Dr. John Collins
Dr. John CollinsAssoc. Prof. of Philosophy
Philosophy Program Director
Office: Brewster A-335
252-328-6112
collinsjo@ecu.edu
I am the advisor for philosophy majors and the philosophy program director. Talk to me if you are interested in majoring or minoring in philosophy.
I have a PhD in philosophy from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and a BA in philosophy from Carleton College, in Northfield, MN.
I was hired by ECU in 2001. This is what I looked like then. →
My main research interests are in philosophy of mind and philosophy of language – particularly their intersection, theories of mental and semantic content – and more recently in philosophy of religion and philosophy of law. Here are links to my published papers and my curriculum vitae.
I teach courses in philosophy of religion, philosophy of law, ethics, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, modern philosophy, ancient philosophy, and philosophy of sport.
Here are a few philosophical questions I sometimes think about:
Is praying to God for an A on your exam academic dishonesty?
If a person were born blind but learned to distinguish a cube from a sphere by touch, and had his sight restored as an adult, would he be able to tell which is the cube and which the sphere by sight alone?
Lois Lane knows that Superman has x-ray vision. Does that mean that she also knows Clark Kent has x-ray vision?
Should one who succeeds in committing murder be punished more harshly than one who attempts murder but fails?
Are theists’ solutions to the problem of evil any better than the diabolists’ (who believe in an evil god) solutions to the problem of good?
Is there just one fact, and all true sentences describe it in different ways?
Is there any good reason to vote in large elections?
What makes a good life?