KELLY E. ARENSON - University of Memphis

CONTACT
KELLY E. ARENSON
Department of Philosophy Email: karenson@memphis.edu
The University of Memphis Tel.: 901.678.2553
318 Clement Hall Fax: 901.678.4365
Memphis, Tennessee 38152
EMPLOYMENT
The University of Memphis Memphis, Tennessee Fall 2009 - Present
Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy
Morehouse College Atlanta, Georgia Fall 2007
Instructor, Department of Philosophy and Religion
EDUCATION
Ph.D. (Philosophy) 2009
Emory University Atlanta, Georgia
Dissertation: “Pleasure and the Absence of Pain: Reading Epicurus’ Hedonism
Through Plato’s Philebus”
Advisor: Steven Strange (dec. 2009)
Committee: Tim O’Keefe (Georgia State), Richard Patterson, Jack Zupko
M.A. (Philosophy) 2007
Emory University Atlanta, Georgia
Intensive Language Program in Ancient Greek 2004
University of California, Berkeley
B.A. (Philosophy) magna cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa 2002
Boston College Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Major: Philosophy; Minor: German
Honors Thesis: “Heidegger’s Theories of Signs and Meaning: Between the Language
of Fairy Tales and Philosophy of Language”
Advisor: Richard Kearney

Intensive Language Course and University Preparation in German 2000
Goethe-Institut Dresden, Germany
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION AREAS OF COMPETENCE
Ancient Philosophy Twentieth-Century Continental Philosophy
Ethics Philosophy of Science
Political Philosophy
PUBLICATIONS
“Natural and Neutral States in Plato’s Philebus,” forthcoming in Apeiron.
“Pleasure,” in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, ed. M. Gagarin et al. (Oxford
University Press, 2009).
“Erotic and Servile Pleasures in Plato’s Phaedrus,” under review.
BOOK REVIEWS
Review of A Life Worthy of the Gods: The Materialist Psychology of Epicurus, by David Konstan. Journal of
the History of Philosophy, no. 48 (2010): 95-6.
WORKS IN PROGRESS
Book:
Health and Hedonism in Plato and Epicurus.
Articles:
“Health and Hedonism in Epicurean Ethics.”
“The Pleasures of Psychic Harmony in Plato’s Republic.”
“Is Epicurean Joy Kinetic or Katastematic?”

PRESENTATIONS
“Plotinus and Porphyry on the Faculty of Attention,” to be presented at the Meeting of the
International Society for Neoplatonic Studies (ISNS) held at the Eastern Meeting of the American
Philosophical Society, December 2010.
“Pleasure, Health, and the Soul in Plato’s Republic,” to be presented at the University of Western
Ontario, October 2010.
“Epicurus on the Pleasure of Health,” to be presented at the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy
(SAGP) Annual Conference, Fordham University, October 2010.
“The Pleasures of Psychic Harmony in Plato’s Republic,” the Pacific Meeting of the American
Philosophical Association, April 2010.
“Erotic and Servile Pleasures in Plato’s Phaedrus,” the 33 rd Annual Ancient Philosophy Workshop,
the University of Texas at Austin, March 2010. (Note: this paper is a significantly revised and
expanded version of the identically-titled paper presented in October 2009.)
“Health and Hedonism in Epicurean Ethics,” Duquesne University Philosophy Department,
October 2009.
“Erotic and Servile Pleasures in Plato’s Phaedrus,” Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy (SAGP)
Annual Conference, Fordham University, October 2009.
“The Perception Requirement in Plato’s Philebus,” the Pacific Meeting of the American Philosophical
Association, April 2009.
“Natural and Neutral States in Plato’s Philebus,” the 32 nd Annual Ancient Philosophy Workshop,
sponsored jointly by the University of Texas at Austin and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México, Mexico City, March 2009.
“How to be Natural: Organic States in Plato’s Philebus.”
○ Saint Vincent College, February 2009.
○ The University of Memphis, February 2009.
○ The University of North Florida, January 2009.
“Augustine’s Defense and Redemption of the Body,” the North Texas Philosophical Association
2007 Meeting, April 2007.
“Dworkin’s Critique of Legal Positivism,” Loyola University Chicago Graduate Student Philosophy
Conference, March 2006.
“The Paradox of the Poet: the Necessity of Inauthenticity to the Poetic Life,” DePaul University
Graduate Student Philosophy Conference, April 2005.

