I wish I had written one of these a month ago. By the middle of March, my university went online, and now, at the end of March, 75% of Americans are living in some state of lockdown as the numbers of people infected and lost around the world continue to climb. We are all, adults and children alike, expected to continue "work as normal" under conditions that are anything but normal. Although I join those who push back again the emphasis on productivity during a pandemic and emphasize the importance of self-care and compassion... I do nonetheless worry about my own productivity.
Not that I was getting a lot done before all this happened—my malaise from last year had not abated—but I think the constant state of urgency, with more to do as a department chair and more to think about as a human being, has strangely made me more alert to what I need to do as a writer and scholar. Of course, it's much harder to focus when you're trying to absorb the constantly updating news around the world (and here we thought there was a lot of news before the pandemic, ha). But the current crisis also makes it more imperative to unplug and refresh our minds, to focus on something else for at least a short while. (Not all of us can do this, of course, especially the heroes of the day: health care workers, first responders, and grocery store and restaurant employees, among others.)
It seems that, very recently, I have managed to avoid the news cycle—and commentary on the news, and commentary on the commentary, ad infinitum and ad nauseam—which enabled me to recover a bit of my focus and motivation and move some projects forward. Today I sent off a book proposal to an editor who's been patiently waiting for it, and I will continue work on a handbook chapter for another editor who's been even more patient, which I hope will lead to finally completing a related book proposal for yet another editor, whose patience is off the charts. When those things are done, and I get a few review assignments off my desk, I can get back to the superhero-and-ethics book for which I did the reading and note-taking at the end of last year.
I've found some solace this past month in journaling, which I do off and on and off again (and intermittently at that). But this time around, I've been using it to try to figure out what I want to do, as in "with my life," a nut I've been trying to crack for going on a decade now. Much of it has to do with determining with who I want to be, who I want to think of myself as, and who I want others to think of me as, all of which come back in one way or another to the word worthy (which just happens to be the focus of the book I'm current working on, so that's kind of weird).
I also realized I had came to no longer think of myself of a writer, which was a striking revelation. I've written about why that particular mode of self-identification is problematic for me, but it did serve as an existential anchor of sorts, grounding me in an understanding of what I did with my days. Without it, I just drifted, but I think I've found my footing again, as shown by the reignited embers of work detailed above, and hopefully I'll have more progress to report the next time I check in.
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Until I see you again, please be well and safe, practice social distancing, and do wot the man says...
This was a difficult year's-end review to write. 2019 was not a good year for me, neither professionally nor personally, and although I did have a good number of things come out, based on past efforts, I produced very little new material over the last twelve months.
“More Harm Than Benefit: The Ramifications of the Neglect of Rights in Economics,” in Wilfred Dolfsma and Ioana Negru (eds), The Ethical Formation of Economists (Routledge), pp. 71-91
The final piece above was written this year, as was a book review for a journal and a very short piece on nudge for an online site (both forthcoming next year, perhaps). In terms of blogs, I wrote my usual complement of posts for Psychology Today, including a post based on my Batman book originally posted at The Comics Professor, and kept up with my Virtues of Captain America blog (although my backlog is not what it used to be). Finally, I wrote a nudge paper for a special journal issue that didn't work for the reviewers and a few chapters for the antitrust book I worked on in the spring but set aside (twice), and I finished the background reading for the first of two superhero books I am writing for Ockham Publishing (who published my Civil War book in 2016).
Looking ahead to next year, I plan to write the superhero book mentioned above (and start background work on the second), finalize plans for an academic trade book on economics and ethics (and write an invited handbook chapter on same), and continue to work on the antitrust book (which I've begun to refer to as my "white whale").
It's been a strange year so far in terms of work (both writing and school), so the true updates in this post will be few, and instead I'll focus on things coming out in the near future.
My main project since the beginning of the year has been my antitrust book, but I did not make as much progress on it as I'd hoped, so after some hiccups (and thanks to the patience of my editor), I will be taking the summer to finish it. (Speaking of antitrust, I had the pleasure recently of attending a talk by Jonathan B. Baker, whose new book, The Antitrust Paradigm, I'm eagerly awaiting.) I did, however, manage to write an invited essay for a new law-and-economics journal (tentatively out this fall) and a short book review for another journal, and I have started working on an invited symposium paper on nudge (specifically, proposed ethical guidelines for their use) for a political science journal.
The academic trade book proposal I mentioned in my last post—which would have collected and elaborated on my thoughts about adultery based on my Psychology Today posts on the topic—didn't get picked up, but I plan to write something longer on the topic nonetheless. As far another book in the works, I'll save that until the end...
