Eric S. Nelson, CV

CURRICULUM VITAE

Eric S. Nelson, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Philosophy

University of Massachusetts Lowell

Lowell, MA 01854 USA

Email / Tel: 978-934-3996 / Homepage

Summary

Areas of Research and Teaching

19th- and 20th-Century German Philosophy

Ethics, Environmental Philosophy, Philosophy of Nature

Chinese, Buddhist, and Intercultural Philosophy

Leibniz, Kant, and Early Modern European Philosophy

Education

2002: Ph.D. in Philosophy from Emory University (Atlanta, GA).

Dissertation Title: Time, History, and Facticity

1993: B.A. in Philosophy from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL)

Academic Experience

2011- : Associate Professor, Philosophy, University of Massachusetts Lowell

2005-2011: Assistant Professor, Philosophy, University of Massachusetts Lowell

2003-2005: Visiting Assistant Professor, Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Toledo

2000-2003: Visiting Assistant Professor, Philosophy, Texas A&M University, University of Memphis, King College

1999-2000: Lecturer, Philosophy, Emory University

1994-1997: Teaching Assistant, Philosophy, Emory University

Publications

VOLUMES

Edited Anthologies

With François Raffoul (forthcoming), Continuum Companion to Heidegger (London: Continuum).
With G. D’Anna, H. Johach (forthcoming), Dilthey, Anthropologie, und Geschichte (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann).
With John Drabinski (forthcoming), Between Levinas and Heidegger (Albany, SUNY).
With François Raffoul, Rethinking Facticity (Albany: SUNY Press, 2008).
With Kent Still, Antje Kapust, Addressing Levinas (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2005).

CONTRIBUTIONS

Journal Articles

(forthcoming) “Against Enchantment: Nothingness and the Perplexity of Words in Heidegger and Chan Buddhism.” Angelaki, 2012.
(forthcoming) “Martin Heidegger, Georg Misch, and the Origins of Philosophy.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 39, Supplemental Issue, 2012.
(forthcoming) “Dilthey and Carnap: Empiricism, Life-Philosophy, and Overcoming Metaphysics.” Pli: Warwick Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 23, 2012.
“Against Liberty: Adorno, Levinas, and the Pathologies of Freedom.” Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory, vol. 59, number 131, June 2012, 64-83.
“Kant and China: Aesthetics, Race, and Nature.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 38:4, Dec. 2011, 509-525 // Reprinted and revised from conference proceedings: “China, Nature, and the Sublime in Kant.” Stephen R. Palmquist (ed.), Cultivating Personhood: Kant and Asian Philosophy (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2010), 333-346.
“The World Picture and its Conflict in Dilthey and Heidegger.” Humana.Mente: Journal of Philosophical Studies, Vol. 18, 2011, 19–38.
“The Yijing and Philosophy: From Leibniz to Derrida.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 38:3, Sept. 2011, 377-396 // Revised and expanded from conference proceedings: “Leibniz and the Yijing: Philosophy, Intercultural Interpretation, and the Hermeneutics of Nature.” Proceedings of the 13th I-Ching World Conference (Wuxi, 2010), 667-675.
“Revisiting the Dialectic of the Environment: Nature as Ideology and Ethics in Adorno and the Frankfurt School.” Telos 155, Summer 2011, 105-126.
“Impure Phenomenology: Dilthey, Epistemology, and the Task of Interpretive Psychology.” Studia Phaenomenologica, vol. 10, 2010, 19-44.
“Who is the other to me? Levinas, Asymmetrical Ethics, and Social-Political Equality,” Mono Kurgusuz Labirent, 8-9, 2010, 454-466.
“Language and Emptiness in Chan Buddhism and the early Heidegger.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy, Sept. 2010, 472-492.
“Interpreting the Language of Factical Life: The Aporias of Transcendental Philosophy and Heidegger’s Early Hermeneutics.” Vox Philosophiae, 3/2009: 50-75.
“Religious Crisis, Ethical Life, and Kierkegaard’s Critique of Christendom.” Acta Kierkegaardiana, “Kierkegaard and the Religious Crisis of the 19th Century,” Vol. 4, 2009: 170-186.
“Leibniz and China: Religion, Hermeneutics, and Enlightenment.” Religion in the Age of Enlightenment (RAE), vol. 1 (2009), 277-300. // Revised and expanded from conference proceedings: “Leibniz, China, and the Hermeneutics of Cross-Cultural Understanding.” Einheit in der Vielheit: Akten des VIII. Internationalen Leibniz-Kongresses, ed. H. Breger, J. Herbst, and S. Erdner. Volume 2, 700-706 (Hannover, 2006).
“Responding with dao: Early Daoist Ethics and the Environment.” Philosophy East West, 59:3 (July 2009): 294-316.
“Levinas and Early Confucian Ethics: Religion, Rituality, and the Sources of Morality.” Levinas Studies, Vol. 4, ed. Jeffrey Bloechl (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 2009), 177-207, endnotes: 231-237.
“Interpreting Practice: Epistemology, Hermeneutics, and Historical Life in Dilthey.” Idealistic Studies, 38:1-2, 2008: 105-122.
“Heidegger and the Questionability of the Ethical.” Studia Phaenomenologica, Vol. VIII, 2008: 395-419.
“Questioning Dao: Skepticism, Mysticism, and Ethics in the Zhuangzi.” International Journal of the Asian Philosophical Association, Vol. 1, Issue 1, 2008: 5-19.
“History as Decision and Event in Heidegger.” Arhe, IV: 8 (2007), 97-115.
“Empiricism, Facticity, and the Immanence of Life in Dilthey.” Pli: Warwick Journal of Philosophy, Vol.18, Superior Empiricism (2007), 108-128.
“Disturbing Truth: Art, Finitude, and the Human Sciences in Dilthey.” theory@buffalo, Vol. 11: Aesthetics and Finitude (2007), 121-142.
“Responding to Heaven and Earth: Daoism, Heidegger and Ecology.” Environmental Philosophy, Vol. 1, No. 2, Fall 2004, 65-74.
“Moral and Political Prudence in Kant.” International Philosophical Quarterly, 44: 3, Sept. 2004, 305-319. // Revised and expanded from conference proceedings: “Kant and the Art of Political Prudence.” Kant und die Berliner Aufklärung, ed., V. Gerhardt, R. Horstmann and R. Schumacher. Volume 4, 220-227 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2001).
“Schleiermacher on Language, Religious Feeling, and the Ineffable.” Epoché 8:2, Spring 2004, 297-312. // (In Slovenian) “Schleiermacher, hermenevtika in neizrekljivo.” Phainomena X/37-38, 2001. Ljubljana: Nova revija.
“Faith and Knowledge: Karl Jaspers on Communication and the Encompassing.” Existentia, Volume 13/3-4, 2003, 207-218.
“Begründbarkeit und Unergründlichkeit bei Wilhelm Dilthey.” Existentia, Vol. 12/1-2, 2002, 1-10.
“Questioning Practice: Heidegger, Historicity and the Hermeneutics of Facticity.” Philosophy Today 44, 2001: 150-159.
“Ansprechen und Auseinandersetzung: Heidegger und die Frage nach der Vereinzelung von Dasein.” Existentia, Vol. 10/1-4, 2000, 113-122.

