GEORGE A. DUNN

George A. Dunn has taught philosophy and religion in both the United States and China. He has authored or edited eight books in English, the most recent being A New Politics for Philosophy: Essays on Plato, Nietzsche, and Strauss (2020), co-edited with Mango Tell, and The Philosophy of Christopher Nolan, co-edited with Jason T. Eberl (2019), as well as having served as the English language editor for two bi-lingual (Chinese-English) books. His research interests included René Girard, mimetic theory, philosophy of religion, political philosophy, and philosophy of film and popular culture. He is currently a special research fellow with the Institute for Globalizing Culture in Hangzhou, China.

Curriculum Vitae

Email: FritFerret@aol.com

EDUCATION

Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

ABD, Philosophy

Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Indiana

M.T.S., Philosophical Theology, Philosophy of Religion, Ethics

Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI), Indianapolis, Indiana

B.A., Philosophy, Religious Studies

TEACHING AND RESEARCH POSITIONS

• 2019-present: Special Research Fellow, Institute for Globalizing Culture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China

• 2019: Visiting Lecturer (School of Liberal Arts), Renmin University of China’s 2019 International Summer Session, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

• 2005-2006, 2008-2017: Lecturer (Philosophy and Religion), University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN

• 2008-2016: Visiting Lecturer (Philosophy and Religion), Zhejiang University Ningbo Institute of Technology, Ningbo, People’s Republic of China

• 1997-present: Associate Faculty (Philosophy), IUPUI, Indianapolis, IN

• 2006-2007: Adjunct Faculty (Philosophy), Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

• 2002: Adjunct Faculty (Philosophy), Ivy Tech, Greencastle, IN

• 1998-2000, 2003-2005, 2006-2008: Adjunct Faculty (Philosophy and Religion), University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Philosophy of Religion; René Girard; Mimetic Theory; Friedrich Nietzsche; Plato; Leo Strauss; Chinese Philosophy; Moral and Political Philosophy; Philosophy and Popular Culture; Philosophy and Film

ENGLISH-LANGUAGE BOOKS EDITED

• A Friend Come from Afar: Leo Strauss in China, with Peng Lei (forthcoming)

• René Girard and the Western Philosophical Tradition (Michigan State University Press, 2020) (forthcoming)

• A New Politics for Philosophy: Essays on Plato, Nietzsche, and Strauss, with Mango Telli (Lexington Books, 2020)

• The Philosophy of Christopher Nolan, with Jason T. Eberl (Lexington Books, 2017)

• Avatar and Philosophy: Learning to See (Wiley-Blackwell, 2014)

• Veronica Mars and Philosophy: Investigating the Mysteries of Life (Wiley-Blackwell, 2014)

• Sons of Anarchy and Philosophy: Brains Before Bullets, with Jason T. Eberl (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013)

• The Hunger Games and Philosophy: Critique of Pure Treason, with Nicolas Michaud (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012)

• True Blood and Philosophy: We Wanna Think Bad Things with You, with Rebecca Housel (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)

BI-LINGUAL BOOKS EDITED

• 用声音叙事: 我要学汉语 (Beyond the Voices: Chinese Learning: I Am on My Way), Cai Liang et al (Zhejiang University Press, 2013)—English language editor

• 用声音叙事: 我的企业在宁波 (Beyond the Voices: Starting My Business in Ningbo), Cai Liang et al (Zhejiang University Press, 2012)—English language editor

BOOKS AUTHORED

• The Soft Path Solution: An Indiana Citizen’s Guide to District Solid Waste Planning (with Armen Napoleon Stepanian, Marie Zeller, and David Tranbarger) (Hoosier Environmental Council, 1992)

OTHER

• Series editor of Trident Press book series Polemos kai Stasis

• Co-editor (with Chris Fleming) of a special issue of the Philosophical Journal of Conflict and Violence on “Violence and Film” (anticipated publication date: May 2020)

• Peer reviews for Lexington Press, International Journal of Social Robotics, and Forum Philosophicum: International Journal of Philosophy.

ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS IN BOOKS

• “Sino-Christian Theology as Social Activism,” in Christian Social Activism and The Rule of Law (with ZHANG Xinzhang), edited by Fenggang YANG and Chris White (2020) (forthcoming)

• “The Pleasures and Perils of Revenge: Girard, Vengeance, and Sons of Anarchy,” in René Girard and Popular Culture, edited by Ryan Duns and Derrick Witherington (Rowman and Littlefield, 2020) (forthcoming)

• “‘I See a Suit of Armor around the World’: Tony Stark’s Techno-Idolatry” (with Jason T. Eberl), in Marveling Religion: Critical Discourse and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Lexington, 2020) (forthcoming)

• “Love, Logic, and War in Liu Cixin’s Three-Body Trilogy,” in Ethics in Science Fiction, edited by James M. Okapal (MacFarland, 2020) (forthcoming)

• “The Collapsing Ladder of Degree: Nietzsche, Girard, and Strauss on Christianity and Modernity,” in A New Politics for Philosophy: Essays on Plato, Nietzsche, and Strauss, edited by George A. Dunn and Mango Telli (Lexington Books, 2020)

• “Empathy, Emulation and Ashley Too: Can a Robot Be a Friend?” in Black Mirror and Philosophy: Dark Reflections, edited by Kyle David Johnson (Wiley-Blackwell, 2019)

• “Confucianism, the Clash of Cultures, and Mulan,” in Disney and Philosophy: Truth, Trust, and a Little Bit of Pixie Dust, edited by Richard Davis (Wiley-Blackwell, 2019)

• “冲突及其应对之道” (with 张新樟), in 国际学术动态: International Academic Developments, no. 4, 2019, 33-35

• “Spiritual Movements, Secret Societies, and Destructive Cults: Panel Discussion, Hangzhou, October 2017” (with ZHANG Xinzhang), in Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review, Vol. 10, no. 1, 2019, 81-115

• “Mimetic Magic and Anti-Sacrificial Slayage: A Girardian Reading of Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (with Brian McDonald), in Mimetic Theory and Film, edited by Diego Bubio and Chris Fleming (Bloomsbury, 2019)

• “The Problem of Suffering and the Sources of Meaning in Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s Westworld,” in Proceedings of the 2018 Science Fictions & Popular Cultures Academic Conference, edited by Tim Slater and Carrie Cook (Pono Publishing, 2019)

• “The Strongman, the Small Man, and the Gentleman: Donald Trump and Confucius,” in Donald Trump and Political Philosophy, Volume I: Leadership, Statesmanship, and Tyranny, edited by Marc Sable and Angel Jaramillo (Palgrave, 2018)

• “Bargaining with Eternity and Numbering One’s Days: Medicine, Nietzsche, and Doctor Strange,” in Doctor Strange and Philosophy, edited by Mark White (Wiley-Blackwell, 2018)

• Review of Mimetic Theory and World Religions, edited by Wolfgang Palaver and Richard Schenk, in Religious Studies Review, Vol. 44, No. 2, 2018

• Review of Violence in the Films of Alfred Hitchcock: A Study in Mimesis by David Humbert, in The Philosophical Journal of Conflict and Violence, Volume I, No. 2, 2017

• “Deceit, Desire, and Mimetic Doubling in the Films of Christopher Nolan,” in The Philosophy of Christopher Nolan, edited by George A. Dunn and Jason T. Eberl (Lexington, 2017)

• “Love, Value, and Human Destiny in Interstellar” (with Lance Buloumini), in The Philosophy of Christopher Nolan, edited by George A. Dunn and Jason T. Eberl (Lexington, 2017)

• “Review of Disturbing Revelation: Leo Strauss, Eric Voegelin, and the Bible by John J. Renieri, in The Bulletin of the Colloquium on Religion and Violence 50, November 2016

• Several chapters in 1001 Quotations to Inspire You Before You Die, edited by Robert Arp (Atria Books, 2016)

• “Confucius, Nietzsche, and Wolf Totem: The Culture of the Wolf versus the Civilization of Sheep,” And Philosophy, December 23, 2015 (http://andphilosophy.com/2015/12/23/confucius-nietzsche-and-wolf-totem)

• “Why the Force Must Have Dark Side,” in The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy, edited by Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015)

• Review Essay: Paul W. Kahn’s Out of Eden, Chapter Five, “Political Evil: Killing, Sacrifice, and the Image of God,” Library of Social Science, December 10, 2014 (http://www.libraryofsocialscience.com/reviews/Kahn.html)

• “Sons of Anarchy and Philosophy: Holy Moses! The Pleasures and Perils of Revenge (Part II),” And Philosophy, November 21, 2014 (http://andphilosophy.com/2014/11/21/sons-of-anarchy-and-philosophy-2/)

• “Sons of Anarchy and Philosophy: The Pleasures and Perils of Revenge (Part I),” And Philosophy, October 3, 2014 (http://andphilosophy.com/2014/10/03/sons-of-anarchy-and-philosophy-part-i/)

• “The Silence of Our Mother: Eywa as the Voice of Feminine Care Ethics” (with Nicolas Michaud), in Avatar and Philosophy, edited by George A. Dunn (Wiley-Blackwell, 2014)

• “Breaking Bad in Neptune: How ‘Cool Guys’ Become Sociopaths,” in Veronica Mars and Philosophy, edited by George A. Dunn (Wiley-Blackwell, 2014)

