I wish to thank Keene State College for supporting me in countless ways during my work on this book. My thanks also to the following programs, institutions, and societies for their support of my work on this project: the American and International Societies for Value Inquiry, the Bergen Community College Philosophy Club, the Elderhostel program, the Keene Public Library, the Jasper and Marion Whiting Foundation, The Journal of Value Inquiry, the Mason Library of Keene State College, the New Hampshire Humanities Council, the Northern New England Philosophical Association, P. M. K. Publicists, the Society for the Philosophical Study of the Contemporary Visual Arts and its journal Film and Philosophy.
For their support, encouragement and suggestions, I am grateful to the following individuals and organizations: Woody Allen, Anne Ames, Suzy Berkowitz, Laura Castro, Jane Cullen, Debra Daigle, Leslee Dart, Kendall D’Andrade, Nona Feinberg, Robert Ginsberg, Joram Haber, Nancy Haggarty, Mike Haines, Marion Koltie-Levine, Paul Laliberté, Mike Lee, Tony Lee, Tom Magnell, Anne-Marie Mallon, Rita Miller, Mary Nichols, Nancy Pogel, Chris Pratt, Keith Regan, Mark Roche, Alan Rosenberg, Grace Smith, Sanford Smith, Jean Whitcomb, John Vitale, Maurice Yacowar, and all my students. Special thanks go to Joan Norcross for her help in creating the book’s index.
I am grateful to Mike Lee, who created the art on the front cover.
Finally, thanks go again to my wife, Wendy, for her editing advice and for putting up with my mishegoss all these years.