Faculty and Staff

Full-time Faculty and Staff

Professor Robert Baker

B.A. with honors, City College of New York; Ph.D., University of Minnesota

Bob Baker's main areas of research are ethics, medical ethics, and the history of medical ethics. His most recent book is The American Medical Ethics Revolution (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000). He is also the Director of the Center for Bioethics and Clinical Leadership. He is a restless soul who loves to walk, to travel, to meet new people and to try new cuisines.

Email: bakerr@union.edu. Phone (518) 388-6215. Office Lamont 103

Assistant Professor David James Barnett

B.A. New College of Florida; Ph. D., New York University

David James Barnett's research lies at the intersection of epistemology with the philosophy of mind, including topics like introspection, higher-order justification, skepticism, the Cartesian Circle, and the epistemology of memory and testimony. In future research, he hopes to explore the implications of recent empirical work on metacognition for philosophical debates about these issues.

Email:barnettj@union.edu. Phone: (518) 388-6727. Office: Lamont 204.

Personal Home Page: www.davidjamesbar.net

Associate Professor Felmon Davis

B.A. cum laude, Haverford College; Ph.D., Princeton University

Felmon Davis's research centers on moral theory, metaphysics and philosophy of mind, with particular focus on some contemporary treatments of the problem of the objectivity of moral belief and principle, e.g. in "discourse ethics" and analytical meta-ethics. In the end, his question is, what does it make sense for anyone to believe about right and wrong? There are intriguing connections too to recent work in the philosophy of religion (rationality of religious belief).

Email: davisf@union.edu. Phone (518) 388-6205. Office: Lamont 209.

Research Professor John Kekes

B.A. (First Class Honors) Queen's University; Ph.D., Australian National University

John Kekes works mostly in ethics and political philosophy. He is the author of 19 books, including The Examined Life (Penn State University Press, 1988), The Morality of Pluralism (Princeton University Press, 1996), Moral Wisdom and Good Lives (Cornell University Press, 1997), The Roots of Evil (Cornell University Press, 2007), Enjoyment (Oxford University Press, 2009), and The Human Condition (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2010) and of over 150 articles.

Email: kekesj@union.edu. Phone (518) 388-6376. Office: Lamont 106.

Research Professor Raymond Martin;

Ph.D., University of Rochester

Ray Martin taught at the University of Maryland for many years before coming to Union College in 2002. The author and editor of several books, his research has been primarily in the areas of personal identity theory and the philosophy of history. His current project is a history of personal identity theory, to be entitled The Rise and Fall of Soul and Self. A notorious workaholic, he also enjoys traveling, the arts, hiking, movies, and golf.

Email: martinr@union.edu. Phone (518) 388-6376. Office: Lamont 106.
Personal Home Page: http://idol.union.edu/%7emartinr

Visiting Assistant Professor Antoine Panaïoti (as of September 1, 2013)

B.A., McGill University (First Class Honours); M.Phil., University of Cambridge (Distinction); Ph.D., University of Cambridge

Antoine Panaïoti’s principal research interests concern personal identity as it relates to ethics and moral psychology, Indian Buddhist philosophy, and Nietzsche. Trained as both a Sanskritist and a philosopher, he published a number of articles and book chapters on Buddhist philosophy and moral psychology until authoring his first book, Nietzsche and Buddhist Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2012). In future research, he hopes to bring Indian Thought, Western Philosophy (“Analytic” and “Continental”), Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, and Theoretical Psychiatry into dialog so as to elucidate the relation between different forms of so-called “narrative-identity construction” and egotistical vs. altruistic dispositions, empathy (cognitive and affective), emotional resilience, etc. As regards instruction, Antoine Panaïoti teaches Asian Philosophy, History of Philosophy, and Feminist Theory/Gender Issues.

Email: antoine.panaioti@gmail.com. Phone: (514) 577-3647.

Assistant Professor Krisanna Scheiter

Krisanna Scheiter

B.A. University of Missouri-St. Louis; Ph. D., University of Pennsylvania

Krisanna Scheiter specializes in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. Her work currently focuses on emotion and imagination in Plato and Aristotle. She is interested in questions in both ancient and contemporary discussions regarding the ontology of emotion and the moral significance of emotions, especially ethics of anger, revenge, and forgiveness.

Email: scheitek@union.edu. Phone (518) 388-6772. Office: Lamont 308.

Personal Home Page: http://muse.union.edu/scheitek/

Mark Wunderlich, Dean of Studies

Mark Wunderlich

B.A. Harvard University, Ph. D., University of Arizona

Professor Leo Zaibert

Leo Zaibert March 2009

Department Chair

J.D. Universidad Santa Maria (Venezuela); Ph.D., SUNY Buffalo

Leo Zaibert's research interests are in the philosophy of law, ethics, and political philosophy. He has published widely in these areas. Above all, he is interested in our responses to wrongdoing; and among these possible responses he has focused upon punishment and forgiveness. He previously held posts at the Simon Bolivar University (in Venezuela), the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, and at Amherst College, and he has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Email: zaibertl@union.edu. Phone: (518) 388-7185. Office: Lamont 107.

