Norton Lectures

Philosophy

Professor Victor Tadros addresses an audience during a lecture inside a University of Delaware lecture hall.

For the spring 2017 David Norton Memorial Lecture, Professor Victor Tadros from the University of Warwick School of Law presented "A Moral Law for War." The lecture was supported by the David Norton Memorial Fund honoring the late UD philosophy professor; the Makiguchi Foundation; the Class of 1955 Ethics Endowment Fund; and the American Philosophical Foundation.

Upcoming Event

David L. Norton seated at his desk in his office, circa 1969

David L. Norton, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Delaware / Photo credit: Blue Hen Yearbook, 1969

David L. Norton Memorial Lectures

David L. Norton (1930-1995) was a professor of philosophy at the University of Delaware for 29 years. He wrote five books, including the highly regarded Personal Destinies: A Philosophy of Ethical Individualism, along with dozens of articles and book chapters.

He received a B.S. in civil engineering in 1952 and an M.A. in philosophy in 1962 from Washington University in St Louis, Missouri. In 1968, he received a Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston University.

Since 1997, the Department of Philosophy has been hosting the David Norton Memorial Lectures in honor of the late professor. Free and open to the public, the lectures present contemporary work by leading figures in philosophy in a manner accessible to the general University of Delaware community. They are supported by the David Norton Memorial Fund, the Class of 1955 Ethics Endowment Fund, the Department of Philosophy, the Makiguchi Foundation, and the American Philosophical Foundation.

Past Lectures

Semester, Year	Presenter and Title
Fall 2024	Sean Carroll, Johns Hopkins University, “Is There More Than Physics?”
Spring 2024	Tommie Shelby, Harvard University, "How Racial Steriotypes Wrong: A Political Ethics of Belief"
Fall 2023	Paul Boghossian, New York University, "Should we be Moral Relativists?"
Spring 2023	Keith Whittington, Princetown University, "Can State Legislatures Ban Critical Race Theory?"
Fall 2022	Kieran Setiya, MIT, "Absurdity and Meaning"
Fall 2019	Robert P. George Princeton University, “Constitutional Structures and Civic Virtue”
Spring 2019	Jeremy Waldron, NYU, School of Law, "Philosophical Foundations for Migration Law"
Fall 2018	Roy Sorensen, Washington University in St. Louis, "Never Ending News"
Spring 2018	Kok-Chor Tan, University of Pennsylvania, "International Territorial Rights: An Institutional Account"
Spring 2017	Victor Tadros, University of Warwick School of Law, "A Moral Law for War"
Fall 2016	Samantha Harris, Foundation of Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), "Due Process and Sexual Misconduct on Campus"
Fall 2015	Jason Stanley, Yale University, "The War on Thugs: Propaganda, Politics, and Mass Incarceration"
Spring 2015	Samuel Scheffler, New York University, "Why Worry About Future Generations?"
Fall 2014	Douglas Husak, Rutgers University, "Why Does Our Punitive Drug Policy Persist? A Speculative Thesis"
Spring 2014	Alexander Nahamas, Princeton University, "Can the Art of Living Be Taught?"
Fall 2013	Philip Pettit, Princeton, "Democracy and Justice"
Spring 2013	Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Duke University, "Are Psychopaths Responsible?"
Fall 2012	Philip Kitcher, Columbia University, "Ethics as a Human Project"
Spring 2012	Michael Bratman, Stanford University, "The Philosophical Significance of the Human Ability to Plan"
Fall 2011	Ronald Dworkin, New York University School of Law, "Religion Without God"
Spring 2011	Margaret Gilbert, University of California, Irvine, "Dark Duties: Does "I was ordered to do it" excuse a bad action?"
Fall 2009	Larry Temkin, Rutgers University, "Rethinking the Good: Moral Ideas and the Nature of Practical Reasoning"
Spring 2009	Samuel Freeman, University of Pennsylvania, "Social Bases of Distributive Justice"
Fall 2007	Holmes Ralston Ill, Colorado State University, "The Future of Environmental Ethics"
Spring 2006	Elliott Sober, University of Wisconsin-Madison, "What's Wrong with Intelligent Design Theory?"
Fall 2005	Daniel Dennett, Tufts University, "Darwin, Meaning, Truth & Morality"
Spring 2005	Nel Noddings, Stanford University, "Public Schools in Peril: A Threat to Democracy?"
Fall 2004	Richard Rorty, Stanford University, "The Priority of Imagination over Reason"
Spring 2004	Judith Thomson, MIT, "On Some Human Rights"
Fall 2003	Virginia Held, Virginia Held, CUNY, "The Caring Person"
Spring 2003	John Perry, Stanford University, "Is there Hope for Compatibilism?"
Spring 2002	Peter Singer, Princeton University, "Ethics and the Global Community"
Fall 2001	Glenn McGee, University of Pennsylvania, "What's in the Dish? Stem Cells and the New Ethics of Human Development"
Spring 2001	Louise Antony, Ohio State University, "Natures, Norms and the Foundations of Liberalism"
Spring 2000	Theodore Glasser, Stanford University, "Accountability in Journalism: What's Missing, What's Needed"
Spring 1999	Paul Churchland, University of California, San Diego, "How the Brain Embodies Moral Knowledge: New Insights from Neural Network Theory"
Spring 1998	Mark Sagoff, University of Maryland, "Is the Environmental Crisis Over"
Spring 1997	Michael Krausz, Bryn Mawr College, "Chosing What One is Cut To Be: Reflections on David Norton".

