My writing, research, and teaching can be gathered together under the general
heading of continental philosophy. More specifically, my work in philosophy emerged from
my passion for exploring the ethical, aesthetic, and socio-political strands of such
modern German and Jewish philosophers as Kant, Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger, Levinas,
Benjamin, Arendt, and Rosenzweig. This led me more deeply into how phenomenology can be
used to better explore ethical relations and events such as the Holocaust. Out of my
initial attraction to and immersion in the dialectical philosophy of Hegel, I became
deeply influenced by Rosenzweig's philosophy and am currently involved in the growth
and developments of the International Rosenzweig Society. 

In 2007, I became keenly interested in the interrelation of ethics, science, and
technology and helped to found and then have served as the Scientific Director of the
Center for Science, Technology, Ethics, and Policy (CSTEP). I founded CSTEP on the
principles of a praxis that I had thought was a novel ethical
approach--'phenomenological ethics'--only to find out that the term had already
been coined by Werner Marx in his 1992 book, "Towards a Phenomenological
Ethics". I continue developing this approach in the several domains of philosophy in
which I am active. 

Articles

Books

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Art and Responsibility (2011)

Two German philosophers working during the Weimar Republic in Germany, between the two World Wars,...

 

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Thought and Social Engagement in the Mexican-american Philosophy of John H. Haddox: A Collection of Critical Appreciations (2010)

This collection of essays was inspired or influenced by the seminal work of John Haddox...

 

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The Double Binds of Ethics after the Holocaust: Salvaging the Fragments (with john roth and jennifer geddes) (2009)

with John Roth and Jennifer Geddes; nominated for the National Jewish Book Award for non-fiction...

 

Contributions to Books

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What about the children? Benjamin and Arendt: on education, work, and the political, Teaching Global Community (2010)

This article is a rough draft of an article that I contributed to an edited...

 

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Making Ethical Sense of Useless Suffering with Levinas, The Double Binds of Ethics after the Holocaust: Salvaging the Fragments (2009)
 

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Benjamin in Paris: Weak Messianism and Memories of the Oppressed, Topographies du Souvenir: “Le Livre des passages” de Walter Benjamin (2007)
 

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Rosenzweig's Messianic Aesthetics, Franz Rosenzweig's "Neues Denken" (2004)
 

Unpublished Papers

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The Ethical Phenomenon of GM-Corn: Anger, Anxiety, and Arrogance in Crossing American Borders (2009)

In terms of phenomenology, I often wonder about the relevance of what I do as...