Stephen Kellert
Stephen Kellert, a philosopher of science, is a native of Florida and has taught in the philosophy department at Hamline since the mid-1990's. He earned his BA in Physics and Philosophy from Yale University and his MA and PhD from Northwestern. His principal teaching activities are focused in the areas of epistemology, logic, the history of Modern philosophy, and the philosophy of science. The University of Chicago Press has published two of his books, In the Wake of Chaos: Unpredictable Order in Dynamical Systems and Borrowed Knowledge: Chaos Theory and the Challenge of Learning Across Disciplines.
Courses taught by professor Kellert are organized as opportunities for students to read and discuss philosophical texts (logic classes, of course, are an exception). Students will typically sit in a circle and work together to figure out what the author is saying and whether they agree. The goal is to foster students' abilities to work together, analyze arguments, and develop and defend their own positions on important issues.
"I sometimes get a little intense during class. I can't help it...it actually matters a lot to me that students learn how to figure out for themselves what they think and express their own ideas clearly."
-Stephen Kellert
