Associate Professor of Philosophy
Director of The McDevitt Center
B.A., The University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D., Harvard University
Steven Affeldt's research explores intersections of ethics, social/political philosophy, and aesthetics. Drawing on a wide range of figures—including Plato, Augustine, Rousseau, Kant, Emerson, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Freud, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein—he works to show how philosophy and philosophical texts may be redemptive: possessed of the power to inspire, inform, and effect liberating transformations of both individuals and societies. He has published highly influential articles on Rousseau, Wittgenstein, and Stanley Cavell and is Director of The McDevitt Center at Le Moyne. He enjoys teaching in virtually any area of philosophy and at all levels.
Recent publications
- “The Normativity of the Natural.” In Varieties of Skepticism: Essays after Kant, Wittgenstein, and Cavell, edited by James Conant and Andrea Kern, De Gruyter Publishing, 2014, pp. 309-359.
- “Being Lost and Finding Home: Philosophy, Confession, Recollection, and Conversion
in Augustine’s Confessions and Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations." In Wittgenstein Reading, edited by Sascha Bru, Wolfgang Huemer, Daniel Steuer. De Gruyter Publishing, 2013, pp. 5-22.
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