About David L. Norton

About David Lloyd Norton

Personal

Born: 27 March 1930, St. Louis, MO

Died: July 24, 1995

Married Joan M. Carter, 1953 (divorced ~1966)

Children: Anita Lee Kronsberg, Ronald Vallet Norton, Peter Daniel

Married Mary F. Kille, 1970

Children: Timothy Tucker Norton; Cory Dana Norton
Grandchildren: Rachel Leah Kronsberg, Will David Norton, Paul Richard Norton

Academic

B.S., Civil Engineering, Washington University (St. Louis), 1952
M.A., Philosophy, Washington University, 1962
Ph.D., Philosophy, Boston University, 1968; Thesis Title: "Transcendental Imagination: A Post-Kantian Appraisal"

Vocational

1978-1995: Professor of Philosophy, University of Delaware
1978-1979: Visiting Professor, Philosophy, Hull University, Yorkshire, England
1973-1978: Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Delaware
1966-1973 Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Delaware
1962-1966: Leader, Ethical Society of Boston
1958-1962: Associate Leader, Ethical Society of St. Louis
1954-1958: Architectural Engineer, The Norton Co., St. Louis
1953-1954: Civil Engineer, California Highway Dept., San Francisco
1952-1953: 2nd Lieutenant, USAF, San Antonio, Texas
1951: Uranium prospector. Atomic Trace Elements Unit, U.S Geological Survey, Alaska
1950: Smoke jumper, U.S. Forest Service, Missoula, Montana

Awards

Soka University, Tokyo, Award of Highest Honor, August 11, 1990
Soka University, Tokyo, Honorary Doctorate, awarded October 18, 1991

Publications: Books

Imagination, Understanding, and the Virtue of Liberality (Rowman & Littlefield, 1996), ix, 118 pages, indexed.
Democracy and Moral Development (University of California Press, Jan., 1991), xvi, 198 pages, indexed.
Personal Destinies: A philosophy of Ethical Individualism (Princeton University Press, 1976), xiv, 398 pages, indexed.
Philosophies of Love co-edited with Mary F. Kille (San Francisco and New York: Chandler Intext, 1971). 370 pages + preface. Revised edition, Rowman & Allenheld, 1983.
Japanese Buddhism and the American Renaissance (Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Philosophy, 1993). English and Japanese language editions, 36 and 56 pages respectively.

