Jon K. Burmeister, PhD
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
PhD, Boston College
MA, Boston College
BA, Asbury University
Areas of Interest
- German idealism
- Existentialism
- Philosophy of technology
- Social and political philosophy
- History of western philosophy
Grants and Award
Principle Investigator, NEH “Enduring Questions” Grant, for the project “What is the Meaning of Work and Leisure?” at Boston College, 2016-2018. National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, D.C. workandleisure.org
Stipend Recipient, Second Annual International Summer School in German Philosophy, Universität Bonn, “The Philosophical Relevance of Hegel’s Subjective Logic,” July 4-15, 2011
DAAD Yearlong Research Grant, October 2008 through July 2009, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, in Freiburg, Germany
Publications
Books
Co-editor with Mark Sentesy, On Language: Analytic, Continental, and Historical Contributions, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007. Includes essays by Geoffrey Bennington and Jaakko Hintikka.
Articles, Published and Forthcoming
We Can Automate Work. Can We Automate Meaning?” in The Philosopher’s Magazine, Issue 81, 2018.
“Hollywood Love and Liberal Arts Love in Plato’s Symposium,” in Selecte
“Hegel’s Living Logic,” in Research in Phenomenology, Volume 43.2, 2013, pg. 243-264.
Book Reviews
Review of The Actual and the Rational: Hegel and Objective Spirit, by Jean-François Kervégan. International Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 59, No. 2, Issue 234 (June 2019).
“Re-Placing Hume.” Review of David Hume: Platonic Philosopher, Continental Ancestor, by Bernard Freydberg. Research in Phenomenology, Volume 45.1, 2015, pg. 161-167.
“Getting to the Matter of Language.” Review of Die Sprache der Philosophie, by Damir Barbarić. Research in Phenomenology, Volume 42.1, 2012, pg. 138-147.
Conferences Organized
Organizer of the interdisciplinary, NEH-funded conference “The Liberal Arts and the Future of Work and Leisure,” Boston College, taking place April 5, 2018. View here
Organizer of the interdisciplinary, NEH-funded conference “The Future of Work in the Age of Automation,” Boston College, February 27, 2017. View here
Organizer of the international conference “Encountering Hegel,” Boston College, March 16-17, 2007.
Organizer of the conference “On Language: Analytic, Continental, and Historical Perspectives,” Boston College, April 7-8, 2006.
Courses Taught
- PHIL 100 and 200 courses: Philosophy of Love and Desire; The Individual and the Political: What is it to be Free?; Perspectives on Western Culture (12-credit course in philosophy and religion); Ethics and the Good Life; Philosophy of Human Nature
- PHIL 300 course: What is the Meaning of Work and Leisure? View here
- PHIL 400 course: 19th and 20th c. Existentialism
Presentations
Invited Speaker, “The Future of Meaningful Work: What Will A.I.’s Impact Be?” Presented at the conference “Grappling with the Futures,” Harvard University/Boston University, April 29-30, 2018.
Presenter and Moderator on the panel “A.I. and the Internet of Things,” at the conference “Algorithms, Ethics, and Accountability,” Boston University, March 16, 2018.
Respondent and Moderator on the panel “Sittlichkeit: For and Against,” at the conference “Kant and the Possibility of Progress,” Boston College, February 16-17, 2018.
“A Cybernetic Blur: Hannah Arendt on Work, Automation, and Human Meaning.” Presented at Dr. Juliet Floyd’s graduate seminar “Analytic Philosophy: Machines and Us,” Boston University, November 6, 2017.
“Hannah Arendt on Speech and Action: What No Person (or Computer) Can Do for You.” Presented at the Association for Core Texts and Courses annual conference, Dallas, TX, April 22, 2017.
“What is Left to Contingency: Hegel’s Philosophical Minimalism.” Presented at The Metaphysical Society of America’s 68th Annual Meeting, “The Metaphysics of Contingency: East and West,” Cambridge, MA, April 1, 2017.
“Spiritual Exercises in Seneca and Ignatius: From Concepts to Practice to Phantom Buzzes.” Presented at the Perspectives Program Annual Workshop, Boston College, May 20, 2016.
“Virtual Reality: Future Benefits, Future Risks.” Presented at the Boston College Philosophical Society, February 22, 2016.
“Nietzsche and Amor Fati: The Will of Fate and the Will to Create.” Presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, Atlanta, GA, October 10, 2015.
“Liberal Arts Love in Plato’s Symposium.” Presented at the ACTC annual conference. Conference Theme: “The Arts and Sciences of a Core Text Education: What Are They and Why Do We Need Them?” Plymouth, MA, April 9-11, 2015.
“Hegel and Quine on Analytic Statements and Semantic Holism.” Presented at the conference “Hegel, Analytic Philosophy, and Formal Logic,” Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne, October 17, 2014.
“Hegel on Active and Passive Modes of Comprehension.” Presented at the conference “Passivity and Human Experience,” McGill University, April 5, 2013.
“A Critique of Ground as a Rethinking of Ontology in the Science of Logic.” Presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, Philadelphia, PA, October 19-22, 2011.
“Language as Divine Reversal.” Presented at the Ontario Hegel Organization Annual Meeting, University of Ottawa, April 2, 2011.
Translations (From German to English)
Damir Barbaric, “The Look from Beyond: On Paul Klee’s View of Art,” in Paul Klee and Philosophical Vision: From Nature to Art. Edited by John Sallis. Boston: McMullen Museum of Art, 2012.
Heinrich Rickert, “Knowing and Cognizing: Critical Remarks on Theoretical Intuitionism,” in The Neo-Kantian Reader: An Anthology of Key Texts. Edited by Sebastian Luft. New York/London: Routledge, 2012.
Sebastian Luft, “Some Basic Problems in Husserl’s Unpublished Late Texts on the Phenomenological Reduction,” in Subjectivity and Lifeworld in Transcendental Phenomenology, a collection by Sebastian Luft. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University, Press, 2011.
Memberships
Hegel Society of America
Metaphysical Society of America
Association for Core Texts and Courses