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Alumni Profiles

Undergraduate and graduate alumni from the Northwestern's Philosophy Department can be found in a variety of professions across the globe. Below are the profiles of a few of these individuals.

• Charles Courtney
• Nick Ettinger
• Ben Hyink
• Jessica Lee
• John Linardakis
• Amber North
• Daniel O'Keefe

Charles Courtney

Ph.D. 1965

Charles Courtney (Ph.D. '65) is translator of "My" Jesus: Meditations on Gospel Texts by LouisSimon, with a Foreword by Paul Ricoeur (Wipf and Stock, 2011). While writing his Northwestern dissertation (1962-64), Courtney was part of Simon's congregation in Massy-Palaiseau south of Paris. Ricoeur's friendship and association with Simon is recounted in Francois Dosse's Pail Ricoeur. Les sens d'une vie, chapter 29, "Massy-Palaiseau sous le charme de Louis Simon." Courtney began teaching at Drew University in 1964 and retired as Professor in 2004.

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Nick Ettinger

B.A. 1995

I graduated from NU in 1995 with a dual degree in mathematics and philosophy. I have very fond memories of my philosophy classes and the great books I read.  After graduation I joined the US Peace Corps. I was stationed in Botswana, Southern Africa for several years and taught high school mathematics at a rural boarding school.  After I finished teaching, I decided to attend medical school where I also discovered that I enjoyed bench research. I applied and was accepted into a joint MD/PhD training program at the University of Iowa (I'm from Iowa originally). After completing medical school and receiving a PhD focused on a tropical infectious parasite called Leishmania chagasi, I applied for a residency in Pediatrics and matched at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville, TN. I'm currently in my third year here, and am in the process of applying for a fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care.

The mathematics and philosophy degree programs meshed well. The metaphor that I used to describe it at the time, which I still think is apt, is that in both disciplines you are mentally manipulating abstract pieces, trying to make them fit in a kind of mental-jigsaw puzzle. When I made the pieces "fit" (i.e. when I completed the mathematical proof or when wrote a cogent philosophical argument or analysis) then I often had the mental sensation of jigsaw puzzle pieces turning together or rotating together, and a "result" popping out the bottom of the machine.

More practically, the philosophy degree helped me hone my writing skills and think critically about how to structure a written piece in order to make it clear and concise.

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Ben Hyink

B.A. 2005

At NU I majored in philosophy with an emphasis on philosophy of mind though in addition to core courses, I took some political theory courses (one with Jurgen Habbermas on trans- or supra-national governance) and Continental philosophy classes (with Kleinberg-Levin - philosophy of history and philosophy of language). I nearly double-majored in psychology with an emphasis on neuroscience and cognitive science (I took one course with Dedre Gentner). In addition to a course on Kant's, "Critique of Pure Reason" I took an independent study course under the guidance of visiting professor Kenneth R. Westphal on the treatment of apperception in contemporary mainstream theories of consciousness (Westphal argues for pragmatic realism from a "trancendental"/world-access perspective). I also took a class with Axel Muller on the philosophy of Hilary Putnam. Mark Sheldon was my adviser.

After graduating from NU in 2005, I threw myself into activism for several years. I founded and chaired the campus outreach arm of an institution now called "Humanity Plus" promoting the "transhumanist movement" - an open biopolitical stance cautiously embracing the potential benefits of allowing people to voluntarily enhance their capabilities through technology, including living longer, healthier lives. I also served for some years as the intern coordinator of the "technoprogressive" (politically progressive and pro-tech) bioethics think-tank, the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technology (IEET). I had thought I would pursue a career researching neural networks but put off applying during my activist years. Recently, I reassessed my career path and decided to pursue a masters in nursing. Currently, I am taking prerequisite courses at the College of DuPage, where I began my college experience before transferring to NU. At some point in the future I think I would like to transition from nursing into something more directly related to life extension research and development.

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Jessica Lee

B.A. 2009

I was introduced to Philosophy at Northwestern University through the fulfilment of a distribution requirement. I walked into my first History of Philosophy lecture as a sophomore without any background knowledge of the subject and without a special interest. But the philosophical theories of Descartes, Hume, and Locke seemed to have a familiar ring to them, and I quickly became eager to learn more. I ultimately chose to study Philosophy and Neurobiology at Northwestern, being particularly interested in the mind, and had the opportunity to take classes in all areas of historical and analytic philosophy: from Descartes and Foucault, to Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Epistemology, and Ethics.

