A FEW FAVORITE
QUOTES
WORK AND EDUCATION
STUDIES ABROAD
PROFESSION
PUBLICATIONS
INTERESTS IN FILM
INTERESTS IN MUSIC
I currently serve as Assistant Professor of Humanities at the COLLEGE OF GENERAL STUDIES at BOSTON UNIVERSITY . I teach courses in philosophy, literature, and the arts.
I earned my Ph.D. and M. A. in the
Department of Philosophy at Boston University. My dissertation addressed
the method of dialectic and the problem of closure in Hegel's Logic.
I graduated
magna cum laude with an A.B. in philosophy from
BOWDOIN COLLEGE as a James Bowdoin Scholar.
I was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Tuebingen in Tuebingen, Germany (photos above) during the 1993-1994 academic year. Learn more about the ancient Schwabian town of TUEBINGEN (click here) Tuebingen was once home to the philosophers Hegel and Schelling and the poet Hoelderlin.
I was twice a Junior Visiting Fellow at the INSTITUTE OF HUMAN SCIENCES in Vienna, Austria. I lived there for three different semesters in Vienna (photos below). Learn more about VIENNA (click link).
From 1996 to 1998, I served as Instructor in the humanities division of the CORE CURRICULUM program at Boston University. During that period I also worked full-time as Program Administrator and Program Coordinator for the 20th WORLD CONGRESS OF PHILOSOPHY (August 1998, Boston), which was the largest assembly of philosophers ever held, with over 3000 philosophers attending from over 100 nations.
I have served as On-Line Editor and Webmaster for THE PHILOSOPHICAL CALENDAR, Vice-President of THE SOCIETY FOR THE PHILOSOPHICAL STUDY OF THE CONTEMPORARY VISUAL ARTS, and Secretary of THE CONFERENCE OF PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETIES.
My forthcoming book is tentatively titled NIHILISM IN FILM AND TELEVISION and will be published with McFarland & Co. Publishers (www.mcfarlandpub.com). It introduces the idea of nihilism as a philosophical, cultural, psychological, and moral issue and explores themes and aspects of nihilism in movies (CITIZEN KANE, WAKING LIFE, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, THE CRYING GAME, film noir classics, the major films of Stanley Kubrick, etc.) and in television (primarily THE SOPRANOS).
Forthcoming articles include "You Who Philosophize Dylan: The Quarrel between Philosophy and Poetry in the Songs of Bob Dylan" and "The Ongoing Wow: WAKING LIFE and the Waltz between Detachment and Immersion," to appear in forthcoming collections in Open Court Press's Philosophy and Popular Culture Series. My essay "The Nihilistic Vision of THE SOPRANOS" has appeared in the collection THE SOPRANOS AND PHILOSOPHY with Open Court.
My article "Nihilism and Noir," which focuses on the Fritz Lang film SCARLETT STREET, has appeared in a recent issue of the journal FILM AND PHILOSOPHY (2003), edited by Daniel Shaw. My article "Kubrick and Ricoeur on Nihilistic Horror and the Symbolism of Evil" appeared in a special issue of that journal (2001). For a review of the issue and my article in particular (by film scholar Joan Hawkins), click here. My article "Cool Hand Kubrick and His Critics: Revisiting Eyes Wide Shut" appeared in Issue 1 of Cinematic: The Harvard Annual Film Review (2003).
Previously published books:
JUNG'S PSYCHOLOGY AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE AND WAY OF LIFE
To see a review of the book in FILM COMMENT's on-line magazine, click here. A review of the books also appears in the journal FILM & HISTORY: click here.
I was also Associate Editor for the 12-volume series THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 20TH WORLD CONGRESS OF PHILOSOPHY and was the editor of the fourth volume in the series, PHILOSOPHIES OF RELIGION, ART, AND CREATIVITY. You can read my
introduction to the volume at the World Congress website. The volume can be ordered through the Philosophical Documentation Center. My essay "The Virtues of Circular Reasoning" appears in Volume 5 of the World Congress series (EPISTEMOLOGY, ed. Richard Cobb Stevens).
I serve as Faculty Advisor for the student-run organization that I founded at Boston University, THE FILM LOVERS AND PHILOSOPHERS SOCIETY
(or FLAPS). The aim of the society is to promote the critical discussion of philosophical issues in contemporary and classic films.
Resourceful links to sites devoted to film and the critical
discussion of film include
SENSES OF
CINEMA and
FILM-PHILOSOPHY.
For a detailed listing of resourceful websites devoted to film, click here.
I am also a devoted fan of great singer-songwriters especially VAN MORRISON , LEONARD COHEN , BOB DYLAN
