Lecturer

College

College of the Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Department

Department of Philosophy

Phone

Location

Science 1 S238

My interest in philosophy began with the question of inequality: what kinds of justifications allow for those who are wealthy to feel comfortable with their wealth and not feel they should share it with those who are in need? How is it possible for some to feel morally and intellectually at ease in large homes with many comforts while others can barely pay rent or get enough to eat?

For me, the most compelling answers come from philosophers and social theorists who critique the modern technocratic paradigm, thinkers that most often come from the Continental, Feminist, Latin American, Native American, and Environmental traditions. I think that historical and pluralist approaches best help to understand our world.

Despite the powerful criticisms offered by many thinkers in these traditions, there seems to be little academic resistance to the technocratic paradigm I worry about. Thus my recent work has centered on why this is the case and has attempted to use Hannah Arendt to analyze how the neo-liberalization of higher education leads to a pervasive thoughtlessness in academia. The university is becoming less and less a place for wonder, self-cultivation, and thinking and increasingly a place to specialize, strategize and produce. Sadly, I believe that what used to be one of our institutions devoted to thought has become primarily a place devoted to unending and exponential academic production. Not surprisingly, I am currently interested in the ethics of academic production and how the hyper-intense culture of productivity negatively affects the quality of academics, the university, and the education of students.

I also have an MS in Sociology in which I studied how Heidegger and Nietzsche’s critiques of this technocratic paradigm could improve international development efforts.

Ph.D. Philosophy. The University of Oregon. Eugene, OR. 2010-2015 Graduation: Dec. 2015

  • Area of specialization: Continental Philosophy, Social and Political Philosophy
  • Areas of competence: Philosophy of Technology, Feminist Philosophy, Latin American Philosophy, Native American Philosophy, Environmental Philosophy
  • Dissertation project: "Academics No Longer Think: How the Neoliberalization of Academia Leads to Thoughtlessness"
  • Committee: Bonnie Mann, Alejandro Vallega, Rocío Zambrana, Jerry Roziek (reader)

M.A. Philosophy. The University of Oregon. Eugene, OR. GPA: 3.89. 2010-2012

M.S. Sociology. Brigham Young University. Provo, UT. GPA: 3.89. 2006-2009

B.A. Major: Philosophy. Minor: Sociology. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT. GRA 3.86. 2001-2005.

Dissertation and Thesis

Academics No Longer Think: How the Neoliberalization of Academia Leads to Thoughtlessness. The University of Oregon. Department of Philosophy. December 2015.

Hammering Square Pegs into Round Holes: International Development and the Flawed Ontological Assumptions of Modernity, Brigham Young University, Department of Sociology, 2009.

Dissertation Abstract

In my dissertation, Academics No Longer Think: How the Neoliberalization of Academia Leads to Thoughtlessness, I argue the neo-liberalization of higher education results in the university becoming less a place to think, ponder and contemplate and increasingly a place to strategize, produce and train for a career. This is a result of the volatile infusion and mixing of the logic of calculative rationality at work in consumer capitalism with the logic of scientific instrumental rationality already hegemonic in academia. this adds to the demands of the academic world of production and the demands of the world of consumption. Now the academic (and also the student) is interpellated not only as a producer of knowledge but also as an object of consumption (to be consumed by others). These new pressures, previously kept at a distance from academia, explosively accelerate the already rapid process of rationalization of which science is already a key part and increasingly structure higher education as a field of strategic action in which students no longer have the time to think and to develop good judgment.

I worry this undermines the opportunity for students to develop into good citizens that can truly think critically and judge carefully. Thinking and judgment are, according to Arendt, the only things that can save us if the powerful machines of science or capitalism begin to work in ways they should not. Arendt saw Nazi Germany use the newest science and the best economic management to systematically kill six million Jews. She saw the disturbing inability of the populace and the intellectuals to capably resist the Nazi machine once it got rolling. I argue that unless checked, neo-liberalization threatens to turn the university into a place that discourages thinking and the development of judgment in favor of hyperspecialization and strategic action.

