Department of Philosophy
Students and faculty members having a discussion while standing in a circle
faculty & staff

 

Get to know your faculty and staff.

 

  • Faculty

  • Andrew Hunter
    chair
    office JOR426      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 6160
    ahunter@ryerson.ca
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    Education BA (Carleton); MA, PhD (Toronto)

    Research Interests Philosophy of literature, film and culture; History of analytical philosophy; Metaphysics; Philosophy of mind and embodiment; Philosophy of language

  • John Caruana
    Associate Professor
    office JOR-424      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 7414
    jcaruana@ryerson.ca
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    Education BA (McGill); MA; PhD (York University)

    Research Interests Contemporary European Philosophy; Philosophy of Film; Philosophy of Religion; Existentialism; Social and Political Thought

  • David Checkland
    Associate Professor
    office JOR-408      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 6164
    dcheckla@ryerson.ca
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    Education 1991 Ph.D (Philosophy) University of Toronto. [Dissertation: Wittgenstein and Davidson: Meaning and Agreement]; 1981 M.A. (Philosophy) University of Alberta [Thesis: Grammar and Religious Discourse]; 1978 B.A. (Philosophy/History) University of Alberta

    Research Interests Personal Autonomy/Decision-Making Capacity/Mental Competence; Philosophy of language (especially Speech-Act Theory, Metaphor and the pragmatics/semantics distinction); Media and non-linguistic "messages"; Philosophy of religion

  • David Ciavatta
    Associate Professor
    office JOR-420      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 2698
    david.ciavatta@ryerson.ca
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    Education B.A. Hon. (Toronto, 1994); Ph.D. (Penn State, 2003)

    Research Interests  Kant and 19th Century Continental Philosophy; Existentialism and Phenomenology; Philosophy of Art.

    Recent or Representative Publications

    Spirit, the Family, and the Unconscious in Hegel's Philosophy (SUNY Press, 2009)

  • Jim Dianda
    Professor, Continuing Education Co-ordinator
    office JOR-412      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 7185
    jdianda@ryerson.ca
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    Education BSc, MA, (Toledo); PhD (McMaster)

    Research Interests Early modern philosophy; Epistemology and the philosophy of science

  • David Hunter
    Associate Professor, Graduate Program Director
    office JOR-432      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 2697
    david.hunter@ryerson.ca | www.philosophy.ryerson.ca/dhunter/
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    Education BA (McGill, Montreal); PhD (MIT)

    Research Interests Early modern philosophy; History of analytical philosophy; Metaphysics; Epistemology and the philosophy of science; Philosophy of mind and embodiment; Philosophy of language; Agency and autonomy

  • Jo Kornegay
    Associate Professor
    office JOR-430      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 6161
    kornegay@ryerson.ca
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    Education MA, PhD (Toronto)

    Research Interests Normative ethics; Ancient Philosophy

  • Klaas Kraay
    Associate Professor
    office JOR-416      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 6165
    kraay@ryerson.ca | www.ryerson.ca/~kraay/
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    Education B.A. (Toronto, 1997); Ph.D. (Toronto, 2002)

    Research Interests Early modern philosophy; Metaphysics; Epistemology; Philosophy of religion

  • Kym Maclaren
    Associate Professor
    office JOR-418      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 2700
    kym.maclaren@ryerson.ca
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    Education BA (Toronto); MA, PhD (Pennsylvania State)

    Research Interests Phenomenology; Existentialism; 20th century French philosophy (especially Merleau-Ponty); Philosophy of Mind and Embodiment; Philosophical Psychology; Social Philosophy

    Recent or Representative Publications

    “Emotional Clichés and Authentic Passions: A Phenomenological Revision of a Cognitive Theory of Emotion.” Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, Volume 10, No. 1 (2011): 45-65.

    “Emotional Metamorphoses: The Role of Others in Becoming-Oneself”, in Embodiment and Agency: New Essays in Feminist Philosophy, edited by Susan Sherwin, Letitia Meynell, and Sue Campbell. Pennsylvania State University Press, (2009): 1-45.

    “Embodied Perceptions of Others as a Condition of Selfhood? Empirical and Phenomenological Considerations.” Journal of Consciousness Studies Vol. 15, No. 8 (2008): 63-93.

    “The Role of Emotion in an Existential Education: Insights from Hegel and Plato.” International Philosophical Quarterly Vol.48 (2008).

    “Emotional Disorder and the Mind-Body Problem:  A Case Study of Alexithymia.”  Chiasmi International: Trilingual Studies Concerning Merleau-Ponty’s Thought 8 (2007).

    “Merleau-Ponty’s Embodied Ethics: Rethinking Traditional Ethics.”  In Existentialist Thinkers and Ethics, edited by Christine Daigle.  McGill-Queen’s University Press (2006): 142-166.

    “Life is Inherently Expressive:  A Merleau-Pontian Response to Darwin’s The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals.”  Chiasmi International:  Trilingual Studies Concerning Merleau-Ponty’s Thought 7 (2005): 241-261.

