- Department of Philosophy
Neuberger Hall 393
724 SW Harrison
Portland, OR 97201 - 503-725-9893
Alex Sager
Portland State University, Philosophy, Faculty Member
- Political Philosophy, Political Theory, David Hume, Human Rights, Critical Theory, 18th Century Philosophy, and 68 moreEducation, Business Ethics, Migration Studies, Ethics, Philosophy of Education, Recreation & Leisure Studies, John Dewey, American Philosophy, Pragmatism (Philosophy), Globalization, Global Justice, Human Trafficking, Citizenship, Refugee Studies, Refugees, Forced Migration, Corporate Social Responsibility, Migration, Marxist theory, Immigration and identity (Anthropology), Immigration, Transnational migration, International Migration, Distributive Justice, Brain Drain, Borderlands Studies, Labor Migration, Marxism, Immigrant Detention, PHILOSOPHY FOR CHILDREN, Transnationalism, Critical Thinking, Critical Thinking and Creativity, Argumentation Theory, Enrique Dussell, Anibal Quijano, Jean Jaques Rousseau, Rousseau, Philosophy of the City, Right to the city, No borders, Border control, Arab Spring (Arab Revolts), Migrant Detention, Deportation, FRONTEX, Agamben, Border induced Displacement, Geopolitics, Biopolitics, Michel Foucault, Unacompanied Children Migration, Border Studies, Anthropology of Borders, Mobility/Mobilities, Anthropology of Mobility, Irregular Migration, Migration (Anthropology), Critical Race Theory, Feminist Theory, Postcolonial Theory, Latina/o Studies, Undocumented Immigration, Race and Racism, Post-Colonialism, Settler Colonial Studies, Critical International Relations Theory, and Colonialismedit
Draft of Chapter 7 of In Defense of Open Borders: Freedom, Equality, and Immigration (working title)
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Draft introduction and first chapter for In Defense of Open Borders
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Emerging Trends in the Ethics of Immigration provides an overview of the central topics in the ethics and politics of immigration. The authors who contribute chapters take stock of the current debates and move the discussion forward in... more
Emerging Trends in the Ethics of Immigration provides an overview of the central topics in the ethics and politics of immigration. The authors who contribute chapters take stock of the current debates and move the discussion forward in new directions.
Research Interests: Political Philosophy, Ethics, Political Theory, Refugee Studies, Immigration, and 14 moreImmigration Law, Global Justice, Migration Studies, Care Ethics, Immigrant Detention, Social and Political Philosophy, Refugees, Citizenship, Inequality, Undocumented Migration, Refugee Law, Methodological Nationalism, Brain Drain, and Open Borders Framework
Table of contents for forthcoming second edition of Business in Ethical Focus (Fritz Allhoff, Alex Sager, Anand Vaidya)
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The Humean Mind aims to be the most comprehensive anthology available on Hume’s thought with essays spanning the full scope of Hume’s philosophy, as well as placing Hume in his own time and tracing his impact on the field from the 18th... more
The Humean Mind aims to be the most comprehensive anthology available on Hume’s thought with essays spanning the full scope of Hume’s philosophy, as well as placing Hume in his own time and tracing his impact on the field from the 18th century until today. Our goal is to represent the Humean mind’s role in ongoing philosophical traditions and as a living philosopher. It covers all of the major topics on Hume, showcases the latest trends in Hume scholarship and reflects current research interests today.
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Blog post for State of Nature One Question: Open Borders
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This 2018 APSA paper is a set of reflections on how to begin thinking about migration from the point of view of migrants, developing themes from my recent monograph Toward a Cosmopolitan Ethics of Mobility. Themes include: how the... more
This 2018 APSA paper is a set of reflections on how to begin thinking about migration from the point of view of migrants, developing themes from my recent monograph Toward a Cosmopolitan Ethics of Mobility. Themes include: how the critique of methodological nationalism forces us to reevaluate the political philosophy of migration; the nature of borders; representation of migrants in scholarship and the media; and the resources the migration offers for a political cosmopolitanism.