Contributions to Anthologies, Collections, and Conference Based Volumes

(Forthcoming) “Heidegger, Carnap, and Logical Positivism” and (with Emilia Angelova) “Heidegger and Early Modern Philosophy,” “Heidegger and Hermeneutics.” François Raffoul and E. S. Nelson, eds., Companion to Heidegger (London: Continuum Press).
(Forthcoming) “History, Event, and Alterity in Heidegger and Levinas.” Between Levinas and Heidegger, eds. John Drabinski and E. S. Nelson (Albany: SUNY Press).
(Forthcoming) “Between Nature and Spirit: Naturalism and Anti-Naturalism in Dilthey.” G. D’Anna, H. Johach, E. S. Nelson, Dilthey, Anthropologie, und Geschichte (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann).
(Forthcoming) “Freiheit als Versprechen und Pathologie.” Clemens Sedmak (ed.), Grundwerte Europas, Band 2: Freiheit: Vom Wert der Autonomie (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftlichen Buchgesellschaft).
(Forthcoming) “Biological and Historical Life in Dilthey and Heidegger.” The Science, Politics, and Ontology of Life-Philosophy, ed. Scott M. Campbell and Paul Bruno (London: Continuum Press).
“Levinas and Adorno: Can there be an Ethics of Nature?” Facing Nature: Levinas and Environmental Thought, eds. William Edelglass, James Hatley, and Christian Diehm (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 2012), 109-133.
“Aesthetics, Ethics and Nature in Adorno,” Jerome Carroll, Steve Giles, Maike Oergel (eds), Aesthetics and Modernity from Schiller to the Frankfurt School (Peter Lang, 2012), 319-341.
“Individuation, Responsiveness, Translation: Heidegger’s Ethics.” Heidegger, Translation, and the Task of Thinking: Essays in Honor of Parvis Emad, ed. Frank Schalow (Berlin: Springer, 2011), 269-290.
“Self-Reflection, Interpretation, and Historical Life in Dilthey.” Recent Contributions to Dilthey’s Philosophy of the Human Sciences, ed. Hans-Ulrich Lessing, R. A. Makkreel und R. Pozzo (Stuttgart: Frommann-holzboog, 2011), 105-134.
“Schleiermacher and Dilthey.” History of Continental Philosophy: Volume 2; Nineteenth-Century Philosophy: Revolutionary Responses to the Existing Order (1840-1900), (series ed.) Alan D. Schrift and Daniel Conway (Chesham: Acumen Press, 2010), 139-160.
“Traumatic Life: Violence, Pain, and Responsiveness in Heidegger.” The Trauma Controversy: Philosophical and Interdisciplinary Dialogues, eds. Kristen Brown and Bettina Bergo (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2009), 189-204.
“Recognition, Responsiveness and Misrecognition.” The Good Society, Volume 18, Number 1, 2009, 79-81.
“Virtue and Violence in Therāvada and Sri Lankan Buddhism.” Buddhist Roles in Peacemaking, ed. Chanju Mun and Ronald S. Green (Honolulu: Blue Pine Books, 2009), 199-233. // Earlier Version published as “Virtue, Violence, and Engagement in Therāvada and Sri Lankan Buddhism.” SACP Forum for Asian and Comparative Philosophy. Vol. 23, No. 47, Fall 2006, 192-216.
“The Secular, the Religious, and the Ethical in Kierkegaard and Levinas.” Despite Oneself: Subjectivity and its Secret in Kierkegaard and Levinas, ed. Claudia Welz and Karl Verstrynge (London: Turnshare, 2008), 91-109. // Revised republication as “Levinas and Kierkegaard between Religion and Ethics,” Mondes Francophones, Philosophies: 26/01/2009, http://mondesfrancophones.com/espaces/philosophies/levinas-and-kierkegaard-between-religion-and-ethics/
“Priestly Power and Damaged Life in Nietzsche and Adorno.” Nietzsche: Philosoph der Kultur(en)? / Philosopher of Culture?, ed. Andreas Urs Sommer (Berlin / New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2008), 349-356.
“Heidegger and the Ethics of Facticity.” Rethinking Facticity, ed. François Raffoul and Eric S. Nelson (Albany: SUNY Press, 2008), 129-147.
“Schleiermacher and Romanticism” in H. Dierkes, T. Tice, and W. Virmond, Schleiermacher, Romanticism and the Critical Arts: A Festschrift in Honor of Hermann Patsch (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2007), 99-114.
“Questioning Karma: Buddhism and the Phenomenology of the Ethical.” Revisioning Karma, ed. Charles Prebish, Damien Keown, Dale S. Wright (Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 2007), 353-373.
“Die formale Anzeige der Faktizität als Frage der Logik.” Heidegger und die Logik (Elementa 79), ed. Alfred Denker and Holger Zaborowski (Editions Rodopi BV, 2006), 31-48.
“Mitsein und Andersheit in Heideggers Sein und Zeit.” In: Der Andere - ein alltäglicher Begriff in philosophischer Perspektive, ed., U. Hagel, F.A. Kurbacher, C. Suhm, and U. Ziemann (Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag 2002).

