Barry Lam, host and executive producer of Slate’s “Hi-Phi Nation” podcast, will deliver this year's Warren Steinkraus Lecture on Human Ideals, titled “Discretion: On the Selective Use of Power by Those Who Enforce the Rules,” at 4 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 7, in SUNY Oswego's Sheldon Hall historic classroom.
“Hi-Phi Nation” is billed as the first and only story-driven podcast connecting philosophy with contemporary events, science, law and culture. The podcast has a large listener base and helps make the field of philosophy more accessible.
Lam is also associate professor of philosophy at University of California (UC) Riverside, where he moved after 15 years on the faculty at Vassar College. He is currently on leave and teaching public philosophy at Princeton University.
His professional work has been in epistemology (the theory of knowledge) and philosophy of language, but he is branching out into public-facing philosophical work with an upcoming trade book called “Discretion,” from which this talk is excerpted.
The SUNY Oswego philosophy department’s annual free lecture series has honored Warren Steinkraus since 1988. The late Oswego professor was co-founder of numerous philosophical societies. He was also an associate editor of the philosophy journal Idealistic Studies. Steinkraus, who died in 1990, consistently demonstrated genuine commitment to ideals such as equality, peace, nonviolence and aesthetic quality.
The Oswego College Foundation manages a fund supporting the lecture series, thanks to donations from many friends of Steinkraus and his family.
Persons with disabilities needing assistance or special accommodations to attend this event should contact Lori Reitmeier in the Department of Philosophy, at 315-312-2249.