CONFERENCE RESPONSES
Maria Angélica Fierro, “tōn phaulōn ti en hēmin in Republic 10.602c-608b,” 29 th Annual Ancient
Philosophy Workshop, Emory University, April 2006.
FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation/American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Dissertation
Completion Fellowship, 2008 - 2009 (899 applicants for 65 awards).
Scholar in Residence, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2008 - 2009.
George W. Woodruff Fellowship, Emory University, 2003 - 2008 (only 15 such awards in each
entering class of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences).
United States Fulbright Grant, 2002 - 2003, Albert-Ludwigs Universität, Freiburg, Germany. Grant
for independent research on the topic, “Heidegger and Language: Being and Time in the Context of
Poetry and Prose.”
John Bapst Philosophy Medal, Boston College, 2002 (most outstanding student of philosophy in the
class of 2002).
John F. Norton Award, Boston College, 2002 (most outstanding student in the humanities in the
class of 2002).
Boston College Undergraduate Research Fellowship, January 2000 – May 2002 (research under Dr.
Ronald Anderson in topics in the philosophy of science and mathematics).
Boston College Advanced Study Grant, Summer 2000 (full scholarship for study at the Goethe-
Institut in Dresden, Germany).
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
The University of Memphis Memphis, Tennessee
The Body and the Non-Rational in Platonic Philosophy (PHIL 7201/8201), Fall 2010 (graduate
seminar).
Ancient Ethics: Hedonism and Anti-Hedonism (PHIL 4211/6211), Spring 2010 (graduate and
undergraduate combined).
Foundations of Western Philosophy: Classical Period (PHIL 3001), Fall 2009 (undergraduate).
Values in the Modern World (PHIL 1102), Fall 2009, Spring 2010 (undergraduate).
Fundamental Issues in Philosophy (PHIL 1101), Fall 2010 (undergraduate).

Morehouse College Atlanta, Georgia
Introduction to Philosophical Ethics (PHI 302): Fall 2007 (undergraduate).
Emory University Atlanta, Georgia
Instructor, Introduction to Ethics (PHIL 115): Fall 2007 (undergraduate).
Co-teacher with Dr. Steven Strange, Seminar in Ancient Philosophy: Plato and Platonism (PHIL
367): Fall 2005 (undergraduate).
Teaching Assistant
(Responsible for grading, leading review sessions, and meeting with students during
office hours.)
o Social and Political Philosophy (PHIL 332).
o History of Western Thought I (PHIL 250).
o History of Western Thought II (PHIL 251).
Teaching Assistant Training and Teaching Opportunity Program (TATTO), Emory University
o Participant in week-long seminar on grading, writing syllabi, lecturing, and leading
discussions, Fall 2004.
o Participant in one-semester pedagogy course in the philosophy department, Fall
2004.
Teaching Interests
o Ancient Philosophy and Ethics ○ Philosophy of the Body
o Hellenistic Philosophy ○ Philosophy of Science
o Introduction to Ethics ○ Plato
o Legal Theory ○ Political Philosophy
SERVICE
Referee, Southern Journal of Philosophy
Selection Committee for the Marcus Orr Humanities Scholarship, The University of Memphis, 2010.
Master’s Thesis Committee of Jacob Neal, The University of Memphis, 2009-10.
Faculty Advisor to the Philosophy Circle, the undergraduate philosophy society at The University of
Memphis, 2009-Present.
History of Ancient Philosophy Comprehensive Exam (PhD and MA) Committee, The University of
Memphis, 2009-Present.
Chair, Philosophy of Science Comprehensive Exam Committee (MA), The University of Memphis,
2010-Present.

Three PhD Student Advisory Committees in the Philosophy Department, The University of
Memphis, 2009-Present.
Moderator, Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy (SAGP) Annual Conference, October 2009.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy
The American Philosophical Association
REFERENCES
Dr. Richard Patterson, Philosophy Department, Emory University.
404.727.0106. rpatt01@emory.edu.
Dr. Jack Zupko, Philosophy Department, Emory University.
404.727.0104. jzupko@emory.edu.
Dr. Tim O’Keefe, Philosophy Department, Georgia State University.
404.413.6108. tokeefe@gsu.edu.
GRADUATE COURSEWORK
Ancient Philosophy: Medieval Philosophy (Directed Study)
Ancient Hedonism (Directed Study) Philosophical Anthropology
Aristotle and His Commentators Rationalism
Hellenistic Philosophy Schleiermacher
Plato
Platonic Ethics and the Platonist Tradition Ethics and Practical Philosophy:
Plato’s Timaeus in the Western Tradition Contemporary Legal Theory
Philosophy and Pedagogy
History of Philosophy and Continental: Philosophy of Social Science
Existentialism Symbolic Logic
Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit Twentieth-Century Ethics
Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason Virtue Ethics