This has proven to be a fruitful topic and multiple new projects have come out of it. Currently, I am working on questions concerning the sustainability of academia.

  • Paideia Award, Excellence in Teaching, Philosophy Department. University of Oregon, Eugene, OR. 2012
  • Graduate Teaching Fellowship. Philosophy Department. University of Oregon, Eugene, OR. 2010-2015

  • Meritocracy Mingled with Scripture. By Common Consent Press. Forthcoming 2023.
  • Money and Thoughtlessness: A Genealogy and Defense of Traditions Suspicions of Money and Merchants. Palgrave Macmillan. Forthcoming 2023.
  • Environmental Philosophy in Desperate Times. Broadview Press. Sept. 2022.
  • Amor Mundi: What Does it Mean to Love the World? Religion and Science as Critical Discourse Series. Rowan and Littlefield. Forthcoming, 2019.
  • How the Neoliberalization of Academia Leads to Thoughtlessness: Arendt on the Modern University. Lexington Press. Forthcoming, 2018.

Articles

  • Review of The Rise of Neoliberal Philosophy: Human Capital, Profitable Knowledge and the Love of Wisdom, by Brandon Absher. Radical Philosophy Review. Vol 25, No. 1, (2022): 145- 148.
  • Review of the Philosophies of Amerca Reader: From the Popol Vuh to the Present, eds. Díaz, Kim and Mathew A. Foust. (NY: Bloombury, 2021) in The Charles S. Pierce Society. Forthcoming
  • "Amor Mundi: Reading Arendt alongside Native American Philosophy." Sophia. 2021.
  • "The Need for a Phenomenology of Academic Activity under Neoliberalism." Interchange. Interchange, 51(3), 239-252. July 2020.
  • "Indigenizing Education and the Phenomenology of Place." Educational Theory, vol. 69. no. 5. March, 2020
  • "The Need for an Ethics of Sustainable Knowledge Production." Metaphilosophy vol. 50, no. 4. July, 2019.
  • "How Gadamer Can Help Save the Salmon." Journal of the pacific Association for the Continental Tradition. May, 2018
  • Review of Knowledge for Sale: The Neoliberal takeover of Higher Education, by Lawrence Bush, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2017 in Rural Sociology, July 2017.
  • "Arendt's Geneaology of Thinking." Continental Philosophy Review. April, 2016.
  • "Too Many Books on the Dance Floor: Borges, ARendt and Ortega y Gasset on the Onslaught of Books." International Journal of the Book. Volume 14, Issue 1. March, 2016.

