts and Sciences (IJAS) Conference in Malta, March 6-10, 2016.              
  • 2013: MTSU Access and Diversity Grant to present my “Morality as Constraint on Technologiy” at the 10th Annual Computer Ethics Philosophical Enquiry (Cepe) conference at the Autonoma University in Lisbon, Portugal.              
  • 2009: MTSU Faculty Research and Creative Activity Summer Research Grant to revise for publication my paper “Resistance to Modernity: Two Contesting Viewpoints” that subsequently got published as a chapter in Western Fictions, Black Realities (eds.) Violet Showers Johnson and Isabel Soto. (Hamburg and Munster: Lit Verlag and Michigan Un 1aa0 iversity Press.) 
  • 2008: MTSU Non-Instructional Assignment Grant (otherwise known as a sabbatical leave grant) to conduct research for manuscript entitled John Locke, American Slavery and the Age of Paradox.  
  • 2004: MTSU Faculty Research and Creative Activity Grant, with a one-course      release time, to pursue research on the topic "(Re)Conceptualizing Blackness and Making Race Obsolescent."  
  • 2003:  MTSU Faculty Research and Creative Activity Grant, with a one-course release time, to pursue research on the topic “Science, Technology and Morality.”  
  • 2002:  MTSU Faculty Research and Creative Activity Grant, with a one- course release time, to complete manuscript entitled “A Critique of Cornel West’s Christo-Marxian Prescription for Social Justice.”  
  • 2001:  MTSU Faculty Research and Creative Activity Summer Research Grant to conduct research on the topic “Cornel West, the Black-Jewish Conflict and the Consequences for Social Justice.”  
  • 2001:  MTSU Faculty Research and Creative Activity Grant, with a one-course release time, to revise for publication my paper entitled “Cornel West, African American Critical Thought and the Quest for Social Justice.”     
  • 2000:  MTSU Faculty Research and Creative Activity Grant, with a one-course release time, to revise for publication my paper entiled “Reading Cornel  West as a Humanistic Scholar: Rhetoric and Practice.”  
  • 1998 (Spring semester): Scholar-in-Residence, Faculty Resource Network, New York University. I was on a sabbatic leave from Spelman College, during which period I conducted a substantive body of research for my book Cornel West and Philosophy (published in 2002). My faculty host at NYU was Professor Robert Gurland.  
  • 1996:  Spelman College Presidential Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.    
  • 1996:  Spelman College Faculty Development Grant of $1,259.50 to present a paper entitled  "Causation, Sympathy and Morality: A  Response to Andrew Cunningham's 'Aspects of Mind and Causation in Hume's Treatise'" at the Fortieth Annual  Conference of the Canadian Philosophical Association, Brock University, Ontario, Canada, May 29-June 1, 1996.  
  • 1994:  Charles Merrill International Travel Award of  $1,500 to present a paper entitled "Hume's  Instrumentalist Conception of Practical Reason: A Reply to Jean Hampton" to the Hume Society at its 21st annual Hume Conference at Universita di Roma ("La Sapienza"), Rome, Italy, June 20-24, 1994.  
  • 1994:  Spelman College Bush Faculty Development Award of $575 to conduct  research on Hume and Practical Reason (completed as "Hume's Instrumentalist Conception of Practical Reason: A Reply to Jean Hampton") and presented at the 21st annual Hume conference at the Universita di  Roma ("La Sapienza") in Rome, Italy, June 20-24, 1994.             
  • 1993:  Charles Merrill International Travel Award of $1,200 to present a paper to the Canadian Philosophical Association on 31st May, 1993, at the  annual conference of the Canadian Learned Societies held at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.  
  • 1993:   Charles Merrill International Travel Award of  $1,197.15 to present a paper to the Hume Society at its 20th Hume Conference jointly sponsored with the Eighteenth Century Scottish Studies Society, at the University of Ottawa, July 6-10,1993, in Ottawa, Canada.
  • 1991: Spelman College Bush Faculty Development Grant of $1,300 to conduct research into    the third and final part of a Hume study.                               
  • 1990: Spelman College Bush Faculty Development Grant of  $2,000 to conduct research on    the second of a three-part study of the philosophy of David Hume.  
  • 1984-85: Dow-Hickson Fellowship, McGill University. This  was a major merit-based departmental award.  
  • 1981-1985; 1978-1979: Teaching Assistant, McGill University.  Five-time recipient of the McGill University Annual Summer Research Fellowship of $1,500; and twice recipient of the McGill University Foreign Student Graduate Fee Bursary of $500.  
  • 1977-1978: Dalhousie University Graduate Fellowship to pursue the M. A. degree in Philosophy. This was a major university award.

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Research / Scholarly Activity

Multiple projects in progress

  • "A Case for Privacy as a Natural Right."
  • "Higher Education, the Humanistic Disciplines and Democratic Citizenship"
  • John Locke, American Slavery and the Age of Paradox.

Courses

PHIL 4800: Knowledge, Evidence & Justification

PHIL 3170: Ethics and Computing Technology

PHIL. 3500: Philosophy, Race and Society

PHIL 3150: Ethics

PHIL 2110: Logic and Critical Thinking

PHIL 1030: Introduction to Philosophy

 

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