Vain is the discourse of that philosopher by which no human suffering is healed. - Epicurus
Gary
Zabel, Ph.D.
(gary.zabel@umb.edu)
Department of Philosophy
UMass Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125-3393
617-287-6530
Welcome to my Website! My name is Gary Zabel and I've been teaching in the Philosophy Department at the University of Massachusetts at Boston since 1989. My specialties include ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, and philosophy of science. Unlike most philosophers who teach in American Universities, I was trained principally in the philosophical traditions of Continental Europe, especially those of Hegelian philosophy, Husserlian phenomenology, and Western Marxism. I grew up in the 1960s when a heightened interest in philosophical questions went hand-in-hand with campus- based political activism. I'm happy to see a return to these twin passions on the part of some of my students. I've published articles, book reviews, and introductions to anthologies about philosophy of music and the visual arts, but most of my publications, and much of my activism, in recent years have concerned the problem of contingent, or precarious, work in the higher education industry. I'm fortunate to be involved in the development of a new labor movement in American colleges and universities, a movement that is beginning to challenge both the degradation of academic work and the increasingly direct domination of higher ed by corporate wealth and power.
I've included a personal note for those interested in the biographical context of my work and other interests. Otherwise, just proceed to the resources. These include:
Virtual Art Initiative (My Project in the Art of Second Life and Other Virtual Worlds)
Confessions of an Amateur Roboticist
Memories of Findlay and Gadamer