Katheryn Doran

Katheryn Doran, associate professor of philosophy, studies and teaches courses on American philosophy, environmental ethics, and philosophy and film. She joined the faculty in 1990 after earning her bachelor’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh and her master’s and doctorate at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Doran is co-editor of Critical Thinking: An Introduction to the Basic Skills and a frequent contributor to academic journals, including having served as guest editor of a special issue of the American Philosophical Association’s newsletter that addressed teaching philosophy in nontraditional settings. In 2018, she was awarded Hamilton’s Samuel and Helen Lang Prize for Excellence in Teaching, and in 2023, she hosted the Philosophy of Film Without Theory conference, which featured speakers from the U.S., Australia, Chile, Croatia, and the U.K. As director of the Hamilton Oneida Prison Education faculty group, Doran has run a philosophy book group at Marcy Correctional Facility for many years.

Recent Courses Taught

Advanced

• American Philosophy
• Topics in the Theory of Knowledge
• Contemporary Philosophy (20th Century Anglo-American)
• Senior Seminar

Intermediate

• Philosophy and Film
• Critical Reasoning
• Environmental Ethics
• Freaks (interdisciplinary sophomore seminar co-taught with Jinnie Garrett, biology)
• Contemporary Moral Issues
• Symbolic Logic
• History of Modern Philosophy

Introductory

• Critical Thinking
• Introduction to Philosophy  
• Science and Pseudo-Science
• College 100: The Unity of Knowledge

Research Interests

Critical Thinking

• Environmental ethics
  Epistemology (skepticism, and realism and anti-realism)
• G. E. Moore and early analytic

Selected Publications and Projects

• Blog on my philosophy book group at a local medium security prison for men
  http://debeauvoirintheyard.org
• Guest editor, American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Teaching Philosophy, forthcoming, December, 2015.
• Critical Thinking An Introduction to the Basic Skills, sixth edition, editor, 2011.
• “Building Better People: Three Arguments against Germline Genetic Engineering,” delivered at Evil X conference in Salzburg, Austria, April 2009. Published in conference E-book: 2010.
• “Stroud and the Significance of Skepticism,” Southwest Philosophy Review, January, 1996.
  “Moore's Paradox, Asserting and Skepticism,” Southwest Philosophy Review, January, 1995.
• “Putnam's Realism and Relativity:  An Uneasy Balance,” co-authored with William Throop, Erkenntnis, 34, 1991.

College Service

• Member, Search Committee for the President, 2015
• Member, Speaking Advisory Committee, 2014-present
• Member, Levitt Center Council, 2013-present
• Chair, Faculty Committee on Admission and Financial Aid, S2013
• Acting chair, Department of Philosophy, S2013
• Member First Year Experience Committee, 2011-12
• Chair, Faculty Committee on Admission and Financial Aid, 2011-13
• Member, Kirkland Endowment Advisory Committee, 2011-12
• Member, Student Fellowships Committee, 2011-12
• Member, Dean of the Faculty Search Committee, 2011-12
• Chair, Kirkland Endowment Advisory Committee, 2010
• Member, Faculty Committee on Admission and Financial Aid, 2010
• Member, Student Fellowships Committee, 2010
• Fall director, Hamilton in New York City program, F2008
• Co-lead environmental studies field trip to Tasmania, 2007
• Member, Alumni Council, 2007-10
• On-site assessor for Mellon Faculty Development Grant, 2007-08
• Chair, Department of Philosophy, 1996-2008
• Member, Dean of the Faculty Search Committee, elected, 2005-06
• Member, Environmental Studies Committee, 2003-11
• Member, Kirkland Project Review Committee, 2005
• Member, Search Committee for F.I.L.M. Position, 2005
• Member, Search Committee for Christian Johnson Professorship, 2005
• Member, Committee on Academic Standing, 2003-05
• Chair, Search Committee for Dean of Admission, 2003-04
• Chair, Appeals Committee, Board of Seven, 2003
• Chair, Department of Philosophy, 1995-2003
• Member, Committee on Academic Standing, 2003-05
• Member, Mellon Committee on Faculty Development, 2003-04
• Member, Kirkland Project Steering Committee, 2003
• Member, Search Committee for Health Professions Advisor, 2001
• Chair and Organizer, Kirkland Project Panel Discussions at Reunions and Fallcoming  (six panels), 1997-2001

Professional Affiliations

Member, American Philosophical Association Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy
Vice Chair of the board, Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson
Philosophy book group leader, Marcy Correctional Facility
American Philosophical Association
Society for Women in Philosophy
Volunteer, Humane Society of Rome

Appointed to the Faculty

1990

Educational Background

Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
M.A., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
B.A., University of Pittsburgh