• MyAC
  • Alumni
  • Parents
  • News
  • Calendar
  • Library
  • Quick Links
Austin College Logo

Sherman, Texas

Visit

Apply

Scholarships

Get Info

MENU
  • About
    • Fast Facts
      • Mission
      • History
      • Kangaroo Mascot
      • Austin College Page Plaid
    • Office of the President
      • About President O’Day
      • Contact the President
      • Essays & Speeches
      • Past Presidents
      • President’s Visiting Council
    • Inclusion & Diversity
      • Transgender Student Information
    • Administration
      • Strategic Planning
    • Board of Trustees
      • Trustee Profiles
    • Office of Public Affairs
      • Media Kit
      • TEDxAustinCollege
      • MLK Celebration
      • Strategic Advertising
    • Posey Leadership Award
      • Posey Leadership Award History
      • Past Award Recipients
      • Lee Posey on Leadership
      • 2019 Nomination
    • News & Events
      • College News
      • College Calendar
      • Arts & Entertainment
      • ‘Roos in the News
      • Media Kit
      • Campus Photo Gallery
    • Campus Information
      • North Texas Area
  • Admission & Aid
    • Scholarships and Financial Aid
      • Scholarships for New Students
      • Scholarships for Current Students
      • Applying for Aid
      • Work Study
      • Loans
      • Federal Verification of FAFSA Data
      • Forms & Documents
      • Policies
      • Tuition & Payments
      • VA Education Benefits
      • Financial Aid Staff
      • Net Price Calculator
      • Financial Wellness
    • Austin College Advantage
    • The Word on AC
      • Admission Publications
    • After AC
    • Meet Your Counselor
    • Visit Austin College
      • Individual Campus Visit
      • Preview Events
    • Apply Now
      • Freshman
      • International Students
      • Transfer Students
      • Dates & Deadlines
    • International Students
      • Requirements
      • Scholarships & Financial Assistance
      • Admitted International Students
    • Transfer Students
      • How to Apply
      • Transfer Scholarships
    • Admitted Students
      • Key Contacts on Campus
    • Refer A Student
  • Academics
    • Academics Home
      • Compass Curriculum
      • Humanities at AC
      • Sciences at AC
      • Social Sciences at AC
    • Majors and Minors
    • Applied Learning
    • Grad School Opportunities
      • Health Sciences
        • Texas Tech Early Decision Program
        • Health Professions Advising Guides
        • Health Sciences Scholarships
        • FAQ’s About Health Sciences
        • Health Sciences Advising
        • Resources
        • Health Professions Reference Form
      • Engineering
      • Law
      • Ministry
      • TTU Grad Program
      • Gateways to Grad School
        • Partner Programs
        • ‘Roo 2 Raider – AC/Tech Connect
        • Partner Universities
    • Graduate Teacher Program
      • About the ATP
      • Teaching/Course Certification Requirements
      • ATP Forms & Documents
      • ATP Advising
      • Field Supervisor’s Forms & Documents
      • Thinking Camps
      • Noyce STEM Scholarships
    • Centers & Programs
      • Center for Environmental Studies
      • Center for Community & Regional Development
      • Center for Southwestern & Mexican Studies
      • Student Research
        • Sciences Summer Research Program
        • ENSURE Program
        • Student Conference Travel Awards
        • ACUMEN
        • Responsible Conduct of Research
        • Student Scholarship Conference
        • Scarbrough Summer Research
      • Faculty Development
        • Sabbatical Series
        • Thursday Lunch Topics
        • Reading Groups
        • Johnson Center Activities
        • Additional Resources
      • Posey Leadership Institute
      • Writing Center
    • JanTerm
      • Travel Jan Term | Liability Release
      • Travel Jan Term | Medical Release and Info
      • Scholarships
      • JanTerm Photo Galleries
    • Fellowships & Scholarships
      • Honors Convocation
      • Departmental Honors Program
        • Honors Program Nomination Procedures
        • Honors Program Requirements
        • Honors Thesis Formatting
      • Phi Beta Kappa
        • Membership Archive
        • Membership Criteria
      • Fulbright Grants
      • Peace Corps Prep Program