Contributions to Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

(Forthcoming) “Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm.” Encyclopedia of Political Thought, edited by Michael Gibbons (Wiley-Blackwell).
Ernst Cassirer, Wilhelm Dilthey, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Karl Jaspers, Lebensphilosophie, limit situation. Edinburgh Dictionary of Continental Philosophy (Edinburgh University Press, 2005), ed. John Protevi. Published in North America as A Dictionary of Continental Philosophy (Yale University Press, 2006).
Hong Xiuquan, Huangbo Xiyun, Mengzi, and Zhuangzi. Holy People of the World: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia, ed. Phyllis Jestice (ABC-Clio, 2004).

Book Reviews

Deborah Cook, Adorno on Nature (Acumen, 2011). Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2012.02.23. http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/28839-adorno-on-nature/
Wei Zhang, What Is Enlightenment: Can China Answer Kant’s Question? (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2010). Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 38.4, December 2011, 666–669.
Wilhelm Dilthey: Selected Works, Volume II: Understanding the Human World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010). Human Studies, 34: 4, November 2011, 471-474.
Thomas Wheatland, The Frankfurt School in Exile (University of Minnesota Press, 2009). Journal of the History of Philosophy, 48:3, 2010, 408-409.
Thomas Heyd, Encountering Nature: Toward an Environmental Culture (Ashgate, 2007). Environmental Philosophy, Vol. 6:2, 2009, 93-96.
William Edelglass and Jay L. Garfield, Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings (Oxford University Press, 2009). H-Buddhism (October, 2009), http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=24737
Lin Ma, Heidegger on East-West Dialogue: Anticipating the Event (Routledge, 2008). Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2009.03.35, http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=15705
Samuel Moyn, Origins of the other: Emmanuel Levinas between revelation and ethics (Cornell , 2005). Studia Phaenomenologica, Vol. VI, 2006: 436-439.
Russell Kirkland, Taoism: The Enduring Tradition (Routledge, 2004). China Review International, Vol. 13:2, Fall 2006: 432-434.
Simon P. James, Zen Buddhism and Environmental Ethics (Ashgate, 2004). Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Vol. 12, 2005: 119-126.
Youru Wang, Linguistic Strategies in Daoist Zhuangzi and Chan Buddhism: The Other Way of Speaking (Routledge, 2003). Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 32:4, Dec 2005: 653-656.
Scott Cook (ed.), Hiding the World in the World: Uneven Discourses on the Zhuangzi (SUNY, 2003). Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 32:3, Sept 2005: 529–532.
Howard Caygill, Levinas and the Political (Routledge, 2002). Teaching Philosophy, Vol. 28:2, June 2005: 188-191.
Richard Detsch, Rilke’s Connections to Nietzsche (University Press of America, 2003). German Studies Review, Vol. 28: 2, May 2005: 418-419.
Two Recent Works on the Zen Koan: Steven Heine and Dale Wright (editors), The Koan: Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism (Oxford University Press, 2002); Steven Heine, Opening a Mountain: Koans of the Zen Masters (Oxford University Press, 2002). The Journal of Buddhist-Christian Studies, Vol. 24, 2004: 284-288.
Jan-Olav Henriksen, The Reconstruction of Religion: Lessing, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche (William B. Eerdmans, 2001). Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 72:1, March 2004: 258-260.
Wilhelm Dilthey, The Formation of the Historical World in the Human Sciences. Edited with introduction by Rudold A. Makkreel and Frithjof Rodi (Princeton University Press, 2002). Journal of the History of Philosophy, Vol. 42:1, Jan. 2004: 113-115.
Buddhism and War: Two Reviews; Brian Daizen Victoria, Zen War Stories (Routledge, 2003); Tessa J. Bartholomeusz, In Defense of Dharma: Just-War Ideology in Buddhist Sri Lanka (Routledge, 2002). Journal of Military Ethics, Vol. 2:3, 2003: 252-255.
Laozi, Dao De Jing: A Philosophical Translation. Translation, introduction, and commentary by Roger T. Ames and David L. Hall (Ballantine Books, 2003). Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, Vol. II:3, Winter 2003: 143-145.
Steven Galt Crowell, Husserl, Heidegger, and the Space of Meaning: Paths toward Transcendental Philosophy (Northwestern University Press, 2001). Philosophy in Review, Vol. XIII: 3, June 2003: 171-173.
Allan Hunt Badiner (ed.), Mindfulness in the Marketplace: Compassionate Responses to Consumerism (Parallax Press, 2002). Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Vol. 10, 2003: 66-70.
N. J. Girardot, James Miller, Liu Xiaogan (editors), Daoism and Ecology: Ways within a Cosmic Landscape (Harvard University Press, 2001). Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, Vol. II.2, Summer 2003: 342-345.
Matthias Jung, Dilthey zur Einführung (Junius Verlag, 1996). Neues Atheneum/New Atheneum, Vol. VI, 2001.
Kimberly Hutchings, Kant, Critique and Politics (Routledge 1996). Philosophischer Literaturanzeiger, Band 52, Heft 3, 1999.

