Faculty & Staff
Bethel L. Eddy
Assistant Professor
Office: Salisbury Laboratories, 223E
Phone: +1-508-831-6729
Fax: +1-508-831-5932
bleddy@wpi.edu
Educational Background
- B.S., Northeast Louisiana University, 1978
- M.A., University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1992
- M.A., Princeton University, 1995
- Ph.D., Princeton University, 1998
IQP Advising Interests
- Natural resource management
- Biotechnology issues
- Impact of new technologies
- Education of health-care prefessionals
- Economics of health care
- Ethical issues
Research
My research centers on the American tradition of pragmatic religious thought. I aim to communicate and add complexity to the tradition as commonly understood, the better to make interdisciplinary connections. My first book, Rites of Identity, sought to make the canon of pragmatist tradition more inclusive by charting the important contributions of lesser known or non-philosophers, like Kenneth Burke and Ralph Ellison, to this tradition and to apply the resources of pragmatism to questions of personal identity. My second work in progress, The Evolution of Pragmatism, explores the influence of evolutionary thinking in the pragmatist tradition, focusing on the first generation’s moral reaction to social Darwinism. Again, I emphasize the contributions of influential figures like Jane Addams, who are not typically thought of as professional philosophers per se. A projected third work will examine the connections between pragmatic tradition and anthropological theory.
Recent Publications
Honors & Awards
- Princeton University Graduate Fellowship 1992-1994
- Paul Ramsey Fellowship 1994-1996
- Charlotte W. Newcombe Fellowship 1996-1997
Years of Service at WPI
2007-2012 Assistant Professor
Professional Experience & Activities
- Presentation: “Rorty and Rauschenbusch: Anxiety, Influence and Tradition in American Pragmatism,” Mid-Atlantic AAR Meeting, New Brunswick, NJ, March 11, 2010
- Presentation: “What Happens to Happen: Stephen Jay Gould, Contingency, and Wonderful Life,” University of North Carolina Greensboro, March 29, 2009, invited speaker
- Presentation and Panel Discussion: “Varieties of Naturalism: The Nature of Faith and Naturalist Responses to Atheism,” IUPUI, April 10, 2008
- Editorial referee work for Soundings, The Journal of Religion, Oxford University Press, Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture
- Co-chair: AAR Pragmatism and Empiricism in American Religious Thought Group, 2009-2012
- Brown University Religion and Critical Thought Colloquium member 2009-2012
- Visiting Assistant Professor, New College, Sarasota, FL 1998-1999
- Lecturer, Princeton University, 1999-2003
- Full-time Adjunct faculty, Central Michigan University, 2003-2007
Professional Societies/Memberships
- American Academy of Religion
- Society for Values in Higher Education
- Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy