Assistant Professor of Philosophy Douglass Reed

For assistant professor Douglass Reed ’04, philosophy goes beyond reading Plato’s Symposium or discussing Socratic virtue in a classroom. Instead, Reed sees philosophy as something that can be, and often is, done every day. And that’s how he teaches it. “I think we, as humans, are always kind of doing philosophy,” he says. “Philosophy comes down to asking human questions, explaining our own answers to those questions, and listening to and scrutinizing other people’s answers to those same questions.”

For Reed, philosophy is about being curious and questioning long-held—or even short-held—beliefs and asking the question: Why?

Reed teaches a variety of courses, one of which, Philosophy 110G: Love and Sex (PHL110G), aims to make the field relevant to students by linking it to two very relatable human experiences. “It’s not always clear to students how philosophy relates to their lives. You hear all these great names, these great thinkers, and you might think, ‘Why should I care about that?’” Reed says. “A lot of times, students will be able to see the connections to their own experiences, and this class draws on their own personal experiences, which is really cool.”

Olivia Belitsos ’23, a double major in psychology and criminology and criminal justice with a minor in gender and women’s studies, took PHL110G-Honors with Reed as a first-year student and wound up tacking on philosophy as a third major because she enjoyed the way Reed taught it.

“It was really engaging,” Belitsos says. “Coming into college, topics like love and sex are a part of everybody’s lives, so it was really relevant. It’s unique material and the way he approached it was thoughtful and captivating.”

In the course, Reed encourages students to pose questions like, “Does love at first sight exist?” and “What (if anything) is the value of marriage?” and then grapple with either side of the argument. “The answers to these questions are not straightforward, uncontestable,” he says. “These kinds of questions are part of our everyday lives, and I hope that philosophy can help us think about them, and other questions, in a more self-conscious way.”

Belitsos says Reed is succeeding in this goal. “Instead of just teaching us about philosophy, he helps us engage in it,” she says. “I would 100 percent encourage students to take a class with Professor Reed, because he is a phenomenal teacher, and he takes philosophy from being an unapproachable topic to something that everyone can do.” •
—Grace Kelly