College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Political philosophy

Tony Smith, new chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, plans to continue his department's current path
A concerted effort has been made in recent years by the faculty in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies to maintain a sense of pluralism in its course offerings.

That won't change according to Tony Smith, professor and the new chair of the department. Smith takes over from Michael Bishop, who has accepted another faculty position at Northern Illinois University.

" This department has had a commitment to cover all the major areas of philosophy and religious studies," Smith said. "We're going to keep that commitment to pluralism."

That means the department's efforts to hire faculty members with diverse expertise in the philosophy of science, language and bioethics will continue. Clark Wolf, associate professor of philosophy and religious studies, will join the faculty this fall coordinating the department’s bioethics program.

" One of our goals is to help Clark develop a role that our department can play here on campus and in the community in terms of bioethics," Smith said.

Smith, who has been a faculty member at Iowa State since 1980, says this despite the fact that his own research interests lie elsewhere. While he has played a major role in the bioethics program, he has focused his efforts in social and political philosophy.

The Massachusetts native first became interested in this area of philosophy during the Vietnam War.

" I had many friends who were very active in the Catholic anti-war movement," he recalled, “"and when I started college in 1969 (at Boston College), my views were shaped by that particular place and time.

" It was a really natural thing that most philosophy majors of the time read a lot of Hegel and Marx. I had a great opportunity to go study in Germany and that just reinforced my interest in that area."

Smith has written four books on this subject, including The Logic of Marx's "Capital" in 1990, and his most recent book, Technology and Capital in the Age of the Lean Production, published in 2000 by the State University of New York Press.

He has also published 58 articles on a wide range of issues in social philosophy, the philosophy of technology, and ethics.

" My hope is that in some small way this work contributes to the global justice movement," Smith said.

The writings of Karl Marx however still are Smith's main interest.

" My long-term research goal is to develop a systemic reconstruction of the globalization debate," he says, "and discover if there is anything from Marxian theory that will help us understand globalization. I think it is our loss if we dismiss his work completely."

One of Marx's theories is still relevant today, Smith says.

" Marx talked about understanding class," he said. "Our society is still a class society and people who own and control the world's capital have a certain place in the world. Capital affects everything we do, from the tiniest detail to who makes state policy."

Smith argues that the situation that blue collar workers found themselves in during the last half of the 20th century when corporations started to move factories to cheaper labor markets is beginning to re-manifest itself. Only this time, it will be white collar workers that will feel the pinch.

" The professional classes, when all is said and done, are just workers," he said. "They still have to sell their labor to the corporations. We are beginning to see the same outsourcing of that labor force as we did with industrial workers."
Alexander felt Avalos was the perfect choice to become general editor of the new series. The book series will explore the myriad unique religious influences within South, Central, Latin, and North America. A particular focus will rest upon Christianity’s historic interaction with the societies, politics, religions, and cultures of Latinos/Latinas, Chicanos/Chicanas, and other Spanish-speaking peoples of the Americas.

"Dr. Avalos was my first choice to coordinate this because of his knowledge and interest and because of his ability to bring together and evaluate the necessary individuals and scholarly resources," Alexander writes. "His familiarity with Latino/Latina studies coincided with my own interest to develop this subject area for Brill."

It's a challenge that Avalos is looking forward to.

"This is a wonderful chance for me to become a major participant in a new field of study," Avalos said.

The study of the Latino/Latina religious experiences in the Americas is a relatively new field. Avalos feels this has the potential of "putting Iowa State and its U.S. Latino/a Studies program on the map."

"My vision for the U.S. Latino/a Studies program here at Iowa State is to become nationally recognized," he said. "In order to do that, we have to create our own niches. This area could be one of those niches."

The "Religion in the Americas" book series and Avalos' forthcoming publications should help establish Iowa State's program as a leader in this field.

A "revolution" in Latino/Latina religious experiences currently underway could also shift some focus to Iowa State's studies. Avalos says that there is currently a significant shift in the religious preferences among Latinos in the Americas from Catholicism to Protestantism.

"This shift is changing the face of modern Latin American religions," he said. "This is the most exciting thing to happen in Latin America for sociologists and religious studies professionals in the last 25 years."