Short Book Reviews

Paul S. Loeb, The Death of Nietzsche’s Zarathustra (Cambridge University Press, 2010). CHOICE, 48-3789, March 2011.
Philip J. Harold, Prophetic politics: Emmanuel Levinas and the sanctification of suffering (Ohio University, 2009). CHOICE, 47-6787, August 2010.
Philip J. Kain, Nietzsche and the Horror of Existence (Lexington, 2009). CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, 47-2487, Jan. 2010.
Diane Perpich, The Ethics of Emmanuel Levinas (Stanford, 2008). CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, 46-4960, May 2009.
Michael N. Forster, Kant and Skepticism (Princeton, 2008). CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, 45-6087, July 2008.
Simon Critchley, Infinitely Demanding: Ethics of Commitment, Politics of Resistance (Verso, 2007). CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, 45-4901, May 2008.
Brian Treanor, Aspects of Alterity: Levinas, Marcel, and the Contemporary Debate (Fordham University Press, 2006). CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, 45-0230, Sept. 2007.
Salomon Malka, Emmanuel Levinas: His Life and Legacy (Duquesne, 2006). CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, 44-3228, Feb. 2007.
Tom P.S. Angier, Either Kierkegaard/or Nietzsche: Moral Philosophy in a New Key (Ashgate, 2006). CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, 44-3221, Feb. 2007.
Samuel Moyn, Origins of the other: Emmanuel Levinas between revelation and ethics (Cornell, 2005). CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, 43-6454, July 2006.
James Mensch, Postfoundational Phenomenology: Husserlian Reflections on Presence and Embodiment (Penn State University Press, 2001). Bibliographie de la Philosophie, vol. 47, 2001.

Teaching (Since Fall 2003)

2005-Present: University of Massachusetts Lowell

Undergraduate Courses

45.203 Introduction to Philosophy (Fall 2010 x2; Spring 2009 x2)

45.203 Introduction to Ethics (Fall 2007, Fall 2006 x2, Fall 2005 x2)

45.206 Introduction to Political Philosophy (Spring 2010, Fall 2008, Spring 2007, Spring 2006)

45.371 Buddhist and Zen Philosophy (Spring 2012, Spring 2010, Fall 2008)

45.372 Chinese Philosophy (Fall 2010)

45.342 Critical Theory and Society (Spring 2012, Fall 2006)

45.348 Eastern Philosophy (Fall 2012, Summer 2011, Spring 2011, Summer 2009, Fall 2007, Spring 2006)

45.327 Environmental Philosophy (Fall 2011)

45.352 Existence and Anxiety: Existentialism (Fall 2011, Spring 2009, Spring 2007, Fall 2005)

45.336 Early Modern Philosophy: Descartes to Kant (Spring 2011, Spring 2007)

45.359 Nineteenth-Century Philosophy (Fall 2008)

45.323 Philosophy Classics: Nietzsche (Fall 2012, Spring 2010, Fall 2007)

45.491 Directed Studies: Heidegger’s Being and Time (Spring 2012, Spring 2006)

45.491 Directed Studies: Kant, Hegel, and the Question of Idealism (Summer 2008)

45.491 Directed Studies: Recent French Philosophy (Fall 2008)

45.491 Directed Studies: Hegel (Spring 2010)

45.491 Directed Studies: Classical Arabic Philosophy (Fall 2010)

45.491 Directed Studies: Nietzsche, Power, and Politics (Fall 2010)

45.491 Directed Studies: Philosophy and Originality: Rousseau, Nietzsche, and Derrida (Spring 2011)

45.491 Directed Studies: Medieval Christian Philosophy (Fall 2011)

45.491 Directed Studies: Bacon, Kant, and Enlightenment (Fall 2011)

45.491 Directed Studies: God and Evil (Fall 2011)

45.491 Directed Studies: Deep Ecology and Ecofeminism (Fall 2011)

45.491 Directed Studies: Deleuze (Spring 2012)

45.491 Directed Studies: Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (Spring 2012)

2005 (Summer Session): Ohio University in Hong Kong: Philosophy of Art

2003-2005: University of Toledo

Undergraduate Courses

Contemporary Moral Problems (PHIL 2400), including Honors sections

Existentialism (PHIL 3240 and PHIL 5990)

Eastern Thought (PHIL/ REL 3500), including DL (on-line) section

Zen Philosophy (PHIL/REL 3510 and PHIL 5920)

Philosophy of Religion (PHIL/ REL 3570)

Directed Readings: Jacques Derrida (PHIL 4920)

Directed Readings: Madhyamika Buddhism (Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti) (PHIL 4920)

Honors Independent Study: Philosophy of History (Dilthey, Nietzsche, Heidegger) (PHIL 4990)

Masters Courses

Phenomenology: Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty (PHIL 4250/5250)

Phenomenology: Heidegger and Levinas (PHIL 4250/5250)

Independent Study: Levinas, Totality and Infinity (PHIL 5990)

Awards and Service (Since 1999)

Awards, Fellowships, and Residencies

2012, December, Visiting Scholar at Beijing Normal University

2011, June: Visiting Scholar at the Chinese University of Hong Kong

2009, Fall Semester: Scholar in Residence in social ethics at the International Research Center for Social and Ethical Questions (University of Salzburg)

2009, June: Visiting Scholar, Dharma Drum Buddhist College 法鼓佛教學院 (Jinshan, Taiwan)

