Herman Stark
Chair,
Department of Humanities
Tel:
(708)596-2000 x2547
Email:
hstark@southsuburbancollege.edu
Education
9/90 to 5/95: Ph.D. in philosophy from The University of Memphis.
The
University Meritorious Graduate Teaching Award, The
Meritorious
Graduate Instructor,
Dissertation:
Rationality Without Rules (Terry Horgan, Director).
8/88 to 5/90: M.A. in philosophy from
Distinction
on M.A. Logic examination.
8/84 to 5/88: B.A. in philosophy from
Magna
Cum Laude.
Dean's
Award from the College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences.
Areas of Specialization
Epistemology (interfacing
Philosophical Psychology, Philosophy of Science, and Critical Thinking)
19th and 20th
Century German Philosophy
Areas of Competence
Ethics
History of Philosophy
Philosophical Ideas in
Literature
Publications
BOOKS:
A Fierce Little Tragedy: Thought, Passion, and
Self-Formation in the Philosophy Classroom. 2003. (2nd edition, 2005).
POEMS:
“Indurated,” forthcoming 2005 in Talvipäivänseisaus.
“Philosophical Reflections on Pinocchio,” Egg
Arts and Literary Magazine, No. 3, March 2003, p. 23.
“The Sea, The Sea,” Samsara: The Magazine of
Suffering, Vol. 1, No.7, Fall 1999, pp. 50–51.
ARTICLES:
“Authenticity and Intersexuality,” forthcoming
2005 in Ethics and Intersex, ed.
S.Sytsma, Kluwer.
“Reasons Without Principles,” Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy, April 2004,
47:2, pp. 143–167.
“Hempel and Oppenheim Revisited, Again,” Epistemologia,
26 (2003), n. 2, pp. 237–264.
“Epistemic Unification,” The Journal of Mind and
Behavior, Winter 2001, Volume 22, Number 1, pp. 1–22, co-authored with Dr.
Mitchell Haney.
“The Lord Scroop Fallacy,” Informal Logic,
Vol. 20, No. 3, (2000): pp. 245–259.
“Fallacies and Logical Errors,” Inquiry:
Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines, Fall 2000, Vol.XX, No.1, pp.
23–32.
“Logic in a Pincers,” Philosophy in the
Contemporary World, Volume 7, Nos. 2-3, Summer-Fall 2000. pp. 61–69.
“What the Dynamical Cognitive Scientist Said to
the Epistemologist,” Acta Analytica, #22, 1999; s. 241–60.
“A Thematic Unity for Heidegger's Was Heisst
Denken?,” The Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy,
1998, www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Cont/ContStar.htm.
“Expertise and Rationality,” The Proceedings of
the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy, 1998, www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/TKno/TKnoStar.htm.
“Justifying Studio Art Without Conceptual
Capitulation,” Scraffito, Vol. 3, Spring 1998, pp. 4–5.
“How to be Openminded Without Letting Your Brains
Fall Out,” Journal for the Development of Philosophy Teaching, Vol. 8,
No. 1, 1997, pp. 6–7.
“Comments on
“Principles and Counter-examples,” Conference
Working Notes on Rational Agency, American Association of Artificial
Intelligence, Fall 1995.
“Connectionism and the Form of Rational Norms,” Acta
Analytica, #12, 1994; s. 39–53.
“Rationality is not Algorithmic,” Kinesis,
Fall 1993, Vol.20, #1, pp. 16–30.
Presentations
“The Mechanics of Judgment” at Meetings of the
“What is a Logical Error?” at Meetings of the
Illinois Philosophical Association,
“Hope and Despair” at Interdisciplinary Lecture
Series: What Has Life Taught Me?, St. Peter’s in the Loop,
“Ethical Theory and Epidemiology” (co-authored
with G.A. Griffith, biologist) at 46th Annual Meeting of Association
of College and University Biology Educators, Columbia College, Chicago,
September 2002.
“Some Unethical Behaviors in Ethics Class” at
“Critical Thinking Workshop” for Business Faculty
at
“Philosophy as Wonder” at ISUD Fourth World
Conference (International Society for Universal Dialogue),
“Some Issues Concerning the Epistemic Normativity
of Science” at Governor's
“Critical Thinking and Social Criticism” at the
2000 Meetings of the Society for Philosophy in the Contemporary World,
“Justification Without Principles” at the 1999
Meetings of the
“The Religious Warrior” at Conference on
Philosophy and Religion,
“Five Easy Pieces: Basic Distinctions for
Thoughtful Conversation” at Faculty Forum,
“The Concept of Judgment in Philosophy of Science”
at the 1999 Mid-South Philosophy Conference, March, 1999.
