Friday, November 26, 2010

"Evil and Human Dignity": A Lecture by USM Professor Michael DeArmey

     On November 19, 2010, Dr. Michael DeArmey gave a lecture entitled "Evil and Human Dignity" as part of the Charles W. Moorman Distinguished Professorship Lecture at the University of Southern Mississippi.  Lasting roughly an hour, Dr. DeArmey's discussion was set on the objectives of defining "dignity" with a context of Cosmopolitanism, defining "dignity" in his own words, and ending the lecture with a briefing of "What is Evil?".  Dr. DeArmey, who, happens to be my honors philosophy professor, incorporated a powerpoint presentation and hand-out to aid his audience with understanding his presentation. 
     Throughout the lecture, I had learned many concepts and terms that I had never before heard of or meditated on.  Cosmopolitanism, for instance, is the school of thought that follows the three criteria that 1) an interest exists for the varieties of human life, 2) we have moral duties to all, and 3) that we need a new-world order in order to prevent encroaching and threatening evils from increased globalization.  Following the first part of Cosmopolitanism, I was especially surprised to learn that "dignity" had never before been concretely defined.  According to Dr. DeArmey, dignity is aesthetic, ethical, noble, and heroic; it also rests on three levels, which are marked numerically by intentions, thoughtful intentions produced via pairing, and the autonomous control of intentions by designing one's life. I felt that Dr. DeArmey's presentation had a logical fluency to it and that his discussion of evil to close the lecture was especially praiseworthy (pun intended.)

No comments:

Post a Comment