University of Cambridge professor of philosophy Simon Blackburn delivered the Truax Lecture at Hamilton College on Monday, April 4. Blackburn's lecture was titled "Religion, Liberalism, and the Foundations of Value."
Blackburn's philosophical work revolves around on ethical theory, which, according to John Stewart Kennedy Professor of Philosophy Richard Werner, "is the area of philosophy that deals with such issues as: How can morality be at all possible? Are moral judgments justifiable or are they just emotive ejaculations? Is morality anything other than a relative social construct?" Werner also described ethical theory as "an area of philosophy where every dimension of the discipline interacts and for that reason it demands both intellect and understanding if it is to be accomplished with excellence."
Werner said during Blackburn's introduction, "His defense of quasi-realism as expressivism and projectivism in ethics plus a minimalist theory of truth are already classics waiting to be mined by present and future generations. Professor Blackburn has helped to show that even if ethics is rooted in the emotions as David Hume taught us long ago, it is no threat to the legitimacy and justifiability of moral judgments. Indeed, it helps us understand why morality is so important to us and why it should be. It helps us understand why pernicious forms of relativism need not be taken seriously."
Blackburn began his lecture by discussing meta-ethics in the debate of religion versus liberalism, as well as the two types of reactions to post-modernism. These reactions include a pragmatic reaction and an idealist reaction. Blackburn used both philosophical and "common sense" examples to illustrate philosophical ideas of "coping versus copying." He then argued that we should be able to combine both objective "wrongs" and cultural "wrongs." Opinions are not purely subjective, he claimed, and one "can get to uncontaminated facts."
His lecture also included a discussion of Hume's philosophy of humans as social animals and deeply sensitive to other's viewpoints. When we decide that we like something, it turns into an endorsement, according to Blackburn, and we then attach value to such an idea, which has great implications on our ideas of liberalism and morality.
Blackburn finished his lecture by addressing the differences between liberal societies versus closed or authoritarian society. He claimed that the "liberal remedy lies in speech.""We need to keep liberalism live and well" in the debate of liberalism versus morality, Blackburn concluded.
Blackburn is a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Previously he was Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and was a Fellow and tutor in philosophy at Pembroke College, Oxford. His books include Spreading the Word, the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Ruling Passions, Think, Being Good, and most recently Lust, in a series on the seven deadly sins. From 1984 to 1990 Blackburn edited the philosophy journal Mind. His forthcoming book, Truth: A Guide for the Perplexed, will be published this summer.
An extensive question and answer session followed the lecture, where students and faculty members were able to question Blackburn's ideas of truth versus Truth (capital T), minimalism, and morality, as well as other philosophical ideas, such as Cornell Realism.
The Truax Lecture Series was established in the mid-1950's by R. Hawley Truax, class of 1909, in memory of his father, Chauncey S. Truax, who was a member of the class of 1875 and also served on the Hamilton College Board of Trustees from 1899 to 1906. The Truax Lecture Series recognizes distinguished guest philosophers or lecturers in the field of philosophy.