2008, Spring Semester: UMass Lowell Pre-tenure Research Sabbatical

2006-2007: UMass Lowell Philosophy Department Excellence in Teaching Award

1999-2000: DAAD Fellowship for dissertation research at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum

University Service

2010-Present UML Climate Change Initiative

2010-Present Academic Governance Committee

2008-2009, 2010-2011 Faculty Senate

2008-2009 Chancellor’s Medal Committee

2008-2009 Hardware/Software Committee

2008-2009 Teaching & Learning Council

Departmental Service

2006-2009, 2010-Present Departmental Library Liaison

2006-2007, 2007-2008 Faculty Search Committee

Academic Service

Ph.D. Examiner: University of Sydney (2007), University of New South Wales (2012)
MA Thesis and Examinations: University of Toledo (2003-2005), University of Tasmania (2004), Marlboro College (2010).
Independent / Directed Studies at BA, BA-Honors, and MA levels: Texas A&M University, University of Memphis, University of Toledo, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Pre-Publication Reviewer / Referee

Referee for the publishers: Acumen, Blackwell, Broadview, Continuum, Duquesne University Press, Fordham University Press, Northwestern University Press, Ohio University Press, Oxford University Press, Routledge, SUNY Press, University of Toronto Press.

Referee for the journals:

Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, Environmental Philosophy, Epoché: A Journal for the History of Philosophy, Journal of Chinese Philosophy, Philosophy East West, Sophia: International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysical Theology and Ethics, The Southern Journal of Philosophy.

Organizational Activities

Editorial Board, Journal of Chinese Philosophy (Sept. 2011-)
AAR Organizational Liaison for the International Society for Chinese Philosophy (2010-).
Convener of Third New England Seminar in Continental Philosophy at UMass Lowell (October 27, 2007).
Conference organizer with Benjamin Pryor. Philosophy Research Seminar on Ethics, Politics, and Continental Philosophy at the University of Toledo (April 2-3, 2004).
Conference organizer with Kristen Brown and Bettina Bergo. Trauma: Reflections on Experience and its Other at Millsaps College (April 4-5, 2003).
Conference organizer with Valentine Moulard. Thinking with/against Life at the University of Memphis (April 19-20, 2002).
Secretary and APA Central Division Sessions-Organizer for the Society for the Philosophy of History (2002-2006).
Conference organizer with Ian Oakes. Thinking with & against Heidegger at Emory University (May 6, 2001).
Conference organizer with Antje Kapust, Kent Still. Addressing Levinas. Emory University (October 15-17, 1999)
Conference organizer with Peter Trawny. 1st, 3rd, and 4th Aussprache zu Martin Heidegger. Bergische-Universität-Wuppertal (June 12-13, 1999; June 3-5, 2004; June 1-3, 2006).

Lectures (Accepted and Invited)

