President’s Lecture to highlight friendship

by Carmen George | March 19, 2010 | Montana Kaimin

While the role of friendship in a philosophically-engaged life may not often cross most people’s minds, it has for internationally-known philosopher Alexander Nehamas, the University of Montana’s next speaker for the President’s Lecture Series.

The Princeton University professor — a Spanish citizen born in Athens, Greece — will present “Because It Was He, Because It Was I: The Good of Friendship” Monday at 8 p.m. in the University Theatre. The event is free.

Despite his impressive, sometimes intimidating, list of published philosophical works, Nehamas is a “public intellectual,” someone who tries hard to reach a general audience, said Richard Drake, coordinator of the lecture series and chair of UM’s history department. 

“It’s not going to be a dry, academic philosophy seminar,” Drake said. “It’s going to be philosophy at its best.”

Matt Strohl, a UM assistant professor in philosophy who studied under Nehamas as a student at Princeton, said the professor is particularly interested in examining the kinds of values that are important to people but aren’t categorized under “morality” — such as beauty, art and friendship.

Strohl said that much of Nehamas’ work focuses on the idea that things like friendship and beauty attract and intrigue people, making them want to find out more. However, people subject themselves to be changed in the process of trying to discover more, which sometimes makes their attraction to these things dangerous, he said.

Nehamas’ lecture will also be UM’s Henry Bugbee Annual Lecture in Philosophy.

Earlier on Monday, from 3:10 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Nehamas will give a free seminar titled “Friendship and Other Non-Moral Values” in room 123 of the Gallagher Business Building.

Nehamas is the Edmund N. Carpenter II Class of 1943 Professor in the Humanities and a professor of philosophy and comparative literature at Princeton. His interests include classical Greek philosophy and literary theory.

Drake said philosophy shouldn’t just be reserved for seminars, but for life in general. He said Nehamas aims to bring that idea alive for his audience Monday night.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

This story has been viewed 243 times.