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Ezra A. Hale Chair
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Department of Philosophy
College of Liberal Arts
Rochester Institute of
   Technology
92 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester NY 14623-5604

Dept email:
philosophy@rit.edu

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Copyright ©2008
Department of Philosophy,
Rochester Institute of Technology


Department of Philosophy

The Department of Philosophy at the Rochester Institute of Technology offers a large variety of undergraduate philosophy courses plus graduate courses in Philosophy of Art/Aesthetics, Philosophy of Mind, and the Philosophy of Vision and Imaging. Beyond our introductory level courses, students may take philosophy as Liberal Arts electives or as part of a Concentration Area in Philosophy, a Minor in Philosophy, or a Major in Philosophy. The Department also develops a rich annual program of outside speakers, symposia and colloquia.

The Philosophy Department is motivated by a dedication to excellence in teaching. Most of our faculty have received teaching awards, and many of our faculty have received multiple teaching awards. The Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching is RIT’s highest tribute to successful pedagogy, and the Department of Philosophy is home to eight of these awards:

John T. Sanders (1979-1980)
James I. Campbell (1991-1992)
Timothy Engström (1993-1994)
Dane R. Gordon (1996-1997)
James I. Campbell (1999-2000)
John T. Sanders (2000-01)
David B. Suits (2002-03)
Timothy Engström (2007-2008)

The Philosophy Department is also motivated by a strong commitment to scholarship, as evidenced by the scholarly activities of the individual members of the Department, by the Department’s speaker series and colloquia, and by the scholarship awards which have been won. Each year two Paul A. and Francena L. Miller Fellowships are awarded to assist faculty in the College of Liberal Arts in the pursuit of their scholarly and professional projects. The Department of Philosophy has been the home of six of those prestigious Fellowships:

Timothy Engström (2002-2003)
Brian Schroeder (2003-2004)
John Capps (2005-2006)
Evan Selinger (2007-2008)
Katie Terezakis (2009-2010)
Jesús Aguilar (2009-2010)

Some of the recent accomplishments of the faculty include:

  • Evan Selinger, National Science Foundation grant of $399,926 for “An Experiential Pedagogy for Sustainability Ethics” (2009) .
     
  • John Capps (with Donald Capps), You’ve Got to Be Kidding: How Jokes Can Help You Think (Blackwell, forthcoming in 2009).
     
  • Jesús Aguilar (with A. Buckareff), “Agency, Consciousness, and Executive Control”, Philosophia 37 (March, 2009).
     
  • Jesús Aguilar (with A. Buckareff), Philosophy of Action: 5 Questions (Automatic Press/VIP, 2009).
     
  • Evelyn Brister, “Feminist Epistemology, Feminist Contextualism, and Philosophical Skepticism”, Metaphilosophy 40 (forthcoming in 2009).
     
  • Timothy Engström and Evan Selinger (eds.), Rethinking Theories and Practices of Imaging (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming in 2009).
     
  • Katie Terezakis (ed.), Engaging Agnes Heller: A Critical Companion (Lexington Books, 2009).
     
  • John T. Sanders and Katie Terezakis (eds.), Soul and Form by György Lukács, with an introduction by Judith Butler (Columbia University Press, forthcoming 2010).
     
  • Lawrence Torcello, “A Precautionary Tale: Separating the Infant from the Fetus”, Res Publica 15 (February, 2009).
     
  • Wade Robison, “The Great Right: Habeas Corpus”, in Coercion and the State, ed. David A. Reidy and Walter J. Riker (Springer, 2008).
     
  • Brian Schroeder and Silvia Benso (eds.), Levinas and the Ancients (Indiana University Press, 2008).
     
  • Evan Selinger, New Waves in Philosophy of Technology (co-edited with Jan Olsen and Soren Riis) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).