Christopher D. Black Curriculum Vitae

Department of , Texas A&M University, 4237 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4237 [email protected]

EDUCATION

PhD in Philosophy (In progress, expected completion May 2021), Texas A&M University Advisor and Dissertation Committee Chair: Dr. Theodore George Committee Members: Dr. Martin Peterson, Dr. Kristi Sweet, Dr. Shawna Ross Tentative Dissertation Title: “Beyond Mediation: Theorizing Technology as Self-Interpretive and Existentially Disclosive”

MA in English (Texas A&M University, 2019) Advisor: Dr. Shawna Ross Committee Members: Dr. Theodore George, Dr. Marian Eide Thesis Title: “The Existential Character of Theodore Roethke's Natural Imagery: Kierkegaard, Vitalism, and Generative Paradox”

Collegium Phaenomenologicum, Participant, 2017.

BA in Philosophy (Texas A&M University, 2015) University Honors Fellows Distinction & Philosophy Departmental Honors Cumulative GPA: 3.87, Philosophy Major GPA: 4.0

Kierkegaard Young Scholar, St. Olaf College, 2014. AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION Applied , Philosophy of Technology, Existentialism AREAS OF COMPETENCE Continental European Philosophy since Kant, Ethics, American Philosophy, Philosophy and Literature PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS (*=INVITED CONTRIBUTION) 1. “The Dialectic of Pedagogical Possibilities: Existential Orientations Towards Virtual Teaching,” in the volume Problematizing the Profession of Teaching from an Existential Perspective to be published April 2021 by Information Age Publishing, editor Aaron Samuel Zimmerman. (forthcoming)* 2. “Digital Duplicity and Self-Knowledge: Using Online Pseudonyms as a Form of Technological Maieutics,” in a special issue of Phenomenology and on “Digital Identities, Digital Ways of Living” (forthcoming) 3. “Choosing for Yourself How to Live in the Age of the Social Media Echo-Chamber,” published in the volume Kierkegaard and Issues in Contemporary Ethics in the Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook and Monograph Series. De Gruyter 2020, p. 107-124. Link to abstract here: https://www.degruyter.com/view/book/9783110707137/10.1515/9783110707137-007.xml

Publications in Preparation 1. “Technological Mediation and the Problem of Responsibility” 2. “The Ethical Significance of Online Recommender Systems” 3. “Teaching Ethics in Troubled Times: How the COVID Crisis Points Towards a Crisis in Educators’ Self-Understanding”

Blog Posts (*=Invited Contribution) 1. “A Bit of Fry and Laurie and the Is/Ought Problem.” Published April 2020 in the “Teaching and Learning Video Series” series of the blog of the APA. Link to blog post may be found here:* https://blog.apaonline.org/2020/04/30/a-bit-of-fry-laurie-and-the-is- ought-problem/

Book Reviews 1. eds. Wendland, Merwin, Hadjioannou, Heidegger on Technology (Routledge 2018). Sophia: International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions. Published online December 16th, 2019. Link here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11841-019-00751- x?wt_mc=Internal.Event.1.SEM.ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst&utm_source=ArticleAuthorContributing OnlineFirst&utm_medium=email&utm_content=AA_en_06082018&ArticleAuthorContributingOnli neFirst_20191217. Co-authored with Glen Miller. [1,000 words]

2. Matthias Fritsch, Taking Turns with the Earth: Phenomenology, Deconstruction, and Intergenerational Justice (Stanford University Press 2018), written for Phenomenological Reviews. Published online April 17, 2019. [5,000 words] Link here: http://reviews.ophen.org/2019/04/17/matthias-fritsch-taking-turns-with-the-earth/

Publications as Undergraduate 1. “The Disenchanted Life,” Explorations: The Texas A&M Undergraduate Journal, Vol. 6 (2014): 47- 52.

