Eric Walther

From Philosopedia

Walther, Eric (29 July 1938 - )

Dr. Walther is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Computer Science at Long Island University's C. W. Post Campus. During his 36 years there he served at various times as Chairman of the Philosophy Department, Chair of the Faculty Council, Vice President of the Collegial Federation (faculty union), Chair of the Faculty Research Committee, and Director of the Phillips Program in Business Ethics.

His Ph.D. is from Yale University (1965), and he earned an M.S. degree in Computer Science from Polytechnic University (1995). He has published articles in metaphysics, symbolic logic, parapsychology, and business ethics. His current research interests are in artificial intelligence and philosophy of mind, and he contributes the philosophy column to Magazine.Art, published by New York Dance and Arts Innovations.

A member of Freethinking Activist Non-Believing New Yorkers (FANNY), he took part in a 1999 remembrance of Robert Green Ingersoll which was held at one of Ingersoll’s former residences, the Gramercy Hotel in Manhattan. As a member of the Bertrand Russell Society he has participated in and spoken at several humanist and freethought events.

As to whether "atheist philosopher" is a contradiction in terms, a question asked at a February 2007 Philosophy Now interest group by one of the participants, Walther responded:

• Nietzsche said comething like, "Show me the man who is more of an atheist than I!" Now who on earth would think "atheist philosopher" is a contradiction in terms? I suppose the idea is that a philosopher should always be ready ("open-minded") to hear arguments in favor of anything whatsoever. Sure, OK; but an atheist isn't somebody who refuses to listen to theistic arguments. On the contrary, an atheist is especially interested in such arguments. And, speaking for myself, if I found persuasive arguments for the existence of God (and weren't as senile as Antony Flew), I believe I should, and actually would, fall on my knees etc. I challenge religious believers to demonstrate an equally open mindedness. (At the age of 16, I challenged the Chaplain of my prep school in exactly this way, and he did not accept the challenge.) So whoever thinks "atheistic philosopher" is a contradiction in terms has self-evident puerile concepts of belief, truth, arguments, open-mindedness, etc.

Dr. Walther is married to Dr. Suzanne K. Walther, an adjunct professor of dance at New York University and a dance critic and scholar. She wrote The Dance of Death: Kurt Jooss and the Weimar Years (1994) and edits Magazine.Art. Their children are Zenta Walther, a pathologist and cell biologist at the Yale School of Medicine, and Derek Z. Walther, Purchasing Manager for the New England Division of the American Cancer Society. Their grandchildren are Evan Z. Carlson and Eliot L. Carlson.

"Identity and the Soul"

Dr. Walther, in a paper entitled "Identity and the Soul", discusses John Locke's 1694 "Essay Concerning Human Understanding."

"Could Thomas Paine Have Converted to Secularism?"

In January 2010, Dr. Walther wrote about Thomas Paine's Deism, "Could Thomas Paine Have Converted to Secularism?"