Interested students had the chance to hear Henry Rosemont, professor of philosophy and Confucian scholar at St. Mary’s College in Maryland, on Mon., April 1 in Founders Gallery. His lecture was the last in the series “Human Rights: A Global Perspective.”Rosemont, a Korean war veteran and former collaborator with Noam Chomsky, addressed the issues of the value of freedom, first- and second-generation human rights, and the application of the philosophy of Confucius to problems in the Western world.

“He was certainly one of the most challenging thinkers in this series,” said Dottie Borei, head of international studies, who introduced him to the audience of around 35. “He knows Western philosophy and Asian as well; he made me consider the roots of individualism and human rights in different societies in a way I hadn’t before.”

When assistant philosophy professor Vance Ricks asked Rosemont afterwards to speak on how Aristotelian and Confucian philosophies overlap, Rosemont hit at the core of the differences between Western and Eastern cultures regarding philosophy and sociology.

“Our question of ‘What is real?’ seems ridiculous from a non-Western perspective,” Rosemont said. “The best I can come up with to explain why is that math and geometry were developed before philosophy in the West, but in the East it was astronomy before philosophy and math after.”

He used this to explain fundamental differences, but also drew several parallels.

“Pre-enlightenment philosophy is very much like that of Confucian,” Rosemont said, before quoting several phrases from the thinkings of John Locke and others.

Much of his argument criticized the U.S.’s refusal to accept the United Nations’ universal declaration of human rights to freedoms like education, employment, and health care, instead of just from coercion of such rights as free speech, bearing arms, and so on.

“What is the real value of free speech to those who haven’t been taught to speak?” he said. “Education does not fall from the sky; a preoccupation with the freedoms and autonomy of the wealthy subverts everyone else.”

Vance Ricks found him “generally a straight shooter” and was impressed by Rosemont and his talk.

“Like most Guilford events, there was nowhere near the audience it deserved, but his engaging manner and content were very effective,” Ricks said.