        • How to Apply
        • PCPP Benefits
        • PCPP Curriculum
        • PCPP Campus Committee
        • Peace Corps Alumni
    • Faculty
    • Academic Affairs
    • Registrar’s Office
  • Campus Life
    • Academic Skills Center
      • What is ASC?
      • Access Services
      • Resources and Links
      • Review Sessions & Workshops
      • Meet Our Tutors
      • Become a Peer Tutor
      • Support Services for International Students
        • Orientation
        • What to Bring
        • Employment
      • Exam Accommodation Instruction Form
    • Campus Police & Safety
      • Campus Emergencies
      • Severe Weather
      • Rules & Regulations
      • Crime Prevention
      • Campus Police Staff
    • Campus Services
      • Campus Bookstore
      • Post Office
      • Dining Services
      • Information Technology
    • Career Services
      • The Four-Year Plan
      • Handshake
      • Career Exploration
      • Internships
        • Career Study Off-Campus (CSOC)
        • Global Outreach (GO!)
      • Job/Internship Search
        • Austin College Employers
      • Employer Services
      • Graduate/Professional School
      • Graduate Outcomes
        • Graduate First Destination Survey
        • After Austin College
      • Online Resources
      • Career Services Events
      • Career Alumni Connections
      • Contact Us
    • Counseling Services
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Scope of Care
      • Counseling Center
      • Signs & Symptoms
      • Web Resources
      • Contact Us
      • Texoma Resources
      • Student Wellness
    • Health Services
      • Clinic Hours & Services
      • Immunizations
      • Health Forms
      • Student Insurance
      • After Hours Assistance
    • Religious Life
      • Presbyterian Tradition
      • Church Relations
        • Presbyterian Covenant
      • Worship & Bible Study
      • Many Spiritual Traditions
      • ACtivators
      • Religious Life Staff
    • Residence Life
      • Room Selection
      • Living on Campus 2019-2020
      • First-Year Experience
      • Student Staff
      • Important Dates for Residence Life
    • Student Life
      • Campus Activities
      • Clubs & Organizations
        • ACtivators
        • Esports
        • Recreational Sports
      • Documents & Links
      • Greek Life
        • Potential Members
        • Greek Life Forms
        • Greek Life Events
        • Greek Sponsors
        • Greek Council
        • Order of Omega
      • Student Life Staff
      • Student Life Publications
      • Student Publication
      • Transportation Opportunities
    • Student Assembly
      • Student Assembly Representatives
      • Student Development Fund
      • Resolution Database
    • Service Station
      • Board Profiles
      • Great Day of Service
      • JanServe
      • First We Serve
      • Austin College Tutoring (ACT)
      • Alternative Spring Break
      • Aramark Appreciation
      • Tostan
      • Thrift Store Drive
      • RooBound
      • Servant of the Year
    • Sexual Misconduct Policy
      • Notice of Non-Discrimination
      • Scope of This Policy
      • Defining and Recognizing Prohibited Conduct
      • Additional Provisions, Definitions, and Clarifications
      • Resolution Process
    • Student Photo Gallery
  • Athletics
    • acroos.com
    • Legends
    • Athletics “A” Association
    • Support Athletics
  • Giving
    • Support Austin College
    • Tax Law and Giving
    • The Impact of Giving
      • Alumni Profiles
      • The Next Generation
      • Scholarships
      • Global Experiences
      • Athletics
    • Annual Giving
      • Reunion Class Campaign
      • Annual Fund
      • Senior Gifts
    • Scholarships
      • Scholar Stories
    • Support Athletics
      • The Jerry and Joy Apple Challenge for Coaching
      • Robert T. Mason Society
    • Faith and Engagement
      • Sara Bernice Moseley Presbyterian Scholars Program
    • Estate Planning
      • Request More Information
    • Ways to Give
      • Campus Campaign
      • Recognition Societies
    • Contact Us
    • Texoma Women Get Connected
      • ATHENA Leadership Award
Info For...
  • MyAC
  • Alumni
  • Parents
  • News
  • Calendar
  • Library
  • Quick Links
Home » Staff Directory » Dr. Karánn Durland

