Philosophy

Nicholas Smith

James F. Miller Professor of Humanities and Professor of Philosophy

J.R. Howard Hall

“My goal in every class I teach is to try to infect my students with the same fascination and passion for philosophy and the classics that I have always felt for them. Teaching, for me, is an attempt to share my love for these subjects.”

I am the James F. Miller Professor of Humanities. Prior to 1999, I taught at Virginia Tech, the University of Hong Kong, and Michigan State University. I received my BA (High Honors) from the University of Rochester in 1971, and my Ph.D. from Stanford in 1975. I am author, co-author, editor or co-editor of over 15 books, includingPlato’s Socrates (with T. C. Brickhouse), which won the “Outstanding Academic Book for 1994” award from Choice. I am also the author of more than 80 journal, encyclopedia, or dictionary articles, reviews, and translations, including three of the translations of works by Plato and Pseudo-Plato that appear in the new Plato: Complete Works from Hackett. In 1985, I won the American Philological Association Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Classics.

During my free time, I like to hike, travel, cook (and eat!), and read fiction.

Specialty

Ancient Greek philosophy and literature, Aristophanic comedy, ethics

Teaching

Fall 2016 Courses

PHIL 102 Introduction to Philosophy

Introduction to problems and fields of philosophy through the study of major philosophers’ works and other philosophical texts. Specific content varies with instructor.

PHIL 311 Epistemology

Naturalistic, evolutionary, and social epistemology; moral epistemology; religious epistemology; theories of truth, of explanation, of experience and perception; relationships between theory and observation.

Professional Experience

Professor Smith is the James F. Miller Professor of Humanities. Prior to 1999, he taught at Virginia Tech, the University of Hong Kong, and Michigan State University. He received his BA (High Honors) from the University of Rochester in 1971, and his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1975. In 1985, Smith won the American Philological Association Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Classics.

Research

He is author, co-author, editor or co-editor of over 15 books, including Plato’s Socrates (with T. C. Brickhouse), which won the “Outstanding Academic Book for 1994” award from Choice. He is also the author of more than 80 journal, encyclopedia, or dictionary articles, reviews, and translations, including three of the translations of works by Plato and Pseudo-Plato that appear in the new Plato: Complete Works from Hackett.