“Plato's Charmides as a Case Study of
Ethics in Teaching” at Ethics in Teaching Conference, Association for the
Development of Philosophy Teaching, Loyola University, October, 1998.
“Biomedical Ethics as Interdisciplinary and as
Vocational Integration” at Educators and Business Conference on Integration,
“Ethics and the Internet” (panel presentation) at
the Central Meetings of the American Philosophical Association,
“Connectionism and the Mind/Body Problem” at
Conference on Mind/Body Relation,
“Epistemic Unification” (co-authored with Dr.
Mitchell Haney) at the Pacific Meetings of the American Philosophical
Association,
“Recovering the Distinction Between Educating and
Training” at Faculty Roundtable,
“What does Holmes do that Watson doesn't” at the
Faculty Forum,
“Asking of Meaning” at Teaching for Meaning
Conference,
“What the Dynamical Cognition Framework Suggests
for the Theory of Rationality” at The
“The Lord Scroop Fallacy” at the Central Meetings
of the American Philosophical Association,
“The Hierarchy of Values Necessary for Rational
Conversation” at the Nature of Values and Teaching Conference, Governer's
“Why We Should Preserve the Environment of the
Ebola Virus” (co-authored with G.A. Griffith, biologist) at Faculty Development
Seminar,
“Heidegger on the Language of Thinking” at
Southwest Corridor Philosophy Colloquium, February, 1996.
“The Logic of Self-reference Applied to Some
Dogmas of Pop Collegiate Culture” at the Faculty Forum,
“Innocent or Morally-good: Who are Billy Budd and
Eve?” for faculty at
“Rationality Without Rules” at Department of
Philosophy Colloquium,
“The History and Status of the Concept of
Personhood in the Abortion Debate” for faculty and undergraduates at Mt. Saint
Mary's College, April, 1995.
“Authoritative Thinking and Reason-having” at the
Graduate School Colloquium Series,
“St. Anselm and the Very Idea of a Proof of Faith”
for faculty and undergraduates at
“Epistemic Authority With and Without Rules” at
Meetings of the
“Epistemic Authority With and Without Rules” at
Department of Philosophy Colloquium, The
“Connectionism and Non-algorithmic Rationality” at
the
“Rationality is not Algorithmic” (co-authored with
Dr. Terry Horgan) at Philosophical Collaborations Conference, Southern Illinois
University, March, 1993.
Other
Chair for Disqoutationalism and Truth Ascriptions
session at the Annual Meeting of The Central States Philosophical Association,
October, 2003.
Chair for Topics in Metaethics Colloquium at the
Central Meetings of the American Philosophical Association,
Chair for Kant session at the Annual Meeting of
the Illinois Philosophical Association,
Chair for Epistemology Colloquium at the Central
Meetings of the American Philosophical Association,
Commentator on Professor Joseph Pappin's paper,
“Karol Wojtyla's (Pope John Paul II) Phenomenology Of Consciousness,” at
Mid-South Philosophy Conference, Spring, 1991.
Peer review for Rowman & Littlefield of book
manuscript in Continental philosophy.
Peer review for
Mayfield Publishing of second edition of text in the history of philosophy.
Teaching Experience
8/95 to present:
Philosophy/Humanities Program Advisor at
Honors
Philosophy (Interdisciplinary)
Logic
(Symbolic, Critical Thinking)
Ethics
(emphasis on Biomedical Ethics)
World
Religions
Introduction
to Philosophy (Topical, Historical)
Humanities and Fine Arts I (to 1700)
Humanities and Fine Arts II (1700 to
present)
9/02 to present:
Adjunct Professor at Catholic Theological Union, Hyde Park,
Philosophy of Science (graduate
level)
Philosophical Ethics (graduate
level)
7/01 to present:
Adjunct Professor at
Aesthetics
Business Ethics
Humanities
Contemporary Global Issues
8/94 to 5/95: Visiting
Assistant Professor at
Contemporary
Moral Issues
Introduction
to Logic
Supervision
of graduate teaching assistants
8/93 to 7/94:
Instructor at
Historical
Introduction to Philosophy
Ethics
Introduction
to Logic
6/92 to 5/94:
Instructor at The
Introduction
to Logic
Classical
Issues in Philosophy
Other Teaching:
Language
Instructor at
Tutorials
in Analytical Reasoning for GRE and LSAT students.
Graduate
Teaching Assistant at The
Graduate
Teaching Assistant at Northern
Article Research
1. Middle–Heidegger
on thinking.
2. Conceptions
of reason in 19th and 20th Century German philosophy and literature.