  • Robert Murray
    Associate Professor
    office JOR-422      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 6568
    rdmurray@ryerson.ca
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    Education BA (University of Manitoba); MA (University of Manitoba); PhD (University of Toronto)

    Research Interests At the undergraduate level, I remain something of a generalist and have enjoyed teaching many of the undergraduate philosophy courses at Ryerson.  At the graduate level, I specialize in moral theory and social and political philosophy, including the philosophy of race and Aboriginal rights.  My current research project concerns the metaphysics, moral psychology, and moral identity of Kantian-Rawlsian moral agency.

    Recent or Representative Publications

    (forthcoming) "Liberalism, Aboriginal Rights, and the Canadian Moral Identity" forthcoming in Philosophy and Aboriginal Rights: Critical Dialogues, Lorraine Mayer and Sandra Tomsons (eds.), New York: Oxford University Press

    (2001) "Philosophy and Interracial Dialogue," The Philosophical Forum, XXXII:  107-124.

    (1999) "Liberalism, Culture, and Aboriginal Rights:  In Defence of Kymlicka," Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 29:  109-138.

    (1998) Review of Divided by Color:  Racial Politics and Democratic Ideals, Donald R. Kinder and Lynn M. Sanders, Philosophy in Review, XVIII.

    (1995) "Is Davidson's Theory of Action Consistent?" Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 25:  317-334.

  • Glen Parsons
    Associate Professor
    office JOR-414      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 4202
    g2parson@ryerson.ca | www.ryerson.ca/~g2parson/
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    Education BSc Hon. Biology (Acadia), 1994; BA Hon. English (Acadia), 1997; MSc Biochemistry; (University of Alberta), 1997 PhD Philosophy, (University of Alberta), 2001

    Research Interests Aesthetics; Metaphysics; Epistemology and the philosophy of science

  • David Rondel
    Limited-Term Faculty
    office JOR-436      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 4059
    drondel@ryerson.ca | www.davidrondel.com/
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    Education PhD (McMaster University)

    Research Interests Normative ethics; Social and political philosophy; American Pragmatism

  • Meredith Schwartz
    Assistant Professor
    office JOR-434      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 2251
    meredith.schwartz@ryerson.ca
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    Education B.A. (Hon.), University of Toronto; M.A., Dalhousie University [Thesis: “Relational Responsibility and Health Care: To Punish or Protect”]; Ph.D., Dalhousie University. [Dissertation: “Respect and Health Care Ethics: Respect, Social Power, and Health

    Research Interests Ethics, Health Care Ethics, Feminist Philosophies, Public Health Ethics.

  • Elizabeth Trott
    Professor
    office JOR-410      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 6163
    etrott@ryerson.ca
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    Education B.A., M.A. (Toronto); Ph.D. (Waterloo); B.Ed, OSSTC (Toronto)

    Research Interests Social and political philosophy; Human rights, race, and multiculturalism; Aesthetics; Philosophy of literature, film and culture; Kant, Hegel and the 19th century; Metaphysics

    Recent or Representative Publications

    (2009) "John Watson and the Foundations and Applications of Moral Philosophy," The Moral, Social and Political Philosophy of The British Idealists, ed., William Sweet, Imprint Academic, pp. 269-288

    (2007) "Saving the Wilderness: When Beauty is Not Enough," Maritain Studies, Vol. XXIII, pp. 53-63

    (2007) "Bosanquet, Aesthetics and Education: Warding Off Stupidity with Art," Bernard Bosanquet and the Legacy of British Idealism, ed. William Sweet, University of Toronto Press, pp. 118-126

    (2006) "Democratic Paradoxes: Thomas Hill Green on Democracy and Education," Paideusis, Vol. 15, No. 2. pp 61-78

  • Alex Wellington
    Associate Professor
    office JOR-428      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 4057
    awelling@ryerson.ca | www.ryerson.ca/~awelling/
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    Education H.B.A., M.E.S., L.L.B., L.L.M., Ph.D.

    Research Interests Human rights, race, and multiculturalism; Health care ethics, policy and law



  • Sessional Instructors

  • Paul Bali
    Sessional Instructor
    office JOR-407      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 6162
    pbali@ryerson.ca
  • Kathleen Carlin
    Sessional Instructor
    office JOR-411      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 4058
    kcarlin@ryerson.ca
  • Mark Clamen
    Sessional Instructor
    office JOR-415     
    mark.clamen@ryerson.ca
  • James Cunningham
    Sessional Instructor
    office JOR-407      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 6117
    j2cunnin@ryerson.ca
  • Thomas Hart
    Sessional Instructor
    office JOR-415   
    thomas.hart@ryerson.ca
  • Gary Toop
    Sessional Instructor
    office JOR-411      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 4058
    gtoop@ryerson.ca


  • Staff

  • Malu Maia
    Department Administrator
    office JOR-401      phone 416-979-5000 ext. 2711
    malumaia@arts.ryerson.ca