Personal Home Page: minerva.union.edu/zaibertl

Additional Faculty and Staff

Marianne Snowden

Mrs. Marianne Snowden (Administrative Assistant)

Marianne Snowden is the Administrative Assistant for both the Philosophy and Classics Departments, where she has worked since coming to the College twenty years ago. She is an unparalleled source of departmental history and advice. Outside the office she is the mother of two, and spends a lot of time on soccer fields and training the newly-acquired family pet, a Brittany Spaniel named Abby.

Email: snowdenm@union.edu. Phone: (518) 388-6376. Office: Lamont 106

Visiting Instructor Chalmers Clark

B. S. magna cum laude, honors in philosophy, Union College; M.A., Ph.D., The Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Chalmers C. Clark, PhD, is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Union and Adjunct Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Neiswanger
Bioethics Institute of Loyola University, Chicago. His background is in naturalized epistemology and biomedical ethics. Chalmers received his PhD from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), and has been Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Ethics of the American Medical Association; Donaghue Visiting Scholar in Biomedical and Behavioral Research Ethics, at the Bioethics Center of Yale University, and Visiting Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University. His interest is to extend epistemological holism into the domain of moral and political thought. The result has been research and publication in several interdisciplinary forms. Current work centers on trust relations in the professions (medicine especially), the professions as stewards of public trusts, and the role public trusts play in the basic structure of a free society. After class, Chalmers practices (not plays) the violin, runs (slowly), and looks for short cuts to logic problems.

Email: clarkc3@union.edu. Phone: (518) 388-6587. Office: Lamont 306

Professor William Vitek

B.A., Union College; Ph.D., with Honors, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Bill Vitek teaches Environmental Ethics and Environmental Literature at Union. He is the author of one book Promising, and with Wes Jackson co-editor of The Virtues of Ignorance: Sustainability, Complexity and the Limits of Knowledge and Rooted in the Land: Essays on Community and Place. He is also a jazz pianist and composer with three recordings devoted to children's music.

Email: vitek@clarkson.edu. Phone: (518) 388-6376. Office: Lamont 106.

