David Calhoun

Professor Calhoun’s teaching and research focus on topics in ancient Greek philosophy, human nature, the epistemology of belief and conversion, existentialism, Christianity and science, and Christianity and popular culture. In ancient philosophy, particular interests include Socratic method, Aristotelian virtue ethics, friendship, and Aristotle’s theory of human nature. Regular teaching of Gonzaga’s Philosophy of Human Nature core course fostered has fostered interest in particular problems such as human and animal cognition, which in turn led to exploration of the historical and conceptual relationships between philosophy, Christianity, and natural science, and the implications of the Darwinian revolution in natural science for traditional concepts of human nature. Much of his recent scholarship has been in philosophy and film, especially themes of religious faith and secularism in popular film. Calhoun recently taught consecutive seminars on Kierkegaard at the graduate and undergraduate level, and capitalized on COVID shutdowns by organizing a series of virtual reading groups on key Kierkegaardian texts.