Department of English & Humanities

Dr. Francis Grabowski
Assistant Professor

Health Sciences
Room 247B

918-343-7617
fgrabowski@rsu.edu

Education

Ph.D.
Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
2004

• Dissertation: Why Plato Is Not a Platonist (dir. Herbert Granger)

M.A.
Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
1998

• Thesis: Ionian Natural Philosophy: Science or Proto-Science?

B.A., Philosophy
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
1994

Area of Specialization

• Ancient Philosophy (esp. Plato and the Presocratics)

Areas of Competence

• History of Philosophy (esp. Medieval and Contemporary Analytic)
• Philosophy of Religion
• Metaphysics
• Ethics
• Symbolic Logic
• Critical Thinking

Scholarship

Book:

Plato, Metaphysics and the Forms (New York: Continuum Books, 2008)

Journal Articles:

“Issues Surrounding Logos in Heraclitus, Frag. B56,” Michigan Academician 32:4 (2000): 267–87

Refereed and Invited Papers:

“What Anselm Should Have Said to Gaunilo,” Tulsa Philosophical Society (5 March 2008)

“Russell’s Odd Appeal to Instinct and Its Promising Implications for Theism,” Dallas Socratic Society (9 April 2007)

“Anslem’s Ontological Argument and Platonic Realism,” American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, Group Meeting (25 March 2004)

Popular Lectures:

“Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion: A Critical Review,” Stratton Taylor Library, Rogers State University (14 March 2008)

“The Problem of Evil and Theodicy in the Early Church,” St. Cecilia Catholic Church, Claremore, OK (13, 20 and 27 February 2008)

Book Reviews:

Review of Eli Maor’s The Pythagorean Theorem: A 4,000-Year History, European Legacy 13:6 (2008)

Review of Konrad Kinzl’s A Companion to the Classical Greek World, European Legacy 13:1 (2008)

Review of John Rist’s Real Ethics, Philosophia Christi 6:2 (2004)

Honors & Awards

• Faculty Senate’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship, School of Liberal Arts, 2008

Teaching Experience

Assistant Professor of Philosophy (since Fall 2006),
Rogers State University, Claremore, OK
Courses taught: Logic*, Introduction to Philosophy*, and Values and Ethics*

Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy (Fall 2005–Spring 2006),
Albion College, Albion, MI
Courses taught: Ancient Philosophy, Contemporary Analytic Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, and Introduction to Philosophy*

Graduate Teaching Assistant (Fall 1997–Fall 2004) and
Adjunct Faculty (Fall 2004–Fall 2005),
Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Courses taught: Philosophy of Religion, Introduction to Ethics, Introduction to Philosophical Systems*, Introduction to Philosophical Problems*, and Critical Thinking*

Adjunct Faculty (Fall 2001–Fall 2005),
Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, MI
Courses taught: Religion and Science, Foundations of the American Experience*, Development of the American Experience*, and Aesthetics

Adjunct Faculty (Fall 2000–Fall 2005),
Schoolcraft College, Livonia, MI
Courses taught: Logic* and Introduction to Philosophy*

Adjunct Faculty (Spring 2005), Oakland University, Pontiac, MI
Courses taught: Introduction to Ethics*

* denotes multiple sections

University Service

Committee Membership, Department:

• Curriculum Committee, Department of English and Humanities, 2007/08
• Capstone Committee, Department of English and Humanities, 2007/08
• Ad Hoc Committee to Reform the Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts, Department of English and Humanities, 2007/08
• Hiring Committee, Department of English and Humanities, Spring 2008

Committee Membership, University:

• Faculty Senate, elected Senator from Department of English and Humanities, 2007/08

Student Organizations:

• Christian Apologetics Club, Advisor, since Fall 2006
• Philosophy Club, Advisor, since Spring 2007

Professional Organizations

• American Philosophical Association, member since Fall 1999
• Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, member since Fall 2006

Foreign Languages

• Ancient Greek and Latin (reading)