UMass Professor Lawrence Blum to explore meaning of race, racism, Nov. 28-29

UMass Professor Lawrence Blum to explore meaning of race, racism, Nov. 28-29November 12, 2007Patrick Farrellpmfarrel@syr.edu

Lawrence Blum, Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Education and professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, will address issues concerning race and racism in a colloquium titled “Race and Class Inequality: A Framework for Comparison” Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m. in Stolkin Auditorium in the Physics Building on the SU campus. The event is free and open to the public; paid parking is available in the Irving Avenue Garage.

Blum’s scholarly interests are in moral philosophy, moral psychology, moral education, race theory, multiculturalism, social and political philosophy, philosophy of education, the philosophy of Simone Weil and, more recently, philosophy and the Holocaust, and ethics and race in film. He has taught at UMass-Boston since 1973 and has been a visiting professor at UCLA (in philosophy), Stanford (in education), and Teachers College, Columbia (in education).

His published work includes four books: “Friendship, Altruism, and Morality” (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980), “A Truer Liberty: Simone Weil and Marxism” (co-author: V.J. Seidler) (Routledge, 1989), “Moral Perception and Particularity” (Cambridge University Press, 1994) and “‘I’m Not a Racist, But’: The Moral Quandary of Race” (Cornell University Press, 2002), which was selected Best Book of the Year in social philosophy by the North American Society for Social Philosophy.

On Thursday, Nov. 29, Blum will take part in a seminar, “Some Concerns about White Privilege Analysis,” in the School of Education’s Educational Resource Center (Room 056) in Huntington Hall.

Blum’s visit to Syracuse University is co-sponsored by the cultural foundations of education department in the School of Education and the philosophy department in The College of Arts and Sciences. For additional information about the colloquium and the seminar, contact Barbara Applebaum at (315) 443-3702.