A small college in central Kansas is not usually considered a center of formal philosophic thought.
But Meredith (Trexler) Drees, Ph.D, assistant professor and chair of the Department of Religion & Philosophy, at 黑料不打烊, could change that.
Drees has been named a research fellow for 2022-23 at the Center for Philosophy and Religion at the University of Notre Dame. Other fellows have been from the top universities in the country and the world.
She will be the aesthetics speaker at the 2022 Rutgers Summer Institute for Diversity in Philosophy, representing the American Society for Aesthetics.
And she has been asked to talk about her 2021 book at the Iris Murdoch Society this summer in Chichester, England. Murdoch was a 20th-century Irish-English novelist and philosopher.
These invitations have come partly because of her book, 鈥淎esthetic Experience and Moral Vision in Plato, Kant, and Murdoch: Looking Good/Being Good.鈥�
The book鈥檚 editor and someone who had reviewed it recommended Drees for the fellowship at Notre Dame, which will start Aug. 15 and go through May 15.
鈥淚 had written an outline of another book, which results from some questions that came out of the first one,鈥� Drees said. 鈥淭his outline is for another eight-chapter long book. They expect me to have that completed by the time I leave in May 鈥� a chapter a month!鈥�
The first book addresses the ways in which Plato, Kant, and Iris Murdoch share the thesis that aesthetic experience is connected to morality. Immanuel Kant was an 18th-century philosopher.
The subtitle is a pun, Drees said: 鈥淟ooking good鈥� doesn鈥檛 refer to being attractive but to being good at looking.
鈥淭he reason for my title is that Iris Murdoch鈥檚 view of what it means to be good is to truly look at other people, as to be able to see them for who they truly are.鈥�
The second book will look at questions mostly centered around Kant鈥檚 religion and questions Murdoch raises. One of the questions is, is forgiveness possible without God. This book won鈥檛 include Plato.
鈥淭hen I鈥檒l be looking at interpretations of love and virtue and forgiveness,鈥� she said, because that is also the theme of the fellowship.
The Rutgers Summer Institute will be all about diversity, equity and inclusion, Drees said.
鈥淚鈥檓 going to be talking about how this idea of looking that Murdoch has helps us to really see other people and pay attention to them and in that sense promotes inclusion, she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not 鈥榦thering,鈥� we鈥檙e including, appreciating other people.鈥�
Despite all the recent attention Drees is getting, she鈥檚 far from an overnight success.
鈥淚 spent nearly 20 years working on some of these topics,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 started working as an undergraduate on the connections between ethics and aesthetics.鈥�
She worked on the final edits of her book while undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer.
It was a tough time, she admitted, but she had to 鈥渢ransition to gratitude to get through it. If you see it as this thing that鈥檚 negative, it can just eat away at you. But if you see it as something positive, you can grow from it.
鈥淲hen I had cancer, I was focusing on goals and dreams, because I didn鈥檛 want to focus on I鈥檓 going through chemo. Looking ahead is part of what got me through it. It served a purpose 鈥� it propelled me forward to the other side.鈥�
Drees has been at 黑料不打烊 since 2013, when she joined the faculty as an adjunct, teaching ethics. In 2015 she became a full-time faculty member, and this spring passed her tenure review.
She鈥檚 as enthusiastic about teaching as she is about her research. She was voted 黑料不打烊’s 2019-20 Exemplary Teacher of the Year.
The stereotype is you have to be a researcher or a teacher, but Drees thinks it鈥檚 possible to do high-level research and teach.
鈥淵ou can do it all 鈥� you can be really connected and support your students, and your research should inform what you鈥檙e doing with your students,鈥� Drees said. 鈥淢y secret is I鈥檝e tried to make it all holistic and make it work together.鈥�
Story by Jean Kozubowski
