Keith Robinson
Office: Stabler 307
Telephone: 501-568-3313
Email: karobinson3@ualr.edu
Introduction
I first went to University with the expectation that I would study either literature or philosophy. I couldn’t decide between them. Later I realized that I didn’t have to choose because I could do what in the British university system was then called ‘joint honors’ (double major). What really got me interested in philosophy and literature was reading Camus and Sartre when I was 17 or so. Then I read Nietzsche, didn’t understand much of it, and thought that if I studied them in a department of philosophy I might make some progress. I still like to read Camus, Sartre and Nietzsche now but I’m not convinced I’ve got to the bottom of them, or even close. In any case they got me thinking about what I now recognize as philosophical thoughts.
Before I came to UALR I spent seven years as a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy at the University of South Dakota. Before that I worked for several years at universities in Michigan and I have also taught philosophy at universities in the UK and Europe. Originally from London I completed my PhD at the University of Warwick in the UK.
Teaching Interests
I have taught a lot of different courses in philosophy but one interest of mine has been to teach complicated material related to my research interests, but make it truly accessible to the ‘average’ undergraduate student. When I teach these classes one objective is to bring, with some effort and desire on the student’s part, these difficult but exciting ideas within their reach. Some of the classes I’ve taught with this in mind have included ‘Current French Thought’, ‘Nietzsche’s French Legacy’, ‘Great Philosophers: Nietzsche and Freud’, ‘Phenomenology and Existentialism’, ‘Darwin’s Dangerous Idea’ and ‘Contemporary Process Philosophy’. I also enjoy teaching ‘Introduction to Philosophy’ and ‘Introduction to Ethics’.
Research Interests
My research has been concerned primarily with three main areas: the European traditions of thought that emerge from Kant and post-Kantian philosophy, especially 19th and 20th century continental thinkers (Nietzsche, Foucault, Deleuze). Secondly, I have strong interests in modern process philosophy (James, Bergson, Whitehead). Finally, I am interested in the interconnections between these two areas. This last area of research has revolved around a critical exchange between phenomenology and perspectives drawn from poststructuralist and process thinkers and has centered principally on temporal themes, especially the concepts of ‘event’ and ‘process’, across a range of contexts and problems. I have published one book (with a second in preparation), two edited book collections, two edited journal special issues and some 20 published articles and chapters in books along with several invited conference presentations.