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Cosmopolitanism reemerged as a potentially radical political theory in the 1990s, only to be stripped of much of its radical potential. Many political theorists reduced cosmopolitanism to “moral cosmopolitanism” and sought to reconcile it... more
Cosmopolitanism reemerged as a potentially radical political theory in the 1990s, only to be stripped of much of its radical potential. Many political theorists reduced cosmopolitanism to “moral cosmopolitanism” and sought to reconcile it with the current state system. To reclaim cosmopolitanism’s radical potential, I propose the migrant as the key figure in a cosmopolitan practice that promises to ground cosmopolitanism from below. Migrant voices and acts of citizenship help us overcome the cognitive bias of methodological nationalism and ground a robust, feasible cosmopolitanism. Through their presence and political action, they serve as a vanguard for more inclusive visions of community and reveal the porous nature of borders and boundaries.
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Despite the prevalence of externalization, much work in the ethics of immigration continues to assume that the admission of immigrants is determined by state immigration officials who decide whether to admit travelers at official... more
Despite the prevalence of externalization, much work in the ethics of immigration continues to assume that the admission of immigrants is determined by state immigration officials who decide whether to admit travelers at official crossings. This assumption neglects how decisions about entrance have been increasingly relocated abroad – to international waters, consular offices, airports, or foreign territories – often with non-governmental or private actors, as well as foreign governments functioning as intermediaries. Externalization poses a fundamental challenge to achieving just migration policies. It reliably harms vulnerable people, prevents refugees from receiving protection, leads to human rights abuses, and dissipates blame and accountability, creating a serious lacuna in assigning moral responsibility.
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The representation of migration as a crisis is a default response to the challenges of human mobility. This default response is often misguided and harmful. This claim may seem odd or even perverse. Why should we represent the forced... more
The representation of migration as a crisis is a default response to the challenges of human mobility. This default response is often misguided and harmful. This claim may seem odd or even perverse. Why should we represent the forced displacement of millions of women, men, and children around the world as anything other than a crisis? Nonetheless, crisis is an evaluative term, representing an event as dangerous, difficult, and exceptional and often justifying drastic measures. In what follows, I identify four ways in which the representation of migration as a crisis is an abuse, mischaracterizing the nature of migration and harming migrants. I end with a series of remarks about when migrant crisis may be an appropriate label.
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The topic of ethics and migration crises has two dimensions. First, there are question in the ethics of representation. Media, pundits, and researchers frequently describe large scale migration as a crisis with insufficient attention to... more
The topic of ethics and migration crises has two dimensions. First, there are question in the ethics of representation. Media, pundits, and researchers frequently describe large scale migration as a crisis with insufficient attention to cogency of the crisis label or the ethical issues it raises. To categorize an event as a crisis is to impose a value judgment – crises are generally thought of as unfortunate and often dangerous events that merit special measures such as increased law enforcement and fewer legal protections. This raises questions about the ethics of representation to determine when people are warranted in identifying migration as a crisis. Second, migration crises give rise to duties not to deprive people of their rights to seek safety and asylum, to protect people deprived of their rights, and to aid migrants in crisis situations. This chapter focuses on the ways in which receiving countries play a role in causing migration crises through their foreign and economic policies and their attempts to restrict migration, as well on their obligations to aid.
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Normative reflection on the ethics of migration has tended to remain at the level of abstract principle with limited attention to the practice of immigration administration and enforcement. This paper explores the implications of this... more
Normative reflection on the ethics of migration has tended to remain at the level of abstract principle with limited attention to the practice of immigration administration and enforcement. This paper explores the implications of this practice for an ethics of immigration with particular attention to the problem of bureaucratic domination. I contend that it is doubtful migration administration and enforcement can overcome bureaucratic domination because of the inherent vulnerability of migrant populations and the transnational enforcement of border controls enforced by multiple public and private actors. The implication is that even if restrictive immigration policies are permissible in principle, the attempt to enforce them leads to injustices that make them ethically unacceptable in practice.