  • “‘I Fear if I Should Exchange my Pursuits for Yours, I too Should become a Slave’: Why Can’t We Take the Indigenous Critique Seriously?”. To be presented at the “Life beyond the Anthropocene: The Human and Ecological Attunement” conference at the Centre for Culture and Philosophy at King’s University College in London, Ontario from March 17–19, 2023.
  • “Arendt’s Treasure: Freedom from Bullshit”. Presented at Pacific Association of the Continental Tradition, San Francisco, Sept 8-11, 2022.
  • “Academics No Longer Think: How the Neoliberalization of Academia Leads to Thoughtlessness”. Invited Speech, Radical Philosophy Hour, Feb 7, 2022.
  • APA East, Panel on “The Rise of Neoliberal Philosophy”. December, 2021.
  • "Nietzsche against the Anarchy of Instincts". Pacific Association of the Continental Tradition, Volcanos National Park, Hawaii. September 2020. Suspended due to Corona virus.
  • Unsustainable Academia and Teaching Learning". Heidegger Circle, Spokane, WA, May 14-17, 2020 Suspended due to Corona virus.
  • "Academics No Longer Think: Arendt's Phenomenology of Thoughtlessness". Invited Speech, CSU Stanislaus, Oct 25, 2019
  • "The Sea of Injustice and Injustice Towards the Sea: Bauman's Theory of Adiaphorization," Presented at Pacific Association of the Continental Tradition, Seattle, WA, Sept. 12-14, 2019
  • "No Time to Think: Thoughtlessness and the Environmental Crisis." Presented at Pulling the Emergency Brake! A symposium on the Climate Crisis, CSU Stanislaus, April 16-19, 2019
  • "The West as the New: Thinking with Arendt about Natality." Presented at Pacific Association of the Continental Tradition, Yosemite, CA. October 4-7, 2018.
  • "Amor Mundi: Reading Arendt alongside Native American Philosophy." Presented at The Arendt Circle Conference, UC Davis. April 12, 2018.
  • "The Need for an Ethics of Sustainable Knowledge Production." Presented at the Central Valley Philosophy Conference, Central Valley Philosophy Association. October 7, 2017.
  • "Cucunuchi and Batman in the Central Valley: Indigenizing Education and the Phenomenology of Place." Presented at the Critical Thought, Social Justice: The Disruption of Dominant Political Discourse and the Disruption of Philosophy of Education Pre-Conference, Philosophy of Education Society. March, 14-15, 2017.
  • "Build a Wall: The Perceived Threats to White Identity." Presented at Local Voices to Global Visions: Exploring Identity in the Humanities. Humanities Education and Research Association, San Diego, CA, March 1-4, 2017.
  • €œ"Eichmann in The Wire; Hannah Arendt and David Simon on Thoughtlessness." Accepted presentation at the IPCA/ACA Nation Conference, Seattle, Washington, March 21-25, 2016.
  • "Unsustainable Academia." Accepted presentation at the Twelfth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic, and Social Sustainability, Portland, Oregon, January 21-23, 2016.
  • "Too Many Books on the Dance Floor: Arendt, Borges, and Ortega y Gasset on the Onslaught of Books." Presented at the Thirteenth International Conference on Books, Publishing, and Libraries, Vancouver, Canada, October 19-20, 2015
  • "Arendt's Triads." Presented at Beyond the Binary. Humanities Education and Research Association, San Francisco, CA, April 8-10, 2015.
  • "Constructing Academia: Why the Modern Research University too often Leads to Thoughtlessness." Presented at the Fifth College of Liberal Arts Graduate Symposium (CLAGS), Reno, Nevada, Feb. 26-28, 2015.
  • "Democracy in the Selva Selvaggia: Ortega y Gasset on Democratic Practice in Times of Excessive Information" International Social Philosophy Conference, Ashland, Oregon, June 2014.
  • "How Gadamer can Help Save the Salmon: On Recovering Things from the Paradigm of Making." Presented at the What is a Thing? Conference, University of Oregon, February 20-21, 2014.
  • "Nietzsche's Instincts." Presented at The Environmentalism and the Humanities Conference, Humanities Education and Research Association, Chicago, Illinois, April 9-11, 2009.

CSU Stanislaus

Bioethics
Contemporary Moral Problems
Critical Thinking
Philosophy and Literature
Introduction to Philosophy
Honors Critical Thinking
Philosophy and Education

University of Oregon

Environmental Philosophy
Philosophy of Pop Culture
Ethics
Philosophy and Cultural Diversity
Human Nature
Philosophy of Love and Sex
Latin American Philosophy
Philosophy and Film
Existentialism
History of Philosophy: 19th Century
History of Philosophy: Ancient
History of Philosophy: Modern
Internet, Society and Philosophy
Our Place in the Cosmos
Medical Ethics

Utah Valley University

Introduction to Sociology

Brigham Young University

Intro to Philosophy
Intro to Sociology
Social Theory
Foundations of Social Inquiry
Contemporary Social Theory
Theories of Social Change

