Jack Russell Weinstein
Jack Russell Weinstein (born October 1, 1969) is an American philosopher specializing in the history of philosophy, political philosophy, Adam Smith, and contemporary liberal theory. He is currently a Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Dakota. He is the director of The Institute for Philosophy in Public Life and the host of the public radio show "Why? Philosophical discussions about everyday life". He was an influential student activist in the 1980s. Life and education. Jack Russell Weinstein was born on October 1, 1969, in New York City  to Joyce Ellen, and american Jazz musician Mark Weinstein. He attended college at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. It was there that his academic interest flourished, where he was able to pursue his long-held interests in reading, writing, and learning in the free university environment. He began his studies in English but quickly changed to Philosophy with a minor in Political Science. While in school, Weinstein participated actively in politics and became a political organizer for student issues around New York state. Receiving his undergraduate diploma in 1991, he went on to graduate school at Boston  University, where he received his M.A. in 1996 and Ph.D. in 1998, both in Philosophy. Weinstein was named plaintiff in a class action suit (Cianfrocco & Weinstein v. Clinton County Board of Elections, 1989—the name is not exact) He married Kim Donehower, and later had a daughter (Adina Weinstein in October 2005.) Adina Weinstein is currently a Black Lives Matter and Queer Rights advocate in North Dakota. Work. Weinstein currently teaches at the University of North Dakota. In 2007, he received the Individual Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award at UND. Weinstein is the author of two books in the Wadsworth  Philosophers Series, "On Adam Smith" (2001) and "On MacIntyre" (2003), and "Adam Smith's Pluralism: Rationality, Education, and the Moral Sentiments" (Yale U.P.). He has edited several collections and journals, as well as numerous articles, essays and reviews on topics such as philosophy of education and moral theory, as well as a number of presentations on the philosophy of Adam Smith. He is committed to the project of advancing public philosophy, working with the Institute for Philosophy in Public Life to bring philosophy to the general public while simultaneously making a place for public philosophy work in the academy. Weinstein 's current academic project is a restructuring of contemporary liberal political theory, building off of the moral psychology and political economy of Adam Smith. In multiple volumes, Weinstein plans to offer an interpretation of Adam Smith that views his "Theory of Moral Sentiments" as primary and offer its connection to contemporary liberal theory. According to Weinstein, the book will ultimately elaborate on the idea that "Adam Smith's moral psychology offers us the framework by which we can rescue the notion of neutrality from its indefensible understanding as an Archimedean point of view." Weinstein's blog PQED: Philosophical Questions About  Everyday Life has inspired controversy. His post "How should people respond to open-carry gun-rights activists?" went viral, and was cited both positively and negatively throughout the blogosphere and traditional media, such as Fox News Radio, which interviewed him. It landed him on the Professor Watchlist, a slight that led to an impassioned defense of his voice by his local newspaper The Grand Forks Herald.