Department of Philosophy

Moral Undergoing

March 25 | 4:30 pm

Humanities Commons 220

In many ways making moral progress seems to require that we go outside the limits of moral striving understood in terms of ends-directed exertion. Genuine moral self-development combines striving toward ideals through action and opening to unchosen dimensions of experience and reality through undergoing. If we only look at moral action, we get stuck with a very lopsided view of things. I borrow the vocabulary of doing and undergoing from John Dewey’s Art as Experience (1934), in which he argues that every experience worthy of the name is an aesthetic experience. I adapt Dewey’s conception of undergoing to develop an account of moral undergoing as a method of making progress through receptivity as opposed to action.

Classics & Philosophy Library & Study

The Department of Philosophy has teamed up with the Department of Classical Studies to provide a library that features classical texts and comfortable study space for students. The library features wall-to-wall oak shelves, overflowing with texts, translations, and scholarly books, and is a comfortable place to read, prepare for class, or meet with professors and fellow students.