WEST WINDSOR – One of England’s premier universities recently hosted a presentation by Mercer County Community College (MCCC) Assistant Professor Leonard Winogora, who delivered a paper at the University of Oxford on March 22.

Winogora, an assistant professor of Liberal Arts at MCCC and on-site coordinator for the William Paterson University at Mercer degree completion program, was invited to participate in the Oxford Symposium on Population, Migration, and the Environment at the university’s Wadham College. Winogora delivered his paper “The Environment: An Individual Ethical Perspective” during the symposium.

The paper focused on the relationship between the environment and the individual, as opposed to the more traditional approach of focusing on society at large. Winogora said he viewed the relationship between “the environment and the self” from the perspective of existentialist philosopher Martin Buber, known as the “Ich-Es,” or “I-It” relationship.

“We think of ourselves as part of a greater whole, and indeed we are,” Winogora said. “Yet there is a distinct focus on the self that needs to be explored.

“Clearly the environment is more than a figment of our mind, but the self does not grasp the concept of environment in empirical terms. Rather, we rationalize the environment to fit within the framework of our mind.”

In addition to his current positions at MCCC, Winogora previously served as a faculty member at Rutgers University. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Chicago, where he was named as a Furstenberg Fellow.

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