University Libraries Promotion and Tenure Recognition

Much of my work is on utopianism, or how we imagine a future society that’s very different—hopefully better—than our own. In The Courage of Truth, philosopher Michel Foucault described the Cynics as philosophers in combat with the prevailing opinions of society. Cynics like Diogenes called out injustice with a “militance in the world and against the world.” They imagined “a life whose otherness must lead to the change of the world.” I can’t imagine a more useful or hopeful vision of utopia.