Walter Wright, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Philosophy
Clark University
Worcester, MA 01610-1477
Phone: (508) 793-7671
Email: wwright@clarku.edu
Professor Wright received an A.B. from Yale University in 1965 and an M.A. and Ph.D. in 1968 and 1971, respectively, from Vanderbilt University. He has been at Clark since 1968 and has served twice as Dean of the College. He is affiliated with the programs in Ethics and Public Policy and Peace Studies.
Current Research and Teaching
Walter Wright's interests span many areas of philosophy. Besides teaching Personal Values, Kant and the 19th Century, the Philosophy of Religion, and Concepts of the Self, Wright has worked with Professor Sarah Buiein Visual Art to develop an interdisciplinary seminar on Eros and Thanatos. His research has focused on classical German idealism, especially the work of Johann Gottlieb Fichte. Wright's translation of Fichte's important 1804 lectures has recently been published by SUNY Press. In ethics, Professor Wright has recently written about "slippery slope" arguments and their application to the question of medical killing. He also has an ongoing interest in how the comparative study of world religions can influence philosophical discussions about religion.
Selected Publications
A translation of "Fichte's Philosophy of Religion" by Hansjurgej Verweyen, forthcoming in The Cambridge Companion to Fichte, ed. Gunther Zoller.
"Peter Singer and the Lessons of the German Euthanasia Program," Interdisciplinary Studies Journal (Spring/Summer 2001).
"Historical Analogies, Slippery slopes, and the Question of Euthanasia," The Journal of Law Medicine, and Ethics , vol. 28, no. 2 (Summer 2000), pp. 176-186.
"On Reading Fichte's 1804 Wissenschaftslehre," New Perspectives on Fichte , ed. D. Breazeale and T. Rockmore, (New York: Humanities Press 1996).
"The Shadow of Spinoza in Fichte's WL 1804, " Idealistic Studies ", vol. 33:2-3 (Summer-Fall 2003), pp. 161-174.
Books
"The Science of Knowing--J.G. Fichte's 1804 Lectures on the Wissenschaftslebre" translated by Walter E. Wright, State University of New York Press 2005.