Stephen Kershnar

Last updated

Stephen Kershnar (born 1966) is an American philosopher, a philosophy professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia (SUNY), and an attorney. In 2022, Kershnar discussed his views and a book (published 2015) which question the immorality of "adult-child sex." His comments and the subsequent backlash led to his barring from the campus and a currently pending investigation.

Contents

His research and works focus on applied ethics and political philosophy. Kershnar has written one hundred articles and book chapters on topics including abortion, adult-child sex, hell, most valuable player, pornography, punishment, sexual fantasies, slavery, and torture. He is the author of ten books, including Desert Collapses: Why No One Deserves Anything (2021), Total Collapse: The Case Against Morality and Responsibility (2018), and Abortion, Hell, and Shooting Abortion-Doctors: Does the Pro-Life Worldview Make Sense? (2017). [1]

Education and career

Kershnar completed his BA at Cornell University (1988), JD at Penn Law (1991), and PhD at the University of Nebraska (1995). [2] [3] In 2006, Kershnar was initially denied promotion to full professor, after he had criticized SUNY Fredonia's new policy regarding "student conduct policies and affirmative action practices". [4] [5] [ better source needed ] Thereafter, Kershnar was awarded tenure at SUNY Fredonia.

In early 2022, his arguments on "adult-child sex" in a philosophy podcast attracted criticism and led to him being banned from campus and teaching, pending an investigation. [6] [7] Kershnar has received support for his academic freedom rights in connection with this controversy from both the Academic Freedom Alliance [8] and from FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education). [9] However, the SUNY Fredonia administration faced significant pressure following Kershnar’s statements which included threats of violence, students seeking withdraw from the school, highly concerned parents, and alumni pulling funding if action was not taken. In June 2023, Kershnar filed a lawsuit against the Fredonia administration claiming violation of his first amendment rights. [10] [11] An updated related news report about the incident and ongoing investigation was published in The New York Times on September 13, 2023. [12] According to The New York Times, his comments occurred "as part of a wide-ranging thought experiment about ethics and consent", and he has stated that "adult-child sex" should be criminalized. [12]

Awards

Kershnar is recipient of various faculty awards, most notably:

Books

As of February 2022, Kershnar has published 12 books: [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Catholic University</span> Public Catholic university in Australia

Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia. It has seven Australian campuses and also maintains a campus in Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State University of New York</span> Public university system in New York state

The State University of New York is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive systems of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by chancellor John B. King, the SUNY system has 91,182 employees, including 32,496 faculty members, and some 7,660 degree and certificate programs overall and a $13.37 billion budget. Its flagship universities are Stony Brook University on Long Island and the University at Buffalo.

Libertarians promote individual liberty and seek to minimize the role of the state. The abortion debate is mainly within right-libertarianism between cultural liberals and social conservatives as left-libertarians generally see it as a settled issue regarding individual rights, as they support legal access to abortion as part of what they consider to be a woman's right to control her body and its functions. Religious right and intellectual conservatives have attacked such libertarians for supporting abortion rights, especially after the demise of the Soviet Union led to a greater divide in the conservative movement between libertarians and social conservatives. Libertarian conservatives claim libertarian principles such as the non-aggression principle (NAP) apply to human beings from conception and that the universal right to life applies to fetuses in the womb. Thus, some of those individuals express opposition to legal abortion. According to a 2013 survey, 5.7/10 of American Libertarians oppose making it more difficult for a woman to get an abortion.

The abortion debate is a longstanding, ongoing controversy that touches on the moral, legal, medical, and religious aspects of induced abortion. In English-speaking countries, the debate most visibly polarizes around adherents of the self-described "pro-choice" and "pro-life" movements. Pro-choice emphasizes a woman's right to bodily autonomy, while the pro-life position argues that a fetus is a human deserving of legal protection, separate from the will of the mother. Both terms are considered loaded in mainstream media, where terms such as "abortion rights" or "anti-abortion" are generally preferred.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carol Gilligan</span> American feminist, ethicist, and psychologist (born 1936)

Carol Gilligan is an American feminist, ethicist, and psychologist, best known for her work on ethical community and ethical relationships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Reading</span> University in Reading, Berkshire, England

The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 1926 by royal charter from King George V and was the only university to receive such a charter between the two world wars. The university is usually categorised as a red brick university, reflecting its original foundation in the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State University of New York at Fredonia</span> Public university in Fredonia, New York

The State University of New York at Fredonia is a public university in Fredonia, New York. It is the westernmost member of the State University of New York. Founded in 1826, it is the sixty-sixth-oldest institute of higher education in the United States, seventh-oldest college in New York, and second-oldest public school in New York after SUNY Potsdam (1816).

Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows:

Reproductive rights rest on the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. They also include the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminists for Life</span> Non-governmental organization

Feminists for Life of America (FFL) is a non-profit, anti-abortion feminist, non-governmental organization (NGO). Established in 1972, and now based in Alexandria, Virginia, the organization publishes a biannual magazine, The American Feminist, and aims to reach young women, college students in particular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Finnis</span>

John Mitchell Finnis is an Australian legal philosopher and jurist specializing in jurisprudence and the philosophy of law. He is an original interpreter of Aristotle and Aquinas, and counts Germain Grisez as a major influence and collaborator. He has made contributions to epistemology, metaphysics, and moral philosophy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Raz</span> Israeli philosopher (1939–2022)

Joseph Raz was an Israeli legal, moral and political philosopher. He was an advocate of legal positivism and is known for his conception of perfectionist liberalism. Raz spent most of his career as a professor of philosophy of law at Balliol College, Oxford, and was latterly a part-time professor of law at Columbia University Law School and a part-time professor at King's College London. He received the Tang Prize in Rule of Law in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert P. George</span> American legal scholar and political philosopher (born 1955)

Robert Peter George is an American legal scholar, political philosopher, and public intellectual who serves as the sixth McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He lectures on constitutional interpretation, civil liberties, philosophy of law, and political philosophy.

Sexual ethics is a branch of philosophy that considers the ethics or morality or otherwise in sexual behavior. Sexual ethics seeks to understand, evaluate and critique interpersonal relationships and sexual activities from a social, cultural, and philosophical perspective. Some people consider aspects of human sexuality, such as gender identification and sexual orientation, as well as consent, sexual relations and procreation, as giving rise to issues of sexual ethics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Kamm</span> 20th- and 21st-century American philosopher

Frances Myrna Kamm is an American philosopher specializing in normative and applied ethics. Kamm is currently the Henry Rutgers University Professor of Philosophy and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is also the Littauer Professor of Philosophy and Public Policy Emerita at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, as well as Professor Emerita in the Department of Philosophy at New York University.

Familialism or familism is an ideology that puts priority to family. The term familialism has been specifically used for advocating a welfare system wherein it is presumed that families will take responsibility for the care of their members rather than leaving that responsibility to the government. The term familism relates more to family values. This can manifest as prioritizing the needs of the family higher than that of individuals. Yet, the two terms are often used interchangeably.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hinduism and abortion</span>

Abortion inHinduism, while generally sinful by traditional Hindu scriptures and the guiding precept of non-injury, can be interpreted equivocally within the vast spectrum of Hindu beliefs and texts and ultimately depends on individual context. The Mahanarayana Upanishad lists abortion with actions such as breaking one's vow of chastity. Some Hindu scriptures assert that "abortion is a worse sin than killing one's parents" and another text says that "a woman who aborts her child will lose her status". In general, Hinduism teaches the guiding principle of Ahimsa, abstention from causing harm or injury to all living beings, which serves as the root of the ethic of non-violence.

Matthew Henry Kramer is an American philosopher, currently Professor of Legal and Political Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge. He writes mainly in the areas of metaethics, normative ethics, legal philosophy, and political philosophy. He is a leading proponent of legal positivism. He has been Director of the Cambridge Forum for Legal and Political Philosophy since 2000. He has been teaching at Cambridge University and at Churchill College since 1994.

Steven P. Scalet is associate professor for the Division of Legal, Ethical and Historical Studies at the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, University of Baltimore.

Paper abortion, also known as a financial abortion, male abortion or a statutory abort, is the proposed ability of the biological father, before the birth of the child, to opt out of any rights, privileges, and responsibilities toward the child, including financial support. By this means, before a child is born, a man would be able to absolve himself of both the privileges and demands of fatherhood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas A. Regelski</span> Scholar of music

Dr. Thomas Adam Regelski is a retired Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music (Emeritus) at the State University of New York at Fredonia N.Y. He was born in Florida, NY and spent the majority of his professional career in Fredonia, NY.

References

  1. "Dr. Stephen Kershnar". SUNY Fredonia . Retrieved February 7, 2021.
  2. "Stephen Kershnar" (PDF). University at Buffalo. August 22, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  3. "Stephen Kershnar - Routledge & CRC Press Author Profile". Routledge . Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  4. "SUNY Fredonia Punishes Professor for Political Expression". Foundation for Individual Rights in Education . July 24, 2006. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  5. French, David (July 27, 2006). "You Must Be Perfect . . . Or Else". National Review . Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  6. Flaherty, Colleen (February 7, 2022). "Academic Freedom Above All?". Inside Higher Ed . Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  7. "SUNY Fredonia professor reassigned after controversial adult-child sex comments". News 4 Buffalo. February 3, 2022. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
  8. "afa-sends-letter-to-suny-fredonia-regarding-stephen-kershnar". February 3, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  9. "fire-on-kershnar-2022-2-3.pdf" (PDF). Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  10. "SUNY Fredonia professor who appeared to condone pedophilia wants back on campus". June 15, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  11. "Controversial Kershnar Files Suit Against SUNY". post-journal.com. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
  12. 1 2 Patel, Vimal (September 13, 2023). "A Professor's Remarks on Sexual Consent Stir Controversy. Now He's Banned From Campus. - Stephen Kershnar, who teaches philosophy, is suing for the right to return to SUNY at Fredonia. The university defends its ban as necessary for safety. + comment". The New York Times . Archived from the original on September 14, 2023. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  13. "Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching 2002" (PDF). SUNY. June 21, 2002. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  14. "William T. and Charlotte N. Hagan Young Scholar/Artist Award". SUNY Fredonia . Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  15. "Robert W. Kasling Lecture Award". SUNY Fredonia . Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  16. "Chancellor's Awards" (PDF). SUNY. May 31, 2011. p. 8. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  17. "Books by Stephen Kershnar". Goodreads . Retrieved February 14, 2022.