Faculty

Stephen Nathanson

Professor of Philosophy
Office: 373 Holmes Hall
Phone: 617-373-4169
E-mail: s.nathanson@neu.edu

I’ve been very fortunate to be able to devote my professional career to the things I care most about: the study of important ideas. My own interests in philosophy range from traditional questions about knowledge and the justification of belief to contemporary issues of political action and policy, in particular the ethics of war and peace and problems of economic justice.

While we often think of books as the source of philosophical ideas, I am impressed by the ways in which events in the world are driven by people’s philosophical beliefs. The study of philosophy provides us with ways to understand and evaluate these beliefs.

While I consider myself a lover of the great philosophical classics, my deepest commitment is to try to think critically about important issues that we face as individuals and collectively. In my courses, the main task is to use philosophy to solve problems, and this problem solving aim is central in all my writings as well.

By studying philosophy, we can both expand the reservoir of concepts and theories that are available to us and improve our ability to reflect critically on our own beliefs and the beliefs of others with differing views. For me, philosophy is a challenging and difficult field of study, but its personal and intellectual rewards can be deeply enriching.

Education

B. A. with Honors in Philosophy, Swarthmore College
Ph. D. in Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University

Main areas of interest: Ethics, Political Philosophy, War and Peace, Economic Justice, Epistemology.

Selected Publications

Books

The Ideal of Rationality, Humanities Press International, 1985.

_________Revised edition, The Ideal of Rationality : A Defense Within Reason, Open Court, 1994.

An Eye for an Eye?-The Immorality of Punishing by Death, Rowman and Littlefield, 1987.

_________ Second edition, Rowman and Littlefield, 2001.

Should We Consent to be Governed?-A Short Introduction to Political Philosophy, Wadsworth, 1992.

_________ Second edition, Wadsworth, 2000.

Patriotism, Morality, and Peace, Rowman and Littlefield, 1993.

Economic Justice, Prentice-Hall, 1998.

Edited book

John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy With Some of their Applications to Social Philosophy, edited and abridged with an introduction by Stephen Nathanson, Hackett, 2004.

Selected Articles

  "In Defense of `Moderate Patriotism'," Ethics, 99 (1989), 535-52.

  "Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis: On the Role of Moral Reasons in Explaining and Evaluating Political Decision-Making," Journal of Social Philosophy XXII (1991), 94- 108.

  "Is Patriotism Like Racism?," APA Newsletter on Philosophy & the Black Experience 91:2 (1992), 9-11.

  "Should Drug Crimes Be Punished?," in C. Brown and S. Luper-Foy, eds., Drugs, Morality, and the Law (Garland, 1994), 19-34.

  "Can Terrorism Be Morally Justified?" in James Sterba, ed., Morality in Practice, 7th ed. (Wadsworth, 2004), 602-610.

  “Prerequisites for Morally Credible Condemnations of Terrorism,” in William Crotty, ed., The Politics of Terror: The U.S. Response to 9/11 (Northeastern U. Press, 2004).

Courses regularly taught: Problems of War & Peace, Moral Philosophy, Theory of Knowledge, Economic Justice, Moral and Political Philosophy (graduate course).