Dr. Eduardo M. Duarte of Hofstra University’s Learning, Teaching and Technology department is a professor that one is lucky to experience having. Coined the “cool professor” of Hofstra, Duarte brings a sense of energy and excitement that many classrooms in higher academia lack. His specialty is in philosophy, and he teaches courses such as philosophy of education, the American school, foundational perspectives of multicultural education for graduate students and will pick up the occasional independent study and Honors College seminar. Alongside teaching, he has also published many academic texts, including his soon-to-be-released book, “The Dialectic of Philosophical Education: A New Phenomenology,” which will be available to the public on May 8, 2025.
He received his baccalaureate degree in philosophy from Fordham University, and went on to receive his masters and doctorate from the New School for Social Research in New York City.
“I went to the New School because of its tradition of critical theory, phenomenology and existentialism,” Duarte said. “What drew me there was the tradition and also this particular faculty member who wanted to do philosophy then and there.”
This faculty member was Ágnes Heller, who was a dissident of behind the iron curtain Hungary. Her father died in Auschwitz, which led to her work of asking the philosophical question, “How could this possibly happen? How can I understand this?” (Scholarly Community Encyclopedia). Duarte told Heller that he wanted to “make good on Marx’s thesis that philosophers had only interpreted the world but needed to change it.”
Heller told Duarte, “‘You have to do that work in a place that is doing philosophy with a view to ‘doing things.’ Philosophy is doing something as opposed to just talking about doing something.’” He attributes his interest in working as a professor to this comment.
While Duarte had what many would consider the traditional education in philosophy, being taught “mystical tradition in philosophy” at Fordham, he has turned this education into a philosophy of its own. While students of his classes do read classics like Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and the works of Martin Heidegger, don’t expect him to follow any of the “rules” established by mainstream philosophers and philosophic ideologies.
Duarte’s passion for music is translated into the class, where students may listen to anything from experimental jazz, the blues and works like Alvin Lucer’s sound art piece, “I Am Sitting in a Room.” Don’t be surprised if he makes a “Grateful Dead” reference in class – Duarte hosts the 88.7 WRHU radio show, “The Dead Zone,” where he indulges his passion for the jam band and the philosophy behind its music. In many ways, Duarte draws from the music of the Dead in his approach to philosophy.
“The Dead came to me before I came to them,” Duarte said. “Coincidentally, the anniversary of my first show is tomorrow … What struck me immediately about that show was that it was a truly live performance. It was then and there. It wasn’t a formula, and it wasn’t going to be the same thing the next night. It’s improvisational, new, fresh, present.”
Duarte teaches in a similar way that the Dead perform. While the songs draw from a general catalogue of music, the shows are improvisational and ever-changing. While Duarte draws from a body of certain texts and arts, the lessons are never the same as the previous semester’s and may deviate based on the class’s response, Duarte’s mood, the location of the classroom and so on. There’s always a scholarly jam session in progress.
Alongside an extensive amount of research, Duarte has also published numerous esteemed articles and academic books: “Being and Learning: a Poetic Phenomenology of Education,” “Driving that Trane: Hegel, and How John Coltrane invited the Warlocks to become the Grateful Dead,” “Learning by Jammin,” “Listening to Music with Jean-Luc Nancy” and more. His upcoming book differs from his past work as it serves as a textbook for his students and is also more “poetic and succinct” than its formers.
“It’s an expression of ‘less is more,’” Duarte said.
While he doesn’t consider “The Dialectic of Philosophical Education” to be his magnum opus since it will be followed by an additional two books, tentatively titled “Nocturn: A Philosophy of Education After Dark” and “Acousmatica: Tune In, Turn On, Let Learning Happen,” it is a work that encapsulates thirty years of teaching, 30 of which have been spent at Hofstra.
On, Let Learning Happen,” it is a work that encapsulates thirty years of teaching, 30 of which have been spent at Hofstra.
“The book is very much inspired by something that Socrates heard from a muse who visited him, and that is ‘make music and work at it’ … that’s like my catchphrase,” said Duarte. “It’s about learning philosophically and making music improvisationally. That doesn’t mean it’s all over the place, it just means when you’re studying you’re anticipating the book to say something new, even if you’ve read it 50 times. That’s the dialectic of a philosophical education, that’s what the book is basically about. It’s about being always new and always incomplete.”
Duarte’s passion for teaching comes from his love of learning. Rather than lecturing every class, Mondays are typically him presenting material in an accessible way, allowing for questions and comments, while Wednesdays are student-led discussions. The same would go for Tuesday and Thursday classes. These student discussions may begin at the teachings of W.E.B. Du Bois and end with the songs of legendary blues musician Ma Rainey. While there is endless opportunity for discussion, it occurs in a contained and enriching way. Duarte’s excitement in the classroom is certainly recognized by students.
In many ways, Duarte’s new book is a way for him to encapsulate what he’s taught to Hofstra students for 30 years, some of which he’s learned from students, some of which he’s come to see on his own.
“To quote Heidegger, ‘in order to learn how to think, we need to unlearn what we’ve been previously taught,’” Duarte said. “And in my experience, Hofstra students are ready to unlearn in order to learn.”
In a sea of mundane lectures and cookie-cutter discussions,Duarte proudly brings the same excitement of a “Grateful Dead” concert to the classroom.
