Faculty Profile
Jeff Engelhardt
Associate Professor of Philosophy (2014)
Contact Information
on sabbatical Spring 2025
East College Room 205
717-254-8301
https://sites.google.com/site/virtualjeffengelhardt/home
Bio
My research focuses on interactions between minds, language, and broader social structures. In one recent paper, for instance, I consider how gendered linguistic norms might contribute to the prevalence of gaslighting. In the recent book Nonideal Theory and Content Externalism (Oxford, 2024), I argue that many, perhaps most, theories of language implicitly assume that oppression doesn't affect the structures that determine linguistic meaning; in fact, however, oppression systematically shapes these structures, and thus such theories of language are systematically inaccurate. In the past, I've worked on metaphysical issues relevant to minds, cognitive science, and causation; I'm still interested in those things, but I don't have research plans in those areas right now. In the coming years, I plan to explore how solidarity, mutual aid, and political organizing affect language and what can be thought. In addition to Philosophy 101, I teach courses in logic, philosophy of race and gender, philosophy of mind, philosophy of sex, metaphysics, philosophy of language, and phenomenology.
Education
- B.A., Saint Peter's College, 2004
- Ph.D., Georgetown University, 2011
2024-2025 Academic Year
Fall 2024
PHIL 101 Intro to Philosophy
An introduction to Western philosophy through an examination of problems arising in primary sources. How major philosophers in the tradition have treated such questions as the scope of human reason, the assumptions of scientific method, the nature of moral action, or the connections between faith and reason.
PHIL 103 Logic
The study and practice of forms and methods of argumentation in ordinary and symbolic languages, focusing on elements of symbolic logic and critical reasoning, including analysis and assessment of arguments in English, symbolizing sentences and arguments, constructing formal proofs of validity in sentential and quantificational logic.Offered every semester, or every three out of four semesters.
PHIL 401 Senior Seminar
A seminar focusing in depth on a selected philosophical topic, author or text with special emphasis on student philosophical writing and voice. Prerequisites: three prior courses in philosophy, at least one at the 300-level, or permission of the instructor.