Academics
Philosophy Faculty
Peter Tumulty
Department Chair
Professor of Philosophy
B.A. Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception; M.A., Ph.D. University of Notre Dame
Courses Taught: Introduction to Philosophy Ethics; Human Rights; Theories of Justice; Wittgenstein; American Philosophy
Areas of Expertise: Dr. Tumulty's interests connect one way or another with clarifying the nature and significance of the moral dimension to human existence. This leads to examining such topics as: the nature of moral experience; the conditions for making objective yet fallible value judgments; the reconciliation of universal human rights with respect for cultural diversity; the significance of the apparent encounter with an Absolute as our moral lives mature; etc.
On Teaching and Research: Currently, Dr. Tumulty is researching the various types of preconditions for cognitively significant judgments of various kinds (e.g., farming; science; morality; etc.), especially as they bear upon the formation of the young in a progressively secular and commercial society with disorienting consequences for ever more vulnerable individuals and communities. Past articles include: “Judging God by ‘Human’ Standards: Reflections On William James’ Varieties of Religious Experience;” “A Contemporary Bridge From Facts To Values: But Will Natural Law Theorists Pay The Toll?;” and “Aristotle, Feminism and Natural Law Theory.” His most recent article “Recognizing Varieties of Objectivity in Promoting a Global Culture of Human Rights: Remarks in the Tradition of Plato, Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein” will appear in International Philosophical Quarterly in December 2009. He joined Saint Michael's College faculty in 1974.
Outside Saint Michael's: Dr. Tumulty spends lots of time and conversation with family and friends; politics; films; travel; and spoiling his grandchildren Fiona and Jack.
Learn more about Dr. Tumulty in his faculty spotlight.
Campus Office
Saint Edmund's Hall 229
Phone: 802.654.2468
Box 191
E-mail: ptumulty@smcvt.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ronald Begley
Professor of Philosophy and Classics
B.A. Haverford College; M.A., Ph.D. University of North Carolina
Dr. Begley specializes in ancient philosophy, the scholastic-humanist debate, Pascal, Newman and Kierkegaard. He is currently collaborating with Daniel Sheerin (University of Notre Dame) on volume seventy-nine of the Collected Works of Erasmus, a translation and annotation of two apologiae of Erasmus against the Carthusian monk and Paris theologian, Pierre Cousturier. Recent Publications include Metaphor in the Apologia and Newman's Conversion in Ian Ker ed., Newman and Conversion.
Campus Office
Saint Edmund's Hall 236
Phone: 802.654.2313
Box 373
E-mail: rbegley@smcvt.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Izzi
Professor of Philosophy
B.A. Fordham University; Ph.D. University of Paris-Sorbonne
Courses Taught: Philosophy of Human Existence; Spinoza; Nietzsche; Heidegger; Introduction to Philosophy
Areas of Expertise: Dr. Izzi is a specialist in European philosophy from the nineteenth century to the present (especially Nietzsche and Heidegger). He is also interested in the thought of Spinoza, Plotinus, and Chuang-Tzu.
Recent Scholarly Achievements: Dr. Izzi wrote "Proximity in Distance: Lévinas and Plotinus," in Lévinas and the Ancients (Indiana University Press, 2008). He is currently researching the non-identifiable dimension of our self and the world.
On Teaching and Research: Dr. Izzi teaches the same philosophers and themes during the academic year that he writes about during the summer months. This approach helps him to integrate the teaching and research components of his professional life. He especially likes to teach courses devoted to a particular philosopher because the class size is smaller and the level is more advanced.
Outside Saint Michael's: Dr. Izzi enjoys travel, going to art exhibits, and physical exercise. He lives in Paris when Saint Michael's is not in session.
Campus Office
Saint Edmund's Hall 242
Phone: 802.654.2367
Box 182
E-mail: jizzi@smcvt.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alicia Jaramillo
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
B.A. State University of New York at Buffalo; M.A. Yale University; Ph.D. Boston College
Dr. Jaramillo was the recipient of a Fulbright research fellowship during the 2004-05 academic year. Her dissertation title is “The problem of the finite and the infinite in Saint Thomas Aquinas: Aquinas’ solution to a question posed anew in modern philosophy.” During her Fulbright year in Louvain La Neuve, Belgium, she did research on Aquinas and Hegel.
Dr. Jaramillo’s article, “Alienation, the Unhappy Consciousness, and Self-Knowledge in Lonergan and Hegel,” has been accepted for publication in Method: Journal of Lonergan Studies. While a graduate student, she taught Philosophy of the Person I (2000-01) and II (2001) at Boston College, and History of Modern Christian Thought at Yale University (1998).
Campus Office
Saint Edmund's Hall 238
Phone: 802.654.2773
Box 123
E-mail: ajaramillo@smcvt.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Katherine E. Kirby
Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Global Studies
B.A. Salisbury State University; M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. Fordham
View Dr. Kirby's Curriculum Vitae
Courses Taught: Ethics; Introduction to Philosophy; Ethics of the Heroic; Otherness and Marginalization: Levinas and the Alienated Truth and Propaganda: Ethics and the Media; First-Year Seminar: Global Studies; Foundations of Global Studies
Areas of Expertise: Ethics (including the philosophical ethics tradition, metaethics, applied ethics, and global ethical issues); Emmanuel Levinas (French postmodern ethicist); Continental philosophy
Recent Scholarly Achievements: Dr. Kirby has written several publications, including: "The Hero and Asymmetrical Obligation: Levinas and Ricoeur in Dialogue," to appear in the June 2010 issue of International Philosophical Quarterly; "Encountering and Understanding Suffering: The Need for Service-Learning in Ethical Education," which appeared in the June 2009 issue of Teaching Philosophy; and "War and Peace, Power and Faith," to be released in the upcoming book, X-Men and Philosophy. In November 2007 Dr. Kirby presented a session on "Understanding Suffering: the Need for Service-Learning in Ethical Education" at the annual meeting of the Association of Moral Education.
