Laurence Thomas

 

Laurence Thomas - Professional Summary:    

Laurence Thomas is Professor of Philosophy and Professor Political Science in the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, where he is also a member of the Center for European Studies, as well the Judaic Studies Program and the Religion & Society Program. He is the author of more than 80 articles and four books: Living Morally (1989) and Vessels of Evil: American Slavery and the Holocaust (1993), both published by Temple University Press, Sexual Orientation and Human Rights ([co-authored with Michael Levin] Roman and Littlefield, 1999), and The Family and the Political Self (Cambridge University Press, 2006). He has also edited an anthology for Blackwell Publishers entitled Contemporary Debates in Social Philosophy (August 2007). His next book is entitled The Fragmented Self: Technology and the Loss of Humanity. The publisher will be Cambridge University Press. Although ever so appreciative of the richness of technology, the central argument of the book is that technology is quickly undermining the humanity of individuals.

 

In October of 2000, he was invited to be a featured speaker at the annual Veerstichting Conference in the Netherlands. His talk, "Happiness and Moral Powers," was presented before Holland's Queen Beatrix of Orange.

 

Along with Anthony Lewis of The New York Times and Cornel West of Princeton University, Thomas has been a member of the Black-Jewish Work-Group of 25 people, directed by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., which was under the aegis of the DuBois Institute of Harvard University. Thomas's articles have been widely reprinted and have appeared in volumes with, among others, Annette Baier, Kurt Baier, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Cynthia Ozick, Thomas Scanlon, Cornel West, and Michael Walzer, Bernard Williams.

 

Thomas's "Group Autonomy and Narrative Identity: Blacks and Jews" in Paul Berman's Blacks and Jews: Arguments and Alliances (Delactore Press, 1993) is his major post-Vessels of Evil statement regarding the difference between Blacks and Jews; and his essay "Moral Deference" has been recognized as a classic account of how people with different backgrounds may better understand one another. In 2003, he published "Forgiving the Unforgivable," in a volume entitled Moral Philosophy and the Holocaust. This has also been deemed a contemporary classic. His most recent statement regarding forgiveness can be found in the volume Evil, Political Violence, and Forgiveness (edited by Andrea Veltman and Kathryn Norlock and published by Lexington Books). The essay is entitled "Evil and Forgiveness: The Possibility of Moral Redemption".

 

Thomas has lectured widely in the United States and abroad. In 1992, he was the Lawrence Kohlberg Memorial Lecture for the Association of Moral Education; and in 1994, he was Visiting Professor of Religious Studies, at the University of Michigan, along with Elain Pagel of Princeton and Richard Lowentin of Harvard University. In 1995, he was invited to lecture at Hebrew University's Vidal Sasoon Conference on "Demonizing the Other" and at Tel Aviv University Conference on Understanding Moral Differences. In July 1997, he presented the Kovler Lectures at the Medical School of the University of Cape Town, South Africa; and in the Spring of 1998, he participated in the Distinguished Lecture Series on religion at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. In 2004, he gave an invited lecture at the United States Holocaust Museum. Thomas divides his time between the U.S. and Paris, FRANCE. Some of his essays have been written directly in French: "Autonomie, " Dictionnaire d'Ethique et de Philosophie Morale, 3rd (2002) and "Rayonnement Moral et Rivalité de la Souffrance," Portulan. Tome 2: Mémoire Juive; Mémoire Nègre (1998) and "Trente Ans Après," Raisons Publiques (2004). His "Au Delà du Mal : Les Juifs et Les Noir" ("Beyond Evil : Jews and Blacks") was published in 2008 in Juifs et Noirs : du Mythe à la Réalité (edited by Shmuel Trigano).

Some of his particularly provocative essays of late include "Equality and the Mantra of Diversity," The University of Cincinnati Law Review (2004); "Morality and a Meaningful Life," Philosophical Papers (2005); "Moral Equality and Natural Inferiority," Social Theory & Practice (2005).

 

As a Professor at Syracuse University, Laurence Thomas's signature course is ETHICS AND VALUE THEORY (Philosophy 191) which for more than a decade has attracted 400 students a semester. Thomas has been listed three times in Who's Who Among America's Teachers. On a personal note, perhaps the philosophical essay that has meant the most to Thomas on a very personal level is "Upside-Down Equality: A Response to Kantian Thought" published in 2003. This essay is part of Thomas's general critique of Kantian thought. Notwithstanding the importance of rationality and the reality that it is the rational powers of human beings that truly distinguish human beings from animals, it remains true nonetheless that there are insights that we can have only by way of experience. For example, mere ratiocination will not suffice to give men a real sense of what it is like to live in a society that is governed only by women. Living in a society governed only by women is necessary in order to grasp what that is like.

 

Laurence Thomas - Professional Experience:    

 

Syracuse University
Professor of Philosophy; Professor of Political Science

 

Laurence Thomas - Interests:    

 

technology, travel, music

Laurence Thomas - LookupPage

Laurence Thomas' Blog

Laurence Thomas' Homepage