Lecturer, CSU Stanislaus, Turlock, CA 2016-Present • Courses: Bioethics (20x) • Contemporary Moral Problems (2x) • Critical Thinking (2x) • Honors Critical Thinking (4x) • Philosophy of Technology • Philosophy and Literature • Environmental Ethics (8x) • Philosophy and Education • Intro to Philosophy (15x) • Moral Problems (Taught at Turlock High) Pack 5 Solo Instructor, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR • Course: Environmental Philosophy, Summer 2015 • Course: Philosophy and Pop Culture: Science Fiction, Fall 2014 • Course: Ethics, Summer 2014 • Course: Philosophy and Cultural Diversity, Summer 2013 Adjunct Professor, Utah Valley University, Orem, UT. Fall 2008, Spring 2010. • Intro to Sociology (taught 4x) Adjunct Professor, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT. May 2008-May 2009 • Intro to Sociology, large 300 person sessions (taught 2x) • Social Theory Teaching Assistant, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR. 2010-present. • Courses co-taught in Philosophy Department include: Philosophy and Cultural Diversity; Human Nature; Philosophy of Love and Sex; Introduction to Philosophy; Latin American Philosophy; Philosophy and Film; Existentialism; History of Philosophy: Ancient; History of Philosophy: Modern; Internet, Society, and Philosophy; History of Philosophy: 19th Century; Ethics; Our Place in the Cosmos; Medical Ethics Teaching Assistant, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 2003-2008. • Courses in co-taught in Sociology Department: Introduction to Sociology (4x); Foundations of Social Inquiry (2x); Contemporary Social Theory (2x); Theories of Social Change Teaching Assistant, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 2003-2004. • Introduction to Philosophy (online course)

Paideia Award, Excellence in Teaching, Philosophy Department. University of Oregon, Eugene OR. 2012 Graduate Teaching Fellowship. Philosophy Department. University of Oregon. Eugene, OR. 2010-2015.

Undergraduate Advisor. Philosophy Department. University of Oregon. Eugene, OR. 2012-2013.

Graduate Student Representative. Philosophy Department. University of Oregon. Eugene, OR. 2011-2012.

Native American Philosophy (Scott Pratt)
Philosophy of the Social Sciences (Jerry Roziek)
Irigaray (Beata Stawarska)
Gadamer (Daniela Vallega-Neu)
Marx (Cheney Ryan)
Aristotle (Adam Arola)
Richard Rorty (Colin Koopman)
Pragmatic Pluralism and Contemporary Political Philosophy (Colin Koopman)
Latin American Philosophy (Alejandro Vallega)
Self-Knowledge (Mark Johnson)
Kant’s Ethics (Mark Johnson)
Feminist Philosophy Proseminar (Bonnie Mann)
Continental Philosophy Proseminar (Peter Warnek)
American Philosophy Proseminar (Colin Koopman)
Analytic Philosophy Proseminar (Naomi Zack)
Heidegger in the 30s (Daniela Vallega-Neu)
Nietzsche (Daniela Vallega-Neu)
Critical Theory (Rocío Zambrana)
Beauvoir (Bonnie Mann)
Royce (Scott Pratt)
Arendt (Bonnie Mann)
Hegel (Rocío Zambrana)
Asian Philosophy Heidegger (Mark Wrathall)
Feminist Ethics (Bonnie Mann)
Levinas (Faulconer)
Kierkegaard (Steven Sondrup)
Classical Social Theory (Howard Bahr)
Contemporary Sociological Theory (Stan Knapp)
Graduate Research Methods Ethnographic Research Techniques (Ralph Brown)
Sociology of International Development (Ralph Brown)
Theory and Research in Social Organizations (Ralph Brown)
Philosophies of History (Malcolm Thorp)
Postmodernism (Steven Sondrup)
Cultural Theory (Steven Sondrup)

Academics No Longer Think: How the Neoliberalization of Academia Leads to Thoughtlessness. University of Oregon. Department of Philosophy. December, 2015.

Hammering Square Pegs into Round Holes: International Development and the Flawed Ontological Assumptions of Modernity. Brigham Young University. Department of Sociology, 2009.