Presentations (*=Invited Presentation) 1. “The Philosophical and Ethical Dimensions of Theodore Roethke’s Poetry,” Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature Conference, Newberry Library, Chicago, IL, May 2021. (forthcoming)* 2. “Recommender Systems as a Mode of Technological Maieutics,” Philosophy of Human-Technology Relations Conference, Online (originally to be at the University of Twente, Netherlands), November 2020. 3. “Faking It While Making It: New Possibilities for Authentic Self-Examination in Social Networks,” Southeastern Association for the Continental Tradition, Tampa Bay, Florida, St. Leo University Tampa Education Center, February 2020. 4. “Kierkegaard’s Ethical Subject and Social Media Algorithms,” Society for Phenomenology and the Human Sciences, Pittsburgh, PA, Simon Silverman Phenomenology Center, Duquesne University, November 2019 5. “Choosing for Yourself How to Live in the Age of the Social Media Echo-Chamber: Some Kierkegaardian Reflections on Online Algorithms,” Texas A&M Department of Philosophy Colloquium Series, October 2019. (Invited.) 6. “Choosing for Yourself How to Live in the Age of the Social Media Echo-Chamber,” Kierkegaard and Issues in Contemporary Ethics Conference, ESC Clermont, Clermont-Ferrand, France, May 2019 7. “Traveling Plants: How the Traveling of the Plant World Effects our Experience of it,” The International Association for Environmental , State College, PA, October 2018. 8. “Dasein at the Graveyard: The (Neglected) Relationship Among Silence, Space, and Death- Disclosure in Heidegger,” Society for Phenomenology and the Human Sciences, Memphis, TN, October 2017. 9. “Heidegger’s Building, Dwelling, Thinking,” Study Group in , December 2016. (Invited.) 10. “The Human Instrument: Removing the Spirit,” Texas A&M Student Research Week, March 2015. (Invited.) 11. “The Uprooting: A Contemporary Account of the Ontological Force of Technicity,” Glasscock Center for Research, Texas A&M University, Summer Scholar Symposium, January 2014. (Invited.) 12. “Being Homogenized,” Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, Texas A&M University, Summer Scholar Presentations, August 2013. (Invited.)

HONORS AND AWARDS Murray and Celeste Fasken Distinguished Graduate Teaching Award, March 2019 ($300) Summer Research Support, Department of Philosophy, Texas A&M University, for participation in summer institute for faculty and advanced graduate students, July 2017. ($1,500). Graduate Student Research and Presentation Grant, George Bush Presidential Library Foundation, for participation in summer institute (see above), July 2017. ($750) Member, Phi Beta Kappa, 2015–present. Texas A&M College of Liberal Arts Summer Research Travel Grant, 2014. ($500) Texas A&M Department of Philosophy Summer Research Travel Grant, 2014. ($300) Glasscock Center for Humanities Research Undergraduate Summer Scholar Grant, 2013 ($2,000)

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Participant, Collegium Phaenomenologicum, selective, three-week summer institute for faculty and advanced graduate studies in continental philosophy. Theme, “Nature of Spaces: Spaces of Nature,” Città di Castello, Italy, July 2017.

Kierkegaard Young Scholar, The Howard and Edna Hong Kierkegaard Library, intensive four-week program in which advanced undergraduates conduct independent research at the Kierkegaard Library, while also meeting daily with Dr. Gordon Marino and other Kierkegaard scholars for text seminars and mentorship. St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, July 2014

Danish-Kierkegaard Course Participant, The Howard and Edna Hong Kierkegaard Library, four-week course in which participants study Danish for the purpose of improving understanding Kierkegaard’s writings. Course led by Kierkegaard scholar Sinead Ladegaard Knox. St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, July 2014 TEACHING EXPERIENCE SUMMARY

(More Detailed Teaching Experience Description Appears Beneath “Overall Summary”)

Engineering Ethics (ENGR 482) • Total classes taught as Instructor of Record: 9. Total students taught during this time: 738. • Total classes taught abroad in Greece: 3. Total students taught during this time: 138. • Total sections instructed as Teaching Assistant: 14 (13 in person; 1 virtual; 1 honors sections). Total students instructed as Teaching Assistant: 332. • Total students taught as either Instructor or Record or Teaching Assistant: 1,070. • Student responses to the statement “I believe this instructor was an effective teacher” averaged 4.81/5.00 with 1 meaning “Strongly Disagree” and 5 meaning “Strongly Agree”

Introduction to Philosophy (PHIL 251) • Total classes taught as Instructor of Record: 2. Total students taught during this time: 73.

Contemporary Moral Issues (PHIL 111) • Total classes taught as Instructor of Record: 1. Total students taught during this time: 25. • Was selected to teach this class as part of the A&M FOCUS program, which is a program designed to serve first-generation college students from underprivileged economic situations and underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in their first year of college.

General Summary: • Overall classes taught as Instructor of Record: 12. Overall students taught as Instructor of Record: 836 • Overall students instructed as Teaching Assistant: 332. • Overall students instructed in either capacity: 1,168. • Have taught 3 classes internationally. • Received the Murray and Celeste Fasken Distinguished Graduate Teaching Award in 2019 • Have taught for the Texas A&M FOCUS Program

