Impartiality or Oikeiôsis? Two Models of Universal Benevolence

Book Chapter: Back to the Futurists? On Accelerationism Left and Right

Nature or Atoms? Reframing the IR Curriculum through Ethical Worldviews

The Moral Labyrinth: Introducing Ethics Through Thought Experiments

Enlightenment philosophy of Baruch Spinoza

Located just south of Fort Myers and north of Naples on the Southwest Florida coast, Florida Gulf Coast University encompasses 800 acres on which academic buildings, residence halls and athletics facilities share space with wetlands, pinewoods and boardwalks in a natural setting. FGCU serves 16,000 students and offers more than 95 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It emphasizes a university-wide commitment to sustainability and service learning, with students having completed more than 4 million hours of service since the university opened in 1997. With six colleges, FGCU is committed to serving Southwest Florida with academic programs designed to meet the workforce demands of the five-county region. Growing interdisciplinary programs include The Water School and the Daveler & Kauanui School of Entrepreneurship. 

Florida Gulf Coast University

Landon Frim is an associate professor of philosophy at Florida Gulf Coast University. His primary research concerns the intersections of religion, ethics and politics. He investigates socialism, populism and the alt-right movement. An avid writer, his work can be found in Jacobin Magazine, Salvage Magazine, Inside Higher Ed and The New Republic.

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Marx’s Metaphysics: Re-interpreting Marxist Humanism through a Rationalist Metaphysic

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Support for the St. Joseph's College ethics research

Expert in politics, philosophy, ethics, and religion

Did Marx have a metaphysics?  Here I argue that he did.  Marxism implies a world outlook which we may call "Political Rationalism."  The universe is an intelligible, deterministic whole, and the product of universal laws.  What's more, it is precisely this universal lawfulness and intelligibility which is the very basis for human solidarity, coordination, and political action.

Insofar as this is the case, Marx -- the "Political Rationalist" -- falls into a tradition spanning, not only late modernity, but also the Enlightenment Rationalism of Baruch Spinoza, and the Cosmopolitanism of the Ancient Stoics.

This talk was delivered at the Historical Materialism Conference at NYU in April 2015.

Marx's Metaphysics - Landon Frim

Landon Frim, St. Joseph's College - November 2014
A talk on the metaphysical basis of political toleration, and a critique of pluralism.

The Metaphysics of Tolerance

A presentation to an applied ethics conference, this talk discusses the idea of "universal altruism."  Should we aim for universal beneficence, or ought we to care about some people more than others?  Furthermore, if universal altruism is desirable, then what is the proper basis for such a demanding kind of practical ethics?  

The talk critically discusses the notion of "impartialism" of Peter Singer and other utilitarians.  We should limit our egoistic tendencies so as to take the objective, impartial view of things.  I then suggest a better alternative to support universal altruism :  the old Stoic concept of egoistic expansion, or "Oikeiosis" (but updated using Early Modern metaphysics - especially that of Baruch Spinoza).  

Fundamentally, egoism and universal beneficence are complimentary ideas - but only if we first accept a specific sort of rationalist metaphysics.

Landon Frim - Must Charity Begin at Home?

The case is made that Monism, the philosophical doctrine that there is but one substance, is necessry for human solidarity and ethics.

Landon Frim, "Monism and Solidarity" 1 of 4

Landon Frim, "Monism and Solidarity" 2 of 4

Landon Frim, "Monism and Solidarity" 3 of 4

Landon Frim, "Monism and Solidarity" 4 of 4

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