Helmuth Plessner und Marjorie Grene: Kulturelle Tiere und die Selbstüberwindung des Naturalismus. Conference Lecture, Helmuth Plessner Gesellschaft: Philosophische Anthropologie zwischen Soziologie und Geschichtsphilosophie. Polnische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Warsaw (June 7-9 2012)
Nietzsche, Naturalism, and the Vitality of Life. Invited Lecture, Goethe Institut Krakow (June 6, 2012)
Resentment and Ressentiment: Nietzsche, Lu Xun, and the Analects. Invited Conference Lecture, International Symposium on Four Books, Renmin University (April 28-29, 2012)
Intercultural Hermeneutics and World-Formation: Dilthey, Misch, Heidegger. Invited Panel Lecture, ISCP, Pacific APA, Seattle (April 4-7, 2012)
Recognition, Resentment, and Alterity in the Analects of Confucius. Conference Lecture, SACP, Central APA, Chicago (February 15-18, 2012)
Semblance, Reality, and Generativity: Reflections on Chinese and Western Thought. Invited Conference Lecture (delivered by colleague), Appearance, Reality and Beyond, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland (Dec. 7-9, 2011)
Faktizität bei Dilthey und Heidegger. Invited Conference Lecture, Die Aktualität der Philosophie von Dilthey. University of Wrocław, Poland (Oct. 18-21, 2011)
Nature and History: Naturalism and Anti-Naturalism in Dilthey. Invited Conference Lecture, Anthropology and History: International Dilthey Conference, Accademia di studi italo-tedeschi, Merano, Italy (Sept. 27-Sept. 30, 2011)
Ordinary Purposes: Occupations, Roles, and Confucian Ethics. Invited Lecture, IFZ, University of Salzburg (Sept. 23, 2011)
Emptiness, Ethics, and Nature in Chan Buddhism. Conference Lecture, International Association of Buddhist Studies, Dharma Drum College, Jinshan, Taiwan (June 20-25, 2011)
The World-Picture and its Conflict: Dilthey and Intercultural Hermeneutics. Invited Conference Lecture, The Sino-American Symposium on World Philosophy and Chinese Philosophy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (June 3-5, 2011)
Kant, Nature, and the Feeling of Life. Invited Lecture, Shenzhen University, China (June 1, 2011)
The Yijing and the Hermeneutics and Ethics of Nature. Conference Lecture, SACP conference, University of Hawaii (May 25-28, 2011)
Asymmetry and Equality in Levinas and Confucian Ethics. Conference Lecture, Tenth East-West Philosophers’ Conference, University of Hawaii (May 16-24, 2011)
Heidegger and the Ethics of Interpretation. Invited Conference Lecture, The 29th North Texas Heidegger Symposium, Dallas (April 29-30, 2011)
Asymmetry, Recognition, and Resentment in the Analects. Text Seminar, Kennesaw State University (April 19, 2011)
The Yijing as Divination, Hermeneutics, and Ethics. Invited Lecture, Kennesaw State University (April 19, 2011)
Leibniz and the Yijing: Philosophy, Intercultural Interpretation, and the Hermeneutics of Nature. Invited Conference Lecture, 13th I-Ching World Conference. Wuxi, Jiangsu (June 14-18, 2010)
Does Early Daoism Forget the Human? Zhuangzi, Naturalism, and Ethics. Invited Conference Lecture, Daoist Ways of Thought, First Daoist Salon, Zhengzhou, China (March 21-27, 2010)
How Inhuman is the Dao? Reconsidering Humanity and Nature in Early Daoism. Conference Lecture, SACP Panel, Central APA, Chicago (Feb. 18, 2010)
Ethical Dimensions of Kant’s Critique of Judgment and the Zhuangzi. Conference Lecture, ISCP Panel, Eastern APA, New York (Dec. 27-30, 2009)
Tolerance, Power, and Difference. Invited Conference Lecture, Tolerance in Europe: Definition, Reality, Limits, University of Salzburg (Nov. 25, 2009)
Dilthey, Carnap, and Heidegger: The Feeling of Life, the Scientific Worldview, and the Overcoming of Metaphysics. Invited Lecture, Werkstatt Philosophie, Technische Universität Dresden (Nov. 10, 2009)
Interpreting Life: Naturalism and Lebensphilosophie in Nietzsche. Invited Lecture, Colloquium, Technische Universität Dresden (Nov. 9, 2009)
Who is the other to me? Levinas, Asymmetrical Ethics, and Social-Political Equality. Invited Lecture, International Research Center for Social and Ethical Questions, University of Salzburg (Sept. 24); Invited Lecture and Text-Workshop, University of Vienna (Nov. 2 and 3, 2009)
Dilthey, Carnap, and Heidegger: The Feeling of Life, the Scientific Worldview, and the Overcoming of Metaphysics. Conference Lecture, Positivismus, Macht, Aufklärung Conference, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna (Sept. 17-18, 2009)
Nietzsche, Naturalism, and the Hermeneutics of Nature. Conference Lecture, 17th International Conference of the Friedrich Nietzsche Society, Nietzsche on Mind and Nature, St. Peter’s College, Oxford (Sept. 11-13, 2009)
Aesthetics, Nature, and Modernity in Adorno and Habermas. Conference Lecture, Aesthetics and Modernity from Schiller to Marcuse, University of London (Sept. 10-11, 2009)
Reconsidering Humanity and Nature in the Zhuangzi / 對《莊子》之人性與自然的再認識. Conference Lecture, Fifth International Daoist Studies Conference, Wudangshan (June 18-22, 2009)
Buddhist Emptiness and Western Philosophy. Invited Lecture, Dharma Drum Buddhist College 法鼓佛教學院 , Jinshan, Taiwan (June 9, 2009)
Power, Religion, and Suffering in Nietzsche. Invited Lecture, Shenzhen University 深圳大学 (May 26, 2009)
The Human, the Natural, and the Sublime in Kant and the Zhuangzi. Conference Lecture, Kant in Asia: The Unity of Human Personhood, Hong Kong (May 20-23, 2009)
Habermas, Adorno, and the Aesthetics of Nature. Conference Lecture, American Society for Aesthetics. Annual Meeting, Northampton, MA (Nov. 5-8, 2008)
Suffering History in Nietzsche and Adorno. Conference Lecture, 47th Annual SPEP Conference, Duquesne University (October 16-18, 2008)
Levinas, Asymmetrical Ethics, and Global Justice. Conference Lecture, American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Boston, MA (August 28-31, 2008)
Virtues and Encounters: Zen Buddhism, Ethics, and the Environment. Conference Lecture, International Association of Buddhist Studies, Emory University (June 23-28, 2008)
Consuming Desires: Zen Buddhism and Environmental Ethics. Invited Lecture, Humanities Salon Series, UMass Lowell (February 6, 2008)
