John Vielkind, Chair
Harris Hall 417
(304) 696-4640
vielkind@marshall.edu

Ph.D., Duquesne University (Philosophy). Professor of philosophy and chair of the philosophy department. He has areas of specialization in the history of philosophy, especially Ancient Philosophy and Continental Philosophy. His research interests include the Platonic Dialogues and the texts of Nietzsche, Kant, and Heidegger. 

Jeremy Barris
Harris Hall 404
(304) 696-2704
barris@marshall.edu

B.A., Rhodes University (English and Psychology); B.A.(Hons.), University of Cape Town (Psychology); M.A., University of Cape Town (Psychology); M.A., Duquesne University (Psychology); Ph.D., State University of New York at Stony Brook (Philosophy). Professor of philosophy. He is mainly interested in the nature of thinking and dialogue. By their "nature" he means the most basic truth of what they are. Thinking and dialogue are our means of seeking the truth of anything, and he is therefore also interested in the nature of truth itself. Truth includes the truth of ourselves and others, and here he is most especially interested in the nature of justice. In more traditional language, he is interested in the connection between rhetoric (the styles in which we say and think things), metaphysics (the most basic nature of things, including the nature of persons and of the relations between persons), and epistemology (the philosophical study of knowledge). In ways related to these fascinations, he is also strongly interested in the philosophy of sexual orientation and gender. He is currently working on a "logic of different logics" (the sense of different ways of making sense), and on the types of insight given in dreams and in humour. His favourite philosophers are Wittgenstein, Plato, Kant, Spinoza, Derrida, and Lyotard, and he has also specialised in Marx, Freud, and Freudians. He is advisor for The Philosophy Club.

Jeffrey Powell
Harris Hall 410
(304) 696-2705
powell@marshall.edu

A.B., Ohio University (psychology); M.A., Duquesne University (psychology); M.A., Loyola University of Chicago (philosophy); Ph.D., Depaul University (philosophy). Associate professor of philosophy. His areas of expertise are metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, and 19th and 20th century continental philosophy. His current research concerns language in the thought of Heidegger, and the relation between philosophy and madness. He is currently editing a book on the latter interest, as well as writing a book on the same issue. His interest in this topic can also be somewhat generalized to include the relation between philosophy and literature, and philosophy and feminism. He is a member of the American Philosophical Association, the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, and the North American Heidegger Circle. He organized the May 2000 meeting of the North American Heidegger Circle at Marshall.

Staff

Lynn Mayfield
Harris Hall 415
(304) 696-6749
mayfield@marshall.edu

Lynn Mayfield is Administrative Secretary Senior for the departments of philosophy, classics and religious studies. In her leisure time she enjoys working in her gardens, reading, stamp collecting, needlework and outings with her grandchildren. She and her husband, John, are the parents of a daughter, Nichole, and grandparents of Allison and Andrew.