Faculty Profile
Emily Kelahan
Associate Professor of Philosophy (2024)
Contact Information
East College
717-245-1002
Bio
Emily's research and teaching interests lie in roughly two areas: the history of early modern philosophy (1550-1800) and the philosophy of work (what is work? how is it different from play, leisure, labor, and other related concepts? what is the place of it in a flourishing human life?). What both of these areas have in common is that they allow her to engage in a variety of sub-disciplines at once. She likes to pose and attempt to answer tough questions that lie at the intersection of epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and social philosophy. She loves philosophy, period, and she tends to pursue projects and teach classes that are interdisciplinary and connected to the lived human experience both in and outside the classroom. Indeed, she regards herself as a field philosopher, which means that she believes philosophy has something valuable to offer people in the daily conduct of their professional and personal lives and she likes to be the one to help them see it. You can do philosophy with Emily in several courses at Dickinson (17th & 18th Century Philosophy, Philosophy of Work, Philosophy of Data, Practical Ethics, and Philosophy of Religion to name a few) and in a variety of professional contexts across disciplines and industries. If you want to talk field philosophy, send her an email.
Education
- B.A., Illinois Wesleyan University, 2005
- M.A., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007
- Ph.D., 2011
2026-2027 Academic Year
Fall 2026
DATA 198 Philosophy of Data
Cross-listed with PHIL 258-01.
PHIL 258 Philosophy of Data
Cross-listed with DATA 198-01.
PHIL 401 Senior Seminar
A seminar focusing in depth on a selected philosophical topic, author or text with special emphasis on student philosophical writing and voice. Prerequisites: three prior courses in philosophy, at least one at the 300-level, or permission of the instructor.
Spring 2027
PHIL 202 17th & 18th Century Philosophy
This course treats the Rationalists, Empiricists and Kant, with particular emphasis on issues in epistemology and metaphysics, such as the possibility and limits of human knowledge, the role of sense perception and reason in knowledge, the nature of substance, God and reality.
PHIL 261 Philosophy of Work
Philosophy of Work Yard work. Housework. Working out. Working it. Work seems to be much more than performing a job for compensation. Work is central to our modern lives, but what exactly is it? What's its value? Under what conditions is it performed, by whom, and are those conditions acceptable? What are the various working relationships in which we find ourselves and what do we owe to whom? How is it different from play and leisure? Is there too much work? Is there enough? Who gets to work? Who has to work? What is the proper place of work in a human life? Philosophy of Work will guide students through a variety of answers to these questions and will hone their ability to develop their own positions through consideration of normative case studies (e.g., mouse jigglers and mouse jiggler surveillance, intellectual property litigation, FTC banning noncompetes, paying student athletes, etc.)
PHIL 303 Epistemology
This seminar will probe key issues in epistemology, such as: the nature of knowledge and justification, the challenge of skepticism, the relation of sense perception to conceptual thought. Prerequisites: three prior courses in philosophy, at least two at the 200 level, or permission of the instructor.