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Philosophy Home Courses and Requirements Events People Alumni Alumni Contact Form Activities Contact	Faculty and Staff Full-time Faculty and Staff Professor Robert Baker B.A. with honors, City College of New York; Ph.D., University of Minnesota Bob Baker's main areas of research are ethics, medical ethics, and the history of medical ethics. His most recent book is The American Medical Ethics Revolution (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000). He is also the Director of the Center for Bioethics and Clinical Leadership. He is a restless soul who loves to walk, to travel, to meet new people and to try new cuisines. Email: bakerr@union.edu. Phone (518) 388-6215. Office Lamont 103 Assistant Professor David James Barnett B.A. New College of Florida; Ph. D., New York University David James Barnett's research lies at the intersection of epistemology with the philosophy of mind, including topics like introspection, higher-order justification, skepticism, the Cartesian Circle, and the epistemology of memory and testimony. In future research, he hopes to explore the implications of recent empirical work on metacognition for philosophical debates about these issues. Email:barnettj@union.edu. Phone: (518) 388-6727. Office: Lamont 204. Personal Home Page: www.davidjamesbar.net Associate Professor Felmon Davis B.A. cum laude, Haverford College; Ph.D., Princeton University Felmon Davis's research centers on moral theory, metaphysics and philosophy of mind, with particular focus on some contemporary treatments of the problem of the objectivity of moral belief and principle, e.g. in "discourse ethics" and analytical meta-ethics. In the end, his question is, what does it make sense for anyone to believe about right and wrong? There are intriguing connections too to recent work in the philosophy of religion (rationality of religious belief). Email: davisf@union.edu. Phone (518) 388-6205. Office: Lamont 209. Research Professor John Kekes B.A. (First Class Honors) Queen's University; Ph.D., Australian National University John Kekes works mostly in ethics and political philosophy. He is the author of 19 books, including The Examined Life (Penn State University Press, 1988), The Morality of Pluralism (Princeton University Press, 1996), Moral Wisdom and Good Lives (Cornell University Press, 1997), The Roots of Evil (Cornell University Press, 2007), Enjoyment (Oxford University Press, 2009), and The Human Condition (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2010) and of over 150 articles. Email: kekesj@union.edu. Phone (518) 388-6376. Office: Lamont 106. Research Professor Raymond Martin; Ph.D., University of Rochester Ray Martin taught at the University of Maryland for many years before coming to Union College in 2002. The author and editor of several books, his research has been primarily in the areas of personal identity theory and the philosophy of history. His current project is a history of personal identity theory, to be entitled The Rise and Fall of Soul and Self. A notorious workaholic, he also enjoys traveling, the arts, hiking, movies, and golf. Email: martinr@union.edu. Phone (518) 388-6376. Office: Lamont 106. Personal Home Page: http://idol.union.edu/%7emartinr Visiting Assistant Professor Antoine Panaïoti (as of September 1, 2013) B.A., McGill University (First Class Honours); M.Phil., University of Cambridge (Distinction); Ph.D., University of Cambridge Antoine Panaïoti’s principal research interests concern personal identity as it relates to ethics and moral psychology, Indian Buddhist philosophy, and Nietzsche. Trained as both a Sanskritist and a philosopher, he published a number of articles and book chapters on Buddhist philosophy and moral psychology until authoring his first book, Nietzsche and Buddhist Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2012). In future research, he hopes to bring Indian Thought, Western Philosophy (“Analytic” and “Continental”), Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, and Theoretical Psychiatry into dialog so as to elucidate the relation between different forms of so-called “narrative-identity construction” and egotistical vs. altruistic dispositions, empathy (cognitive and affective), emotional resilience, etc. As regards instruction, Antoine Panaïoti teaches Asian Philosophy, History of Philosophy, and Feminist Theory/Gender Issues. Email: antoine.panaioti@gmail.com. Phone: (514) 577-3647. Assistant Professor Krisanna Scheiter B.A. University of Missouri-St. Louis; Ph. D., University of Pennsylvania Krisanna Scheiter specializes in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. Her work currently focuses on emotion and imagination in Plato and Aristotle. She is interested in questions in both ancient and contemporary discussions regarding the ontology of emotion and the moral significance of emotions, especially ethics of anger, revenge, and forgiveness. Email: scheitek@union.edu. Phone (518) 388-6772. Office: Lamont 308. Personal Home Page: http://muse.union.edu/scheitek/ Mark Wunderlich, Dean of Studies B.A. Harvard University, Ph. D., University of Arizona Professor Leo Zaibert Department Chair J.D. Universidad Santa Maria (Venezuela); Ph.D., SUNY Buffalo Leo Zaibert's research interests are in the philosophy of law, ethics, and political philosophy. He has published widely in these areas. Above all, he is interested in our responses to wrongdoing; and among these possible responses he has focused upon punishment and forgiveness. He previously held posts at the Simon Bolivar University (in Venezuela), the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, and at Amherst College, and he has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Email: zaibertl@union.edu. Phone: (518) 388-7185. Office: Lamont 107. Personal Home Page: minerva.union.edu/zaibertl Additional Faculty and Staff Mrs. Marianne Snowden (Administrative Assistant) Marianne Snowden is the Administrative Assistant for both the Philosophy and Classics Departments, where she has worked since coming to the College twenty years ago. She is an unparalleled source of departmental history and advice. Outside the office she is the mother of two, and spends a lot of time on soccer fields and training the newly-acquired family pet, a Brittany Spaniel named Abby. Email: snowdenm@union.edu. Phone: (518) 388-6376. Office: Lamont 106 Visiting Instructor Chalmers Clark B. S. magna cum laude, honors in philosophy, Union College; M.A., Ph.D., The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Chalmers C. Clark, PhD, is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Union and Adjunct Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Neiswanger Bioethics Institute of Loyola University, Chicago. His background is in naturalized epistemology and biomedical ethics. Chalmers received his PhD from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), and has been Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Ethics of the American Medical Association; Donaghue Visiting Scholar in Biomedical and Behavioral Research Ethics, at the Bioethics Center of Yale University, and Visiting Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University. His interest is to extend epistemological holism into the domain of moral and political thought. The result has been research and publication in several interdisciplinary forms. Current work centers on trust relations in the professions (medicine especially), the professions as stewards of public trusts, and the role public trusts play in the basic structure of a free society. After class, Chalmers practices (not plays) the violin, runs (slowly), and looks for short cuts to logic problems. Email: clarkc3@union.edu. Phone: (518) 388-6587. Office: Lamont 306 Professor William Vitek B.A., Union College; Ph.D., with Honors, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York Bill Vitek teaches Environmental Ethics and Environmental Literature at Union. He is the author of one book Promising, and with Wes Jackson co-editor of The Virtues of Ignorance: Sustainability, Complexity and the Limits of Knowledge and Rooted in the Land: Essays on Community and Place. He is also a jazz pianist and composer with three recordings devoted to children's music. Email: vitek@clarkson.edu. Phone: (518) 388-6376. Office: Lamont 106.
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