Philosophy & Religion Faculty
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Aaron Champene Aaron Champene is currently finishing his dissertation "Blind Trust: A Defense of Non-Reductionism in the Epistemology of Testimony" at the University of Arkansas. His primary area of research lies in epistemology, and his teaching interests also include ethics and applied ethics. He has presented and published papers in epistemology and environmental ethics. At Coe, he has taught Introduction to Philosophy, Morality and Moral Controversies, and Ancient Greek Philosophy. |
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Geoff Chaplin Geoff Chaplin (B.A. Oberlin College; A.M. University of Chicago) is an intellectual historian specializing in the religious thought of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformations. He has published translations of the work of Francois Fenelon (1650-1715). |
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Nathan "Eric" Dickman Eric Dickman's teaching interests are in comparative study of religions, religious philosophies, and critical methods and theories in religious studies. His current courses include Eastern Religions, Belief and Unbelief (themes in philosophy of religion), and Buddhist Philosophy. Eric works in the intersection of philosophies of language and genres of religious discourse. His recent projects isolate questions in the discourse of foundational religious figures. Are ultimate religious authorities such that they are constitutionally incapable of asking genuine questions? He has published on games people play with questions, on the fundamental role of questioning in human interaction, and he has presented on questions in religious narratives at numerous regional and annual conferences. He is currently developing a paper analyzing and critiquing certain uses and abuses of questions in the college classroom. |
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Jeffrey Hoover My principal areas of teaching and scholarly interest are in post-Enlightenment continental European philosophy and in political theory. At Coe I regularly teach Late Modern Philosophy (from Kant to Marx); Existentialism (Nietzsche to Sartre) Twentieth Century Continental Philosophy (Structuralism, Post-Structuralism, Critical Theory); Philosophy of Gender and Race; and Freedom and Authority (a course in political philosophy). I have published on post-Enlightenment figures including Schleiermacher and Hegel, but have also written on more contemporary issues in political theory involving identity politics and minority representation. Another passion of mine, and now research interest, involves the arts and letters of late medieval/renaissance Italy, leading recently to a year as visiting faculty in Florence and also to a Coe May-term in Italy. |
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Meira Z. Kensky My research interests lie in the very rich field of biblical studies, particularly in the New Testament and early Jewish and Christian Literature. My first book, Trying Man, Trying God: The Divine Courtroom in Early Jewish and Christian Literature, examines scenes of God holding trial in Jewish and Christian literature from antiquity, and will be published by Mohr Siebeck in 2010. I am currently developing a second research project on the conclusion to the Acts of the Apostles, one of my favorite books in the New Testament. I teach courses across the wide spectrum of Western religions, from their origins to their manifestations in the contemporary world. In the future I plan to teach courses on classical Judaism, the Rise of Christianity, Islam, and Religion in America. |
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John Lemos (Chair) John Lemos teaches courses in logic, moral philosophy, ancient Greek philosophy, early modern philosophy (Descartes to Kant), and contemporary analytic philosophy. His research interests lie in three main fields of inquiry: philosophy of biology, especially the philosophical implications of evolution; neo-Aristotelian ethics; and the metaphysics of freedom and responsibility. He has published articles in a variety of journals, such as Philosophy of the Social Sciences, The Southern Journal of Philosophy, Metaphilosophy, and Philosophia. His book Commonsense Darwinism was published in 2008 by the Open Court Press. |
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Peter McCormick Although my main interests are in ethics and the history of philosophy (and a logic text that is close to completion), I have taught courses in a variety of areas of philosophy (the logic courseis a special interest),as well ascourses in computer science, writing and various other topics (Charles Dodgson andGame Theory are two of many). In addition to traditional philosophical works on morality and human nature, I'm alsointerested in the treatment ofthese topicsthat we find in authors like Dostoevsky, Conrad and Camus (if you want to discuss Poe's theory of revenge, send me an email!). In the winter if youcome bymy office and I'm not there, check the swimming pool -- if it's open, that's probably where I am. In the summer, you may have to drive to northern Minnesota to find me (my border collie / Australian cattle dog mix will be enjoying it as much as I do). |