Paper for the European Consortium for Political Research, Montreal, September 2015
Paper for the European Consortium for Political Research, Montreal, September 2015
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Introductory chapter to my edited book The Ethics and Politics of Migration: Core Issues and Emerging Trends
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Normative accounts of skilled emigration (often discussed under the label of “brain drain”) have operated almost exclusively within a framework of methodological nationalism. This paper demonstrates how methodological nationalist... more
Normative accounts of skilled emigration (often discussed under the label of “brain drain”) have operated almost exclusively within a framework of methodological nationalism. This paper demonstrates how methodological nationalist assumptions in the social sciences have systematically distorted normative discussion on skilled emigration and that when this is acknowledged, the problem of the “brain drain” effectively disappears. Moreover, the conceptual errors encountered in reflection on skilled emigration appear in more general form in work on temporary migration and on migration and development. This offers new ways for thinking about how distributive concerns should impact our views on migration once we abandon methodological nationalism.
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The political theory of migration has largely occurred within a paradigm of methodological nationalism and this has led to the neglect of morally salient agents and causes. This article draws on research from the social sciences on the... more
The political theory of migration has largely occurred within a paradigm of methodological nationalism and this has led to the neglect of morally salient agents and causes. This article draws on research from the social sciences on the transnationalism, globalization and migration systems theory to show how methodological nationalist assumptions have affected the views of political theorists on membership, culture and distributive justice. In particular, it is contended that methodological nationalism has prevented political theorists of migration from addressing the roles of non-state agents and of transnational economic, social and political structures. These agents and structures contribute to the asymmetrical distribution of goods and opportunities and thus have important implications for debates about migration and distributive justice.
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Theorists concerned about the distributive effects of skilled emigration (‘brain drain’) often argue that its harmful effects can be justly mitigated by restricting emigration from sending countries or by limiting immigration... more
Theorists concerned about the distributive effects of skilled emigration (‘brain drain’) often argue that its harmful effects can be justly mitigated by restricting emigration from sending countries or by limiting immigration opportunities to receiving countries. I raise moral and practical concerns against restricting the movement of skilled migrants and contend that conceptualizing the moral issue in these terms leads theorists to neglect the moral salience of institutions that determine the distributive effects of migration. Using an analogy to skilled migration in a domestic context, I argue for locating brain drain in a more holistic, institutional context that includes the reform of global institutions and of policies affecting migration.
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A contribution to Ethics and Global Politics Book symposium on Gillian Brock and Michael Blake, Debating Brain Drain: May Government Restrict Emigration? Full symposium available here:... more
A contribution to Ethics and Global Politics Book symposium on Gillian Brock and Michael Blake, Debating Brain Drain: May Government Restrict Emigration? Full symposium available here: http://www.ethicsandglobalpolitics.net/index.php/egp/issue/view/1745
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In The Ethics of Immigration, Joseph Carens’ builds a sophisticated account of justice in immigration based on an interpretation of liberal states’ democratic principles and practices. I dispute Carens’ contention that his hermeneutic... more
In The Ethics of Immigration, Joseph Carens’ builds a sophisticated account of justice in immigration based on an interpretation of liberal states’ democratic principles and practices. I dispute Carens’ contention that his hermeneutic methodology supports a broadly liberal egalitarian consensus; instead, the consensus he detects on principles and practices appears because his interpretation presupposes liberal egalitarianism. Carens’ methodology would benefit by engaging with a “hermeneutics of suspicion” that explores the ideological and exclusionary facets of liberal egalitarian principles when applied to immigration. This would contribute to an account of the ethics of immigration that gives more attention to power and interest, mediated through structures of gender, race, and class.
