A full plate of topics to fill Faculty Forum lunch-hour series

What do ethics, existentialism, food, documentaries and urban literature have in common?

They’re among the topics to be featured in the spring Faculty Forum series, Chapman’s traditional staff/faculty lecture series that pairs stimulating talks with all-you-can-eat Sodexo luncheon buffets. The series opens at noon Wednesday, March 2,  in Beckman Hall 404, with a talk by Kent Lehnhof, Ph.D., associate professor of English, Wilkinson College, titled  “Ethics in a Postmodern World: The Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas.”

The philosophical approach of Jacques Derrida (commonly termed “deconstruction”) has been accused of birthing a world of moral relativism where truth and right no longer have meaning. Yet this accusation is complicated by Derrida’s personal regard for Emmanuel Levinas, an ethicist who argues that our responsibility for the other is nothing short of “infinite.” In this presentation, Dr. Lehnhof will introduce Levinas’s thought, explaining how his radical critique of western philosophy provides a grounding for ethics in a postmodern world.

Lunch at the forums is just $5, so mark your calendars for each of the presentations and plan to come out and show your support to your colleagues this spring.

Upcoming topics and their presenters include:

• Tuesday, March 8, “Simone de Beauvoir, Food and Existentialism,” Véronique Olivier, Ph.D., assistant professor of French, Wilkinson College.
• Tuesday, March 15, “Government Regulations and the American System of Justice,” Tibor R. Machan, Ph.D., R.C. Hoiles Chair of Business Ethics and Free Enterprise, the Argyros School of Business & Economics.
• Wednesday, March 16, “Social Issue Documentary Filmmaking and Community Engagement,” Sally Rubin, assistant professor, Dodge College.
• Wednesday, March 23, “Strategy as Experimental Design: An Exploratory Note,” Niceto S. Poblador, Ph.D., associate professor, Argyros School of Business and Economics.
• Tuesday, April 5, “When Does Democracy Involve Co-ethnics and Generate Ethnic Civil War in Africa?” Jean G. Tompihé, Ph.D., lecturer in Peace Studies and Political Science, Wilkinson College.
• Tuesday, April 12, “Investigating Precious: A Novel Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, Urban Lit’s Challenge to Adaptation Theory,” Mildred Lewis, assistant professor, Wilkinson College.