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I have a few things coming out this year, one of which (as you can see above) showed up on my doorstep the morning of the day before Easter: Batman and Ethics, which is available now as an ebook and will be released in US in paperback in early May (the 6th or the 13th, depending on what site you're looking at), earlier some other places (26 April in the UK, apparently). There is now a dedicated page for it here, which explains what I'm on about, and includes a quote from an early review by Armond Boudreaux at his great blog A Clash of Heroes.
Although I do not yet have a copy in my hands, this summer will see the release of The Oxford Handbook of Ethics and Economics, involving several dozen brilliant scholars over 27 chapters (including mine, “With All Due Respect: A Kantian Approach to Economics"), all of which I was honored to edit. I also have a dedicated page for this here, and my introduction is available at SSRN.
I also have several chapters coming out this spring in other people's books:
Coming at the end of May is Wilfred Dolfsma and Ioana Negru's edited volume, The Ethical Formation of Economists (Routledge), including my chapter “More Harm Than Benefit: The Ramifications of the Neglect of Rights in Economics."
Also out at the end of May is Holger Strassheim and Silke Beck's Handbook of Behavioural Change and Public Policy (Elgar), including my chapter “Nudging – Ethical and Political Dimensions of Choice Architectures.”
Also out since my last post is “On the Relationship Between Economics and Ethics,” in Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi (available at SSRN), followed in the same issue by a response from John B. Davis, who contributed to the Oxford handbook as well. (Speaking of contributors to the Oxford handbook, Virgil Storr and Ginny Choi have a book coming this summer titled Do Markets Corrupt Our Morals? that I strongly encourage you to check out, and which may or may not carry a blurb from yours truly.)
I also had my customary posts at Psychology Today and my ongoing efforts at my blog The Virtues of Captain America, which is steadily approaching its 100th post. And finally, appropriate given the impending release of Avengers: Endgame, I recently found the Chinese edition of The Avengers and Philosophy, which I didn't think was due until 2020 but seems to have appeared early. (Keeping my eye open for the planned Chinese edition of Iron Man and Philosophy too.)
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Going forward, while I wrap up the antitrust book and the nudge paper, I will be starting the "arduous" task of re-reading and note-taking for my next superhero-and-ethics book, a long-term project with no firm completion date (on agreement with the publisher). This will be a true labor of love, and my dream project since I started doing this sort of thing. I'm keeping the details tight to my vest for the time being, but if I do my job right, it should be fantastic.
I'm feeling rather ambivalent about my life these days (see here) — which is not unusual for me the last ten years or so, but still. I have, however, come to some realizations of late that may suggest a corner is about to be turned. We'll get to that in due time... in the meantime, let's see what I managed to do this year nonetheless (in addition to my duties as a mild-mannered professor for a metropolitan university).
In terms of things that were published this year (but finished earlier), I had one new edited book out this year, Doctor Strange and Philosophy, which included one chapter I wrote, and one journal article that was posted online in 2016 (and written much earlier) but was not slotted into an issue until this year (this month, actually). (A chapter on nudge that I wrote even earlier, that I thought would be in a book published this year, will be out next year.)
Much of what I actually did this year (which involved more editing than writing) will appear in 2019:
I did most of my work on The Oxford Handbook of Ethics and Economics, including writing the introduction and my chapter, editing the other 26 chapters, and overseeing the review of copyedits and proofs (the last one still ongoing). This should be out next summer.
Even though it was written in 2017, I wrapped up work on Batman and Ethics this year, including making final revisions, reviewing copyedits and proofs, and compiling the index. This should be out next April.
I did write several shorter pieces that should be out next year as well...
“On the Relationship Between Economics and Ethics,” forthcoming in a symposium on the interdisciplinary potential of economics (with a response by John B. Davis) in Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, 52(2), Winter 2018
“More Harm Than Benefit: The Ramifications of the Neglect of Rights in Economics,” forthcoming in Ioana Negru and Wilfred Dolfsma (eds), The Ethical Formation of Economists (Routledge, 2019)
...as well as several shorter pieces that appeared this year (as well as the normal assortment of blog posts at Psychology Today and several at The Comics Professor):
“How to Live a More Authentic Life in Both Markets and Morals,” a commentary on William Irwin's The Free Market Existentialist (in Reason Papers, 40(1), Summer 2018, pp. 59-63)
“Restoring Social Responsibility to Inner Freedom, with Help from Immanuel Kant” and "Inner Freedom Is Consistent with Family (and Social Ties in General)," as part of the conversation on inner and outer freedom at Cato Unbound (October 2018)
On a different tack, this past summer I launched The Virtues of Captain America blog, which just celebrated its 50th post this month, and will keep me busy for many years to come (seeing that the 50th post brought us into the 1970s, and the 100th, which I will be writing soon, will only find me in 1974).
