Areas of Specialization
Political philosophy and ethical theory

David Sidorsky has taught philosophy at Columbia University since 1959, and received his Ph.D in Philosophy at Columbia in 1962. His primary teaching and research interests are in political philosophy and moral philosophy, with secondary interests in philosophy of literature and the history of 20^th century philosophy. 

His interest in political philosophy is reflected in essays on such concepts as rights, liberty and equality, including, “Pluralism, Contextualism and Distributive Justice,” published in Social Philosophy and Policy, “Contemporary Reinterpretations of the Concept of Human Rights,” which appeared in Iyun and was reprinted in the collection, Essays on Human Rights and, “The Third Concept of Liberty and the Politics of Identity,” published in Partisan Review. It is also reflected in his current course teaching PHIL V3751y: Social and Political Philosophy. He is a member of the editorial board of Social Philosophy and Policy.

His interest in moral philosophy and ethical theory is evident in a pair of companion essays, “Incomplete Routes to Moral Objectivity: Four Variants of Naturalism,” reprinted in Moral Knowledge, Cambridge University Press; and, “Incomplete Routes to Moral Objectivity: Rationalism and Pluralism,” published in the Yearbook for Philosophical Hermeneutics. It is also evident in his current course teaching, PHIL V3701: Moral Philosophy, as well as his seminar-style course, which is offered periodically, Ethical Naturalism.

His interest in philosophy of literature and literary theory can be seen in a number of essays on the theme of, “Modernism and Morality.” These include, “Modernism and the Emancipation of Literature from Morality: Teleology and Vocation in Proust, Joyce, and Ford Maddox Ford,” published in New Literary History in 1983, and “The Historical Novel as the Denial of History: From Nestor via the Vico Road to the Commodius Vicus of Recirculation” in New Literary History in 2001, as well as the forthcoming essay, “The Uses of the Philosophy of G.E. Moore in the Works of E.M. Forster.” His current course in this area is PHIL G4820: “Concepts of Criticism: Philosophy and Literary Theory.”

His interest in 20^th Century Philosophy has ranged over pragmatism, logical positivism, and pluralism. In connection with these philosophical movements, his publications include, The Essential Writings of John Dewey edited, with an introductory essay for the Harper Torch Book Series; an essay on, “Pragmatism: Method, Metaphysics, and Morals,” for the German Encyclopedia of Pragmatism, as well as review essays on Ayer, Popper, Quine, and Berlin titled, “Beyond the Vienna Circle,” and “Isaiah Berlin: Pluralism without Relativism” published in Partisan Review. His current course in this area is PHIL V3301: 20^th Century Philosophy

Teaching
V3301 Twentieth-Century Philosophy
G4038 Concepts of Criticism: Philosophy and Literary Theory