Romanell-ΦBK Lectures in Philosophy at UNC, Chapel Hill
Susan R. Wolf, Edna J. Koury Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is the recipient of the Romanell-ΦBK Professorship for 2009-2010.
Wolf (right) presented three lectures on “Questions of Love,” March 15, 16 and 17, from 4:00-6:00 p.m. in the Hyde Hall University Room, UNC-Chapel Hill.
Lecture 1: “The Basic Questions”
Lecture 2: “One Thought Too Many: Love, Morality and the Ordering of Commitment”
Lecture 3: “Loving Attention: Lessons in Love from The Philadelphia Story”
The first lecture asked the basic questions: What is love, and why is it especially important? The second discussed the possibility of conflict between love and morality: How should we think about such conflicts? What should we do when such conflicts arise? The third considered the relations among love, attention and knowledge, drawing lessons from the great Hollywood classic, The Philadelphia Story: What is it to look at someone lovingly? How is loving attention different from careful attention? Finally, it considered a moral perspective, suggested by Iris Murdoch, built around the virtue of love.
Wolf works chiefly in ethics and its close relations in philosophy of mind, philosophy of action, political philosophy and aesthetics. Her interests range widely over moral psychology, value theory and normative ethics. She is the author of Freedom Within Reason, and the forthcoming Meaning in Life and Why It Matters, and is currently editing an anthology of essays, titled Understanding Love Through Philosophy, Film and Fiction.
Her publications include “Asymmetrical Freedom,” The Journal of Philosophy (1980); “The Importance of Free Will,” Mind (1981); “Moral Saints,” The Journal of Philosophy (1982); “Sanity and the Metaphysics of Responsibility,” in Responsibility, Character, and the Emotions, ed. by Schoeman (1987); “Morality and Partiality,” Philosophical Perspectives (1992); “Meaning and Morality,” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (1997); “Happiness and Meaning: Two Aspects of the Good Life,” Social Philosophy & Policy (1997); “The Meanings of Lives,“ in Perry, Bratman, Firscher, eds., Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings (2007); “Moral Psychology and the Unity of the Virtues,” Ratio (2007); and “Moral Obligations and Social Commands,” in Metaphysics and the Good: Themes from the Philosophy of Robert Merrihew Adams, ed. by Newlands and Jorgensen, eds., (2009).
Awarded annually, the Romanell-ΦBK Professorship recognizes the recipient’s distinguished achievement and substantial contribution to the public understanding of philosophy. Phi Beta Kappa provides a $7,500 stipend to supplement the awardee’s salary, and the professor gives a series of three special lectures open to their institution’s academic community and the general public.
For more information about the Romanell-ΦBK Professorship, contact Lucinda Morales, Director of Society Affairs, at (202) 745-3235 or write to awards@pbk.org.