Publications: Articles and Book Chapters

"Moral Integrity, Organizational Management, and Public Education,” International Journal of Public Administration, vol. 17, no. 12, pp. 2259-2284.
"Education for Self-Knowledge and Worthy Living," John Howie & George Schedler, eds. Ethical Issues in Contemporary Society (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1994), Ch. 6.
"Education for Moral Integrity," Dayle M. Bethel, ed., Compulsory Schooling and Human Learning: The Moral Failure of Public Education in America and Japan (San Francisco: Caddo Gap Press, 1994), Ch. 1.
"Parents as Learning Enablers," Bethel, Compulsory Schooling, Ch. 6.
"On Recovering the Telos in Teleology, or 'Where's the Beef?'" The Monist, vol. 75, no. 1, Jan. 1992, pp. 3?13.
“Humanistic Education for World Citizenship,” in Osamu Akimoto, ed., The Way Toward Humanistic Education Tokyo: Daisan Press, 1992, pp. 169?200.
"Moral Education for Values Creation," in Osamu Akimoto, ed., The Way Toward Humanistic Education, Tokyo, Daisan Press, 1992, pp. 202?230.
"Education for Values Creation," Soka Gakkai News (Tokyo), vol. 11, no. 259, Sept. 1990, pp. 14?22.
"Makiguchi: A Philosophical Appraisal," in Dayle M. Bethel, ed., Education for Creative Living: Ideas and Proposals of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi. Iowa State University Press, 1989, pp. 203?214. Tying School to the World of Work," Wilmington News Journal. May 4, 1989.
"Escaping from The Education Trap: A New University of Delaware Program for Mature Students," Sunday Wilmington News Journal, September 11, 1988.
"Moral Minimalism and The Development of Moral Character," in Peter A. French (et al.), ed., Midwest Studies in Philosophy, vol. XIII, "Ethical Theory: Character and Virtue," Notre Dame University Press, 1988, pp. 180?195.
"The New Moral Philosophy and Its Application to Organizational Life," in N. Dale Wright ed.. Papers on the Ethics of Administration. State University of New York Press, 1988, pp. 47?66.
“Social Organization and Individual Initiative: A Eudaimonist Model,” in Konstantin Kolenda, ed., Organizations and Ethical Individualism. Praeger, 1988, pp. 107-136.
“Liberty, Virtue, and Self-Development: A Eudaimonist Perspective,” Reason Papers, 12:3-15, 1987.
“Tradition and Autonomous Individuality,” Journal of Value Inquiry, 21:131-46, 1987.
“The Moral Individualism of Henry David Thoreau,” in Marcus G. Singer, ed., American Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), pp. 239-253.
“Is 'Flourishing' a True Alternative Ethics?,” Reason Papers, no. 10, Spring 1985, pp. 101-105.
“Life Shaping Choices,” The Humanist, Sept./Oct. 1983, pp. 41-42.
“Good Government, Justice, and Self-Fulfilling Individuality,” in Roger Skurski, ed., New Directions in Economic Justice (Notre Dame University Press, 1983), pp. 33-52.
“Nature and Personal Destiny: A Turning Point in the Enterprise of Self-Responsibility,” in A. T. Tymieniecka, ed. The Philosophical Reflection of Man in Literature (Reidel, 1982), pp. 173-184.
"Toward the Community of True Individuals," in Konstantin Kolenda, ed., Person and Community in American Thought (Rice University Press, 1981), pp. 119?133.
"On an Internal Disparity in Universalizability: Criterion Formulations," The Review of Metaphysics, XXXIII, no. 3, March 1980, pp. 51?59.
"On the Tension Between Equality and Excellence in the Ideal of Democracy," in Maurice Wohlgelernter, ed., History, Religion, and Spiritual Democracy: Essays in Honor of Joseph L. Blau (Columbia University Press, 1980).
"On the Concrete Origin of Metaphysical Questions in Childhood," in Matthew Lippman and Ann Margaret Sharp, eds., Growing Up With Philosophy (Temple University Press, 1978), 121?130.
"Can Fanaticism Be Distinguished From Moral Idealism?", The Review of Metaphysics, vol. XXX, no. 3, March 1977, pp. 497?507.
"Individualism and Productive Justice," Ethics,. vol. 87, no. 2, January 1977, pp. 113?125.
“Rawls's Theory of Justice, A Perfectionist Rejoinder,” If Ethics, vol. 85, no. 1, October 1974, pp. 50?57.
"On Teaching Students What They Already Know," School Review (Chicago University Press), vol. 82, no. 1, November 1973, 45?56.
"Social Entailments of Self-Actualization" (with Mary K. Norton), Journal of Value Inquiry. vol. 7, no. 2, Summer, 1973, pp. 106?120.
"Eudaimonia and the Pain: Displeasure Contingency Argument" Ethics, vol. 82, no. 3, Spring 1972, pp. 314?320.
"From Law to Love: Social Order as Self-Actualization," Journal of Value Inquiry. vol. 6, no. 1, Spring 1972, pp. 91?101.
"Does God Have a Ph.D.?" School Review, vol. 80, no. 1, November 1971, pp. 67?75.
"Toward an Epistemology of Romantic Love," The Centennial Review, vol. XIV, no. 4, Fall, 1970, pp. 421?443.
"The Rites of Passage from Dependence to Autonomy," School Review, vol. 79, no. 1, November 1970, p. 19?41.
"Learning, Lifestyle, and Imagination," School Review, vol. 78, no. 1, November 1969, pp. 63?79.
"Daimons and Human Destiny," The Centennial Review. vol. XIII, no. 2, Spring, 1969, pp. 154?165.
"Philosophy and Imagination," The Centennial Review, vol. XII, no. 4, Fall 1968, pp. 392?413.
"Art as Shock and Re-Beginning," The Centennial Review, vol. XII, no. l. Winter, 1968, pp. 96?109.
"Life, Death, and Moral Autonomy," The Centennial Review, vol. X, no. 1, Winter, 1966,pp. 1?12.
"Humanism as a Culture," The Humanist. no. 6, 1963, pp. 180?184.
"The Elders of Our Tribe," The Nation. February 18, 1961.
"Return to the Hearths Longing," The Nation, August 20, 1960.
"New Ear for Emerson," The Nation. March 12, 1960.
20 essays for the Sunday Cultural Supplement of the St Louis Post-Dispatch. 1958:196