Author: Kleiner

Historian Sean Trainor talks about beards in the 19th century on the NPR show “Backstory” .  The distinction between beards and “whiskers” is new to me.  And I wonder too if the popularity of beards now has similar roots to the popularity of beards in the 19th century — a response to an increasingly effiminiate culture and an emphasis on equality that undermines mens’ sense of their unique masculinity.

Click here to find the episode.  Listen to the whole show (“American Apparel: A History of Fashion”) or down below you can just listen to the segment on beards.

Dr Nancy McHugh will be presenting a lecture titled “Food Fear” on Thursday March 26, 12:00-1:30 in LIB 101.

In “Food Fear”, Prof. Nancy McHugh analyzes the ways that we go about making knowledge and ignorance about food and its relationship to health.  She argues that these practices have led to the newer food movement of “clean eating,” which in turn has generated an early 21st century eating disorder, orthorexia, or righteous eating.

Dr Nancy McHugh is Professor of Philosophy at Wittenberg University in Ohio.  The recipient of an NSF grant for her research, McHugh is the author of multiple articles on feminist philosophy and the philosophy of science.  Her most recent book will appear later this year from SUNY Press – The Limits of Knowledge.

Greg Esplin, USU philosophy alum and recently minted PhD in philosophy, will present a lecture titled “Beyond Representational Thinking in Heidegger and Deleuze”.

Thursday March 19. 4pm in Main 227.

Who decides what you eat?

Free movie followed by a food and ethics discussion.  4:30pm, Tuesday March 3 AGRS 101.  Hosted by our own Dr Holberg!

Click here for a flier and more info on the film: fed up flyer

One of our students, Alex Tarbet, wished to share some interesting reflections on Poe and the Enlightenment.  Here is his brief write up of what is a larger paper:

Dr. Crumbley’s Poe class this semester is philosophically fascinating. At the end of his life, Poe wrote an enormous treatise called Eureka! It claims to explain the nature of God, the origin of the cosmos and, well, everything else. Some say it’s evidence of Poe losing his mind to alcoholism (I think they’re wrong) while others say it’s a massive satire mocking encyclopedia-writing Enlightenment geniuses who may have reduced knowledge to naturalism and, therefore, poetry to simian apings or fowl drippings. Quoth the Raven, nevermore. So, is it a satire?  Continue reading “Poe vs Enlightenment by Alex Tarbet”