hero image
Landon Frim, Ph.D. - Florida Gulf Coast University. Fort Myers, FL, US

Landon Frim, Ph.D.

Expert in politics, philosophy, ethics, and religion | Florida Gulf Coast University

Fort Myers, FL, UNITED STATES

Media

Publications:

Landon Frim, Ph.D. Publication

Documents:

Photos:

Frim 1 loading image Frim 2 loading image Frim 3 loading image Frim 4 loading image Frim 5 loading image

Audio/Podcasts:

Social Media

Biography

Landon Frim is an associate professor of philosophy at Florida Gulf Coast University. His primary research concerns the intersections of religion, ethics and politics. He investigates socialism, populism and the alt-right movement. An avid writer, his work can be found in Jacobin Magazine, Salvage Magazine, Inside Higher Ed and The New Republic.

Areas of Expertise (18)

Antisemitism

Catholicism

Islam

Middle East

Philosophy

Toleration

Santeria

Christianity

Hinduism

Populism

Palestine

Israel

Religion

The Alt-Right

Judaism

Socialism

Politics

Ethics

Education (5)

Stony Brook University & Philipps-Universität Marburg: Ph.D., Philosophy 2012

Transatlantic Collegium of Philosophy

Stony Brook University: Graduate Certificate, Cultural Studies 2010

Stony Brook University: M.A., Philosophy 2009

Florida Atlantic University: B.A., Philosophy 2007

Florida Atlantic University: B.A., Interdisciplinary Studies 2007

Languages (4)

  • French (read and write only)
  • Latin (read and write only)
  • Hebrew (read and write only)
  • English

Selected Media Appearances (15)

Oath Keepers trial to start Tuesday, two Florida residents on trial

Fox 4  tv

2022-09-26

Landon Frim discusses conspiracy theories and the Oath Keepers trial.

view more

Right to assemble: City of Naples may review permit process after Pride Fest at Cambier

Naples Daily News  print

2022-08-23

Landon Frim discusses the First Amendment and petitioning.

view more

New data shows growing number of people leaving religion behind

ABC7  

2022-01-10

Landon Frim discusses new data that shows an increasing number of people are leaving their religious beliefs behind.

view more

Guest opinion: Right-Wing identity politics threaten Holocaust education

Naples Daily News  print

2021-07-09

Landon Frim discusses the Florida Department of Education's request for input on Holocaust education from an outside group.

view more

Guest opinion: The unspoken agenda behind Florida’s “Moment of Silence” law

News-Press  print

2021-06-16

Landon Frim discusses Florida's "Moment of Silence" law.

view more

Reported 'alien' sightings jump in Florida following release of Pentagon UFO videos

NBC2  tv

2020-05-05

Landon Frim talks about the psychology behind people spotting UFOs.

view more

The psychology behind theories linking 5G and coronavirus

Fox 4  

2020-04-30

Landon Frim discusses the psychology behind theories linking 5G and coronavirus.

view more

Headless chickens and goat skulls are part of Santeria. But neighbors worry the remnant carcasses will bring nuisance alligators

The News-Press  print

2020-02-01

Landon Frim discusses the origins of Santeria and its intersection with Catholicism.

view more

Understanding Santería and Afro-Cuban spiritual traditions

The News-Press  print

2020-01-30

Dr. Landon Frim discusses Santeria.

view more

The centuries-old history of Jewish “puppet master” conspiracy theories

Vox  online

2018-11-02

Dr. Landon Frim comments on the antisemitic attack in Pittsburgh.

view more

Steven Pinker: False Friend of the Enlightenment

Jacobin magazine  online

2018-10-10

Dr. Landon Frim and his co-writer Harrison Fluss discuss Steven Pinker's new book.

view more

Aliens, Antisemitism, and Academia

Jacobin magazine  online

2017-03-11

Dr. Landon Frim and his co-writer Harrison Fluss discuss alt-right politics and philosophy.

view more

Mill, Mao and Socrates

Inside Higher Ed  online

2017-02-06

Dr. Landon Frim and his co-writer Harrison Fluss discuss teaching in polarized era.

view more

What Bernie and the Left Need Now: A Radical Enlightenment

The New Republic  online

2016-02-29

Dr. Landon Frim and his co-writer Harrison Fluss discuss Bernie Sanders' 2016 campaign.

view more

A Realist’s Utopia

counterpunch  online

2011-06-17

Dr. Landon Frim discusses the Israeli and Palestinian peace process.

view more

Selected Event Appearances (3)

Should the State Teach (a Secular) Ethics?

