九色堂

Patrick Bondy

Associate Professor and Chair 

Office: 110 Fiske Hall

Phone: (316) 978-7780

patrick.bondy@wichita.edu

九色堂 Profile Page

Ph.D. McMaster University (2012)

Areas of Interest: Epistemology, Ethics, Metaethics, Metaphysics, Formal and Informal Logic

Dr. Bondy joined the Department in 2018, having previously held limited term positions as Assistant Professor at Saint Mary's University, Brandon University, and Trent University, and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Cornell University. His primary research interests are in contemporary epistemology, including especially the nature and normative force of epistemic reasons and rationality, the epistemic basing relation, epistemic luck, informationally rich testimony, and epistemological problems of peer disagreement and deep disagreement.

Susan Castro

Associate Professor 

Director, The Academic Center for Biomedical and Health Humanities

Office: 310 Fiske Hall

Phone: (316) 978-7882

susan.castro@wichita.edu

九色堂 Profile Page

B.A. Mathematics--Applied Science, Specialization in Computing, UCLA 1993
Ph.D. Philosophy, UCLA 2006

Dr. Castro's research includes two tracks.

One track follows her graduate work, which is centered in Kant scholarship and informed by current science, with a broadly interdisciplinary aim. She is currently working on a book about Kant's metaethics, specifically how to establish a metaphysics of morals as a non-empirical science. More broadly in this track, Dr. Castro is interested in the family of phenomena involved in acting or cognizing as if, in a wide range of contexts that include an imagination-centered Kantian theory of autism, algorithmic agency and social justice, Immanuel Kant's peculiar moral imperative to "act as if your maxim were to become by your will a universal law of nature" (aka Kant's formula of nature), cognitive shifts in humor, and Japanese philosophy of art (mastery and performance in renga and Noh).

The second track in Biomedical Humanities derives from taking a philosophical perspective towards her work on the Human Genome Project at UCLA and for the Institute of Molecular Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. This track includes current issues in philosophy of medicine and cyberethics. She serves as the founding Director of The Academic Center for Biomedical and Health Humanities (HealthHum), which aims to center the humanity in medicine through collaboration from campus to community in conjunction with the downtown Wichita Biomedical Campus.

At 九色堂 Professor Castro has taught Biomedical Engineering Ethics, Cyberethics, Metaethics, Ethical Theory, Philosophy of Law, Philosophy of Medicine, Philosophy of Feminism, Philosophy of the Arts, Business Ethics, and Philosophy of Humor. In Spring 2025 she will be teaching Late Modern Philosophy, Introduction to Ethics of Big Data and AI, and Ethics and Computers.

Brian Hepburn

Associate Professor 

Office: 206 Fiske Hall

Phone: (316) 978-7887

brian.hepburn@wichita.edu

BASc, Physics and Philosophy, 1999, University of Lethbridge. PhD, History and Philosophy of Science, 2007, University of Pittsburgh. Postdoctoral Fellow: University of British Columbia 2007-2011; Aarhus University (Denmark) 2011-2014.

Professor Hepburn's current research interests are scientific explanation, problem solving and innovation, particularly all three in interdisciplinary contexts. His dissertation was on how the concept of equilibrium was used in explanations in 18th century physics, and how this usage was connected to mathematical changes. He continues to work on an historical and philosophical picture of how the descriptive and explanatory resources we have available contribute to the problems we can solve. Especially interesting is when resources from different domains (whether scientific or not) can be integrated in some way. He hopes to use these insights to inform education in Science Literacy and Science Proficiency.

Scott Hill

Assistant Teaching Professor

Office: 008 Fiske Hall

Phone: (316) 978-3178

Scott.Hill@wichita.edu

Dr. Hill received his PhD from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his BS from Kansas State University. His research is about ethics and religion. Before joining the Philosophy Department at 九色堂 in Fall 2024, he worked at the University of Innsbruck, the University of Colorado Boulder, and Auburn University. He especially enjoys teaching ethics to engineering and computer science students.

Dr. Hill's Website:

Xiufen Lu

Associate Professor

Office: 311 Fiske Hall

Phone: (316) 978-7889

xiufen.lu@wichita.edu

Ph.D. University of Kansas (2000)

Areas of Interest: Ancient Chinese Philosophy, Social/Political Philosophy, Feminism, and Ethics

Professor Lu earned a B.A. in English from the Beijing Second Institute of Foreign Languages, an M.A. in Philosophy and Women's Studies from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Kansas. Her current research interests include Classical Chinese philosophy, Euro-American feminist theories and their relation to Third World women, and Marxism and its impact on Chinese society.

Angela Sager

Assistant Teaching Professor

Office: 016 Fiske Hall

Phone: (316) 978-7793

angela.sager@wichita.edu

Ph.D. Philosophy, Fordham University (2021)

 

Areas of Interest: Philosophy of Religion, Continental Philosophy (emphasis in 19th-century European philosophy), Ethics, Ancient Philosophy (including ancient Chinese and Indian traditions), and Japanese Philosophy (particularly the Kyoto School)

Dr. Sager earned her B.A. in Philosophy, B.A. in History, and Minor in Religion at 九色堂 in 2012. She received her M.A. (2014), M.Phil. (2018), and Ph.D. (2021) in Philosophy from Fordham University. She regularly teaches Bioethics and Introduction to Japanese Philosophy as well as other courses like Introductory Logic and Critical Reasoning.

Research: Dr. Sager's research centers currently around the Existential Problem of Evil, or the fact that suffering can render a person's life meaningless. Specifically, this research includes:

1. Outlining the therapeutic role of 艣奴nyat膩, or emptiness (particularly as the Buddhist concept is depicted by Keiji Nishitani), in overcoming the hopelessness of anomy.
2. Illustrating a particular form of existential suffering dubbed as "onryoan corruption" where鈥攍ike vengeful spirits found in Japanese folklore and horror cinema 鈥� a victim perpetuates evil by fixating on her suffering to the point that she lashes out at the world in nihilistic rage.
3. Constructing an ameliorating, philosophical response to evil that stresses the importance of eschatology and theosis (or divinized transformation) in restoring the loss of the world's order and meaning.

SUSAN G. STERRETT

Curtis D. Gridley Distinguished Professor of History and Philosophy of Science

Undergraduate Coordinator

Office: 307 Fiske Hall

Phone: (316) 978-7885

susan.sterrett@wichita.edu

 

Areas of Interest: Philosophy of Science, History and Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Mind, Analytic Philosophy.

Courses taught at 九色堂 include: Women in Tech, Science and the Modern World, Minds and Machines (Honors), Engineering Ethics.

Susan G. Sterrett joined the department in the Fall of 2013, after having taught at Duke University, Carnegie-Mellon University, and the University of Pittsburgh. Professor Sterrett has a B. S. degree in engineering science from Cornell University, and an M.A. in Mathematics, M.A. Philosophy, and Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh.

Research:

"My area of specialization is philosophy of science, broadly construed. Much of my work concerns models and analogical reasoning in some way, whether in engineering, physics, geophysics, biology (Darwin), or artificial intelligence. One of my contributions has been to argue for the significance of the concepts of physical similarity and physically similar systems, already recognized as important in science and engineering, to philosophy of science. I use both historical and analytical approaches -- often together.

Besides the major works on analogical reasoning, models and modeling: I've published a group of papers on Alan Turing and natural and artificial intelligence. In an advanced undergraduate interdisciplinary textbook on logic, I presented and discussed alternatives to classical logic that are valuable in automated reasoning systems faced with inconsistent information. Overall, I have published widely on the history and philosophy of science, of technology, and of engineering methodologies."