Claire Katz

Claire Katz’s research interests are in contemporary French philosophy, feminist theory, modern Jewish thought, philosophy of education, and philosophy of religion. Her work focuses on the intersection of philosophy and religion, with specific interests in contemporary French philosophy and French feminist theory. She is the author of Levinas, Judaism, and the Feminine: The Silent Footsteps of Rebecca (Indiana 2003) and the editor of Emmanuel Levinas: Critical Assessments vol. 1-4 (Routledge, 2005). Her 2012 book, Levinas and the Crisis of Humanism (Indiana), explores and responds to theories of education as they emerged in the history of philosophy (e.g., Plato, Locke, Rousseau, Dewey). Her response turns to modern Jewish thought and its alternative views of subjectivity and ethics in order to challenge our current models of education. Her most recent book, An Introduction to Modern Jewish Philosophy (I.B. Tauris, 2014), provides academics and non-academics an introduction to some of the primary Jewish philosophers in the modern period. Several features distinguish her book from other introductions: she considers the role of gender within the context of the development of modern Jewish philosophy; she considers the relationship of Jewish philosophy to the western canonical figures that developed at the same time; and finally, she uses literature by Wiesel, Levi, and Amery to consider philosophy’s limitations when confronted with questions about evil. She regularly teaches courses in gender and religion and feminist theory and she has written extensively on feminist theory, philosophy of religion, philosophy of education, and Emmanuel Levinas’s ethical project. Before coming to Texas A&M in 2006, she was associate professor of philosophy and Jewish studies at Penn State University. Katz is Associate Dean of Faculties and the Murray and Celeste Fasken Chair in Distinguished Teaching and Professor of Philosophy She earned a PhD in philosophy from the University of Memphis.