I will be traveling to Fitchburg State University to give a talk in their Anti-Racism Initiative on “Fighting for a Culture of Justice in Dark Times,” regarding my latest book, A Culture of Justice.
More information is coming soon!
| Date: | April 17, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Time: | TBD |
| Event: | Lecture for the Anti-Racism Initiative at Fitchburg State University |
| Topic: | Fighting for a Culture of Justice in Dark Times |
| Sponsor: | Anti-Racism Initiative, School of Arts and Sciences, Fitchburg State University |
| Location: | Fitchburg, MA 01420 USA |
| Public: | Public |
A discount code will be out soon for the July release of the paperback edition of 'A Culture of Justice with SUNY Press. Check out my social media pages for that soon.
On April 9th of 2026, I will meet with Dr. William Barbieri, his colleagues, and students, to talk about “Fighting for a Culture of Justice in Dark Times,” a talk about my latest book, A Culture of Justice.
| Date: | April 9, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. |
| Event: | Invited Talk on A Culture of Justice, Catholic University of America |
| Topic: | Fighting for a Culture of Justice in Dark Times |
| Sponsor: | Dr. William Barbieri |
| Location: | Washington, D.C. |
| Public: | Public |
I’ll be presenting “Fighting for a Culture of Justice in Dark Times” for the 2026 Honi Haber Memorial Lecture at the University of Colorado Denver on Friday, April 3rd at 3:30 pm.
Abstract
John Dewey held that education is the intelligent transmission of culture between generations, making the question of culture crucial. While liberalism generally resists intrusion into culture, prioritizing the consent of the governed, Eric Weber argues in A Culture of Justice that society shares a public obligation to create and sustain a culture of justice. Recent state and federal actions ban efforts to make education more equitable and inclusive, illustrating the challenge to a culture of justice as well as the reason why efforts must extend beyond the narrow realm of politics. Political actions matter and must continue, but social, moral, and cultural work is equally essential. Weber outlines practical ways individuals and communities can fight against cultural injustice and for more inclusive and fairer educational environments.
The link in this image goes to SUNY Press’s page for the book.
For those interested in a copy of A Culture of Justice, the book will be out in paperback for the general public in July of 2026 and I will have a discount code available, which I will share on my social media pages, such as on Facebook, X.com, and LinkedIn.
| Date: | April 3, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 03:30-05:00 p.m. |
| Event: | 2026 Honi Haber Memorial Lecture @ UC Denver |
| Topic: | Fighting for a Culture of Justice in Dark Times |
| Venue: | St. Cajetans (Auraria Campus) |
| Location: | 101 Lawrence Way Denver, CO 80204 USA |
A Culture of Justice (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2026)
Argues that there is a shared public obligation to establish and maintain a culture of justice, with implications for education, poverty, free speech, and “PC” culture.
Description
In A Culture of Justice, Eric Thomas Weber shows how culture can enable or inhibit the pursuit of justice. Weber argues that there is a shared, public obligation to establish and maintain a culture of justice. Culture can be employed to threaten people’s self-respect, to diminish their sense of positive power to pursue meaningful life plans. Weber also addresses problems of poverty and stigmatization as well as of racism and threats conveyed by means of public speech and the cultivation of hatred. Advancing John Dewey’s idea that democracy is a way of life, not merely a set of political mechanisms, he draws implications for policies and practices related to poverty, education, free speech, and the inadequately named set of norms that we call “political correctness.” Written in an accessible style, A Culture of Justice offers numerous everyday examples and conflicts for the reader to consider.
Eric Thomas Weber is Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation at the University of Kentucky and serves as Executive Director of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). He is the author and editor of several books, including Uniting Mississippi: Democracy and Leadership in the South.
Endorsements
“A pleasure to read, A Culture of Justice will appeal to a wide audience of social and political philosophers, scholars and practitioners of education, and people thinking about racial justice. Weber makes clear the relevance of the great American pragmatists to addressing current social and political problems such as poverty, hate speech, and racism.”
— Nicholas Tampio, Fordham University
Heather Cowherd
Video, 1 hr & 6 mins
This video is a recording of the presentation I gave in Middle Tennessee State University’s Applied Philosophy Lyceum speakers series on November 17, 2023, in Murfreesboro, TN.
The talk is titled, “Freedom in Education: A Philosophical Critique of Current Educational Policies,” and the abstract for the presentation reads as follows:
Parents and guardians are naturally concerned about what their children are taught in schools. Some lament what they feel is a lack of control over curricula and what are thought to be forces or agendas that they believe are not in kids’ best interests. The arguments advanced in recent conflicts take two main forms. The first, advanced in similar fashion on opposing sides of issues concerning gender and early education, takes the form of arguments to “protect” children. The second, typically arising in discourse about desire for exclusion or selection of curricular messages or content, typically focuses on parents’ rights, in particular, to freedom of choice, whether regarding selection of schools, book banning, or inclusion or exclusion of desired or undesirable subject matters from curricula. In this talk, Dr. Weber will defend the importance of students’ and teachers’ freedom and challenge the overreach of dominant parental views that seek to silence the lived experiences and concerns of marginalized groups.
