Mitchell Silver

Contact Info: Department of Philosophy Tufts University Miner Hall, room 03 Medford, MA 02155 617-627-4852 Email Prof. Silver Office Hours: Tue 3:50-5:15pm, or by appt.

Lecturer
Bioethics, Philosophy of Religion

Biography

Specializing in Ethical Theory and Political Philosophy led Mitchell Silver to an interest in Medical Ethics, which in turn, in a quest for “hands on” practical knowledge, led him to nursing school. He actively practiced as a med/surg or psych nurse from 1984 through1998 and remains a licensed RN. Silver has taught philosophy at UMass Boston since 1982 and at Tufts since 1993. His work as the Educational Director of the I.L. Peretz School of the Brookline Workmen’s Circle and as the Cultural Director of Camp Kinderland developed his interests in secularism and ethnic identity, resulting in the books A Plausible God (Fordham University Press, 2006), and Respecting the Wicked Child: A Philosophy of Secular Jewish Identity and Education, (University of Massachusetts Press, 1998). Silver writes and speaks frequently on health care ethics, Jewish secularism, and Middle East politics. 

Education

Ph.D. in Philosophy, University of Connecticut (1980)
B.S.  in Nursing, University of Massachusetts/Boston (1984)

Selected Publications:

• Review of Aronson’s Living Without God,   Jewish Currents, Fall 2009
• “A Place for a Secular Person Among Spiritual Progressives”, Tikkun, March/April 2009
• “The Case Against God, ” Jewish Currents, March 2008.
• A Plausible God, November 2006, Fordham University Press.
• Respecting the Wicked Child:  A Philosophy of Secular Jewish Identity and Education, December 1998, University of Massachusetts Press.
• "Pacifism and Secularism" Jewish Currents, March 2003.               
• "Who is a Jew?" Jewish Currents, January, 2002.
• "Rethinking Jewish Secularism" in Secular Spirituality, IISHJ Press,2003. 
• "Humanism and Idolatry" in A Life of Courage, Milan Press, 2003
• "Letters From Jerusalem" in Jewish Currents, February 97, April 97 and September 97. 
• "Reflections on Determining Competency," Bioethics, September, 2002.
• "Shattered Trust: Technical and Moral Lessons from an Interrupted First Visit," Harvard Review of Psychiatry,Vol. 10, No. 1.
• "Irreconcilable Moral Disagreement" in Defending Diversity, edited by Lawrence Foster and Patricia Herzog, University of Massachusetts Press, 1994.
• "The Pedagogy of Secular Judaism," in Jewish Currents,  December, 1992.
• "The Morality of Circumcision," in Friends of Massachusetts Midwives, Winter, 1992
• "Refusing to Treat HIV Positive Patients," Journal of Applied Philosophy, October, 1989.
• "Using Restraints," American Journal of Nursing, November, 1987.
• "The Metaphysics of Anti-Semitism," Judaism, Summer, 1981
• Review of Metaphors We Live By, Leonardo, Spring 1981.
• Review of Marxist Models of Literary Realism, Clio, Summer

Courses Taught at Tufts

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