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"David Hume is a constant, but underappreciated presence in John Rawls’ work. This paper attempts to uncover and explicate the core Humean elements in Rawls’ philosophy and advocates for the merits of a more Humean Rawls. Though Rawls’... more
"David Hume is a constant, but underappreciated presence in John Rawls’ work. This paper attempts to uncover and explicate the core Humean elements in Rawls’ philosophy and advocates for the merits of a more Humean Rawls. Though Rawls’ familiarity with Hume is well known and his commentators frequently mention the importance of Hume’s circumstances of justice, the depth and range of the Humean influence has not been sufficiently understood. Commentators have been too quick to accept Rawls’ own account of Hume as a largely negative influence superseded by justice as fairness’s formidable alternative to utilitarianism. This is a mistake, as Hume remains a powerful and positive historical influence in Rawls’ political philosophy. Moreover, recognition of Hume’s influence provides cogent ways of responding to some of Rawls’ most prominent critics.
Rawls’ early essays and his lectures on the history of moral and political philosophy provide valuable material for understanding how Rawls saw the relation of his own work to that of his predecessors. Through an analysis of Rawls’ texts with emphasis on his early papers and lectures we seek to clarify his understanding of Hume and show how it impacts his work. In what follows, we show Hume’s influence on Rawls’ understanding of the circumstances of justice, the site of justice, the priority of the right, sympathy, the judicious spectator, and his methodology and approach to the problem of stability based on congruence between the good and the right. This illuminates Hume’s influence on contemporary political philosophy and provides a more balanced picture of the historical foundation of Rawls’ political philosophy. We end with some positive remarks on the benefits of embracing Rawls’ Humean side."
Rawls’ early essays and his lectures on the history of moral and political philosophy provide valuable material for understanding how Rawls saw the relation of his own work to that of his predecessors. Through an analysis of Rawls’ texts with emphasis on his early papers and lectures we seek to clarify his understanding of Hume and show how it impacts his work. In what follows, we show Hume’s influence on Rawls’ understanding of the circumstances of justice, the site of justice, the priority of the right, sympathy, the judicious spectator, and his methodology and approach to the problem of stability based on congruence between the good and the right. This illuminates Hume’s influence on contemporary political philosophy and provides a more balanced picture of the historical foundation of Rawls’ political philosophy. We end with some positive remarks on the benefits of embracing Rawls’ Humean side."
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The Hanford Advisory Board (HAB) is a broadly representative, deliberative body that provides formal policy advice on Department of Energy (DOE) proposals and decisions at the Hanford nuclear cleanup site near Richland, Washington.... more
The Hanford Advisory Board (HAB) is a broadly representative, deliberative body that provides formal policy advice on Department of Energy (DOE) proposals and decisions at the Hanford nuclear cleanup site near Richland, Washington. Despite considerable skepticism about the effectiveness of citizen advisory boards, we contend that the HAB offers promising institutional innovations. Drawing on our analysis of the HAB’s formal advice as well as our interviews with board members and agency officials, we explore the HAB’s unique design, outline a normative framework for evaluating participatory institutions, and assess the HAB’s effectiveness in rendering the DOE accountable to the local public.
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Sumantra Ghoshal’s condemnation of “bad management theories” that were “destroying good management practices” has not lost any of its salience, after a decade. Management theories anchored in agency theory (and neo-classical economics... more
Sumantra Ghoshal’s condemnation of “bad management theories” that were “destroying good management practices” has not lost any of its salience, after a decade. Management theories anchored in agency theory (and neo-classical economics generally) continue to abet the financialization of society and undermine the functioning of business. An alternative approach (drawn from a more classic institutional, new ecological, and refocused ethical approaches) is reviewed.
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(118/120 words): This paper brings Enrique Dussel's liberation philosophy into closer contact with the work of John Dewey. Dussel and Dewey share commitments to philosophical theory and practice aimed at addressing human problems,... more
(118/120 words): This paper brings Enrique Dussel's liberation philosophy into closer contact with the work of John Dewey. Dussel and Dewey share commitments to philosophical theory and practice aimed at addressing human problems, democratic modes of inquiry, and progressive social reform, but also have productive differences in their fundamental starting point for political philosophy and their use of the social sciences. Dussel provides a corrective to Dewey's Eurocentrism and his tendency to underplay the challenges of incorporating marginalized populations by insisting that social and political philosophy begin from the perspective of the marginalized and excluded. Simultaneously, Dewey encourages a modest experimental and fallibilist approach to social transformation more feasible than Dussel's approach rooted in phenomenology and the critical social sciences.
