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Religious Studies Program

The Cal Poly Philosophy Department houses a Religious Studies program with a wide variety of courses in GE and a Religious Studies minor.

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Between the Species

Between the Species online journal logoAn online philosophy journal about the relationship between humans and animals.
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Ethics Group


Cal Poly's Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group focuses on the implications and impact of emerging sciences and technologies.
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David J. Zoller

Associate Professor

 

Contact Information

Professional Interests

  • Continental Philosophy, esp. Phenomenology
  • History of Philosophy
  • Comparative Philosophy
  • Ethics

Education

  • Ph.D., Philosophy, Fordham University (2011)
  • M.A., Philosophy, Fordham University (2006)
  • B.A., Classics/Philosophy, Xavier University (2003)
     

Courses Taught

  • PHIL 231: Philosophical Classics: Ethics and Political Philosophy
  • PHIL 285: Ethics Bowl
  • PHIL 309: Early Greek Philosophy
  • PHIL 311: Greek Philosophy
  • PHIL 316: 20th Century Continental Philosophy
  • PHIL 318: Phenomenology
  • PHIL 331: Ethics
  • PHIL 335: Social Ethics
  • PHIL 343: Power, Alienation, and Political Life
  • PHIL 449: Zen and Japanese Phenomenology

Publications

  • “Nishida, Husserl, and the Problem of the Continuity of Objects.”  Review of Metaphysics (forthcoming 2025).
  • “The Puzzle of Empty Formal Indications: On the ‘Deferred’ Meaning of Heidegger’s Language.” European Journal of Philosophy 33:2 (2025): 643-659
  • “Heidegger on Aristotelian phronêsis and Moral Justification.”  European Journal of Philosophy 29:4 (December 2021), pp. 683-1191
  • "Situating the Self in the Kingdom of Ends: Heidegger, Arendt, and Kantian Moral Phenomenology."  Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia 75:1 (2019): 159-190.
  • “Skilled Perception, Authenticity, and the Case Against Automation.” In Robot Ethics 2.0, ed. Patrick Lin, Ryan Jenkins, and Keith Abney. New York: Oxford, 2017
  • “Moral Theory and Moral Motivation in Dilthey’s Critique of Historical Reason.” Idealistic Studies 46:1 (2017): 97-118.
  • “Moral Responsibility for Distant Collective Harms.” Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (February 18, 2015).
  • “Distributing Collective Moral Responsibility to Group Members.” Journal of Social Philosophy 45:4 (Winter 2014): 478-497.
  • “Realism and Belief Attribution in Heidegger’s Phenomenology of Religion.” Continental Philosophy Review 45:1 (2012): 101-120.

Selected Presentations

  • “Immanent Transcendence: Nishida Kitarō’s Basho and Husserl’s ‘Determinable X,’” Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy Annual Meeting, University of San Francisco, Nov. 9-11, 2023.
  • “Ethics and the Generality of Words: Expression, Indication, and the Human Good in Heidegger.”  Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (October 2018), State College, PA.
  • “Which Room am I in?  Arendt and Husserl on Collective Contexts and Homeless Minds.”  Social Ontology 2018 Conference (August 2018), Cambridge, MA.  
  • “Was Heidegger a Moral Particularist? Formal Indication and the Place of Moral Principles.” Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (October 2015), Atlanta, GA.
  • “Why You are Almost Certainly Responsible for Unstructured Collective Harms.” Collective Intentionality IX (September 10-13, 2014), Bloomington, IN
  • “Narrative ‘Ain’t Just in the Head’: Externalism and the Social Coherence of Life,” Society for Ricoeur Studies Annual Conference (November 2010), Montreal, Canada.

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