Department of Philosophy
Kevin Brien
Professor of Philosophy
Chair, Department of Philosophy
Faculty Advisor of Black Student Union
E-mail: kbrien2@washcoll.edu
Phone: (800) 422-1782, ext. 7772
Office: Smith 115
Education
- B.A., Boston University, 1964
- M.A., Boston University, 1968
- Ph.D., Boston University, 1978
Biography
Kevin M. Brien, Professor of Philosophy and Religion, has been with the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Washington College since 1986. Before his years with Washington College he taught for many years at five other colleges and universities.
His main areas of specialization and interest are: Eastern Philosophy and Religion, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Marxism, Philosophy of Nietzsche, and History of Philosophy.
His book Marx, Reason, and the Art of Freedom: Second Edition was published in 2006 by Prometheus/Humanity Books.
Recent Paper Publications
- "Rethinking Marx and the Spiritual" published in the American journal RETHINKING MARXISM in January 2009.
- "Marx and the Living Flower" published in the Greek journal SKEPSIS: A JOURNAL FOR PHILOSOPHY AND INTER-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH in Summer 2008.
- "Marx's Dialectical-Empirical Method of Explanation" published in the Venezuelan journal UTOPIA Y PRAXIS: LATINOAMERICANA in 2007.
- "Humanistic Marxism and the Transformation of Reason" published in the Polish journal DIALOGUE AND UNIVERSALISM in Fall 2006. [Published jointly by the Polish Academy of Sciences and Warsaw University.]
- "Buddhismus" [in German] published in MARX-GLOSSAR, Ed. Christoph Henning, in Spring '06. [Published by Edition Freitag, Berlin.]
- "Humanistic Marxism and the Transformation of Reason" published in the Indonesian journal MELINTAS in Spring '06. [Published by Universitas Katolik Parahyangan in Bandung, Indonesia.]
- "Buddhism and Marxism: Ironic Affinities" published in the Polish journal DIALOGUE AND UNIVERSALISM in Fall 2004.
- "To Believe?—Or Not to Believe?: A Dialogue Concerning Religion, Politics, and Suffering" published in the Greek journal SKEPSIS: A JOURNAL FOR PHILOSOPHY AND INTER-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH in Spring 2004.
Recent Paper Presentations
- "Contrasting East/West Views of Reason: Aristotle and Kant versus Lao Tzu, Confucius, and Zhu Xi " presented in August 2009 at the XXth International Symposium of the Olympic Center for Philosophy and Culture held in Olympia, Greece.
- "Blending Traditions: Taoism, Confucianism, Chan Buddhism, and Humanistic Marxism" presented in May 2009 at the annual congress of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy held at Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, CA
- "Away with all Gods!—Perhaps: But not with all Spiritualities" presented in December 2008 at the annual meeting of the American Philosophical Association held in Philadelphia.
- "Marx and the Living Flower" (long version) presented in August 2008 at the XIXth International Symposium of the Olympic Center for Philosophy and Culture held in Olympia, Greece.
- "World Peace and Humanistic Marxism" presented in March 2008 at Fireflies Intercultural Center in Bangalore, India.
- "Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Humanistic Marxism" presented in July 2008 at the XXII World Congress of Philosophy held at the Seoul National University in Seoul South Korea.
- "Contemporary Chinese Philosophy" presented in July 2008 at the XXII World Congress of Philosophy held at the Seoul National University in Seoul South Korea.
- "Marx and the Living Flower" (short version) presented in July 2008 at the XXII World Congress of Philosophy held at the Seoul National University in Seoul South Korea.
- "The Need for a Cross-Cultural Jihad of Ijtihad" presented in December 2007 at the annual Congress of the American Philosophical Association held in Baltimore, MD.
- "World Peace and Humanistic Marxism" presented in June 2007 at the Seventh World Congress of the International Society for Universal Dialogue (ISUD) held in Hiroshima, Japan.
- "Lao Tzu, Heraclitus, and Native American Spirituality" presented in June 2007 at an International Symposium on Dialogue: Literature and Philosophy held at Beijing International Studies University, Beijing, China.
- "Humanistic Marxism and Freedom" presented in June 2007 at the Institute for Transcultural Studies under Beijing International Studies University, Beijing, China.
- "World Peace: Humanistic Marxism & Buddhism" presented in December 2006 at the Interim World Philosophy Congress held at the University of Delhi, India.
- "World Peace & Humanistic Marxism" presented in October 2006 at a Rethinking Marxism Congress held at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
- "Two Bodhisattvas: Buddha and Marx" presented in 2006 at the Fourth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities held at the University of Carthage, Tunisia.
- "Humanistic Marxism and Buddhism: Ironic Affinities" presented in January 2006 at Benares Hindu University in Varanasi, India.
- "Humanistic Marxism and the Transformation of Reason" presented in July 2005 at the Fourth World Congress of the International Society for Universal Dialogue in Helsinki, Finland.
Prof. Brien is currently working on a new book project tentatively called "Toward a New Liberation Spirituality." His on-going work is a long-term project aimed at a critical synthesis of Marx, Nietzsche, and Buddhism.
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