Faculty members' interests encompass all the major areas of philosophy including ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of art, theory of knowledge, metaphysics, modern philosophy, Asian philosophy, philosophy of law, philosophy of mind, logic, philosophy of science, existentialism, phenomenology, philosophy of language and philosophical counselling. Faculty members' interests also include the humanities areas of history of ideas and religious studies.
The faculty members of the Department of Philosophy and Humanities represent a wide variety of viewpoints and traditions within Philosophy and, more broadly, the Humanities. As educators, we are dedicated to the challenging and rewarding task of teaching our students to think critically about current debates in the social, ethical and political spheres through analysis of the philosophical issues that lie behind these debates.
We believe that attention to the philosophical background of current issues helps our students form more nuanced and defensible views on these issues and thereby achieve greater autonomy and independence of thought. However, we also hope to challenge our students to think beyond the application of philosophical ideas to current debates and to consider, for their own sake, those questions about knowledge, reality and value that have been the objects of human thought for as long as human thought has been recorded.
Contract faculty
Education
- PhD, British Columbia
- MA, Waterloo
Specialized Honours B.A. in Philosophy (1994), York University.
Retired faculty
Emeritus in Memoriam
Education
- PhD, British Columbia
- MA, British Columbia
- MA, British Columbia
- BA, McGill
Areas of interest
Philosophy of religion, mysticism, meditation, analytic philosophy, ethics, theory of knowledge, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, Asian philosophy, critical thinking (A Format for Multifactoral Reasoning), philosophical counselling, and secular wisdom cultivation.
Principal publications: Philosophy
- The Silence of the Mystic, 1983 (Philosophy in Canada Monographs)
- How to Build a Conscious Machine, 1989 (Westview Press)
- Enlightenment East and West, 1994 (SUNY Press)
Principal publications: Fiction/poetry
- The Book of Miriam, 1997 (Mosaic Press)
Principal publications: Plays
- Incident After Antietam and Isadora and GBS, 1976 (Playwrights Union of Canada)
- The Unveiling, 1982 (PUC)
- Eleanor Marx, 1984 (PUC)
Education
- PhD, Waterloo
- MA, Waterloo
- BA, Dalhousie
Areas of interest
Nature and role of apology, economics and environmental sustainability, philosophy of biography, collective action problems, philosophy and public policy, critical thinking, political philosophy, ethics, existentialism, metaphysics, philosophy of sports.
Principal publications
- (co-edited with Lester Embree) Phenomenology of the Cultural Disciplines
Taught previously in Ontario and Florida Moderator of the New Westminster Philosopher's Cafe Director, Institute for Ethics and Global Justice, Douglas College.
Emeritus
Education
- ABD, British Columbia
- MA, California, Riverside
- BA, California, Riverside
Philosophy of mind, metaphysics, theory of knowledge, modern philosophy, ethics and critical thinking Director, Institute for Ethics and Global Justice, Douglas College.
Areas of interest
Metaphysics, philosophy of mind, meditation, modern philosophy, ethics and critical thinking.
Education
- PhD, British Columbia
- BA, Stanford
Areas of interest
Metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of religion, history of philosophy and critical thinking, philosophy of religion, metaphysics, theory of knowledge, ethics, environmental ethics and critical thinking.
Principal publications
- Wittgenstein on Universals, 1988 (Peter Lang Publishing)
Education
- PhD, Waterloo
- MA, Guelph
- BA, Brock
Continental philosophy, existentialism, social and political philosophy, value theory, history of philosophy, business ethics and critical thinking
Areas of interest
Contemporary continental philosophy, especially Nietzsche and Heidegger, history of philosophy, ethics, social and political philosophy, aesthetics, Eastern philosophy.
Publications
- Essays on Husserl, Nietzsche, Heidegger, literary theory, Taoism, education
Current research areas
Critical Thinking: A Primer (a textbook for first-year college students); Heidegger and the history of philosophy; philosophical counselling.
Philosophical counselling
Since 1987, Robert Nicholls has been pursuing the practice of "philosophical counselling." For the most part, this practice is restricted to one-on-one logotherapy based in Dasein analysis and the broader school of existential psychotherapy, although Dr. Nicholls has also participated in some group therapy sessions. His approach to philosophical counselling is influenced by a number of theoreticians and practitioners, but especially by the work of Ludwig Binswanger and Irwin Yalom. Dr. Nicholls has developed his own approach to self-understanding, which is grounded significantly in Heidegger's notions of "autonomy, freedom and authenticity." In addition, he studied extensively the work of Carl Jung with the late Professor Paul Seligman, long-time honourary member of the Jungian Society. Further, Dr. Nicholls has himself completed psychoanalysis with a Freudian practitioner. The idea of philosophical counselling is based upon the conviction that the possibility of well-being is inseparable from the project of self-understanding, and that these notions need not be taken up only in the context of pathology, where a model of "health and disease" dominates, but should be pursued in the broader, life-long context of the individual's Weltanschauung. Existential psychotherapy is concerned thematically with several aspects of human existence, including death and dying, anxiety, freedom and responsibility, selfhood, willing and resolution, isolation, meaninglessness, sexuality and gender, and transformation. Clients are not engaged contractually, nor are there any requirements to undertake specific behavioural practices. Anyone wishing to pursue private counselling with Dr. Nicholls may contact him at rpnicholls7@gmail.com
Education
PhD, Alberta
MA, Alberta
MA, Fudan
BA, Nanjing
Areas of interest
Philosophy of law, logic, theory of knowledge, epistemology, philosophy of science, ethics, critical thinking.
Publications
- Contemporary Philosophical Anthropology, Liaoning. Liaoning People's Press, 1986, 146 pp. [This book provides a comprehensive examination of the development of German philosophical anthropology after Max Scheler from biological, psychological, religious, cultural, environmental and social perspectives. It also discusses the theoretical relationship of philosophical anthropology with existentialism and phenomenology.
- "Scientism, Technocracy" and Morality in China. Journal of Chinese Philosophy 30:2 (June 2003) 177-193
- "Moral Responsibility of Business," p.160-190, Anthology of Frontier Thought in North America, San Wu Publishing House (Beijing and Hong Kong, 1999)
- "Central Issues in Contemporary Social and Political Philosophy," pp. 18, Anthology of Frontier Thought in North America, San Wu Publishing House (Beijing and Hong Kong, 2000)
- "Organizations and Agency," Legal Theory 1 (1995) 283-310. Co-authored with Roger Shiner
- "Review of Practices of Reason: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics by C.D.C. Reeve," Review of Metaphysics, September 1994
- "Review of From Africa to Zen: An Invitation to World Philosophy, ed. by Robert Solomon and Kathleen Higgins," Canadian Philosophical Reviews. Vol. XIV, No.2, April 1994, p.141-44
- "Critical Note: Playing by the Rules - A Philosophical Examination of Rule-based Decision-Making in Law and in Life by Frederick Schauer," Alberta Law Review, Volume XXXI, No.2, June, 1993, pp.443-53
Courses taught in Vancouver, Michigan, Alberta and Shanghai
Critical Thinking, Symbolic Logic, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Science, History of Western Philosophy, Ethical Theory, Applied Ethics, Professional Ethics, Introduction to Liberal Studies, Social and Political Philosophy, Continental Philosophy, Philosophy of Social Sciences, and Chinese Philosophy.
Education
- PhD, British Columbia
- MA, Alberta
- BA, Alberta
Office: N3454, New Westminster
Areas of interest
Social and political philosophy, ethics, biomedical ethics, nursing ethics, environmental ethics, humanities and critical thinking.