Andrew K. Whitehead
ANDREW K. WHITEHEAD is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Kennesaw State University.
He specializes in East-West comparative philosophy, particularly concerning Japanese Buddhist philosophy, the Kyoto School, Chinese Daoism, and the German and French traditions of phenomenology and existentialism. His current research projects include a philosophical interpretation of the works of the medieval Zen poet Ikkyū Sōjun (1394-1481) and a critical re-interpretation of subjective integration in light of the existential tension that arises at the intersection of complex social systems and phenomenology.
He teaches classes in East Asian philosophies, the European continental tradition, and East-West comparative philosophy. His regular course offerings at Kennesaw State University include Chinese Philosophy, Japanese Philosophy, Existentialism, and Phenomenology.
Andrew K. Whitehead is presently the President of the Académie du Midi Philosophical Association, an Associate Editor of the journal Comparative and Continental Philosophy, an Executive Officer of the Comparative and Continental Philosophy Circle, and a Guest Professor for the Higher Institute of Philosophy (HIW) at KU Leuven in Belgium.
In 2015, he was a Kennesaw State University Foundation Outstanding Early Career Faculty Award winner at Kennesaw State University for outstanding achievement in teaching, research, and service, and the Distinguished Early Career Faculty Award winner for the department of History and Philosophy. He was an invited Visiting Research Fellow at the KU Leuven Higher Institute of Philosophy’s (HIW) Husserl Archives in Belgium for Summer 2015. He was also one of the recipients of an Incentive Funding Award for Scholarship & Creative Activity from the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Kennesaw State University in 2016.
In 2017, he was the Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award winner for the department of History and Philosophy, and an invited lecturer on ‘Politics and the Phenomenological Tradition’ as a part of the Memorial European Summer School in Philosophy in Belgium. He was again an invited Visiting Research Fellow at KU Leuven in Belgium for Summer 2017 and 2018, and an invited bijzonder gastprofessor (Extraordinary Guest Professor) in Fall 2017 and 2018.
He was honored to serve as Chaire Asie of the center for East Asian Studies at Université libre de Bruxelles in Belgium for the 2018-2019 academic year, charged with providing MA and doctoral students in Political science, Anthropology, Letters, and Philosophy with a critical assessment of modern and contemporary East Asian societies.
His recent book publications include (selection):
Critique, Subversion, and Chinese Philosophies: Socio-Political, Conceptual, and Methodological Challenges, edited with Hans-Georg Moeller (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020)
Imagination: Cross-Cultural Philosophical Analyses, edited with Hans-Georg Moeller (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018)
Wisdom and Philosophy: Contemporary and Comparative Approaches, edited with Hans-Georg Moeller (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016)
Landscape and Travelling East and West: A Philosophical Journey, edited with Hans-Georg Moeller (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014)
His recent research presentations include (selection):
“How Could I Do That?: A Non-Dualist Comparative Existentialist Ethics.” Roundtable on “World Perspectives on Self, Rights, and the Shared Good,” Conference on Rethinking Rights in Times of Crisis: Local and Global Perspectives on Resilience and Dignity in Kennesaw, USA, 2020
"When Foul-Mouthed Frogs Jump in the Pond: Invective Communication in Zen Buddhism.” Invited Lecture, Université Libre de Bruxelles and Waseda University Joint Workshop on Insults, Hate Speech, and Denigration: Invective Communication and the Dynamization of Social Order in Brussels, Belgium, 2020
“The Correlational in Husserl and Dōgen.” 14th Annual Meeting of the Comparative and Continental Philosophy Circle in Leiden, Netherlands, 2019
“Comparative Phenomenology: The Fundamental Notion of the Correlational.” Conference on 20th Century East Asian Philosophies: Intercultural Entanglements and Original Contributions in Brussels, Belgium, 2019
“Wordless Practices: Zen Critiques of Language.” Invited Lecture, Permanent Training Lecture Series on Buddhist Traditions of East Asia, Centre for Buddhist Studies, Universiteit Gent, Belgium, 2019
"Without Language, Without Knowing, Without Self: Zen as a Case Study." Invited Lecture, l'Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, 2019
"Re-Coordinating the Comparative Compass: Methodological Tendencies and Axes of Investigation in and for the Twenty-First Century." Invited Lecture, l'Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, 2019
