Current Students | Philosophy | SIU

B.A. - Georgia Southern University
M.A. - Reformed Theological Seminary

My central area of research is in 20th century French thought; especially the philosophies of Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida, and Jean-Luc Nancy. I'm interested in developing a theory of political subjectivity, drawing upon the insights of these thinkers. 

I have additional research interests in Critical Theory (esp. Adorno) and Marxist theory.

B.A. - Loras College
M.A. - Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Carlos L. Garrido is a Cuban American PhD student and instructor in philosophy at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (with an M.A. in philosophy from the same institution). His research focuses include Marxism, Hegel, early 19th century American socialism, and socialism with Chinese characteristics. He is an editor in Midwestern Marx Institute for Marxist Theory and Political Analysis and in the Journal of American Socialist Studies. His popular writings have appeared in dozens of socialist magazines in various languages. As a political analyst with a focus on Latin America (esp. Cuba), he has appeared in dozens of radio and video interviews around the world. He also edited and introduced Marxism and the Dialectical Materialist Worldview: An Anthology of Classical Marxist Texts on Dialectical Materialism (Midwestern Marx Publishing Press, 2022).

B.S. - Northern Illinois University (2014)
M.A. - Southern Illinois University Carbondale (2018)

My current interest is in an overhaul of Scheler's Phenomenological Attitude, insofar as it can better describe Scheler's fundamental insight that the human person is an emotional being (ens amans). In our modern civilization, we often withdraw from our emotive core, and so, I am exploring how Scheler's phenomenological attitude (more phenomenologically understood) can facilitate a return back to ourselves as emotive persons. This investigation is done through the lens of how bliss and horror relate (or fail to relate) to one another in the modern person.

Area of Specialization:

• Schelerian Phenomenology

Areas of Competence:

• Early modern philosophy
• Kant
• Early 20th century phenomenology
• American pragmatism
• Ancient Chinese philosophy
• Philosophy of Mind
• Philosophy of Time.

B.A. - California State University Northridge
M.A. - Queen Mary University of London

Dissertation title: “This is your brain on deliberative democracy: A Feminist Pragmatist Non-Ideal Theory”

Sunny is passionate about both teaching and research, endeavoring to persistently improve her pedagogy through continuing education and to present regular scholarship at conferences. Her philosophical and academic interests include: social and political philosophy, ethics, feminism, philosophy of race, Latin studies, individualism, metaphysics, pragmatism, ecology, sociology, neuroscience, and education.

Sunny’s most beloved philosopher is Friedrich Nietzsche, but you’ll also find her talking often of Mary Parker Follett, John Dewey, Gloria Anzaldua, and Audre Lorde. In her personal time, Sunny is a devoted cat mom to two Maine Coon mix furbabies, an aerial athlete, a vegan, a travel addict, and a singer/songwriter.

B.A. - University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse
M.A. - The New School for Social Research

My work focuses on continental philosophy, philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and social and political philosophy. More specifically, I am interested in the relationship between subjective and intersubjective reality, especially the influence of culture, context, imagination, and narrativity on ideology and identity. I utilize a multidisciplinary approach that draws on the interrelations between history, psychology, biology, and sociology in constituting personal and social reality.

B.A. - Philosophy and Media Studies, Pitzer College
M.A. - Philosophy, University of Copenhagen

Dissertation Title: "Renewing Scheler's Call for Religious Renewal: The Educational Path to God
as Response to the Crisis of the Capitalist Spirit"

Areas of Specialization:

• Continental Philosophy (esp. Phenomenology and Critical Theory)
• Philosophy of Religion
• Ethics (Aesthetics, Axiology, and Virtue)
• Social Philosophy and Personalism

Areas of Competence:

• Comparative Religion
• Ancient Philosophy
• Kant
• American Philosophy
• Post- and De-Colonial Philosophy

Abiding Interests: Theology, Biblical Studies, Judaic Studies, Patristics, Radical Orthodoxy, Philosophy of Economics, Critiques of Capitalism, and Philosophy of Education.

B.A. - Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, Dnipro, Ukraine
M.A. - Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, Dnipro, Ukraine
M.A. - Southern Illinois University Carbondale (Fulbright Graduate Student Program)

Areas of Interest:

• Philosophy

  • Pragmatism
  • Metaphilosophy
  • Philosophy of mind
  • Cognitive science: 4E approach to cognition
  • Habit
  • Human nature
  • Phenomenology

• Psychology

  • Social psychology
  • Evolutionary psychology

List of Publications:

• https://philpeople.org/profiles/andrii-leonov
• https://siucarbondale.academia.edu/AndriiLeonov

B.A. - Southern Illinois University Carbondale
M.A. - Southern Illinois University Carbondale

My interests in Philosophy currently include Ancient Philosophy, the History of Philosophy (especially the History of the Philosophy of Science, Math, and Medicine), Philosophy of Science, Environmental Philosophy (especially Environmental Ethics), Philosophy of Economics (especially related to sustainability), Metaphysics, Asian Philosophy, and Pragmatism. I plan to practice philosophy, grow as a person, and exchange Philosophic ideas with other curious souls.

B.A. - Huntington University
M.A. - Loyola Marymount University

I primarily focus on philosophy of race and critical whiteness studies in philosophy from a Foucaultian perspective. I am interested in applying Foucaultian methodological approaches to problems and situations outside of his work. I also have research interests in Kant and his relationship to white epistemological structures, Plato, Hellenistic philosophers, and Marxism.

Dissertation: "The Appropriateness of The Nicomachean Ethics as a Model for a Contemporary Ethic of Individual Flourishing"

Areas of Specialization:

• Aristotle
• Ethics
• Plato

Areas of Competence:

• Kant
• Epistemology
• Political Philosophy
• Existentialism
• Critical Race Theory

Areas of Interest:

• Metaphysics
• History of Early Modern Philosophy (Especially Malebranche and Spinoza)
• Skepticism
• Theory of Mind
• Philosophy of Time
• Phenomenology
• Marxist political thought

I am interested in exploring the limits of human reason and how these limits can intersect with religious faith.

B.A. - Ekiti State University Nigeria
M.A. student - Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Oni Yetunde is a Master's student in Philosophy at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Her research centers on feminist philosophy, moral philosophy, and social and political philosophy. Her interest in feminist philosophy is influenced by her society in Western Africa where women encounter many challenges and discrimination based on gender. She believes education should be the first point of consciousness in society. Her research would seek to provide solutions and possible ways to ameliorate gender discrimination through the interesting questions that can be asked when a society is well-educated.

Nan is a Ph.D candidate at Beijing Normal University, China, the author of nearly 20 published papers and conference papers, working on her doctoral dissertation The Absent Leading Role: Dewey in Chinese Educational Debate (1921-1945), and the Chinese translation of the masterpiece The Dewey Experiment in China: Educational Reform and Political Power in the Early Republic (Barry Keenan, 1977).