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Philip Kitcher presents an ambitious account of pragmatic naturalism that incorporates an explanatory story of the emergence and development of ethics, a metaethical perspective on progress, and a normative stance for moral theorizing.... more
Philip Kitcher presents an ambitious account of pragmatic naturalism that incorporates an explanatory story of the emergence and development of ethics, a metaethical perspective on progress, and a normative stance for moral theorizing. This article contends that Kitcher's normative stance is incompatible with the explanatory and metaethical components of his project. Instead, pragmatic naturalists should endorse a normative ethics that is experimental, grounded in practice, and acutely aware of cognitive and informational limitations. In particular, the ethical project would benefit from endorsing empirical work on participatory democracy for the identification of mechanisms to guide us on deep moral conflicts.
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On Saturday, May 1, 1886, tens of thousands of Chicago workers walked off their jobs. Employers responded by hiring strikebreakers and by firing and blacklisting union members. On May 4, strikers gathered in Haymarket Square in protest of... more
On Saturday, May 1, 1886, tens of thousands of Chicago workers walked off their jobs. Employers responded by hiring strikebreakers and by firing and blacklisting union members. On May 4, strikers gathered in Haymarket Square in protest of the police shooting of two demonstrators at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. When police attempted to break up the gathering, a demonstrator threw a bomb. The police in turn opened fire on the crowd. Unable to determine who threw the bomb, the authorities arrested eight anarchists on the charge of conspiracy and sentenced seven to death in a sham trial. Though the Haymarket Affair has been largely forgotten in the United States, labor movements around the world commemorate its legacy as May Day. Among the workers' demands was an eight hour day, memorialized by Isaac G. Blanchard and Jesse Henry Jones's " Eight Hours " (published in 1878).
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In Taking Back Philosophy: A Multicultural Manifesto, Bryan W. Van Norden challenges the Western and Eurocentric domination of philosophy curricula and puts forth a multicultural manifesto to encourage more intercultural dialogue within... more
In Taking Back Philosophy: A Multicultural Manifesto, Bryan W. Van Norden challenges the Western and Eurocentric domination of philosophy curricula and puts forth a multicultural manifesto to encourage more intercultural dialogue within the discipline. While this is a compelling read, Alex Sager suggests that it may not go far enough in envisaging the necessary reconstruction of philosophy from its very foundations.
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In When the State Meets the Street: Public Service and Moral Agency, Bernardo Zacka draws on eight months of fieldwork working as a receptionist in an anti-poverty agency to challenge dominant understandings of the role that bureaucrats... more
In When the State Meets the Street: Public Service and Moral Agency, Bernardo Zacka draws on eight months of fieldwork working as a receptionist in an anti-poverty agency to challenge dominant understandings of the role that bureaucrats and bureaucracy play in the functioning of the state. Alex Sager praises this as a subtle and thoughtful discussion that opens up a new methodological approach for political theory.
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With the exception of a few anarchists, political philosophers have extolled the rise of the state as a crucial stage in human progress. We see this in the social contract tradition from Thomas Hobbes to Immanuel Kant where people abandon... more
With the exception of a few anarchists, political philosophers have extolled the rise of the state as a crucial stage in human progress. We see this in the social contract tradition from Thomas Hobbes to Immanuel Kant where people abandon the state of nature and submit themselves to an authority that upholds positive and natural law. Hegel saw the rise of the state as realising both individual freedom and social unity as the culmination of world history. In our times, Francis Fukuyama has carried the Hegelian torch by extolling this progressive narrative, most famously by proclaiming the end of history. More recently, he contends that the evolution of bureaucratic independence, democratic accountability and rule of law has led to political order and prosperity, a goal he describes as ‘getting to Denmark’. In recent years, the ‘New Optimists’, led by Max Roser, Johan Norberg and Steven Pinker, tell us that things have never been better. Pinker in particular has been a particularly fervorous evangelist for the state, which he insists accounts for an unprecedented decline of violence.
