Laurence Thomas (born 1949) is an American philosopher. He is Professor Emeritus of
Philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
and
Political Science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
at
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
. Thomas is noted for his work on
moral luck
Moral luck describes circumstances whereby a moral agent is assigned moral blame or praise for an action or its consequences, even if it is clear that said agent did not have full control over either the action or its consequences. This term, in ...
,
social philosophy
Social philosophy examines questions about the foundations of social institutions, social behavior, and interpretations of society in terms of ethical values rather than empirical relations. Social philosophers emphasize understanding the social ...
and
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
Blacks and
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
s.
Work
Thomas asserts that we owe special "moral deference" to what he calls "diminished social category" people, that is, to individuals who belong to groups that are unjustly undervalued, we owe a presumption in favor of that person's account of her experiences, for example, if a black woman in a white society claims that she has been subjected to racism, her allegation must be taken especially seriously.
He has held appointments at Syracuse University,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
, Notre Dame,
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
, and
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
, and in 1994 was a visiting scholar in the Religion Department at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
. He was Andrew Mellon Faculty Fellow at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1978–79, received an NEH award to conduct a seminar on "Competing Rights Claims" in the summer of 1981, and was a Fellow of the National Humanities Center in 1982–83. He has given the Lawrence Kohlberg Lecture at the Association of Moral Education (1993) and the fifth Meyer Warren Tenenbaum and Labelle Tenenbaum Lecture at the University of South Carolina.
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Thomas's teaching has been widely noted and praised, including feature in the Education Section of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' in 1992. He was named Syracuse University's Scholar-Teacher of the Year in 1993. In July 1997, he presented the Kovler Lectures at the Medical School of the University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...
, South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. These lectures will become part of his forthcoming book on moral objectivity and evil. He has been the Lincoln Lecturer (Fall 2002) at Arizona State University and in October 2000, he lectured before Queen Beatrix
Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013.
Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husban ...
of the Netherlands
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
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, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
.
Laurence Thomas is the author of more than 100 articles. He has written extensively on the topic of friendship. Articles by Thomas not related to friendship include "Forgiving the Unforgivable", which appeared in ''Moral Philosophy and the Holocaust'' (edited by Eve Garrard and Geoffrey Scarre) and "Group Autonomy and Narrative Identity" which appeared in ''Blacks and Jews'' (edited by Paul Berman) and "Moral Deference" which appeared in ''Theorizing Multiculturalism'' (edited by Cynthia Willet).
One of Laurence Thomas's most highly regarded essays is entitled "Being Moral and Handling the Truth". It was published in Social Philosophy and Policy. In this discussion about the morality of lying Thomas gives an example of when a lie can actually be virtuous, such as lying at a friend's wedding that one has just learned that one is terminally ill.
Books
* ''Living Morally: A Psychology of Moral Character'' (Temple University Press, 1989)
* ''Vessels of Evil'' (Temple University Press, 1993)
* ''Sexual Orientation and Human Rights'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 1999)
* ''The Family and the Political Self'' (Cambridge University Press, 2005)
* ''In My Next Life I'll Be White'' (Speaking Out, 1990)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Laurence
Living people
American political philosophers
Syracuse University faculty
University of Maryland, College Park faculty
Harvard University Department of Philosophy faculty
Harvard University faculty
Oberlin College faculty
University of Michigan faculty
University of Notre Dame faculty
African-American philosophers
21st-century American philosophers
20th-century American philosophers
1949 births
20th-century African-American people
21st-century African-American academics
21st-century American academics