Jan Thomas
Office: Stabler Hall, Room 307
Phone: 501-569-3313
Email: jlthomas@ualr.edu
Introduction
I began teaching at UALR in 1994 when I was the only full-time philosopher in the department. Fortunately, I received a good deal of support from colleagues in other departments and the administration. We now have 6 full-time faculty and 15 part-time faculty. Due to the dedication of these talented faculty members, the department currently has over 75 Philosophy majors, nearly 400 Liberal Arts majors, 100 minors in Religious Studies and Philosophy, and 30 graduate students in Liberal Studies. It’s been an exciting and rewarding time. I am eager to see what happens next.
Teaching Interests
My teaching interests are quite varied. When I first came to UALR, I taught Medieval Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, and Medical Ethics. Since then, Philosophy of Science, Epistemology, Critical Thinking, and Introduction to Philosophy have become the courses I typically teach. However, due to my current research interests (and my interest in creative writing, which was my undergraduate degree), I have also taught both Philosophy of Film and Philosophy of Fiction. My favorite part of teaching is exploring the overlooked complexity of the things we take to be simple, and the underlying simplicity of the things we take to be hopelessly obscure.
Research Interests
Like my teaching, my research interests are also quite varied. My dissertation was on free will, but I have also done some work in ethics, the coherence of interdisciplinarity, and the role of fiction in moral discourse.
- In Defense of Santa Clause
- The Gravity of Moral Fiction
- Getting the Right Analogy
- Interdisciplinarity
- Euthyphro’s Other Choice
- What We Can Say About What We Can Do
Education
Ph.D. Philosophy
University of Arizona, Tucson
M.A. Philosophy
University of Arizona, Tucson
B.A. Creative Writing
University of Colorado, Boulder