Assistant Professor of Philosophy Douglass Reed
For assistant professor Douglass Reed 鈥�04, philosophy goes beyond reading Plato鈥檚 Symposium or discussing Socratic virtue in a classroom. Instead, Reed sees philosophy as something that can be, and often is, done every day. And that鈥檚 how he teaches it. 鈥淚 think we, as humans, are always kind of doing philosophy,鈥� he says. 鈥淧hilosophy comes down to asking human questions, explaining our own answers to those questions, and listening to and scrutinizing other people鈥檚 answers to those same questions.鈥�
For Reed, philosophy is about being curious and questioning long-held鈥攐r even short-held鈥攂eliefs and asking the question: Why?
Reed teaches a variety of courses, one of which, Philosophy 110G: Love and Sex (PHL110G), aims to make the field relevant to students by linking it to two very relatable human experiences. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not always clear to students how philosophy relates to their lives. You hear all these great names, these great thinkers, and you might think, 鈥榃hy should I care about that?鈥欌�� Reed says. 鈥淎 lot of times, students will be able to see the connections to their own experiences, and this class draws on their own personal experiences, which is really cool.鈥�
Olivia Belitsos 鈥�23, a double major in psychology and criminology and criminal justice with a minor in gender and women’s studies, took PHL110G-Honors with Reed as a first-year student and wound up tacking on philosophy as a third major because she enjoyed the way Reed taught it.
鈥淚t was really engaging,鈥� Belitsos says. 鈥淐oming into college, topics like love and sex are a part of everybody鈥檚 lives, so it was really relevant. It鈥檚 unique material and the way he approached it was thoughtful and captivating.鈥�
In the course, Reed encourages students to pose questions like, 鈥淒oes love at first sight exist?鈥� and 鈥淲hat (if anything) is the value of marriage?鈥� and then grapple with either side of the argument. 鈥淭he answers to these questions are not straightforward, uncontestable,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hese kinds of questions are part of our everyday lives, and I hope that philosophy can help us think about them, and other questions, in a more self-conscious way.鈥�
Belitsos says Reed is succeeding in this goal. 鈥淚nstead of just teaching us about philosophy, he helps us engage in it,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 would 100 percent encourage students to take a class with Professor Reed, because he is a phenomenal teacher, and he takes philosophy from being an unapproachable topic to something that everyone can do.鈥� 鈥�
鈥擥race Kelly