Texas A&M, International Teaching Instructor of Record, PHIL/ENGR 482 Engineering Ethics, upper-level interdisciplinary course inclusive of international fieldtrips, Thessaloniki, Greece and Athens, Greece Wintermester, Dec. 26th 2018 to Jan. 12th 2019 • Efforts included instruction of 46 students, assistance in facilitation of academic field trips to historical and artistic opportunities across Greece, addressing in-country needs of enrolled students, Wintermester 2018-19. Instructor of Record, PHIL/ENGR 482 Engineering Ethics, upper-level interdisciplinary course inclusive of international fieldtrips, Thessaloniki, Greece and Athens, Greece, Maymester, May 13th to May 30th 2019 • Efforts included instruction of 46 students, assistance in facilitation of academic field trips to historical and artistic opportunities across Greece, addressing in-country needs of enrolled students, Maymester 2019. Instructor of Record, PHIL/ENGR 482 Engineering Ethics, upper-level interdisciplinary course inclusive of international fieldtrips, Thessaloniki, Greece and Athens, Greece, Wintermester, Dec. 26th 2019 to Jan. 11th 2020 • Efforts included instruction of 46 students, assistance in facilitation of academic field trips to historical and artistic opportunities across Greece, addressing in-country needs of enrolled students, Wintermester 2020.

Texas A&M, College Station Campus

Instructor of Record, PHIL 251 Introduction to Philosophy, introductory level philosophy course, Fall 2020 (2 classes). • Efforts included instruction of 73 students of all academic levels in an online-optional version of introduction to philosophy. Was required to simultaneously instruct students attending online and in person, while also developing course material, developing course curriculum, grading assignments, attending to student needs, and leading in-class discussions. Instructor of Record, PHIL 111 Contemporary Moral Issues, introductory level philosophy course. Summer 2019 (1 class). • Efforts included instruction of 25 students from TAMU’s FOCUS program, a program designed to serve first-generation college students from underprivileged economic situations and underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in their first year of college. Efforts included development of course material, development of course curriculum, grading of assignments, and leading of in-class discussions. Instructor of Record, PHIL/ENGR 482 Engineering Ethics, upper-level interdisciplinary course. Spring 2019 (3 classes). • Efforts include instruction of 300 students, coordination of TA recitation leaders, development of course syllabus and content, meeting with students regularly about student needs and content- related questions Instructor of Record, PHIL/ENGR 482 Engineering Ethics, upper-level interdisciplinary course. Fall 2018 (2 classes). • Efforts include instruction of 200 students, coordination of TA recitation leaders, development of course syllabus and content, meeting with students regularly about student needs and content- related questions Instructor of Record, PHIL/ENGR 482 Engineering Ethics, upper-level interdisciplinary course. Summer 2018 (1 class). • Efforts include instruction of 100 students, coordination of TA recitation leaders, development of course syllabus and content, meeting with students regularly about student needs and content- related questions Teaching Assistant, PHIL/ENGR 482 Engineering Ethics, upper-level interdisciplinary course. Summer 2020 (Volunteered to TA 1 recitation in an online format), Spring 2018 (3 recitation sections; 1 of which was an Honors section), Fall 2017 (3 recitation sections); Spring 2017 (2 recitation sections); Fall 2016 (1 recitation section); Spring 2016 (2 recitation sections); Fall 2015 (2 recitation sections) • Efforts include instruction of 25 students per recitation section (325 total) plus 7 students for the Honors section. (Total students instructed as teaching assistant: 332) Efforts include instruction of students in course material, development of supplemental syllabi, leading of student discussions, helping students develop writing skills, grading student papers and presentations. • Developed an enhanced curriculum for Honors section titled “Ethics in a Technological Age.” (Spring 2018) Enhanced curriculum included readings on the relationship between technology and the ethical life, the responsibilities technology creators have towards their creations, and the existential questions that technology give rise to. Students each completed an extensive final project. Texas A&M, Philosophy Club “Kierkegaard 101,” invited discussion leader, Texas A&M Philosophy Club, November 2018 “Kierkegaard’s Three Stages and the Inner Life,” invited discussion leader, Texas A&M Philosophy Club, April 2018. Guest Lecturing Guest lecturer for Alexander Crist’s Introduction to Philosophy class. Lecture Title: Sartre’s Existentialism: Existence Preceded Essence.” June 2020. Guest lecturer for Ryan K. Manley’s 17th Century Philosophy class. Lecture title: “Francis Bacon’s 1620 Novum Organon.” September 2019.

SERVICE (SELECTED) February 2020, Committee Member, Fasken Graduate Teaching Award Committee JULY 2019—present, English Language Editor, Phenomenological Reviews September 2016—August 2018, Student Convener, Study Group in Continental Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, Texas A&M University September 2016, Assistant Organizer, North American Society for Philosophical ’ annual conference Have served as article referee for: Epoché: A Journal for the History of Philosophy (2X), Kierkegaard Studies Monograph series (1X)

Last Updated December 6th, 2020