Faculty and staff

Joseph grew up in rural Newfoundland. As a first-generation university student, his academic journey was a transformative experience marked by self-discovery. Initially uncertain of his path, he spent his first two years taking courses that stirred his curiosity. After taking Russian, he found his passion for languages, which later led him to pursue graduate studies in French and German. It was during this time that he realized his deepest passion: philosophy, particularly the history of philosophy. Joseph has never forgotten the transformative years of his undergrad. They have instilled in him a desire to help his students appreciate the value of philosophy for one’s personal and academic growth—an experience he is eager to share with his students.

Courses taught:

PHIL 100 – Reasoning: An Introduction to Critical Thinking

PHIL 120 – Knowledge and Reality

PHIL 240 – Philosophy of Religion

PHIL 251A – Rationalism and Early Modern Philosophy

PHIL 251B – Empiricism and Early Modern Philosophy

PHIL 483L – Special Topics in Philosophy: Žižek as Philosopher

PHIL 483M – Special Topics in Philosophy: Hegel

PhD, McGill University, 2020

MA (Triple Degree), UCLouvain, University of Wuppertal, and University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès, 2012

MA, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2010

BA (Hons), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2008

Joseph’s teaching focuses on the history of philosophy and continental philosophy. His classes combine close readings of texts with reconstructions of the world behind the texts. One of his primary goals is to help students recognize that the history of philosophy is more than a chronicle of the intellectual past; it contains resources that enable us to critically reflect on the present.

Joseph’s current research centers on German Idealism and German Romanticism. He is completing a manuscript entitled The Naturalism and Realism of Hegel’s Logic.

He is also the co-editor of two volumes—The Palgrave Schelling Handbook (in press) and Rethinking German Idealism (2016)—and the author of Ontological Catastrophe: Žižek and the Paradoxical Metaphysics of German Idealism (Open Humanities Press, 2014).