Michelle V. Switzer

Biography

Michelle Switzer is a value theorist and social philosopher studying ideology as the complex ways we are pressured to feel and behave against our own interests, most especially at the expense of oppressed others and of nature. Switzer was trained as an Anglo-analytic political philosopher. Yet “placed” at a Hispanic serving-institution, she has developed competence in philosophy of race and anti-colonial philosophy, growing the fruits of interdisciplinary teaching to address the interests of the diverse student population. This process was helped by an Irvine grant to diversify the curriculum in 2006, and in 2013 Switzer presented at the first-ever American Philosophical Association Conference on Diversity in Philosophy. Her current research brings anti-hierarchical feminist and anti-colonial philosophies to bear on the importance of a connection to living place in eco-philosophy. Switzer’s pedagogy aspires to enact a genuinely democratic classroom via egalitarian, respectful methods of listening. She is fluent in French.

Research Interest

Social Philosophy,Value Theory,Theory of Ideology,Feminist Philosophy,Eco- and Environmental Philosophy.Philosophy of Race Anti-Colonial philosophy