Perplexing Words: Language and the Ineffable in Heidegger and Chan Buddhism. Conference Lecture, Heidegger und die Religion. Fourth International Conference of the Heidegger Research Group, Meßkirch (June 4-7, 2008)
Perplexing Words: Language and the Unsayable in Heidegger and Chan Buddhism. Conference Lecture, Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy. Central APA, Chicago (April 17-20, 2008)
Can Nature be Reified? Animals, Environments, and the Frankfurt School. Conference Lecture, Beyond Reification: Critical Theory and the Challenge of Praxis, John Cabot University, Rome (May 21-23, 2008)
Nature, History, and Ethics in Adorno and Levinas. Invited Lecture, Philosophy Colloquium Series, Duquesne University (April 4, 2008)
Consuming Desire: Zen, Consumerism, and Environmental Ethics. Conference Lecture, International Association for Environmental Philosophy Eleventh Annual Meeting, Chicago (November 10-12, 2007)
Interpreting Practice: Epistemology, Hermeneutics, and Historical Life in Dilthey. Conference Lecture, Society for Phenomenology and the Human Sciences Annual Conference, Chicago (Nov. 8-10, 2007)
Heidegger and the Language of Factical Life. Conference Lecture, 46th Annual Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy Conference, Chicago (November 8-10, 2007)
Violence, Trauma and Religious Culture in Nietzsche’s Genealogies. Conference Lecture, Nietzsche - Philosoph der Kultur(en)? Internationale Konferenz der Friedrich Nietzsche Gesellschaft, Naumburg (August 23-26, 2007)
Priestly Power and Damaged Life in Nietzsche and Adorno. Conference Lecture, 16th International Conference of the Friedrich Nietzsche Society: Nietzsche, Power & Politics. University of Leiden (March 23-25, 2007)
Ethics and Religion in Kierkegaard and Levinas. Conference Lecture, Second New England Seminar in Continental Philosophy at Boston College (April 21, 2007)
Ethics and Religion in Kierkegaard and Levinas. Conference Lecture, Despite Oneself: Subjectivity and its Secret in Kierkegaard and Levinas, University of Copenhagen (Feb. 8-10, 2007)
Zen Buddhism, Ethics, and the Environment. Conference Lecture, International Society for Buddhist Philosophy, APA Eastern Meeting. Washington D.C. (Dec. 27-30, 2006)
Environmentalism, the Frankfurt School, and the Domination of Nature. Conference Lecture, Northeastern Political Science Association 2006 Annual Meeting. Boston (Nov. 9-11, 2006)
Nature, Domination, and the Dialectic of Enlightenment. Conference Lecture, International Association for Environmental Philosophy, Philadelphia (Oct. 14-16, 2006)
Leibniz, China, and the Hermeneutics of Cross-Cultural Understanding. Conference Lecture, VIIIth International Leibniz Congress: Unity in Plurality. University of Hannover (July 24-29, 2006)
Being without Desire and Doing as One Pleases in the Zhuangzi. Conference Lecture, Society of Asian and Comparative Philosophy Annual Conference: Desire. Pacific Grove, CA (June 18-21, 2006)
Dilthey, Hermeneutics, and the Question of Aestheticism. Conference Lecture, International Association for Philosophy and Literature. Albert-Ludwigs-Universität-Freiburg (June 5-10, 2006)
Heidegger on Ontological and Ontic Difference. Conference Lecture, Fourth Aussprache zu Martin Heidegger Conference. Bergische-Universität-Wuppertal (June 1-3, 2006)
History and Poesis. Conference Lecture, Heidegger und die Dichtung: Third International Conference of the Heidegger Research Group. Meßkirch (May 24-28, 2006)
Confrontation and Responsiveness: Heidegger and the Ethics of Individuation. Conference Lecture, 40th North American Heidegger Conference. Boston University (May 5-7, 2006)
Heidegger, Ethics, and Individuation. First New England Seminar for Continental Philosophy at Hampshire College, MA (April 8, 2006)
Does the Zhuangzi have an Ethics? Conference Lecture, Society of Asian and Comparative Philosophy. American Philosophical Association Central Division. Chicago (April 26-29, 2006)
Virtue and Violence in Theravāda Buddhist Ethics. Conference Lecture, New England Association for Asian Studies Conference. Bentley College, Waltham, MA (Nov. 5–6, 2005)
Questioning Karma: Buddhism and the Phenomenology of Ethical Life. Conference Lecture, Journal of Buddhist Ethics on-line Conference on “Revisioning Karma” (Oct. 17-22, 2005)
Responding with the Dao: Early Daoism and Contemporary Environmental Ethics / “道”的回应：早期道家与当代环境伦理. Conference Lecture, International Symposium on Environment and Society in Chinese History, Nankai University / 南开大学. Tianjin (August 17-19, 2005)
Heidegger and the Ethics of Finitude. Invited Lecture, Shenzhen University / 深圳大学 (July 21, 2005)
Religion, Ritual and Ethical Responsiveness in Levinas and Mencius. Conference Lecture, American Academy of Religion Eastern International Meeting. McGill University, Montreal (May 6-7, 2005)
Doubting with the Dao: Reconsidering Skepticism and Mysticism in the Zhuangzi. Conference Lecture, SACP, American Philosophical Association Central Division, Chicago (April 27-30, 2005)
Does the doctrine of skillful means justify too much? The justice and injustice of war in Sri Lankan Buddhism. Conference Lecture, Association for Asian Studies. Chicago (March 31-April 3, 2005)
Knowledge and its Limits in Eastern and Western Thought. Invited Lecture, Ramapo College, NJ (Feb. 14, 2005)
Between Earth and Sky: Heidegger, Daoism and Environmental Philosophy. Invited Lecture, Colby College, ME (Feb. 7, 2005)
Difficult Alterity: Death, Individuation, and the Social in Heidegger. Invited Lecture, Catholic University of America (Feb. 1, 2005); Invited Lecture, San Diego State University (Jan. 28, 2005)
Logik, Formale Anzeige und die Frage nach der Faktizität. Conference Lecture, Third Aussprache zu Heidegger Conference. Bergische-Universität-Wuppertal (June 3-5, 2004)
Traumatic Life: History, Genealogy, and Violence in Nietzsche and Heidegger. Conference Lecture, Heidegger und Nietzsche: Second International Conference of the Heidegger Research Group. Meßkirch (May 26-29, 2004)
Difficult Alterity: Death, Individuation, and the Social in Heidegger. Conference Lecture, Thirty-eighth Annual North American Heidegger Conference. New Orleans, LA (May 21-23, 2004)
