Denison University hosts Richard Bernstein, the Vera List Professor of Philosophy at the New School University (New York), for a lecture at 8 p.m. on Monday (Nov. 18) in Slayter Auditorium. Sponsored by the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program, Bernstein will address "Radical Evil: Hannah Arendt and Immanuel Kant." The convocation is free and open to the public.

Bernstein's research focuses on a philosophical understanding of the character of evil in the 20th century. He also is engaged in a reinterpretation of 20th century philosophy as "The Pragmatic Century." As part of his Denison visit, Bernstein will be talking with several introductory and upper-level philosophy classes. An invited group will also hear Bernstein's lunch hour seminar on the topic "Creative Democracy: The Task Still Ahead."

Recipient of five distinguished teaching awards, Bernstein has received the John Dewey Society Award for Outstanding Achievement and served as the American Philosophical Association Romanell Lecturer in 1995. Before joining the New School University, where he is also dean of the graduate faculty, Bernstein taught at Haverford College for 23 years, and was a visiting professor at Frankfurt University, Hebrew University and the University of Pennsylvania. He is the past president of the Metaphysical Society of America, the American Philosophical Association (Eastern Division), and the Charles S. Peirce Society.

Bernstein is the author of several books includingThe Ethical-Political Horizons of Modernity/Postmodernity, Essays in a Pragmatic Mode, Freud and the Legacy of MosesandRadical Evil: A Philosophical Interrogation.

He earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Chicago in 1951 and a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University (Phi Beta Kappa) in 1953. Bernstein also holds a master's degree (1955) and doctorate (1958) from Yale University.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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