James C. Scott wants no part of these paeans to progress...
James C. Scott wants no part of these paeans to progress...
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Review of Amy Allen's The End of Progress for the LSE Review of Books
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Review of William Maley's What Is a Refugee?
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In Theory of the Border, Thomas Nail looks at the constitutive role played by different types of border regimes – fences, walls, cells and checkpoints – in constructing societies across history as part of his broader ‘kinopolitics’... more
In Theory of the Border, Thomas Nail looks at the constitutive role played by different types of border regimes – fences, walls, cells and checkpoints – in constructing societies across history as part of his broader ‘kinopolitics’ centred on movement, with focus on the Mexico-US border. While this wide-ranging book offers less a theory of the border than a taxonomy based on historical, largely European border regimes, Alex Sager nonetheless welcomes it as an ambitious, rich and suggestive work that has much to offer political theories of migration.
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In Strangers in Our Midst: The Political Philosophy of Immigration, David Miller defends the ability of states to control their borders and exercise the right to exclude immigrants on the basis of community goals and preferences. Alex... more
In Strangers in Our Midst: The Political Philosophy of Immigration, David Miller defends the ability of states to control their borders and exercise the right to exclude immigrants on the basis of community goals and preferences. Alex Sager argues that the book’s central argument regarding this ‘weak cosmopolitan’ position is largely founded on myth, omission and the misrepresentation of empirical evidence; thus, while it may support the convictions of many, it also serves to reinforce misapprehension about this timely yet controversial topic.
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In Politics against Domination, Ian Shapiro proposes non-domination as the guiding value for justice, argues that it is best supported by democracy and speculates about measures to realise it across borders. Shapiro evidences his insight... more
In Politics against Domination, Ian Shapiro proposes non-domination as the guiding value for justice, argues that it is best supported by democracy and speculates about measures to realise it across borders. Shapiro evidences his insight and wisdom as a renowned political theorist in this account, but the work may not fully convince those who view non-domination as one, albeit important, value among others.
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Contribution to the crImmigration blog
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Blog post for the Radical Philosophers' Association calling for new narratives and categories for the philosophy of migration.
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According to the UN, 65.3 million forcibly displaced people languish in camps and slums or making desperate journeys toward safety. The global community has not only failed to help many of these people; in many cases it has actively... more
According to the UN, 65.3 million forcibly displaced people languish in camps and slums or making desperate journeys toward safety. The global community has not only failed to help many of these people; in many cases it has actively obstructed them from finding security and a new home for themselves and their families. Moral responsibilities to refugees are not exhausted by policies and actions. They also extend to how to think about the refugee crisis. Pundits, politicians, and political philosophers have failed to live up to these responsibilities by perpetuating populist myths, the causes of refugees’ flight, and the policies that prevent them from resuming their lives.
[This article is part of The Critique's The Bright Continent: Illuminating The Challenges, Opportunities & Promises Of A Rising Africa, http://www.thecritique.com/articles/the-bright-continent/]
[This article is part of The Critique's The Bright Continent: Illuminating The Challenges, Opportunities & Promises Of A Rising Africa, http://www.thecritique.com/articles/the-bright-continent/]
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Debates about immigration played a large part in both the 2016 election in the US and the UK’s referendum on membership of the European Union. During these debates, many politicians and commentators expressed the view that immigration... more
Debates about immigration played a large part in both the 2016 election in the US and the UK’s referendum on membership of the European Union. During these debates, many politicians and commentators expressed the view that immigration should benefit those who are already part of the national community. Alex Sager writes that this argument stems from the idea of ‘methodological nationalism’, a view which focuses on the nation to the exclusion of transnational and subnational processes. He warns that methodological nationalism can shape how politicians and researchers think about integration, development, and the economy, and allows them to draw artificial boundaries which do not stand up to reality.
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A blog post on the Open Borders site drawing from my PRQ article “Immigration Enforcement and Domination: An Indirect Argument for Much More Open Borders”.
