Brian Schroeder Headshot

Brian Schroeder

Professor, Philosophy

Department of Philosophy
College of Liberal Arts

585-475-6346
Office Location
Office Mailing Address
Department of Philosophy Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY 14623

Brian Schroeder

Professor, Philosophy

Department of Philosophy
College of Liberal Arts

Education

BA, Edinboro College; M.Div., Princeton Theological Seminary; MA, Ph.D., State University of New York at Stony Brook

Bio

Brian Schroeder is Professor of Philosophy and Director of Religious Studies at Rochester Institute of Technology. He has published widely on Continental philosophy, the history of philosophy, environmental philosophy, East Asian philosophy, social and political philosophy, and the philosophy of religion. He is co-editor of the SUNY Press Series in Contemporary Italian Philosophy and the SUNY Press Series in Transcontinental Philosophy. Currently he serves on the executive committees of the Comparative and Continental Philosophy Circle and the Society for Italian Philosophy. He is formerly co-director of the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, co-director and chair of the board of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy, director of the Collegium Phaenomenologicum, and executive committee member of the Nietzsche Society. For more information, including publications, please go to https://rit.academia.edu/sbs.

He is also a Soto Zen priest and Buddhist chaplain at RIT, where he guides the Idunno Zen Community. For more information, please go to https://vimeo.com/212931642/ad9f557d3b

Currently Teaching

PHIL-101
3 Credits
Philosophy is about the rigorous discussion of big questions, and sometimes small precise questions, that do not have obvious answers. This class is an introduction to philosophical thinking where we learn how to think and talk critically about some of these challenging questions. Such as: Is there a single truth or is truth relative to different people and perspectives? Do we have free will and, if so, how? Do we ever really know anything? What gives life meaning? Is morality objective or subjective, discovered or created? We’ll use historical and contemporary sources to clarify questions like these, to understand the stakes, to discuss possible responses, and to arrive at a more coherent, more philosophically informed, set of answers.
PHIL-301
3 Credits
This course will examine critically definitions, assumptions, and arguments central to religion. Topics may include interpreting the nature of religion, arguments for and against the existence of God, the relation between theology and philosophy, the relation between God and the world, paganism, the problem of evil, and the nature of religious language and experience.

In the News

  • September 16, 2024

    photo of rochester at night with text that says society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy 62 annual meeting september 26-28, in rochester

    RIT-Hosted Conference Draws 600 Philosophers to Rochester

    The RIT Department of Philosophy will host the world’s largest meeting for continental philosophy later this month, drawing up to 600 people together from across the country and around the world for three days of thoughtful dialogue on some of today’s most complex ideas and issues.