Scott Davidson

Professor

Specializations

Continental Philosophy
Social and Political Philosophy

Research Interests

Dr. Davidson’s research focuses on leading figures in contemporary French philosophy, such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Emmanuel Levinas, Michel Henry and Paul Ricoeur, to name a few. He is especially interested in exploring how recent developments in French theory can yield new insights into topics in the areas of ethics, political philosophy, the philosophy of law, and the philosophy of embodiment.

Dr. Davidson has translated four books and numerous articles by Michel Henry into English, and he has recently published The Michel Henry Reader. In addition, he has edited five books on the work of Paul Ricoeur, including most recently a three part series on Ricoeur’s early philosophy of the will. Samples of his own writings are available on his page on Academia.edu: https://wvu.academia.edu/ScottDavidson

Dr. Davidson serves as editor of the Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy. The contents of the journal are open access and freely downloadable. They can be accessed at http://www.jffp.org.

Recent Publications

The Michel Henry Reader, Northwestern University Press, 2019. http://www.nupress.northwestern.edu/content/michel-henry-reader

A Companion to Ricoeur’s The Symbolism of Evil, Lexington Books, forthcoming 2020.

A Companion to Ricoeur’s Fallible Man, Lexington Books, 2019. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498587129/A-Companion-to-Ricoeur%27s-Fallible-Man

A Companion to Ricoeur’s Freedom and Nature, Lexington Books, 2018. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498578882/A-Companion-to-Ricoeur's-Freedom-and-Nature

Teaching Interests

Dr. Davidson has taught about twenty different courses covering a broad range of topics. His teaching responsibilities at WVU include the areas of ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of law. He is interested in the question posed by Paul Ricoeur concerning how to live “the good life, with and for others, within just institutions.” And he is especially interested in questions about the relationship between the values of economic markets and other forms of valuing, which ultimately boils down to the question, “Should everything be for sale?” He is especially interested in mentoring pre-law students who are studying philosophy with the goal of pursuing a career in law. In the future, he hopes to develop seminar courses focused on specific figures of interest, such as Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, and Judith Butler.