3. Are
appeals to judgment in the philosophy of science a fallback to intuitionism?
4. Philosophy
and Literature: literary examples and “the contextual universality” of reason.
Book Research
What role do rules play in
rationality? It would seem a leading
one, for the cleanest examples of being rational appear to be those in which
one adopts conclusions on the basis of having followed appropriate rules, e.g.,
arriving at the checkbook balance by adding credits to and subtracting debits
from the previous balance. But is the
full range of rationality reducible to this notion of rule-following? Or even to rule-conformity?
My aim is to clarify the relation between
rules and rationality. My strategy is to
expose and then reject an assumption in the "rationality with rules"
idea that would render epistemic normativity as being completely
systematizable by a set of epistemic norms in the form of exceptionless rules. My arguments against this assumption are
based on works concerned with cognitive science, the nature of concepts, the
judicial system, ethics, psychological explanation, and detective fiction. My main conclusion is that rationality
outstrips rules (at least of the exceptionless kind), and a major implication I
trace is that much epistemological theorizing is therefore misguided.
Languages
German, French. A little Latin and less Greek. Received Outstanding Student Award out
of 200 international students from the Goethe Institute in Prien am
Additional Awards and Information
Awarded American Philosophical Association
Certificate for Teaching Excellence by the APA Committee on Teaching.
Awarded Research Sabbatical, Spring 2003.
Awarded Title III Grant for research
project, “Biotechnology, Ethics, and Curriculum Integration.”
Awarded College Foundation Grant for
research project, “Transcending Local Limitations: The Epistemological Status
of the Internet.”
Awarded Supplemental Dissertation Stipend
by the Department of Philosophy, The
***
Elected to Executive Board of Faculty
Elected to Negotiations Committee of Faculty
Faculty Advisor for Phi Theta Kappa International
Honors Society (includes my creation of Cultural Outings Program, e.g., opera,
symphony, theater, art museum, architectural tours, fine dining).
Member (current or past) of the following
committees: Academic Standards, Curriculum, Honors, International/Intercultural
Studies, and Review Board (Academic/Industry) of Biomedical/Electrical
Engineering Program.
Member (current or past) of the following
professional organizations: American Philosophical Association, Illinois
Philosophical Association, Society for Philosophy in the Contemporary World,
and International Society for Universal Dialogue.
***
Ethics Advisor to The Ethics Committee of
Ruder/Finn Chicago (international public relations firm).
Ethics Consultant for Professional Ethics Program,
St. Peter’s in the Loop,
Professional German-English translations
(symmetric) for journals, business, and private correspondence.
Coursework (3 semester hours) in
Academic/Vocational Integrated Curriculum from
Coursework (8 semester hours) in German from
***
Awarded lead role in Edward Albee's The Zoo
Story.
A Fierce Little Tragedy nominated for SPEP Book Prize (Society for
Phenomenological and Existential Philosophy; didn’t win but shouldda).
Invigilated Student/Faculty Philosophy Evening,
“Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy” with Walter Armstrong, J.D., a Baker Street
Irregular, as guest speaker.
Passed legislation to outlaw possession of air
rifles within city limits by minors (Eagle Scout project).
Winner of State of
Travels include
References
Primary
Harold I. Brown, Distinguished Research Professor
Emeritus of Philosophy,
Michael Gelven, Distinguished Research Professor
of Philosophy, Northern Illinois University, Philosophy Department,
Terry Horgan, Professor of Philosophy, The
University of Arizona, Social Science Bldg. 213, PO Box 210027, Tuscon, AZ
85721-0027. Tel:(520)621-3120. thorgan@email.arizona.edu.
Tomis Kaptian, Professor of Philosophy, Northern
Illinois University, Philosophy Department, DeKalb, IL 60115.
Tel:(815)753-6408.
tg0tek1@wpo.cso.niu.edu.
Thomas J. Nenon, Professor of Philosophy, Vice
Provost, The
John Tienson, Professor of Philosophy, The
Mark Timmons,
Professor of Philosophy, The University of Arizona, Social Science Bldg. 213, PO Box 2110027, Tuscon, AZ 85721-0027.
Tel:(520)621-3129. mtimmons@email.arizona.edu.
Secondary (letters available)
Douglas Tweeton, Vice President of Academic
Affairs,
Commodore Craft, Dean of Instruction,
Tenure Committee Final Report,
Sherman Stanage (deceased), Distinguished Teaching
Professor of Philosophy,
Clarence Christian, Head of Social Sciences,
Former Students (solicited and unsolicited,
including various degree levels, majors, and subsequent careers).