好色先生tv

 

“Take it down or leave it up?” Assistant Professor of Philosophy Levi Tenen posed this central question to the audience gathered in Blocker Hall for his lecture, "Monuments and Morality: How Public Sites Shape Our Values and How They Ought to Do So." The event, part of the Robert Nusbaum Center’s Fall 2025 Lecture Series, examined how public spaces—monuments, memorials, and other civic sites—quietly shape the values we celebrate and the histories we overlook. These structures can honor the legacy of one group while representing deep trauma for another.

 

Tenen pointed to local examples from Coastal Virginia and beyond, including the Confederate Memorial in Portsmouth and the Robert E. Lee Monument in Charlottesville. How should communities design or reinterpret sites with such vexed histories? How can we form a consistent approach when historical pride, personal attachment, and ethical discomfort converge?

 

Tenen’s intuitive, engaging approach guided the audience through these thorny questions. He explored the difficulty of determining the original intention behind a monument and the ethical implications that follow. And while monuments may harm communities today, Tenen argued that harm is not all that matters. Instead, “Let’s examine the monuments on their own,” he urged. "When we’re forced to look up to it, we’re forced to exalt it. Confederate monuments are problematic because they celebrate the Confederacy."

 

Dr. Tenen, who also coordinates the University’s Ethics Bowl Team, conducts research at the intersection of ethics, political philosophy, and environmental law. This semester, he is teaching the inaugural course “Art, Monuments, and Morality” at VWU, continuing his exploration of how public sites shape—and challenge—our shared values.