Gerald J. Erion, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Philosophy

Department of Humanities
Medaille College
18 Agassiz Circle
Buffalo, NY 14214-2601

phone: 716.880.2174
email: gerion@medaille.edu

Brief Biography

Dr. Erion teaches courses in philosophy and general education at Medaille. His current research includes topics in ethics and moral philosophy, philosophy of mind, and the teaching of philosophy.

In addition, he recently served as director of Medaille's undergraduate honors program, the College Scholars Program.

Medaille's Student Government Association has named him Professor of the Year three times, and he has earned the Dr. Brian R. Shero Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award as well.

Education

• Ph.D., University at Buffalo, State University of New York
• B.S. magna cum laude, State University of New York College at Geneseo

Academic Interests

Philosophy: Metaphysics (esp. Ontology and Philosophy of Mind), Epistemology, Ethics and Moral Philosophy, Applied Ethics, Logic and Critical Thinking, selected History of Philosophy, Philosophical Pedagogy.

General Education: First-Year Experience, World Civilization, American History and Culture, Capstone Senior Seminar and Thesis Direction.

Recent Scholarship

• "Amusing Ourselves to Death With Television News: Jon Stewart, Neil Postman, and the Huxleyan Warning." In J. Holt (ed.) The Daily Show and Philosophy (Malden, MA/ Oxford, UK: Blackwell), 5-15.
• "Engaging Student Relativism." Discourse: Learning and Teaching in Philosophical and Religious Studies 5(1), 120-133.
• "Descartes' Action Test." In J. Moor (ed.) The Turing Test: The Elusive Standard of Artificial Intelligence (Dordrecht/Boston: Kluwer), 241-251.

News

The National Teaching and Learning Forum interviewed Dr. Erion for a feature article on his student relativism research; the article is available online.

Neal Justin of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune interviewed Dr. Erion for a story on philosophy and popular culture; the resulting article was published in newspapers worldwide and remains available online.