UF philosophy professor to lecture on love, justice and poverty
Shawn Graves, Ph.D., assistant professor of philosophy at The University of Findlay, will address “Love, Justice and Global Poverty” on Monday, March 16 at 6 p.m. in Winebrenner Theological Seminary’s TLB Auditorium. The public event will be free.
Graves, in theorizing whether morality is a matter of opinion or truth, will posit that humanity has a moral obligation to help the poor throughout the world, particularly those whose lives are endangered by abject poverty, and in so doing, express love and secure justice.
“As (philosopher, teacher and activist) Cornel West puts it, ‘justice is what love looks like in public,’” said Graves. “I argue that we are to love without exception. We are, as Martin Luther King, Jr., put it, to adopt a posture of ‘universal altruism’ where our love is not restricted to certain ethnic, racial, religious, national or socioeconomic classes. This view of love falls right in line with many religious traditions…”
Graves has taught at the University since 2013. He had previously taught at Cedarville University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and in English. He earned a Master of Arts in philosophy from Ohio University and the University of Rochester, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Rochester in 2010.
He specializes in epistemology, which is the study of the nature and grounds of knowledge, especially in regard to its limits and validity; philosophy of religion, philosophical theology and ethics.
Graves’ talk is part of UF’s Religious Studies and Philosophy Lecture Series sponsored by the Religious Studies and Philosophy Department.