NOTE: At one point, I accidentally said “Transylvania State University,” which was intended to refer to Transylvania University, which is a private institution. This was an accidental case of misspeaking. The point was to contrast with state institutions, which was on my mind, and probably led me to use that word, “state,” resulting in the opposite of my intended meaning… My mistake!
Philosophical Research Methods: This talk was delivered in fall 2023, when I was teaching a course on Philosophical Research Methods in the University of Kentucky’s College of Education. I mention this because in this talk, I describe my methodology explicitly for the project beginning at minute 14 until minute 19. For those interested in that portion of the talk, you can jump to those minutes.
Dr. Phil Oliver
Thanks again! I am most grateful to Dr. Phil Oliver for organizing a wonderfully welcoming event, which featured a great turn out on a rainy Friday evening. I’m also grateful to the members of the MTSU department of Philosophy and Religion, as well as to Heather Gibbs, who kindly coordinated the details of my visit.
In the spring of 2023, the Ethics and Social Justice Center at Bellarmine University issued a call for proposals for their yearly Commonwealth Ethics Lecture. They invited scholars from around the state to propose a talk to be delivered for their 2023 lecture, considering approaches from all disciplines and with special interest in interdisciplinary dialogue and topics, encouraging “critical reflection, dialogue, and constructive action on contemporary ethical issues in society.” They also welcomed proposals “related to politics, societal well-being, and individual happiness,” as well as that “intersect these themes with regional issues.”
I pitched my proposal in relation to the fact that Kentucky is a state that continues to permit and make use of corporal punishment in public schools. I have long thought about corporal punishment especially as an example of a practice long outmoded and for which evidence has become increasingly clear that better alternatives are available and that long-term effects of the practice are psychologically and medically discouraged. Given this opportunity, it was a great chance for me to focus on corporal punishment directly, so I jumped at the chance finally to focus extensively on this topic.
Kentucky has decreased the use of the form of discipline in public schools to nearly negligible levels, with 17 recorded instances of corporal punishment in the 2020-2021 school year, which suggests that the practice would not be difficult to end at the state level. Given that, Kentucky could serve as a leader among states that presently permit and engage in the practice, to show how others can follow the lead of the Commonwealth state of Kentucky, to end the practice around the country. The video here above is 1hr and 1 min long, concluding at the end of my talk, not including the question and answer session, though that was fun and rewarding for me also.
I am especially grateful to Dr. Kate Johnson for being a welcoming and great host at Bellarmine University for the talk. The attendance and recording of the talk were great and much appreciated.
The PowerPoint slides for my talk are available online here.
VIDEO: Freedom in Education for Diversity of Flourishing
This video was recorded at Vanderbilt University on October 15th, 2022, at the John and Shirley Lachs Conference on American Philosophy. My presentation was titled “Freedom in Education for Diversity of Flourishing.” Here’s the program for the conference. I am grateful to Vanderbilt University’s Philosophy Department for support for my participation in the conference and for permission to post the video.
I feel honored to be among the presenters at this important event honoring the incredible contributions of Dr. John Lachs of Vanderbilt University. I will be presenting my paper, “Freedom in Education for Diversity of Flourishing,” on both the incredible importance of freedom in education as well as some of its dangers.
| Date: | October 14, 2022—October 15, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Event: | John and Shirley Lachs Conference on American Philosophy |
| Topic: | "Freedom in Education for Diversity of Flourishing" |
| Sponsor: | Vanderbilt University |
| Venue: | Alumni Hall |
| Location: | Nashville, TN |
| Public: | Public |
Listen to the interview here:
This episode of “Behind the Blue” spotlights one of the six Great Teacher Award winners for 2024. Eric Thomas Weber is an associate professor in the UK Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation in the College of Education. He specializes in the philosophy of education, ethics and public policy, political philosophy and American philosophy.
In addition to teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels, Weber is co-chair of the faculty and student recognition committee for the College of Education and has served as a member of the Lewis Honors College’s faculty council.
Weber received his bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University with a double major in philosophy and communication studies; his master’s in philosophy from Ohio University and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Southern Illinois University. He joined the UK faculty in 2016 as a visiting associate professor in the Department of Philosophy and then in 2018 as an associate professor of educational policy studies and evaluation in the College of Education. His published academic work consists of five books, 36 articles or essays, 56 popular media publications and 151 presentations.
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