On Teaching and Research: Dr. Kirby's research interests coincide very closely with her teaching. She has been able to develop courses that tackle the very questions with which she grapples in her work, which ensures that her course material continues to be fresh and innovative. Dr. Kirby is a huge proponent of service-learning courses, especially in courses that challenge students to think about ethical or moral responsibility and engagement, where she finds that service-learning opportunities set the stage for a close philosophical (phenomenological) exploration of lived experiences. During the summer of 2008, Dr. Kirby and five students from her course, Otherness and Marginalization, traveled to Lima, Peru, to expand their classroom experience. They worked in Mission of Charity home, in a soup kitchen, and in a school, as part of their many interactions with the local culture. Learn more >>
Outside Saint Michael's: Dr. Kirby enjoys hikes, playing with her beautiful dog Abigail, movies, cooking, selected television shows, and spending time with friends.
Learn more about Dr. Kirby in her faculty spotlight.
Campus Office
Saint Edmund's Hall 128
Phone: 802.654.2873
Box 368
E-mail: kkirby@smcvt.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crystal L'Hôte
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
B.A. Colgate University; M.A., Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University
Courses Taught: The Mental and the Physical; Logic: Laws of Thought; Philosophy & Feminism; Analytic Philosophy; Introduction to Philosophy; Philosophy of Human Being
Areas of Expertise: Philosophy of mind, metaphysics and epistemology, philosophy of language, feminist philosophy, and bioethics, all in the analytic tradition. Dr. L'Hôte's research focuses on the mind-body problem, attending especially to the way that one's understanding of the physical world affects and is affected by one's understanding of self. Dr. L'Hôte's current work advances the specific thesis that mindedness defies contemporary neuroscientific and, more broadly, reductive physical explanation.
Recent Scholarly Achievements: Dr. L'Hôte is one of fifteen scholars awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship to participate in a six-week Summer Seminar on Metaphysics and Mind at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. In the fall of 2009, Dr. L'Hôte will present "Minding Spaces, Minding Places" during The Politics of Space and Place conference at the University of Brighton in the United Kingdom. Dr. L'Hôte also presented "Forgiving Is Not Forgetting, but What Does It Mean to Remember?" at the Probing the Boundaries: Forgiveness conference in Salzburg, Austria, and presented "Thoughtlessness: Cognitive and Ethical Dimensions" at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
On Teaching and Research: Dr. L'Hôte enjoys teaching Philosophy of Human Being, which pairs perennial philosophic ideas with cutting-edge topics in bioethics. Her course, Logic: Laws of Thought, brings together students from multiple disciplines including computer science, psychology, philosophy, and political science, as well as students preparing for the Law School Admissions Test. Dr. L'Hôte also values teaching The Mental and the Physical because it directly engages and motivates her research in philosophy of mind.
Outside Saint Michael's: Dr. L'Hôte has enjoyed competing in triathlons and running events (long and short distances), and generally enjoys rigorous physical activity, whether hiking in the Green Mountains with her dog or cross-country skiing in the wooded areas of Burlington.
Campus Office
Saint Edmund's Hall 135
Phone: 802.654.2481
Box 376
E-mail: clhote@smcvt.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
R. Michael Olson
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
B.A. Boise State University; M.A., Ph.D. Emory University
Dr. Olson specializes in Ancient and Nineteenth-Century Philosophy. His interests within these areas include moral psychology, political philosophy and the philosophy of religion. Dr. Olson has published on John Henry Newman and is currently working on Aristotle’s philosophical psychology.
Campus Office
Saint Edmund's Hall 227
Phone: 802.654.2416
Box 354
E-mail: rolson@smcvt.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lara Ostaric
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
B.A. University of Chicago; M.A. McGill University; Ph.D. University of Notre Dame
Dr. Ostaric's research focuses on Kant, German Idealism, Kant's aesthetics and value theory. She offers courses on Kant, aesthetics, early modern philosophy, and modern political philosophy.
Campus Office
Saint Edmund's Hall 240
Phone: 802.654.2208
Box 153
E-mail: lostaric@smcvt.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patrick Standen
Instructor of Philosophy
B.A., University of Vermont; M.A., Boston College
Mr. Standen’s interests in philosophy stem from a brilliant high school philosophy course he chanced to take. He would subsequently pursue an undergraduate degree in analytical philosophy and a graduate degree in continental thought. Mr. Standen has also completed graduate studies in psychoanalysis and philosophy at Harvard University, the philosophy of education at the University of Vermont, comparative law at Harvard Law School and literature and politics at Boston University. He served as an editorial assistant on the scholarly journal Philosophy and Social Criticism. His research interests include examining the philosophical and historic dimensions of disability, as well as studying the history of ideas and aesthetics.
Campus Office
Durick Library 332
Phone: 802.654.2407
Box 308
E-mail: pstanden@smcvt.edu