David H. Calhoun

Professional Data

I'm an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Gonzaga University, where I have taught since fall 1989. My undergraduate work was done at Louisiana State University, and I received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. My dissertation, "Self-Love and Friendship in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics," was written under the supervision of the late Plato scholar and translator Reginald E. Allen.

Before teaching at Gonzaga, I taught part-time Northwestern (in the Seminar program and in the night school at both the Evanston and downtown Chicago campuses), at Barat College in Lake Forest, Illinois (now closed), and at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. While teaching at Gonzaga University I have taught in the abroad program in Florence, Italy three times (Fall 2001, 2006, and 2009).

My teaching and research interests are ancient philosophy (particularly Socratic method, the ethics of friendship, and Aristotle's philosophy), existentialism (Kierkegaard and Nietzsche), philosophy of human nature (especially the implications of Darwinism for human nature), Christianity and science, and Christianity and popular culture / film. I'm currently working on projects on topics in Plato's dialogues, the philosophy of biology, friendship and moral education, Christianity and science, and the films of Terrence Malick.

Curriculum Vitae

Dissertation Abstract

Information about my courses