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The 2017 US Presidential election is unusual in that it has been accompanied by nation-wide protests and calls for civil disobedience to resist proposed policies and the nomination of controversial candidates for prominent cabinet... more
The 2017 US Presidential election is unusual in that it has been accompanied by nation-wide protests and calls for civil disobedience to resist proposed policies and the nomination of controversial candidates for prominent cabinet positions. For example, many cities and universities around the country – including Portland State – have vowed not to cooperate with federal efforts to deport undocumented residents and students.
The decision to resist – or not to resist – law and policies is an ethical one that we need to answer as members of a democratic community. When does civic duty translate into the need to protest? When may we disobey the law? When do we have an obligation to disobey unjust laws? How do we reconcile our desire to act on our personal convictions with the knowledge that others disagree with our convictions? If we choose to resist, what means are permissible? How should we evaluate tactics such as blocking traffic or destroying property?
Drawing on the philosophical literature on civil disobedience and on democratic theory, I propose some ways of thinking ethically about resistance.
The decision to resist – or not to resist – law and policies is an ethical one that we need to answer as members of a democratic community. When does civic duty translate into the need to protest? When may we disobey the law? When do we have an obligation to disobey unjust laws? How do we reconcile our desire to act on our personal convictions with the knowledge that others disagree with our convictions? If we choose to resist, what means are permissible? How should we evaluate tactics such as blocking traffic or destroying property?
Drawing on the philosophical literature on civil disobedience and on democratic theory, I propose some ways of thinking ethically about resistance.
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A presentation on critical thinking to the Humanists of Greater Portland.
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Interview by Maggie White for Northwest Boomer and Senior News
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Oregonian Op-Ed, September 16, 2014
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The goal of this writing-intensive course is to give you the tools to write philosophy. You will practice the major types of philosophical writing, including summaries, blog posts, abstracts, argumentative essays, and research papers. We... more
The goal of this writing-intensive course is to give you the tools to write philosophy. You will practice the major types of philosophical writing, including summaries, blog posts, abstracts, argumentative essays, and research papers. We will also study essays, dialogues, and a short story to explore the diverse ways in which writers have communicated philosophical ideas. A significant part of thinking like a writer is learning how to read. For this reason, we will also carry out close readings of philosophical texts in different traditions with an eye toward structure, form, rhetoric, and style. This course is a "writing in the genre" course to prepare you to write for advanced philosophy classes. Grammar and the mechanics of writing will be covered on an "as needed" basis in response to student writing.
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This course examines the ethical implications of topics in immigration such as border controls and admissions policy, citizenship, integration, human smuggling and trafficking, immigrant detention, refugees (including the controversial... more
This course examines the ethical implications of topics in immigration such as border controls and admissions policy, citizenship, integration, human smuggling and trafficking, immigrant detention, refugees (including the controversial category of environmental migrants or refugees), gender and care work, and race. The course explores a variety of methodological approaches from philosophy, political theory, and social sciences and aims to encourage not only ethical reflection on migration and migration policy, but careful consideration of the concepts and categories used to understand and to research human mobility.
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Winter 2015 Syllabus
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Schedule for Portland State University's College of the Liberal Arts & Sciences Migration Lightning Conference
Protests around the world of Donald Trump's Muslim Ban and the heroics of ACLU lawyers in obtaining a stay against some of its more appalling applications offer a glimmer of hope. We hope that people will remain vigilant and active, that... more
Protests around the world of Donald Trump's Muslim Ban and the heroics of ACLU lawyers in obtaining a stay against some of its more appalling applications offer a glimmer of hope. We hope that people will remain vigilant and active, that communities will continue to organize, and that the judiciary will protect individuals' constitutional rights. We hope that politicians and people who have normalized this administration will come to realize that they are on the wrong side of history and that complacency is not in their self-interest.
Meanwhile, immigrants and their communities wait anxiously for the next assault. Will violent and traumatizing raids and deportations blight our towns and cities, separating parents from children? Will hate groups become further emboldened by the anti-Muslim, anti-Latino invective of Trump and Bannon? Will some have to leave a country and communities they love – or go into hiding because they have nowhere to go? Those of us engaged in the quixotic task of writing on the political philosophy of immigration need to take stock.
