Who We Are and What We Do

The members of the Philosophy Department have a wide range of philosophical interests. Here is a sampling from our full-time faculty.

Peter Caws, University Professor of Philosophy, is a leading scholar of the French existential philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and has written on many other topics. Two of our other senior colleagues, Paul Churchill and William Griffith, write about ethics and public affairs. Churchill is an expert on the philosophy of international affairs who has recently published a book about globalization and human rights. Griffith writes about economic justice, environmental policy, and other issues concerning ethics and public policy. Another senior colleague, Gail Weiss, is well-known for her books and papers on embodiment, feminist theory, and phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty. David DeGrazia, currently Chair of the Department, is known for his writings on a wide range of topics, most of them in ethics.

Our junior faculty are also active scholars. Eric Saidel and Tad Zawidzki, who share expertise in the philosophy of mind and philosophy of biology, are both completing scholarly monographs. Michèle Friend is a logician who has published books on the philosophy of mathematics and algorithmic learning theory. Jeff Brand-Ballard is completing a book on the ethical role of judges in courts of law. Geert Van Cleemput, who holds a shared position with the University Honors Program, is working on a book on Aristotle.