Faculty Profiles

Theodore W Schick

Emeritus Faculty
Philosophy

[email protected]

Education

  • Ph.D., philosophy, Brown University
  • B.A., philosophy, Harvard University

Teaching Interests

My teaching interests include topics related to the nature of reality (metaphysics), the nature of knowledge (epistemology) and the nature of value (ethics).

Research, Scholarship or Creative/Artistic Interests

My research has focused on: (1) what kinds of things exist? Is the world composed solely of material objects or are there immaterial objects like souls, spirits, God? (2) how we acquire knowledge. Is sense experience the only source of knowledge or are there other sources of knowledge such as e.s.p. or intuition? (3) the source of value. Are there universal values that apply equally to everyone or are all values relative?

    This professor is not teaching courses this semester.
  • Lindbach Award for Distinguished Teaching
  • Freshman Advisor of the Year
  • Hoffman Research Fellowship
  • Doing Philosophy: An Introduction through Thought Experiments, 5th edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013; SmartBook version, (2014).
  • How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age, 7th edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013; SmartBook version 2014; Translated into Japanese, (2011); Translated into Chinese, (2014).
  • Readings in the Philosophy of Science: From Positivism to Postmodernism, Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company, (2000).
  • Cannabis and the Good Life: Needs, Capabilities, and Human Flourishing, in Cannabis: Philosophy for Everyone, ed. By Dale Jacquette, London: Blackwell, (2010).
  • With Flames from the Dragon of Darkness: Magick, Music and Liberation, in Led Zeppelin and Philosophy, ed. by Scott Calef, Chicago: Open Court, (2009).
  • The ‘Big Bang’ Argument for the Existence of God, reprinted in: An Introduction to Philosophy: Knowledge, God, Mind, and Morality, David Ohreen, Thomson-Nelson, (2009) and in The Improbability of God, ed. by Michael Martin and Ricki Monnier, Buffalo: Prometheus, (2006) and in God, ed. by Timothy  Robinson, Indianapolis: Hackett, (2003).
  • Life, Death, and Immortality, Star Trek and Philosophy, ed. by Jason Eberl and Kevin Decker, Chicago: Open Court, (2007).
  • Beer and Gnosis: The Mead of Inspiration, Beer and Philosophy, ed. by Stephen Hales, London: Blackwell, (2006).
  • God and the Big Bang, Science, Religion, and Society: History, Cultures, and Controversies, ed. by Arri Eisen and Gary Laderman, Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, (2005).
  • Choice, Purpose, and Understanding, More Matrix and Philosophy, ed. By William Irwin, Chicago: Open Court, (2005).
  • The Limits of Personal Experience, in Philosophy: Paradox and Discovery, ed. by Thomas A. Shipka, Boston, McGraw-Hill, (2004).
  • A Humanist Ethics: Inference to the Best Action, in Towards a New Political Humanism, ed. by Barry Seidman and Neil Murphy, Buffalo: Prometheus, (2004). 
  • Can Science Prove That God Does Not Exist? in Philosophy and Contemporary Issues, ed. by Burr and Goldinger, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall, (2004).
  • Cracks of Doom:  The Threat of Emerging Technologies and Tolkien’s Rings of Power, in The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy, ed. by  Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson, Chicago: Open Court, (2003).
  • “Do Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence?" in The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience, ed. by Michael Shermer and Pat Linse, ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, CA, (2002).
  • Fate, Foreknowledge, and Freedom,The Matrix and Philosophy, ed. By William Irwin, Chicago: Open Court, (2002).
  • Is Doing Nothing Something?, Seinfeld and Philosophy, ed. by William Irwin, Chicago: Open Court, (2000).

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