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Looking forward, I've begun a book on antitrust, which I hope to finish next spring and should be out next fall from Rowman and Littlefield International. I'm also crafting a proposal for a short academic trade on a topic I've discussed a bit at Psychology Today, which, if accepted by the press I've discussed it with, I would write next summer. Besides that, I have a couple other academic projects in mind, but no firm plans beyond some preliminary discussions with presses.
Those projects notwithstanding, in the coming year I hope to devote myself more to writing about superheroes, not just on the Cap blog but new projects as well. Yes, I realize I said much the same thing last year, but I'm even more convinced now that this is the way to go for me, given additional feedback I've gotten from fans and friends over the past year, as well as my experience at San Diego Comic-Con this past summer. I'm hesitant to leave academic writing entirely, because it seems to be a part of my professional identity with which I have a strange push-pull relationship. I've never felt like a "serious academic," and I'm increasingly uncertain I ever could be one, but at the same time I feel I "should" keep trying to be one, even though my particular talents, such as they are, seem to be of more value elsewhere. (Let's not go down that particular rabbit-hole just yet, but my latest Psychology Today post alludes to it.)
I'll leave you with something that's been a balm to my soul lately... let's hope for a brighter year ahead!
This will be a short update because I haven't done much since my last one, given the hectic start to the fall semester. (I know, likely excuse.) I do, however, have a lot to accomplish in the coming months, so I'm posting this as a way to clear the deck, so to speak, in preparation for the busy months to come.
The most time-consuming tasks (outside of college work) dealt with production on two books coming out this year. I reviewed the copyedits for one sole-authored book, and also coordinated the review of copyedits for The Oxford Handbook of Ethics and Economics, liaising with over two dozen contributors as well as the copyeditor. I've been told to expect page proofs for both books in December, a fact I'm trying to use to inspire diligence in writing before then.
Speaking of which... as I mentioned in the last post, I have two conference presentations in early January to prepare for (both of which I've begun), one on a Kantian view of the market and state for an Association for Social Economics session at the ASSA meetings, and the other a commentary on Leo Zaibert's fantastic new book Rethinking Punishment for the Eastern APA meetings.
New to this update are two new commitments. The first is a monograph tentatively titled The Problems with Antitrust, under contract with Rowman & Littlefield International (to be included in my series On Ethics and Economics), in which I will expand on previously published criticisms of the moral foundations and implications of antitrust (such as this article). I promised to have this done by the end of February, after which I turn to the second, a presentation for the PPE Society meetings in late March on the ethics of the economics of the family, on which I touched in this article as well as my chapter for the handbook (generally on Kant and economics), but have never explored at length.
There are a couple more conferences in the spring I'm considering attending and possibly presenting at, which is a big change from recent years when I backed off from conference travel. (Don't ask me why... I haven't figured it out yet.)
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Unfortunately, my plan to devote a certain amount of time each day to writing never got off the ground, partially because I didn't have a significant writing project (with most of the last two months being spent reviewing copyedits and occasionally writing short pieces for various websites or blogs), and also due to campus responsibilities and various personal matters. Now that I do have such projects (especially the book), and administrative duties at school have lessened (being heaviest through September and October), perhaps I can develop a routine... or rather, I need to develop a routine, and stick to it (a problem I addressed in the first Psychology Today post mentioned above).
I visited campus yesterday for a New Faculty Luncheon, which gave me a chance to catch up with my fellow chairs and various administrators and staff, and whenever someone asked me how my summer was, I answered, "uneven." (More accurate than my standard "ehh, OK," and leads to just as many follow-up questions.)
My summer was definitely bifurcated. As I reported in my last regular update, the first half was mainly spent wrapping up The Oxford Handbook of Ethics and Economics. Then I attended San Diego Comic-Con, a fantastic experience recounted here. I returned from that trip completely drained, as expected, and I wisely did not plan or expect any significant activity for the first few days afterwards. Afterwards, I did plan to start work on a book chapter I promised to the book's editor by the end of August: a relatively short piece based on material from my upcoming book Batman and Ethics, but written with a different focus for a different audience.
Unfortunately, that "few days" turned into a month of near inactivity, and I didn't make significant progress on writing the chapter until two weeks ago (after struggling with its organization during the time prior). About the only other thing I can remember doing during that time was write posts for my The Virtues of Captain America blog, which I launched before going to Comic-Con and now has sixteen live posts (a new one every Monday and Friday) and over fifty more ready to go (to ensure I can maintain that twice-a-week schedule into the semester). That's worthy work, to be sure, but I felt uneasy leaving the book chapter to so late in the summer, especially when I had so much time in the weeks after Comic-Con.
