| Honorific Prefix: | Dr. |
| Camillo Mac Bica | |
| Birth Date: | 7 January 1947 |
| Birth Place: | Brooklyn, New York |
| Occupation: | Philosopher, Poet, Author, Activist |
| Employer: | School of Visual Arts |
Camillo Mac Bica is an American philosopher, poet,[1] activist, and author.
Bica was born on January 7, 1947, in Brooklyn. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Long Island University in 1968 and a Master of Arts from New York University in 1986. He then attended the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he received a Master's of Philosophy in 1993 and a Ph.D in Philosophy in 1995.
Since 1990, he has served as a professor at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City where he teaches courses in philosophy, peace studies, and war.[2] In 2003, he was awarded SVA’s Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Award.
In 1964, Bica entered the United States Marine Corps Platoon Leaders Class and upon graduation from college in 1968 was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant. He spent three years on active duty as a Marine Corps Officer, serving 13 months with the 26th Marine Infantry Regiment in the Vietnam War.
Upon his discharge from active duty, Bica spent many years recovering from his service in Vietnam eventually founding, with a number of other Veterans, and coordinating for six years, the very successful Veterans Self-Help Initiative, AKA The HOOTCH Program,[3] at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Brooklyn.[4] He is a long time member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and Coordinator of the Long Island Chapter of Veterans For Peace.
Bica has authored over fifty articles dealing with social policy, the ethics of war, posttraumatic stress disorder, moral injury,[5] and related topics published in the Humanist Magazine, numerous alternative news sites such as Truthout.org,[6] OpEd News,[7] Common Dreams,[8] AlterNet,[9] and numerous philosophical journals.[10] [11] [12] [13] The first installment of Bica’s War Legacy Series, Worthy of Gratitude: Why Veterans May Not Want to be Thanked for their Service in War, was published in 2015. The Second book in the series, Beyond PTSD: The Moral Casualties of War, was published in early 2016.
In 2010, Bica testified at the Truth Commission on Conscience in War[14] at the Riverside Church in New York City. He currently serves on the National Advisory Board of the Soul Repair Center,[15] a think tank dedicated to research and public education about recovery from moral injury from war located at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas.