Steve Gimbel Convocation Speech

Steve Gimbel

Convocation Address to the Class of 2010

Steve Gimbel delivered his philosophical Convocation Address to more than 700 incoming first-year students during Orientation in August. At the request of many, Gimbel has made his comments available below in both an audio podcast and written form.  

Steve Gimbel's research focuses on the connection between scientific evidence and explanation, interpretations of the geometrical aspects of gravitation theories, and the development of 20th century analytic philosophy. He is also interested in questions of sportsmanship arising from the Kasparov/Deep Blue chess match, the geometry of M.C. Escher's art, the environmental ethic of the American Nazi Party, and Dr. Seuss' non-trivial use of tautologies. The classes he teaches include "Einstein in Wonderland: Physics, Philosophy and Other Nonsense," "Bad Science, Wrong Science and Pseudo-science; Language, Truth, and Reality," "From Zero to Infinity: Philosophical Revolutions in the History of Numbers," and "From Aristotle to Einstein: Philosophical Revolutions in the History of Space."

Gimbel holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Johns Hopkins University and is a professor of philosophy at Gettysburg College. He received the Luther W. and Bernice L. Johnson Award for Distinguished Teaching from the College in 2005. His special approach to teaching ethics in a fashion designed to encourage open-minded, but rigorous discussion is featured in the "Journal of Thought." Having published nineteen scholarly books, articles, and reviews, Gimbel has recently turned his attention to reaching non-academics. He has given popular evening lecture series at the Smithsonian Institute and Johns Hopkins University, was the keynote speaker at the annual conference of Pennsylvania Federation of Humane Societies in 2001, a speaker at the annual conference of the Society for Business Ethics, and is currently completing work on a biography of Rene Descartes for high school readers. Recently appearing as an "on-air ethicist" on the afternoon drive-time radio program "Mickey and Amelia" on Baltimore's 98 Rock, Gimbel is also widely recognized in the liberal "blogosphere" as SteveG from his daily weblog Philosophers' Playground and other blogs on which he is a regular writer and commentator. 

To read Gimbel's address, click here.  

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