Today I completed the first draft of the chapter to my satisfaction and emailed it to the editor—at the end of the day on the last Friday before the semester starts. (And that week one of work emergencies, computer failures, car repairs, and family illness.) And next week, I need to go through the Batman and Ethics manuscript a final time, making a handful of small revisions recommended by reviewers, before delivering it to the publisher next Friday, as well as attend to the first week of the semester. (Yes, I am nuts, but I also never miss a production deadline.) And in September I start my fall writing, which includes a paper to present at the ASSA meetings in early January, a commentary on a book to be presented at the APA Eastern meetings a few days later, and (hopefully) a short academic book, the proposal of which is currently under review (and about which I hope to get news soon), and which I hoped to finish by the end of January (a month we have off at my university).
That's a lot, and starting in September I do want to try committing to a certain amount of time writing every day. (It's what all the kids are doing these days, right?) I've tried to stick to a writing schedule many times, but even when I can stay offline I just stare at the screen in despair. I'm hoping it works better this time, as least in maintaining momentum. My two main problems with writing are starting and continuing, and writing every day should at least help with the latter!
I do wish I'd taken a few days off after Comic-Con to go somewhere and unwind, as I'd planned. By "planned" I meant I mentioned it to several friends, with about as much commitment as Milton threatening revenge every time someone took his stapler or moved his desk. (Well, maybe less, considering how the movie ended.) As a result, I am going into the semester feeling rather drained, but thinking over summers past, that's par for the course. Not good, I know, but not unexpected, and there's something woefully comforting in that.
If you're an academic or a student, I hope your semester starts well; and if you're a writer, may the words flow as quickly as the coffee that fuels them (or the hearty libations that follow). For everyone else, have a great fall, and I'll see all of you near the end of the year, if not sooner.
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I'll leave you with a song that represents chill to me, something I'm trying to grab a bit of in these waning moments of the Sunday of summer.
I just returned from my first San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC). I attended the New York version in 2011, but I had never ventured out west for the "big" one until my good friend E. Paul Zehr (author of Creating Captain America, Becoming Batman, and others) invited me to join him in a session on Captain America, and then arranged a reprise, with Travis Langley (author of Batman and Psychology and editor and lead writer for the Pop Culture Psychology series from Sterling), of the "An Evening with Batman's Brain" event held a couple years ago at the University of Victoria (covered here). So I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Paul for making this experience possible (and taking me to Old Town for some amazing Mexican food!).
Before I begin, let me warn you: I did not jump into the con with both feet, spending morning noon and night there. I get sensory overload fairly quickly, and SDCC is basically Las Vegas for pop culture fans. So there may be less activity here than some might expect, but I hope it's entertaining nonetheless, especially for those who have never been.
One more warning: There will be pictures of me, but always with much prettier people. (And Paul.)
WEDNESDAY
After a happily uneventful flight from Newark Liberty Airport (captured very well in a recent issue of Ms. Marvel), I arrived in sunny San Diego and made my way to the hotel room, then took the shuttle to the convention center to get my badge. (Note it says "PROFESSIONAL." Still can't get over that.) That process—which went smoothly, thanks to the helpful SDCC staff—gave me my first taste of the con crowds, which were much less intense over the entire weekend than I feared.
Let me stop here and say that I had more than a little anxiety about this trip in the last couple weeks before I left. I found my one visit to the New York con overwhelming, and even though that's a smaller affair, it's just as dense with people. I've been following news of SDCC online for years, and read countless horror stories about the crush of people and the paucity of food and water, and as a result I was expecting to be in a reenactment of The Walking Dead (rather than just seeing reenactments of The Walking Dead). But I was pleased and relieved to find that the con was very manageable, with food and drink plentiful (if predictably overpriced) both inside and outside the convention center, and the crowds, while intense in number at times, were very good-natured. Everyone's there to have a good time—just like at academic conferences. <wink>
The con didn't actually open until that evening, so I walked back to the hotel, changed, and then hopped the shuttle back for the opening "preview night," where I had an interview with Mark Niu with CGTN planned. (Mark very generously moved up our scheduled time to accommodate my East Coast metabolism, which had been up very early back in New Jersey, three time zone away.) Some of it was filmed in front of the Alex Ross exhibit, which in a strange way made me feel right at home, because so much of his work hangs on my walls!
After that I walked around the con floor for a bit, taking it all in while the crowd was less intense (but no less enthusiastic). I got my first brush with greatness when Rob Liefeld (co-creator of Deadpool and all-around comics legend) rushed past me, albeit too quickly to get a picture or even say hi. (If you're reading this, Rob... hi!)
