Welcome to the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Department of Philosophy homepage.
In Fall 2009, the Philosophy Department will be welcoming three new professors: Rebecca Rozelle-Stone, Alison Reiheld, and Matthew Schunke.
Alison Reiheld, Assistant Professor
Peck Hall, Room 2208
areihel@siue.edu
TEACHING INTERESTS: applied ethics of any stripe as well as science and technology studies; medical ethics with special attention to interactions between clinical personnel and between the clinic and society; critical thinking and informal logic; medicalization and shifting definitions of disease.
RESEARCH INTERESTS: ethics of memory; ethical implications of medicalization and shifting definitions of disease; global bioethics; ethics of pandemic/epidemic response; developing world bioethics; philosophical analysis of parenting and domestic labor; scientific reasoning, especially refining and teaching science process skills.
OTHER WORK: Professor Reiheld is the co-editor, with her colleague Rory Kraft of York College in Pennsylvania, of the journal Questions: Philosophy With Children. Questions publishes original philosophical work by pre-college students K-12 and is the publication venue for the annual national Philosophy Slam competition. Professor Reiheld has team taught a discussion-based philosophy elective to seventh and eighth graders at Chippewa Middle School in Okemos, Michigan and has also taught philosophy of technology to children ages 7-12 and their grandparents at Michigan State University's summer Grandparents University. She is interested in initiating similar projects in the Edwardsville schools. Professor Reiheld would also like to incorporate discussion of science fiction into her courses on the ethics of technology (medical or otherwise), as classic books such as Brave New World and 1984 and films such as GATTACA demonstrably shape public discourse on medical and information technologies.
A. Rebecca Rozelle-Stone, Assistant Professor
Peck Hall, Room 0221
arozell@siue.edu / (618) 650-5190
Ph.D. – Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2009
Dr. Rozelle-Stone’s research interests lie in the intersections of ethical theory and religious thought, as well as in feminist philosophy, philosophy of education, and contemporary Continental thought. She has co-edited and contributed to The Relevance of the Radical: Simone Weil 100 Years Later (Continuum, 2009). Aside from Weil, Dr. Rozelle-Stone often engages with the thought of Hannah Arendt, Emmanuel Levinas, Paulo Freire, and Luce Irigaray, especially in investigating different ideas of interpersonal and civic relationships and how these lend themselves to or disable systems of oppression. In addition, she sometimes returns to the social/political thought of American philosophers like John Dewey and Jane Addams, which helped to constitute her early education in philosophy.
Matthew Schunke
Assistant Professor
Peck Hall, Room 0228
mschunk@siue.edu/ (618) 650-5363
Ph.D., Rice University, 2009
Professor Schunke comes to the SIUE Philosophy Department after earning his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Rice University. His research focuses on the relationship between philosophy and religion, particularly as it has been dealt with in the philosophical method of phenomenology. He examines the possibility of a phenomenology of religion by engaging both the works of thinkers such as Martin Heidegger and Jean-Luc Marion and current debates surrounding the nature of religious experience and the academic study of religion. His latest work, an article entitled “Apophatic Abuse: Misreading Heidegger’s Critique of Ontotheology,” will appear in an upcoming edition of Philosophy Today. His teaching interests included Philosophy of Religion, World Religions, Christian Thought, and Modern Jewish Thought.
Welcome!
Mindy Lawson was accepted into the Ph.D. program at the University of Oregon in Philosophy and awarded a graduate teaching fellowship and a summer stipend. She presented her paper, "A Nietzschean Response to the Demands of Beauty in Contemporary Western Society," at the 13th Annual Undergraduate Philosophy Conference at Pacific University in Oregon, April 13-15, 2009, with support from the Undergraduate Research Academy and the College of Arts and Sciences.
The principal mission of the Philosophy Department is to foster humane learning in a free, pluralistic democratic society, which entails an effort to discern and to give expression to the highest and deepest of human values and skills. The Department will achieve excellence in its three-fold task of providing: 1) innovative, high quality degree programs for its majors and minors; 2) outstanding general education courses, including Critical Thinking, for SIUE students; and 3) excellent courses in applied ethics for students in SIUE professional programs and schools.
The Philosophy Department will be recognized nationally for the excellence of its graduates, programs, and faculty. Our graduates will demonstrate excellence in their philosophical work, which will be characterized by: Cogency of Argument, Clarity of expression, Knowledge of issues and alternatives, Accuracy of interpretation, Creativity or originality of expression. Our diverse faculty will be exemplary teacher-scholars dedicated to helping students become lifelong learners and effective leaders in their professions and communities.