Jarrad Felgenhauer, PhD

Biography

I am an Instructor of Philosophy at Seattle University, where I just began my first year in the fall of 2022. I earned my PhD from the University of Kentucky in 2022. My areas of specialization are 19th and 20th century Continental Philosophy, especially German Idealism and Poststructuralism. I also have interests in Metaphysics (broadly construed) Critical Social Theory, and the History of Philosophy. My current lies at the intersection of metaphysics and history where I explore and try to answer some of the following questions. How is it that history ‘happens,’ so to speak? Does it unfold in a narrative manner? Or is history marked by points of legitimate ontological disruption, such that we can talk about entirely new ways of being coming into existence? What kind of metaphysics must we articulate to account for ruptures or breaks in historical continuity such as social revolutions or violent fractures in nature such as ecological crises? I teach courses in the core curriculum where my aim is to work with students to show how a rigorous study of philosophy can have a meaningful impact in their lives by better helping them understand themselves, the communities in which we live, and the problems we face as a society.