• “‘I’m Old School, an Eye for an Eye’: Veronica and Vengeance” in Veronica Mars and Philosophy, edited by George A. Dunn (Wiley-Blackwell, 2014)

• “Simply Watching the World Burn,” in The Devil and Philosophy, edited by Robert Arp (Open Court, 2014)

• “De Morgan’s Laws,” “Emergentism,” “Entropy,” “Gradgrind’s Education,” “Last Universal Ancestor,” “Limited Liability Corporation,” “Riemann Hypothesis,” “The Great Controversy,” “The Greenhouse Effect,” “The Immaculate Conception,” “The Simple Life,” and “You Are What You Eat” in 1001 Ideas That Changed the World, edited by Robert Arp (Atria Books, 2013)

• “SAMCRO Versus the Leviathan: Laying the (Motor)Cycle of Violence,” in Sons of Anarchy and Philosophy, edited by George A. Dunn and Jason T. Eberl (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013)

• “‘The Odds Have Not Been Very Dependable of Late’: Morality and Luck in the Hunger Games Trilogy,” in The Hunger Games and Philosophy, edited by George A. Dunn and Nicolas Michaud (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012)

• “‘People Want to Be Told What to Do So Badly, They’ll Listen to Anyone’: Mimetic Madness at Sterling-Cooper,” in Mad Men and Philosophy, edited by James B. South and Rod Carveth (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)

• “Let the Bon Temps Roll: Sacrifice, Scapegoats, and Good Times” (with Kevin J. Corn), in True Blood and Philosophy, edited by George A. Dunn and Rebecca Housel (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)

• “Pets, Cattle, and Higher Life Forms: Speciesism in True Blood” (with Ariadne Blayde), in True Blood and Philosophy, edited by George A. Dunn and Rebecca Housel (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)

• “God, Mom!: The Blessings of Breast and Womb,” in Motherhood and Philosophy, edited by Sheila Lintott (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)

• “The Stark Madness of Technology,” in Iron Man and Philosophy, edited by Mark D. White (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010); reprinted in Superheroes: The Best of Philosophy and Pop Culture, edited by William Irwin (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011)

• “Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast” (with Brian McDonald), in Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy, edited by Richard Davis (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009)

• “You Look Good Enough to Eat: Love, Madness, and ‘the Food Analogy,’” in Twilight and Philosophy, edited by Rebecca Housel and J. Jeremy Wisnewski (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009)

• “True Man or Tin Man: How Descartes and Sarah Connor Tell a Man from a Machine,” in Terminator and Philosophy, edited by Richard Brown and Kevin S. Decker (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009)

• “Layla Miller Knows Stuff: How a Butterfly Can Shoulder the World,” in X-Men and Philosophy, edited by Rebecca Housel and J. Jeremy Wisnewski (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009)

• “The Wonderful Smallness of Evil in Oz,” in The Wizard of Oz and Philosophy, edited by Randall E. Auxier and Phil Seng (Open Court, 2008)

• “‘A Very Strong Urge to Hit You’: Mimetic Violence and Scapegoating in Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (with Brian McDonald), Slayage: The Online International Journal of Buffy Studies 26, Spring 2008

• “Being Boomer: Identity, Ambiguity and Evil,” in Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy, edited by Jason T. Eberl (Wiley-Blackwell, 2008)

INVITED LECTURES

• “Understanding the American Culture War,” Lecture Series on Globalizing Culture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China, September 2019

• “Christianity in China: From the 7^th Century to the Present,” Tao Fong Shan Christian Center, Hong Kong, May 2019

• “René Girard on Christianity and the Modern World,” Institute for Sino-Christian Study, Hong Kong, May 2019

• “Common Humanity, Religious Particularity, and the Virtue of Hospitality,” Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, April 2019

• “Two Songs of Modernity: Nietzsche, Strauss, and Girard,” Yangzhou University, People’s Republic of China, December 2016

• “Confucius and Socrates: What Ancient Philosophy Can Teach Us About Living in the World Today,” TEDx Talk, Ningbo, People’s Republic of China, June 2016

• “Radical Evil, Dreams, and Philosophy,” Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan, May 2016

• Philosophy and Popular Culture Panel, University of Chicago Renaissance Society, Chicago, IL. March 2014

• “Pop-Culture and Philosophy,” Indiana University, Kokomo, IN, April 2013

RECENT CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

• “‘Bury the Rag Deep in Your Face’: Retributive Justice in the Songs of Bob Dylan,” World of Bob Dylan Symposium, Tulsa, OK, May 2019

• “‘Useless’ Suffering in Westworld,” PCA/ACA National Conference, Washington, D.C., April 2019