Moral Responsiveness in Levinas and Mengzi (Mencius). Conference Lecture, International Society for Chinese Philosophy. Central APA. Chicago (April 22-25, 2004).
Spiritual Practices in Interfaith Dialogue. Invited Lecture, World Religions and their Spiritual Practices: Second Annual Interfaith Conference. University of Toledo (April 18, 2004)
Reason and Interpretation: Leibniz, Wolff, and China. Conference Lecture, German Studies Association Conference. New Orleans (September 18-21, 2003)
Death and Individuation in Heidegger. Invited Lecture, Murray State University (April 16, 2003)
Thinking through Trauma and Violence in Nietzsche and Heidegger. Conference Lecture, Trauma: Reflections on Experience and its Other. Millsaps College (April 4-5, 2003)
Nature as Spontaneity and Responsiveness: Antirealism and Naturalism in Zhuangzi. Conference Lecture, ISCP, Eastern APA. Washington DC (Dec. 27-30, 2003)
Schleiermacher’s “Romanticism”: On the Singular, the Whole, and the Unconditional. Conference Lecture, American Academy of Religion. Atlanta (November 22-25, 2003)
The Ecological Significance of Nature in Heidegger and Daoism. Conference Lecture, International Association for Environmental Philosophy Seventh Annual Meeting. Boston (Nov. 8-10, 2003)
Empiricism and Lebensphilosophie: Reading Dilthey after Deleuze. Conference Lecture, 42nd Annual SPEP Conference. Boston (November 6-8, 2003)
Religion and the Religious Image in India. Invited Lecture, Toledo Museum of Art (October 25, 2003)
Nature and Ecology in Heidegger and Daoism / 道教和海德格尔的自然与生态比较. Conference Lecture, Daoism and the Contemporary World. Boston University (June 5-7, 2003)
History and Decision in Heidegger. Conference Lecture, Society for the Philosophy of History at the Central APA. Cleveland (April 23-26, 2003)
Interpretation, the Life-World, and Social Criticism in Habermas. Conference Lecture, Society for Phenomenology and the Human Sciences Conference. Loyola University, Chicago (Oct. 10-13, 2002)
Historical Life as the “Between” in Dilthey. Conference Lecture, 26th IAPL Conference. Erasmus University of Rotterdam (June 3-8, 2002)
Violence, Pain, and Heidegger’s Thinking of History. Conference Lecture, Second Aussprache zu Heidegger. Bergische-Universität-Wuppertal (May 31-June 2, 2002)
Die formale Anzeige der Faktizität und die Frage der Logik. Conference Lecture, Heidegger und die Logik: First International Conference of the Heidegger Research Group. Freiburg (May 27-29, 2002)
Dilthey and Heidegger on Hermeneutics and Factical Life. Conference Lecture, Thinking with/against Life. University of Memphis (April 19-20, 2002)
Singularity and Difference in Heidegger’s Being and Time. Invited Lecture, Louisiana State University Philosophy Department Colloquium Series (April 12, 2002)
Habermas and the Dialectic of Enlightenment. Conference Lecture, Mid-South Philosophy Conference. University of Memphis (Feb. 22-23, 2002)
Rethinking History after Dilthey. Conference Lecture, Society for the Philosophy of History Meeting at the Eastern APA. Atlanta (December 27-30, 2001)
Rethinking Being-with and Individuation in Heidegger after Levinas. Conference Lecture, Tennessee Philosophical Association. Vanderbilt University (November 3, 2001)
Violence, Trauma, History: Heidegger’s Introduction to Metaphysics. Conference Lecture, 40th SPEP Conference. Goucher College (October 4-6, 2001)
Formal Indication and the Facticity of Life. Conference Lecture, Thinking with & against Heidegger. Emory University (May 6, 2001)
When does Hermeneutics begin? Conference Lecture, 25th IAPL. Spelman College (May 2-5, 2001)
Heidegger and the Question of Facticity. Conference Lecture, North Texas Philosophical Association Conference. Dallas (April 21, 2001)
Heidegger on Deciding between History and Non-History. Conference Lecture, Interpreting the Beiträge. University of North Texas at Denton (April 18-20, 2001)
Questioning Practice: Heidegger, Historicity and Facticity. Invited Lecture, University of Memphis Philosophy Department Colloquium Series (April 16, 2001)
Heidegger and the Question of Facticity. Conference Lecture, Mid-South Philosophy Conference, University of Memphis (Feb. 23-24, 2001)
Habermas on Interpretive Understanding and Social Criticism. Invited Lecture, Texas A & M Philosophy Department Colloquium Series (Jan. 25, 2001)
Facticity and Event: Heidegger and the Question of History. Conference Lecture, Society for the Philosophy of History. Eastern APA. New York (Dec. 29, 2000)
Faith and Knowledge: Karl Jaspers on Communication and the Encompassing. Conference Lecture, North American Jaspers Society Meeting. Eastern APA. New York (December 28, 2000)
Heidegger, Historicity and the Hermeneutics of Facticity. Conference Lecture, 39th SPEP Conference. Pennsylvania State University (October 5-7, 2000)
Communication and the Ineffable: Schleiermacher and the Limits of Hermeneutics. Conference Lecture, Schleiermacher as Philosopher and Philosophical Theologian. Drew University (April 6-9, 2000)
Kant and the Art of Political Prudence. Conference Lecture, Ninth International Kant Congress. Humboldt-Universität-Berlin (March 26-31, 2000)
Aestheticization of Consciousness or Letting Art Speak to Philosophy? A Reconsideration of Dilthey’s “Aestheticism.” Conference Lecture, German Studies Association, Atlanta (Oct. 7-10, 1999)
Heidegger and the Facticity of Life. Conference Lecture, Collegium Phaenomenologicum. Citta di Castello (July 10-30, 1999)
Faktizität, Unergründlichkeit und Widerstreit bei Dilthey. Invited Lecture, Dilthey-Forschungsstelle, Ruhr-Universität-Bochum (June 30, 1999)
Dasein und sein Anderes. Aussprache zu Heidegger. Conference Lecture, Bergische-Universität-Wuppertal (June 12-13, 1999)
Heidegger und die Vereinzelung des Mitseins. Conference Lecture, Doctoral student conference. Humboldt-Universität-Berlin (March 11-13, 1999)
Die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Anderen: Von Heideggers Konzeption des Mitseins zur Agonistik der Differenzierung. Conference Lecture, The Other. University of Münster (Feb. 26-28, 1999)
Die Frage nach der Begründbarkeit der Geisteswissenschaften und der Unbegründbarkeit des Lebens bei Wilhelm Dilthey. Invited Lecture, University of Dortmund (Feb. 22, 1999)