THURSDAY
Let me take this chance to mention my regular morning haunt while in San Diego: Portal Coffee, at 1495 Pacific Highway, with a beautiful deck, friendly staff (hi Ellie!), and the best espresso I have ever had. They had only been open a week when I got there, and I'm sure they'll be a huge success, so it was cool to be there "from the beginning."
I didn't go to the con on Thursday, knowing that Friday and Saturday would be very intense, with a panel appearance each day. (I know my limits.) So I just sampled the local food and coffee and liaised with Wiley Blackwell about the launch of my latest book, Batman and Ethics, which I was planning to announce at the Batman panel Friday evening (but which I let slip in the interview Wednesday evening, oops).
FRIDAY
I spent the morning preparing the blog post linked above for the book, and then ventured to the convention center after lunch to spend some time in Artists' Alley and the exhibits before the Batman session that evening. You really get a feeling for the range of artistic expression in comics from walking up and down the aisles in Artists' Alley, where artists from every genre of comics and illustrated fiction have booths set up to meet their fans and sell their work. The highlight for me was meeting Jim Cheung, superstar artist from Young Avengers (which he created with Allan Heinberg), Marvel Two-in-One, and now Justice League. (Check out Young Avengers: The Children's Crusade for a showcase of his work and a terrific story overall, thoroughly embedded in Marvel continuity.)
I walked around the rest of the floor, especially parts I hadn't seen Wednesday evening, but left when I started to feel a little dizzy (crowds, noise, etc.), so I went upstairs to what I call the "decompression zone," the bright, open seating area between all the meeting rooms, and had some food and water and just relaxed. Eventually I made my way to the room hosting the Batman panel, where I reconnected with Travis and met Michael Uslan (author of The Boy Who Loved Batman and producer of all of the Batman films since 1989), Victor Dandridge (Vantage:Inhouse Productions), and Lee Meriwether (Catwoman and Miss America), who is simply the most charming and lovely woman you could ever meet.
(And oh yeah, Paul too.)
Victor did a fantastic job moderating the panel, which showcased a wide range of perspectives and opinions on issues such as: Does Batman count as a superhero? Should Batman kill? Can Batman ever be happy—and should he be? The last one was inspired by the recent Batman-Catwoman wedding storyline in the comics, and Lee stole the show when Michael asked her directly, "could Catwoman make Batman happy?", to which she responded by giving him a sly look and asking, "what do you think?" Even better, in the session wrap-up when we all explained why we loved Batman, she told the story of growing up, buying comics with her pennies as a small girl and listening to her mom read them to her. You could have heard a pin drop in that hall of nearly 300. (And I had to follow her! Impossible.)
After the session, when we had a few minutes to meet with audience members before the next session, a woman came up to tell me how much she appreciated my comments, and it took me a few seconds to realize it was none other than—are you sitting down?—Erin Gray, star of Buck Rogers and Silver Spoons. Talk about having your mind blown... it still doesn't seem real to me. Luckily, after helping Lee down from the podium, I had the chance to take the picture to the right with both legendary actresses.
Paul, Travis, and I stayed for the next session, featuring psychologist Andrea Letamendi (Under the Mask) and Loren Lester, the voice of Dick Grayson from Batman: The Animated Series, discussing the psychological roots of the character and how Lester worked that into his portrayal, especially as Dick Grayson transitioned from Robin to Nightwing (both of whom he sometimes had to voice in the same episode). I had never met Andrea, who would also moderate the Captain America panel the next day, but had a chance to introduce myself after her session. Later, we met up with some friends at a nearby hotel for drinks, food, and laughs, where the Three Beards were captured for posterity. (Compare to two years ago in Victoria.)
SATURDAY
Friday, especially the second half, was such an overwhelming experience—in a good way—that I'm surprised I was ready for the Captain America panel late the next morning. But I was, and was amazed and thrilled to meet the incomparable David Mack (with me at the right), who was the subject of a spotlight panel which was held in the same room in the slot before my panel. Despite the astonishingly innovative nature of his work, including on titles such as Daredevil, covers for Alias and Jessica Jones (plus titles and art for the Netflix series), and his upcoming project Cover with Brian Michael Bendis, plus amazing celebrity portraits, Mack is a really down-to-earth and cool guy—which I am happy to find of most of the amazing creators I meet, but it still surprises me.