Meanwhile, immigrants and their communities wait anxiously for the next assault. Will violent and traumatizing raids and deportations blight our towns and cities, separating parents from children? Will hate groups become further emboldened by the anti-Muslim, anti-Latino invective of Trump and Bannon? Will some have to leave a country and communities they love – or go into hiding because they have nowhere to go? Those of us engaged in the quixotic task of writing on the political philosophy of immigration need to take stock.
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Political philosophers writing about international distributive justice, war, migration, and much else often resort to the strategy of explicitly restricting their audience to those who share the values and perspective of liberal... more
Political philosophers writing about international distributive justice, war, migration, and much else often resort to the strategy of explicitly restricting their audience to those who share the values and perspective of liberal democracy. This strategy may appear to reflect a welcome modesty about the scope of argument and an acknowledgement of diversity by not presuming to speak for everyone. In reality, it introduces prejudices and biases that ought to be resisted.
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Most works in the utopia genre – and almost all utopias are philosophical – are political. They ask about the sort of society to which we wish to aspire or avoid. Voltaire’s Candide or Optimism uses utopian motifs for quite different... more
Most works in the utopia genre – and almost all utopias are philosophical – are political. They ask about the sort of society to which we wish to aspire or avoid. Voltaire’s Candide or Optimism uses utopian motifs for quite different purposes: to ridicule the view of optimists who insist the world is ultimately how it should be and (possibly) to reject political society altogether.
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Last year I posted about the new anti-immigration rhetoric. Unlike the rantings of a Donald Trump or Nigel Farage, the new anti-immigration is more insidious and possibly more dangerous because it masquerades as serious intellectual... more
Last year I posted about the new anti-immigration rhetoric. Unlike the rantings of a Donald Trump or Nigel Farage, the new anti-immigration is more insidious and possibly more dangerous because it masquerades as serious intellectual discourse. People swayed by explicit racism or xenophobia are usually complicit in their ignorance and shoddy thinking. Little can be done to persuade them as they are not interested in reflecting on information that might make them change their mind.
In contrast, the new anti-immigration rhetoric hides under a veneer of respectability to lend respectability to the anti-immigration crowd. It is a particularly poisonous influence because it is packaged as a serious source of political discourse rather than a source of anti-immigration propaganda. Just as far right politicians have succeeded in shifting the immigration debate so that mainstream parties have come to adopt restrictionist, coercive policy, the appearance of politely disguised extremist views in mainstream publications helps make policies that a decade ago not worth printing viable alternatives.
In contrast, the new anti-immigration rhetoric hides under a veneer of respectability to lend respectability to the anti-immigration crowd. It is a particularly poisonous influence because it is packaged as a serious source of political discourse rather than a source of anti-immigration propaganda. Just as far right politicians have succeeded in shifting the immigration debate so that mainstream parties have come to adopt restrictionist, coercive policy, the appearance of politely disguised extremist views in mainstream publications helps make policies that a decade ago not worth printing viable alternatives.
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Thoughts on a proposed series of blog posts on utopias.
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This reflection on Italo Calvino's "Invisible Cities" is the second of a series of posts on utopian and dystopian philosophy and literature.
Research Interests:
This reflection on Naguib Mahfouz's "Evil Adored" is the first of a planned series of posts on utopian and dystopian philosophy and literature.
Research Interests:
Earlier this month I blogged about the radical pedagogies of Ivan Illich and Paulo Freire. Jacques Rancière’s The Ignorant Schoolmaster in some respescts completes this trilogy of how well-meaning, progressive forms of education can be... more
Earlier this month I blogged about the radical pedagogies of Ivan Illich and Paulo Freire. Jacques Rancière’s The Ignorant Schoolmaster in some respescts completes this trilogy of how well-meaning, progressive forms of education can be the most powerful tools of domination and hierarchy, leading students to become instruments in their own oppression.
Research Interests:
This post is the second part of a reflection on Jacques Rancière’s The Ignorant Schoolmaster.