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I am Professor of Philosophy, Chair of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Director of Interdisciplinary Studies at West Liberty University in Wheeling, WV. I joined WLU after defending my dissertation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in August 2012. At West Liberty I also serve as the coordinator for the Honors College senior thesis/research projects.
My primary areas of research are 19th Century philosophy, ethics, and philosophy of sport. My dissertation explored the nature and role of value creation in his work, and one of my broader research projects involves understanding Nietzsche's views on the nature of value and normative assessment. I argue that value creation is a multifaceted project that offers both the basis for a positive normative ethics and a response to nihilism.
My general approach to philosophy of sport involves developing a theory of the nature of sport along with a reconsideration of its significance in both individual lives and society more generally. I have a monograph forthcoming in which I defend Sport Realism as a new theory of sport, which also connects philosophy of sport to legal theory. I have also published on the fairness of playoffs as a championship system and various ethical issues pertaining to college sports.
I have additional research interests in ancient philosophy, existentialism, and social and political philosophy.
I teach a wide variety of undergraduate classes at West Liberty. At the introductory level I routinely teach introduction to philosophy, introduction to ethics, and logic. I have also taught lower division courses on freedom and responsibility, existential literature, environmental ethics, and philosophy of sport. Upper division courses I have taught include ethical theory, ancient philosophy, existentialism, bioethics, political philosophy, philosophy of law, responsibility and punishment, and Socrates and Plato.
Outside philosophy, I enjoy hiking and running. I like to read, particularly 19th-20th Century literature and history, ancient and American. I love baseball. Being originally from Nebraska, I am an avid Kansas City Royals fan.
You can contact me by email at aaron.harper@westliberty.edu. In addition to the information found on this site, you can also visit my West Liberty homepage here or my Academia.edu page here. Sometimes I tweet about stuff: https://twitter.com/aaronmharper
