Every year, several universities in the US are selected by the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholars Program to host a speaker of national distinction at their site by offering presentations and colloquiums to students and faculty. This year, UNCG was selected as one of those schools. Prof. David Schmidtz, founding director of the Center for the Philosophy of Freedom and Kendrick Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona, will be visiting our campus February 23rd and 24th.
Here are some of the planned events:
Prof. Schmidtz will offer a research colloquium for faculty on Monday the 23rd at 12:00 am in the Macdonald Room, Curry building. For this presentation, he will give a paper on “Feasibility in Theory and Practice”.
On Monday evening, there will be a talk on “Markets in Education” that is open to the public at 7:00 pm in Room 136 – Petty Building. Professor Schmidtz is co-authoring a book on the ethics of for-profit education and he will be presenting on this topic. All UNCG students, staff and faculty are invited to attend and the event will be publicized in Greensboro and at other universities.
On Tuesday, the 24th, Prof. Schmidtz will meet with Phi Beta Kappa students and others at UNCG, including students in Business, Philosophy, Environmental Studies, and Economics.
At 3:30 on Tuesday, Prof. Schmidtz will present a student seminar/lecture. It will be held in Room 322, Ferguson Building in conjunction with Bas van der Vossen’s Philosophy of Law class.
More information about David Schmidtz:
Prof. Schmidtz teaches Philosophy and Economics at the University of Arizona and holds a courtesy appointment at the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship at Eller College of Management. He works in ethics, environmental philosophy, and rational choice. He is also the editor-in-chief of Social Philosophy and Policy and co-editor of Environmental Ethics: What Really Matters, What Really Works. He is the author of Rational Choice and Moral Agency; Elements of Justice; and Person, Polis, Planet. His first book, The Limits of Government: An Essay on the Public Goods Argument combined his interests in moral philosophy and economic analysis.
As Director of the Freedom Center, his mission is to promote understanding and appreciation of the ideals of freedom and responsibility along four dimensions: published research, undergraduate education, graduate education, and community outreach.
Through his exceptional research, founding and directing the Arizona Freedom Center, and as editor-in-chief of the Social Philosophy and Policy journal, Schmidtz has been the driving force behind UArizona now being ranked #1 in the world for political philosophy.
For more information about any of these events, please contact Bas van der Vossen at [email protected] or the Philosophy Department at 334-5059.
