Emrys Westacott grew up in the UK and moved to the US in 1986. He is currently professor of philosophy at Alfred University in Western New York. His work has appeared in both scholarly and popular publications, including International Studies in Philosophy, Philosophy Now, The Philosopher's Magazine, Aeon, and Humanities. His books include 'The Virtues of Our Vices: A Modest Defense of Gossip, Rudeness and Other Bad Habits' (Princeton University Press, 2012), and 'The Wisdom of Frugality' (Princeton University Press, 2016). Email: westacott [at] alfred.edu
With the media choosing to pay so much attention to Donald Trump, relatively little attention has been paid to the 2016 Republican Party platform. This is in line with the tedious and reprehensible reduction of political discourse to horse race punditry. But it is a pity, since the prospect of this platform being enacted is every bit as worrying as the prospect of a narcissistic ignoramus like Trump becoming president.
by Emrys Westacott Whether we like or not, whether we admit or not, those of us who live in the modernized world are heirs of the Enlightenment. We know from experience and from scientific studies that there are numerous ways in which human beings are often quite irrational. Nevertheless, rational, informed deliberation in which evidence…
by Emrys Westacott What's the best deal in the world? My vote would be for the $80 annual pass that gives you access to all of America's national parks along with many other recreational areas such as national monuments and national forests that are managed by the federal government. (Actually, there's an even better deal:…
A discussion of when stereotypes are objectionable and of how they cause people to underperform in certain situations.
The essay outlines and compares various explanations of why human beings laugh.
The essay considers why we tend to be forgiving of family and friends who regularly keep us waiting, and whether we should be more critical of them.
by Emrys Westacott You have been called for jury service. The trial is complex and much hangs on the relative credibility of different witnesses, particularly those offering expert testimony regarding whether a certain medicine is likely to produce aggressive behavior as one of its side effects. A professional psychiatrist called by the defense testifies that…
by Emrys Westacott Earlier this month I visited Florida for the first time in my life, staying for a few days with relatives who own a house in Vero Beach on the Atlantic coast. The good company, mild January weather, enjoyable outings and excellent grilled fish dinners made for a pleasant trip. My brief glimpse…
by Emrys Westacott When terrorist atrocities are visited on civilian populations, the immediate emotional response is a combination of shock, sadness, and anger. That is natural and understandable. But the anger people feel fuels the thought that “something must be done; ” and political leaders, acutely aware of what is expected of them, immediately proceed…
A Professor To His Coy Doctoral Student (with apologies to Andrew Marvell) Had we but world enough, and time, Procrastination were no crime. We would sit down and think, and talk, Sketch plans for drafts in yellow chalk, Read, discuss, and once again read . . . We'd hardly ever feel a need To put…
by Emrys Westacott I have just finished reading Curtis Cate's 2005 biography of Nietzsche. At close to six hundred pages one would expect it to be exhaustive, the kind that is routinely described in the back cover blurb as “definitive.” After all, Nietzsche's life, apart from his thoughts and subjective experiences, was not especially eventful…
by Emrys Westacott A colleague recently responded to a memo I circulated by telling me they considered it unintentionally heterosexist. I didn't agree. After a brief exchange of e-mails that served only to sandpaper each other's sore spots, my colleague called my attention to the following passage in Allen Johnson's book Privilege, Power, and Difference:…
by Emrys Westacott As an expatriate Brit who has lived in North America for many years, I have sometimes been asked what I miss most about the old country. There's plenty to miss, of course: draught bitter; prime minister's question time; red phone boxes; racist tabloid newspapers; Henderson's Yorkshire Relish; gray rainy afternoons, especially at…
by Emrys Westacott The computer revolution has transformed education over the past quarter century. PowerPoint, greatly improved graphical and multi-media capabilities, e-books, Wikis, online student collaboration, flipped classrooms, clicker quizzes, open-access online courses (MOOCs), and the inexhaustible wealth of material available on the internet have opened up all sorts of interesting possibilities. (At the same…
by Emrys Westacott My Facebook profile describes my political views as “very liberal.” In the US this is a shorthand way of indicating that I support gay rights, government-run health care, stricter gun laws, abortion rights for women, abolition of the death penalty, reduced military spending, environmental protection, campaign finance reform, the United Nations, Charles…
by Emrys Westacott The market is efficient. The market knows best. This belief underlies much contemporary theory and practice, especially in the realm of government policy. It is has been used, for instance, to justify privatizing the railways and the post office in the UK, and it forms a central plank in the arguments of…
by Emrys Westacott Nostalgia is a fascinating and remarkably common phenomenon. We have all heard older people comparing the present unfavorably with the past in spite of–or even because of–obvious material improvements in the standard of living. Most of us over the age of twenty-five have probably done this ourselves. Often the fond remembrance involves…
by Emrys Westacott Why do we choose to do what we think is right even when it goes against our inclinations or interests? This is one of the oldest and toughest questions in moral psychology. Knowing the good clearly does not entail that we will do the good. So what carries us from the former…
Lament of the Expunged Metaphor You bastard! You butcher! You murdering swine! I had it all: beauty, aptness, concision. I fit snugly into that trimetric line. And what's my reward? –A brutal excision. Don't tell me they told you to “kill all your darlings.” Bill Faulkner's not going to take this rap. That's a defense…
Well-intentioned, bleeding-heart, left-leaning liberals are criticized and ridiculed from both the left and the right. But the world would be a much better place if there were more of them.