Ethics Across the Curriculum Conference  Grand Rapids, Michigan

2017-10-01

Violence and Peace in Islam

Annual Khatib Lecture  St. Joseph’s College

2017-04-01

Marx’s Metaphysics: Re-interpreting Marxist Humanism through a Rationalist Metaphysic

Historical Materialism Conference  New York University

2015-04-01

Research Focus (1)

Enlightenment philosophy of Baruch Spinoza

The philosophy of Baruch Spinoza represents the most radical, rationalist tendency within the Enlightenment tradition. In the context of 17th Century Europe, Spinoza argued for political toleration, representative democracy, and secularism. He grounded these positions in a consistent worldview or “metaphysics.” This worldview was one of an intelligible universe, governed by equally intelligible, natural laws — free from miracles, mysteries, or a theistic God. Today, Spinoza’s system serves as inspiration for those philosophers, political scientists, and intellectual historians who see the Enlightenment project as yet to be completed. It affirms the power of human reason in the face of superstition, parochialism, and unaccountable authority.

Selected Research Grants (1)

Support for the St. Joseph's College ethics research

Rubin Foundation $10,000

2016-02-01

This grant supported research and teaching in the field of ethics, especially student participation in team ethics debates.

Selected Articles (3)

Impartiality or Oikeiôsis? Two Models of Universal Benevolence

Symposion

Landon Frim

2019 ‘Universal benevolence’ may be defined as the goal of promoting the welfare of every individual, however remote, to the best of one’s ability. Currently, the commonest model of universal benevolence is that of ‘impartiality,’ the notion promoted by Peter Singer, Roderick Firth, and others, that every individual (including oneself) is of equal intrinsic worth. This paper contends that the impartialist model is seriously flawed. Specifically, it is demonstrated that impartialist accounts of benevolence (1) attempt to draw positive moral conclusions from negative premises, (2) draw actual conclusions from merely counterfactual premises, (3) fail to live up to stated claims of naturalism, and (4) give no compelling account of moral motivation. By contrast, I propose an alternate model of universal benevolence, grounded in the Stoic, cosmopolitan theory of oikeiôsis, i.e. ‘appropriation.’ Such a model, in contradistinction to impartiality, would see benevolence as the positive identification between moral agent and moral patient, rather than a charitable sacrifice of oneself for a distinct but equal other. An ethics of oikeiôsis has the further benefit of avoiding each of the four above mentioned conceptual pitfalls common to impartialist theories.

view more

Book Chapter: Back to the Futurists? On Accelerationism Left and Right

Anti-Science and the Assault on Democracy: Defending Reason in a Free Society

Landon Frim and Harrison Fluss

2018 Dr. Landon Frim writes about the accelerationist movement in both left- and right-wing politics.

view more

Nature or Atoms? Reframing the IR Curriculum through Ethical Worldviews

Teaching Ethics

Landon Frim

2017 The international relations (IR) curriculum has long presented a dichotomy between the so-called “realist” and “idealist” positions. Idealists seek to embody universal norms of justice in foreign policy. Realists, by contrast, see competition between states, the balance of power, and relative advantage as basic to international politics. Though considered polar opposites, both the realist and idealist affirm the primacy of the nation state as a sovereign political unit, and so neither embraces cosmopolitanism in the strongest sense, i.e., the transcendence of national divisions as such. Opening up the IR curriculum to such a radical possibility requires its reframing in terms of underlying, ethical worldviews. Under this lens, it becomes evident that the realist and idealist share far more in common than contemporary policy debates would suggest. It also points us toward the space for an alternate ethical worldview, provided by Stoic rationalism, which is more viable for grounding cosmopolitan thought.

view more