Soon thereafter, the rest of the Cap panel showed up: Daniel Wilson, author of The Clockwork Dynasty and Robopocalypse (and a PhD in robotics), Paul, and our moderator Andrea, as well as Kate McClancy from the Comics Arts Conference (sponsor of the session) providing the introduction. (Writer G. Willow Wilson, co-creator of Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel and the recently announced writer of Wonder Woman, had to withdraw at the last minute due to other circumstances.) It was a more tightly focused panel than the Batman one, and with Andrea's help, it turned into a great conversation between me, Daniel, and Paul, each of us building on each other's comments about the ethics of Cap himself as well as the moral issues around the prospect of creating superhumans (and how soon it might happen). There was also time for audience questions at the end of the panel, as well as connecting with audience members afterwards, which is my favorite part of these panels.
WHEW!
I took it easy the rest of the day Saturday (after Paul and I lunched at Kansas City Barbeque, where the bar scene from Top Gun was filmed), and my flight left early Sunday morning (although intrepid weather at home made it uncertain the plane was going to make it all the way there, resulting in a holding pattern over Chicago and a unexpected side-trip around Buffalo). But I did get home, and today I am feeling slightly jet lagged and decidedly ungrateful for the New Jersey humidity. But I'm very happy for the experience, for which I once again thank Paul Zehr—I wouldn't have experienced any of this without him.
I am definitely going to try to participate in SDCC (and other cons) more in the future (despite my initial trepidation, which seemed silly by the end of the weekend), whether under the auspices of the Comics Arts Conference or the main conferences. Speaking of the CAC, I had the pleasure of chatting with one of its founders, Randy Duncan, outside the Cap panel about our mutual love of comics—a very warm and welcoming man whom I could have talked to all weekend.
And lest I forget, SDCC gave him a terrific place to announce Batman and Ethics, the final cover for which I received just in time to slide it into the backdrop for the Batman panel, alongside the great books written by Paul, Travis, and Michael Uslan, as well as the luminous Lee Meriwether in the arms of Cesar Romero as the Joker. (For more details on Batman and Ethics, see my blog post at The Comics Professor.
This update is coming a bit later than I would have liked, but I wanted to get some things done first, and there's something I couldn't talk about publicly until recently. (There's actually something else coming soon that I can't quite talk about yet, but I didn't want to wait for that too! UPDATE: here it is!) So here we are, almost exactly in the middle of summer... and let me tell you what I've been up to since my last update at the end of March.
By the way, the picture at the top of the post is actually not the view out of my window, but it is what I imagine about when I think about retirement. (Sigh.) It's my happy place, wherever it is.
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Just yesterday, I submitted the manuscript of The Oxford Handbook of Ethics and Economics to my editors, all 27 chapters, 995 manuscript pages, or 282,327 words of it. (I immediately tweeted the news with the GIF to the right, which shows what I'm still doing today.) I've done a lot of edited volumes, some with co-editors but most of them by myself, but this was by far the largest and most involved project I've been involved with. I've been told that there will be a page at Oxford's site for the book fairly soon, so I'll hold off on further details until then (which will likely be posted at Economics and Ethics, natch). From what people tell me, we managed to finish it fairly quickly, for which I'm grateful to all of my contributors—including the one who bet me it wouldn't be finished until 2020. (He should have known better: even my co-edited volume on procrastination was delivered on time!)
My scholarly output was fairly limited the last few months to editing the handbook (and writing my chapter and introduction for it), but I did manage to write a short piece on the relationship between economics and ethics for a journal symposium (which was well timed, helping me to think through some issues I was planning to discuss in the handbook introduction anyway), and do the normal amount of journal article refereeing and book proposal reviewing.
And oh yeah, I wrapped up the academic semester too. Here's a photo from commencement day, with my indispensable administrative assistants Florinda and Joan, who actually run my department. (I never gave much thought to my own graduations, but I've come to appreciate them more and more since I became a department chair.)
I am mulling several possible academic projects now that I wrapped the handbook, one of which may have been proposed to a press and may be under review as we speak. (Maybe.)
More recently, I launched my new blog I've been hinting at for a while, The Virtues of Captain America, which serves as an online complement to the book of the same title. As explained in the About the Blog page, my plan is to go through every appearance of Cap from his Silver Age revival in 1964's Avengers #4, exploring his ethical behavior as reflected in every marvelous issue. Some comics will have more ethical content than others, of course, but I have fun with all of them.
As you can see at the right, the first three posts are currently live: Avengers #4 (March 1964), Avengers #5 and Fantastic Four #26 (May 1964), and Avengers #6 (July 1964). Soon, we'll get to his solo adventures in Tales of Suspense, which began in issue #59 (November 1964), but we'll begin with his guest appearance in issue #58 the month before. I have about 50 posts stockpiled, and I hope to keep this rolling for quite a while, posting two or three times a week.
