Todd Gifford May
(born May 13, 1955) is a
political philosopher
Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...
who writes on topics of
anarchism
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...
,
poststructuralism
Post-structuralism is a term for philosophical and literary forms of theory that both build upon and reject ideas established by structuralism, the intellectual project that preceded it. Though post-structuralists all present different critiques ...
, and
post-structuralist anarchism. More recently he has published books on
existentialism
Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and valu ...
and
moral philosophy
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...
. He is currently Class of 1941 Memorial Professor of Philosophy at
Clemson University
Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...
.
Career
In 1989, May received a doctorate at
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...
in
continental philosophy
Continental philosophy is a term used to describe some philosophers and philosophical traditions that do not fall under the umbrella of analytic philosophy. However, there is no academic consensus on the definition of continental philosophy. Pri ...
. For the first part of his career, he focused on French philosophy, before turning to moral and political philosophy. May has been teaching moral and political philosophy for over thirty years, beginning as a graduate instructor at Penn State before becoming a visiting assistant professor at the
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) is a public research university in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. As of fall 2021, the university enrolled 7,044 undergraduates and 1,865 postgraduates, for a total enrollment of 9,009 students. The univ ...
.
May has been teaching at Clemson since 1991, and he currently teaches as the Class of 1941 Memorial Professor of Philosophy.
May also teaches philosophy to
incarcerated
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...
people.
Art academic
Allan Antliff
__NOTOC__
Allan W. Antliff is an anarchist activist, art critic, author and founding member of the Toronto Anarchist Free School (now Anarchist U) who has written extensively on the topics of anarchism and art in North America since the 1980s.
...
described May's 1994 ''The Political Philosophy of Poststructuralist Anarchism'' as "seminal", and credited the book with introducing "post-structuralist anarchism", later abbreviated as "
post-anarchism
Contemporary anarchism within the history of anarchism is the period of the anarchist movement continuing from the end of World War II and into the present. Since the last third of the 20th century, anarchists have been involved in anti-globalisat ...
". May has published works on major
poststructuralist
Post-structuralism is a term for philosophical and literary forms of theory that both build upon and reject ideas established by structuralism, the intellectual project that preceded it. Though post-structuralists all present different critique ...
philosophers, including
Gilles Deleuze
Gilles Louis René Deleuze ( , ; 18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volu ...
and
Michel Foucault
Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...
. He also wrote books on more general topics accessible to the general reader, including ''Death'', ''Our Practices, Our Selves, or, What It Means to Be Human'', ''Friendship in an Age of Economics: Resisting the Forces of Neoliberalism'', ''A Significant Life: Human Meaning in a Silent Universe'', ''A Fragile Life: Accepting Our Vulnerability''.
May, along with
Pamela Hieronymi
Pamela Hieronymi () is an American philosopher who is professor of philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is mainly known for her work in moral psychology.
Education and career
Hieronymi earned her A.B. from Princeton Uni ...
, was a philosophical advisor to the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
television show ''
The Good Place
''The Good Place'' is an American fantasy comedy television series created by Michael Schur. It premiered on NBC on September 19, 2016, and concluded on January 30, 2020, after four seasons and 53 episodes.
Although the plot evolves significa ...
''. Together they appeared as cameos in the final episode.
Personal life
May has three children, the youngest of whom majored in philosophy at university.
Bibliography
*''Between Genealogy and Epistemology'' (1993). University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. .
*''The Political Philosophy of Poststructuralist Anarchism'' (1994). University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. .
*''Reconsidering Difference'' (1997). University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. .
*''Our Practices, Our Selves, or, What It Means to Be Human'' (2001). University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. .
*''Operation Defensive Shield'' (2003). Sydney: Pluto Press. . Written in collaboration with Muna Hamzeh.
*''The Moral Theory of Poststructuralism'' (2004). University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. .
*''Gilles Deleuze'' (2005). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. .
*''Philosophy of Foucault'' (2006). Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. .
*''The Political Thought of Jacques Ranciere: Creating Equality'' (2008). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. .
*''Death'' (2008). Acumen Publishing. .
*''Friendship in an Age of Economics: Resisting the Forces of Neoliberalism'' (2014). New York: Lexington Books. .
*''A Significant Life: Human Meaning in a Silent Universe'' (2015). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. .
*''Nonviolent Resistance: A Philosophical Introduction'' (2015). Cambridge: Polity Books. .
*''A Fragile Life: Accepting Our Vulnerability'' (2017). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. .
*''A Decent Life: Morality for the Rest of Us'' (2019). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. .
*''Exploring the Philosophy of Death and Dying: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives, Chapter 21: Death, Mortality, and Meaning'' (December 31, 2020, 1st Edition). Publisher: Routledge.
References
Further reading
*
External links
Gay Rights Outlook Improves in South, a
letter to the editor
A letter to the editor (LTE) is a Letter (message), letter sent to a publication about an issue of concern to the reader. Usually, such letters are intended for publication. In many publications, letters to the editor may be sent either through ...
by May published in ''
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 ...
'' on 1998-07-07
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{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Todd
1955 births
Living people
American anarchists
Continental philosophers
American political philosophers
Postanarchists
Poststructuralists
Clemson University faculty
Writers from New York City
Foucault scholars
Moral philosophers
Pennsylvania State University alumni
Deleuze scholars
20th-century American philosophers
21st-century American philosophers
The Good Place