Omar Quiñonez Mudd Center for Ethics Postdoctoral Fellow

Mattingly House 202
540-458-4237
oquinonez@wlu.edu

Omar Quiñonez received his Ph.D. from Emory University in 2021 and BA’s in Philosophy, History, and Political Science from the University of Colorado Denver. Omar was born in Texas but grew up across the border in Mexico. His area of specialization is nineteenth-century philosophy, social and political philosophy, and the philosophy of nature. His research focuses on understanding what decadence means as a cultural, political, and natural phenomenon. He is working on a book project that explores the ways nineteenth-century German philosophy can help us think about the relation between decline, decay, and decadence, and how they all form part of contemporary modern life.

In 2021-22 Omar will teach a course related to the Mudd Center’s theme: Daily Ethics of Social Trust (PHIL 296B-01; Seminar in Ethics and Value Theory). This seminar looks at the effects of our daily behavior on social trust. What makes someone trustworthy in the eyes of others? How do political leaders and institutions build trust? By what mechanisms do we lose trust in our friends, communities, and values? We will consider social trust in relation to some of today's most pressing ethical, existential, and political issues. These include the role of reputation and social recognition, the social dynamics of belief in science and experts, the moral demands of hospitality, and the ways in which unfair economic practices and discrimination impair social trust. I hope that by the end of the term we will all have a better understanding of how our modern daily lives are capable of upsetting trust in our fellow citizens, institutions and values, and the global community at large.