• “Sino-Christian Theology as Christian Activism: How ‘Mr. Religion’ Found a Place within the Chinese Academy,” Conference on Christianity and Social Activism in Chinese Societies, West Lafayette, IN, February 2019

• “Nietzsche and Modern Liberalism: A Conflict About the Value of Conflict,” International Symposium on Conflicting Conflicts, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China, October 2028

• “The Problem of Suffering in Jonathan Nolan’s Westworld,” Science Fictions, Popular Cultures Annual Conference, Kona, HI, September 2018

• “René Girard and Modernity: From External to Internal Mediation,” XXIV World Congress of Philosophy, Beijing, People’s Republic of China, August 2018

• “Freedom, Equality, and Mimesis (East & West),” COV&R Conference, Denver, CO, July 2018

• “The Good Place, the Bad Place, and Other People,” PCA/ACA National Conference, Indianapolis, IN, March 2018

• “Common Humanity, Bare Humanity, and Global Community: Some Reflections on the Limits of Cosmopolitanism,” International Symposium on the Theoretical and Practical Issues of Faith in the Construction of a Community of Common Destiny for Mankind, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China, September 2017

• “Love, Logic, and War: Liu Cixin’s Three-Body Trilogy,” PCA/ACA National Conference, San Diego, CA, April 2017

• “The Strongman, the Gentleman, and the Small Man: Would Confucius Support Donald Trump?” NEPSA Conference, Boston, MA, November 2016

• “Competition, Compassion, and the Collapsing Ladder of Degree: René Girard on Christianity and Modernity,” International Symposium on the Dialogue Between Marxism and Religion, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China, October 2016

• “Violence and Myth in Plato’s Euthyphro,” COV&R Conference, Melbourne, Australia, July 2016

• “Deceit, Desire, and Mimetic Doubling in the Films of Christopher Nolan,” PCA/ACA National Conference, Seattle, WA, March 2016

• “Mimetic Theory and Plato’s Lysis,” COV&R Conference, St. Louis, MO, July 2015

• “Why Must the Force Have a Dark Side?” PCA/ACA National Conference, New Orleans, LA, April 2015

• “SAMCRO and the Leviathan,” PCA/ACA National Conference, Chicago, IL, March 2014

PODCASTS

• “ACF #31: Lady Vengeance” (a discussion of justice and vengeance in the final installment of Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance Trilogy, with Georg A. Dunn, Peter Y. Paik, and Titus Techera), American Cinema Foundation, September 17, 2019, https://ricochet.com/675979/acf-31-lady-vengeance/

• “ACF #27: Oldboy” (a discussion of politics and religion in Park Chan-wook’s neo-noir classic Oldboy, with Georg A. Dunn, Peter Y. Paik, and Titus Techera), American Cinema Foundation, August 1, 2019, https://ricochet.com/660893/acf-27-oldboy/

• “From the PCA: If Thou Gaze Long into a Black Mirror, the Black Mirror will also Gaze into Thee” (with Jason Eberl, George A. Dunn, and David Kyle Johnson at the annual meeting Popular Culture Association), I Think Therefore I Fan, April 23, 2019, https://ithinkthereforeifan.com/2019/04/23/from-the-pca-if-thou-gaze-long-into-a-black-mirror-the-black-mirror-will-also-gaze-into-thee/

• “ACF #24: Westworld” (a discussion of philosophy, identity, and the problem of evil in Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s Westworld, with George A. Dunn, Jason Eberl, and Titus Techera), American Cinema Foundation, April 27, 2018, https://ricochet.com/513682/acf33-westworld/

• “ACF #10: The Nolan Brothers” (a discussion of philosophy in the works of Christopher and Jonathan Nolan, with George A. Dunn, Jason Eberl, and Titus Techera), American Cinema Foundation, August 19, 2017, https://ricochet.com/archives/acf-8-nolan-brothers/

COURSES TAUGHT

Introduction to Ethics; Business Ethics; Introduction to Philosophy; Practical Logic; Philosophy of Religion; World Religions; Religions of the West: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; Introduction to Christianity; Christian Theology; Existentialism; Environmental Ethics; Philosophy and Animals; Ethical Theory: Postmodern Ethics; Philosophy and Film; Philosophy Through Popular Culture; The Problem of Evil in Philosophy and Literature; Love, Friendship, and Desire in Philosophy and Literature; The Problem of Human Wickedness; Emmanuel Levinas; Rousseau and Nietzsche: Two Critics of Modernity; The Problem of Socrates; Plato’s Republic; Research Methods

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• Institute for Globalizing Culture

• Colloquium on Violence & Religion

• Popular Culture/American Culture Association

• Association for Asian Studies

• American Association of University Professors