Jacob Held
Professor of Philosophy and Assistant Provost for Academic Assessment and General Education
Wingo 215
(501) 450-5307
My primary background is in legal and political philosophy and 19th century German philosophy, specifically Fichte, Marx, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. But I consider myself a philosophical generalist. My usual teaching rotation includes Contemporary Moral Problems, Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Law, and Medieval Philosophy, but I enjoy the opportunity to teach outside of these areas and have taught Gender, Race, and Class, the Philosophy of Art, and Business Ethics, among others as well as many topics and readings courses. I also regularly lead the philosophy reading group sponsored by ACRE (the Arkansas Center for Research in Economics). I publish mostly at the intersection of philosophy and popular culture and have edited several books in this area including: Dr. Seuss and Philosophy – Oh, the Thinks You can Think, Wonder Woman and Philosophy – The Amazonian Mystique, Roald Dahl and Philosophy – A Little Nonsense Now and Then, and Stephen King and Philosophy. My current research interests include the Sophists, education, and assessment, federalism and civil liberties (primarily as it relates to due process and the 14th amendment), and the philosophy of sex and pornography. I am currently concluding work on the eighth edition of my textbook The Philosophy of Sex (eds. Halwani, Held, and McKeever) due out fall 2021.