Episode 17 - Dr. Brandon Warmke: The Massive Moral Failures of Academia

Brandon Warmke will be Associate Professor of Humanities at the Hamilton School of Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida starting in Fall 2025. He is currently Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bowling Green State University and was, during the 2023–2024 academic year, a visiting fellow at the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Warmke works on various moral, social, and political topics in both philosophy and psychology, including moral responsibility, forgiveness, free expression, and public discourse. With Justin Tosi, he has written for CNN, Aeon, The Conversation, and MarketWatch, and their academic work has been featured by The Atlantic, New York Times Magazine, HuffPost, Scientific American, Forbes, Vox, Commentary Magazine, and The Guardian. In addition to publishing nearly three dozen articles, he has published two books, both co-authored with Justin Tosi: Why It’s OK to Mind Your Own Business (Routledge, 2023) and Grandstanding: The Use and Abuse of Moral Talk (Oxford University Press, 2020). He also edited Forgiveness and Its Moral Dimensions (Oxford University Press, 2021) with Dana Nelkin and Michael McKenna. (From the Hamilton School site)

Chapters:

00:00 Philosophers and Political Discourse

11:19 The Standards of Rigor in Academia

21:41 Self-Selection and Political Diversity in Academia

30:00 Understanding Left and Right Perspectives

40:06 Teaching Controversial Issues in the Classroom

48:41 Teaching Philosophy: Approaches and Ethics

56:59 Navigating Neutrality in the Classroom

01:04:30 The Role of Psychology in Philosophy

01:11:24 The Importance of Forgiveness in Today's Society

01:19:11 Transitioning Academic Roles: A New Chapter at the Hamilton School

01:26:28 Reimagining Higher Education: Challenges and Opportunities

Links from the show:

Personal website: https://brandonwarmke.com/

X: https://x.com/BrandonWarmke

Brandon Warmke's profile at the Hamilton School: https://hamilton.center.ufl.edu/people/brandon-warmke

Grandstanding: The Use and Abuse of Moral Talk (Oxford University Press, 2020): https://a.co/d/gZ3adY6

Forgiveness and Its Moral Dimensions (Oxford University Press, 2021): https://a.co/d/38Qh80a

Why It’s OK to Mind Your Own Business (Routledge, 2023): https://a.co/d/9ONbzk9

Dr. Jared Oliphint is the founder of Selling Plato (www.sellingplato.com), received his PhD in philosophy, and teaches philosophy at the college level. His published work has focused on metaphysics, philosophy of language, conceptual engineering, social ontology, and metaethics.

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Keywords:

philosophy, political discourse, academia, rigor, viewpoint diversity, teaching, forgiveness, Hamilton School, conservative principles, academic standards