Dr. Karánn Durland

Updated on: July 1, 2015

Karánn Durland

Professor of Philosophy

Philosophy / Academic

Office:
Sherman Hall 304
Mailbox:
61549
Email:
Email
Phone:
903.813.2260

Education

B.A., Texas Tech University
M.A., Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Endowed Chair

The George R. and Julia Blucher Jordan Chair of Humanities

Faculty Bio

Could everything be just a dream?  Does time flow, or all moments are equally real?  What is to be solid? to have a color?  Questions like these have fascinated me for as long as I can remember.  When it comes to answering them, I’d say that nothing beats looking to the world’s greatest thinkers for help.  Plato, Descartes, Hume, or Kant may not always be right, but when they make a wrong turn, it’s usually an interesting one that can teach us a lot.  Simply understanding their views takes us a good distance toward  answering life’s big questions.  The journey gets even better when we start to engage their ideas in careful, critical, and even creative ways.  Philosophy at its best is an on-going conversation.  It is as much an activity or practice as it is a treasure chest of interesting ideas and valuable information. The courses that I teach explore life’s big questions along the lines just sketched. Great minds from the past give us our starting points. We study what important recent thinkers have added to the discussion, and we extend the conversation by joining it ourselves.  This approach works well with just about every subject that I teach.

Some Courses

  • Philosophy 207:  “Ethics and the Environment”
  • Philosophy 209:  “Ethics and Medicine”
  • Philosophy 225:  “Early Modern Philosophy”
  • Philosophy 306:  “Knowledge and Reality”
  • Philosophy 307:  “Environmental Philosophy: Thinking Like a Mountain”
  • Philosophy 308:  “Metaphysics:  What is Reality?”

Research Interests

Most of my research focuses on the eighteenth-century philosopher David Hume.  His interests include epistemology, metaphysics, moral philosophy, and even history, but I tend to concentrate on his epistemology.  This is an area in philosophy that investigates the nature and limits of knowledge.  Hume raises some terrifically vexing problems about the justification of our beliefs, problems that continue to dog us today and that I’d encourage everyone to spend a little time considering.  Some of my own work explores them, but I’m also interested in Hume’s less skeptical and more naturalistic treatment of beliefs.  His ideas intersect with those of natural philosophers of the period (particularly Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle, and Isaac Newton) in surprising and instructive ways.  Lately I’ve been spending my time studying their attitudes toward analogies and examining their advice for identifying causes and effects.  Someday I hope to return to some problems that fall more squarely in metaphysics – ones that involve, say, color or the occupancy of space – but there’s lots worth doing in epistemology first.

Some Publications

  • “Extreme Skepticism and Commitment in the ” Hume Studies 37.1 (2011).
  • “Hume’s First Principle, the Missing Shade of Blue, and the Distinctions of Reason,” Hume Studies, 22.1 (April 1996): 105-121.

Faculty Extras

I am the faculty sponsor of the Philosophy Club, and I direct the college’s Western Intellectual Tradition program. The Philosophy Club is a student organized group. It holds informal discussions on philosophical issues, watches philosophically-themed films, sponsors faculty panels on issues of philosophical significance, and does some service work.  The Western Intellectual Tradition (WIT) program offers an interdisciplinary minor in great books and great works of art and music from antiquity through the eighteenth century.  Minors in WIT not only read texts by such philosophers as Aristotle and Locke but have a chance to study the works of Cicero, Botticelli, Bach, Chaucer, and Sophocles, among many others.  A WIT minor is a great supplement to a philosophy major!

Filed Under: Staff Directory

GET IN TOUCH

903.813.2000
Austin College
900 N. Grand Ave.
Sherman, TX 75090

Contact Us

GET SOCIAL

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn

GET LINKED

  • Quick Links
  • Human Resources
  • Campus Offices
  • Directory
  • Email
  • Sexual Misconduct

GET CONNECTED

Subscribe to Austin College E-Communication

Connect to AC

Request Information

Copyright © 2019 - All rights reserved | Site Map | Privacy Policy | Consumer Information | Site by thrive-logo