I will be mentioning the new blog—and possibly also my next superhero book, which is almost in production at long last—next week when I speak for the first time at San Diego Comic-Con. (Crazy, right? Definitely crazy.)
I'll be speaking at two panels (because one wouldn't be crazy enough):
The Friday panel, "An Evening with Batman's Brain," will be a reprise of the event held at Victoria University in March 2016 (recounted here) with E. Paul Zehr (Becoming Batman) and Travis Langley (Batman and Psychology), plus Lee Meriwether, Michael Uslan, and Paul Levitz, and moderated by Aaron Sagers. (Note that participation can change up to the last minute.)
I imagine this will be quite an experience; I've only been to one major con (New York Comic-Con in 2011), and I've never spoken at one. (Needless to say, I couldn't have finished the handbook at a better time!) UPDATE: See this post for my SDCC experience.
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As I mentioned above, I should be able to discuss my upcoming book on superheroes and philosophy very soon [here it is!], so watch this space for more on that... assuming I survive San Diego! Until then, enjoy yourselves and please be kind.
It's been a strange three months, both in the world outside my window as well as the one within it. But work continues, as it always does and must, and here I'll fill you in on what kept me busy since I last checked in.
My main project this semester is editing The Oxford Handbook of Ethics and Economics, the work on which is going very well. Most of the chapters are in and revised, and the quality of the chapters from my contributors is outstanding. (I only hope my own chapter will stand up to the rest!)
Alongside that, I wrote a chapter for a edited book on the ethical formation of economists, a book review for a journal, a write-up for another journal of my comments from an author-meets-critics session at last year's APA Central meetings, and a smattering of manuscript and article reviews.
I also wrote three new posts for Psychology Today, all on love and relationships:
I still haven't worked out what I plan to do when the handbook is finished, but one possibility is that writing my chapter on Kant for the handbook will inspire me to work up some recent thoughts for a follow-up to my book Kantian Ethics and Economics. If I have another scholarly book in me, it's most likely this one.
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On the popular writing front, I did begin working on the comics blog project I described in my last update, crafting posts without actually posting them (until I assemble a critical mass to make it worthwhile). So far it's been more of a distraction than anything else, albeit a pleasant one, but I think I'm going to keep it up for a while. I'm going through a character's appearances in order from the beginning, writing on the ethically relevant aspects of each issue, but unfortunately there wasn't always a lot of interest in term of ethics in the early stories, so I'm trying to move through them more quickly so I can get to the "good stuff" in later issues.
In books news, I wrapped up production on Doctor Strange and Philosophy, which is due out in May, and I'm still waiting to hear news about the book that I wrote last summer on another superhero. I'm itching to write another book on a particular character to whom I could give the same treatment as I did for Cap and the hero I wrote about last summer, but that will be a major commitment that I will consider once the handbook is done (and I see how the blog project works out).
And of course, once I find an approach I'm satisfied with, I will definitely write a book on these four fine folks, whose return to the world of comics in August made big news today. That remains my dream book project, but until I find a strong theme to base it on, I'm going to sit on it, and just look forward to August (and the prospect of a Marvel Studios film down the road).
I've been putting off writing this post for a while — not because I'm disappointed with what I did this year, but because I don't yet know what I will do next year (aside from finishing one major project begun this year), and that has me feeling very uneasy. But more on that to come... let's see what I managed to accomplish this past year (aside from my day job).
1. The Decline of the Individual: Reconciling Autonomy with Community, which was written in the spring and then went through a ridiculously rushed production process over the summer, was published by Palgrave in September. (It was scheduled for August publication, if you can believe that. I still can't.) I wrote about this book and the writing process behind it here, and my friend Dante brilliantly described the production process here. (I also constructed the index that there "just wasn't time for": you can find it here.)
3. A sole-authored book on a superhero and ethics (in the vein of The Virtues of Captain America), which I wrote mostly during the summer and completed in the fall, is under review for classroom adoption potential and is planned to be published by Wiley-Blackwell in 2019. (Will this particular superhero still be around by then? I sure hope so!) I wrote about this book, the process behind it, and the reason for being so coy about its subject, here.
Currently, I'm in the midst of production for Doctor Strange and Philosophy and editing The Oxford Handbook of Ethics and Economics, for which I already have a handful of finalized chapters and which I hope to finish by the middle of next year. Other than that, aside from a few things I've discussed casually with editors at various presses, I have no firm plans for the books in the future, and that is a strange feeling. (But more on that later.)
ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS
As I've said for the last several years, I'm shifting my work away from short pieces and toward books, and this year reflects that. Although a decent number of articles and chapters written last year (or earlier) came out this year, I only wrote two book chapters this year (and have just two to write next year).
Published this year but written earlier (although the first two were revised this year) are:
“Preferences All the Way Down: Questioning the Neoclassical Foundations of Behavioral Economics and Libertarian Paternalism,” Oeconomia, 7(3), pp. 353-373.
Accepted this year and forthcoming — the first written last year, the second this year — are:
“Nudging – Ethical and Political Dimensions of Choice Architectures,” forthcoming in Handbook of Behavioural Change and Public Policy, edited by Holger Strassheim and Silke Beck (Edward Elgar).
"The Otherworldly Burden of Being the Sorcerer Supreme," forthcoming in Doctor Strange and Philosophy.
Finally, in progress are chapters for two edited books, one on Spider-Man and his villains and another on ethics and economics, and next spring I will write my chapter and the introduction for the handbook. (After that... who knows?)
ONLINE WORK
I included this category even though there is very little to account for, other than a few posts at Psychology Today and The Comics Professor. I always hope to blog more — and still do — but rarely find I have anything to say. (That may soon be changing, though... see more below.)
PRESENTATIONS/LECTURES
Not much to report here either: I only gave two presentations in 2017, both at the Central Division meetings of the American Philosophical Association in March. I have no travel planned for next year; I think I'm skipping next week's ASSA meetings for the first time since I began going to 1996, and I already turned down one conference invitation for 2018.
LOOKING FORWARD
I really can't improve on what I wrote last year: "Little has changed since I invoked Tolstoy five years ago at The Good Men Project. I'm still not sure what I'm doing, what I 'should' be doing, or what I want to be doing."
When I told one of my best friends recently that I have nothing planned to do after the handbook is finished next year, he told me, "do what you really want to do." But he knows full well that that's my problem: I still haven't figured out what I want to do. (Pacing around my apartment isn't one of them, but here I am!) I keep a list of things I could do — various topics I could write on, as well as book projects I've discussed with editors at different presses — but none of them excites me at the moment. And then there's that novel I've been telling myself I'd write when I get done with other things, but that's such a huge shift in focus... I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet. (But maybe soon.)
There may be a light in the distance. however. In my last update, I wrote this (originally from my "comeback" post at The Comics Professor, a comeback that lasted all of two posts so far), partly in response to my declining interest in the current state of superhero comics and also looking towards my future activities:
I've been thinking a lot lately about diving back into the past comics I love, whether Captain America, Batman, the Fantastic Four, or others, and blogging in a more systematic way about them, taking each issue or storyline and writing about what I love about it, whether there's something of philosophical interest there or not. Maybe I'll just geek out about how cool the art is, or how a moment made me laugh or cry. Maybe I'll even do a podcast about them, something like The Fantasticast or the Nerdsync podcast—not that I can do that any better than Stephen and Andrew or Scott do, but I'd do it my own way, whatever they may be. Just an idea I've been knocking around, something to get excited about.
Since the time I wrote that, I received two very gratifying and humbling messages, one from a college professor and the other from an instructor in the United States Army, both of whom have used my Captain America book in their classes. This news affected me deeply — especially the one from the army — and confirmed my thoughts about focusing more on comics in general and Captain America in particular, including developing some online content to reinforce and supplement the book, as well as extending the approach to other heroes (such as I did with the book I wrote this summer). So this is likely what I'll be doing next year (aside from the handbook), though it still feels too amorphous at this point to seem "real."
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In general, I realize I don't need to plan the entire next year and have projects nailed down, and that ideas will come to me eventually, but this is the first time in years that I don't have several projects stacked up going into the new year. And I think that's why I look back on 2017 and worry that my 2018 won't be as productive. (There's also the question of why my productivity matters so much to me, but let's ignore that elephant in the room.) Instead of being pleased with what I accomplished this past year, I'm afraid that it's my last "good" year, that I'm "done." And when work is all there is... well, you can fill in the rest. (This also answers that question above.)
Finally, to address my best-laid plans about keeping a routine as laid out in last year's wrap-up post... well, I didn't, at least not in the sense of keeping to a certain schedule or routine. I did, however, work on my two books most every day while writing each of them, so regularity, more than routine, seems to be key for me. I also kept a book journal for the summer book (but not the spring one, for some reason), and this helped reinforce my progress and keep me on track. (No Steinbeck-style ennui this time, amazingly.) I suspect this may be why I need to be working on a "big project," something I can work on every day — it seems that's how I work best and am most satisfied with what I do.
We'll see what happens... and in the meantime, I wish you a fulfilling 2018, whatever that may mean for you!
