Robert Koons

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Robert Koons is a professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas (UT). Koons has advocated for academic freedom and courses on Western civilization.

Educational activities

Koons has been involved in debates over issues of academic freedom[1] and has advocated for college exit exams as he believes the measures used currently don't measure how well students learn.[2] He led an effort at UT to create a concentration in Western Civilization and American Institutions.[3] The goal of the program was to promote the study of the "Great Books" of the Western tradition, especially the American founding. Koons stated that the program transcended political differences.[4]

Koons is a national Senator of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, as well as a member of the executive committee of the Society for Christian Philosophy.

Contemporary Metaphysics

Koons is co-editor, with George Bealer, of The Waning of Materialism: New Essays in the Philosophy of Mind (Oxford University Press, 2010), a collection of articles by leading analytic philosophers critical of physicalism and materialism. He is engaged in contributing to contemporary metaphysics and the philosophy of religion, including a forthcoming textbooks, The Fundamentals of Metaphysics, under contract with Blackwell-Wiley (with co-author Timothy Pickavance).

References

  1. ↑ Liscano, M (2001-10-16). "U. Texas faculty concerned with potential stifling of opinion". The Daily Texan. 
  2. ↑ Nolen, J (2000-09-01). "Two U. Texas profs seek college exit exams". The Daily Texan. 
  3. ↑ Ludwig, M (2007-09-19). "Colleges failing in civics". San Antonio Express-News (My San Antonio). Retrieved 2010-08-29. 
  4. ↑ Cohen, P (2008-09-21). "Conservatives Try New Tack on Campuses". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-08-29. 
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