I became more serious in my philosophical studies after studying Epistemology with Jennifer Lackey in the Spring of my junior year. Upon being particularly unsettled by a view called pragmatic encroachment, I resolved to expand on my concerns about the view in an undergraduate dissertation. Undertaking this project while taking advanced-level philosophy courses was highly challenging yet rewarding and it taught me how to effectively incorporate relevant literature into my arguments as well as how to use different reasoning techniques to formulate clear philosophical ideas. My increasing curiosity in philosophy from studying Philosophy of Mind with Professor Sanford Goldberg and Political Philosophy with Professor Charles Mills led me to look into graduate schools to continue my studies and broaden my interest in Philosophy.

In 2009, I matriculated at the University of Oxford in the B.Phil program in Philosophy. In my two years at Oxford as a graduate student, I studied Epistemology with Professor John Hawthorne, Philosophy of Mind with Dr. Anandi Hattiangadi, and Frege with Dr. Gabriel Uzquiano. I am currently working on a project in Epistemology, focusing on how the knowledge norm of assertion may be affected by testimony (if at all), under the supervision of Dr. Elizabeth Fricker and Professor John Hawthorne. Studying philosophy at Oxford has been an incredible experience, and the demanding workload of the B.Phil program has been unlike any other. Studying philosophy at Northwestern has prepared me tremendously for my work at Oxford, and I am forever grateful for the guidance and commitment of the faculty at NU. I am certain that the skills that I have acquired as well as the lessons that I have learned from my studies will continue to be invaluable in my future career.

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John Linardakis

B.A. 1985

Entering college already as an accomplished and professional musician, I studied chemistry and then declared my major as Philosophy in Fall, Junior Year, 1983 as it was “less vertical” than the sciences.  The primary impetus for this was two-fold: (1) my father, a M.D., was diagnosed with cancer and died just after my freshman year in college; (2) the impact of studying philosophy was a stronger “force” due to the loss of a loved one during a vulnerable period of my life, and the strength of NU’s philosophy department courses, guidance and wisdom conveyed by mentor, philosopher, and existentialist, Prof. David M. Levin.  I studied under him and focused on phenomenology and existentialism.

Professor Levin became my shepherd in young adult life and learning, as I was impacted by his classes and teachings in ways of living, developing thinking and writing skills that I have used throughout my adult life to think, communicate, solve problems analytically, work in science and medical neuroscience research, and teach in academic sciences, corporate industry, and college chemistry. The early study and training in philosophy has provided me the development of higher order thinking skills in order to work and succeed at any given task, live life as it is actually lived, ask the more profound questions in life, while science has provided a means of attempting to answer those questions with concrete data and truths and earning a sensible, practical living. 

I have held successful academic and industrial work experiences in premiere settings that I attribute to the early study of philosophy and liberal arts and sciences at Northwestern, as well as an advanced graduate degree from Northwestern. With a philosophy degree in hand, I worked in a business office, doing administrative/office work, then, taught junior high science and entered immunoassay chemistry/diagnostics industry for over a decade, with combined adolescent and adult teaching experiences for over a decade, and almost seven years of fundamental medical research experience, the last three and a half years at Feinberg School of Medicine, laboratory of Magerstadt Memorial Professor of Physiology, Dr. John F. Disterhoft. I am also adjunct professor of Chemistry at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. As a professional musician, I have performed on occasion.

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Amber North

B.A. 2008

My time studying Philosophy at NU was very rewarding, and fundamental for shaping my future path. While at NU I was introduced to the power of philosophical reasoning for approaching our most difficult societal problems, in the more abstract and practical forms, and for understanding the complexities and intricacies of the human condition. I had the opportunity to take classes that were far reaching in both subject and method, from the philosophy of art to the philosophy of science, from Kant to Putnam, and from analytic to continental. I have come to realize that this approach to philosophical teaching is quite unique to the NU dept, and it helped me to understand the impact that Philosophy can have in its many different approaches. In short, as many as there are questions, so there are philosophical investigations that may be explored.

I chose to study Philosophy and International Studies, and ended up focusing in particular on philosophy of science towards the end of my undergraduate career. I became interested in our moves toward a new naturalistic world view, and how we should frame discussions of our most cherished "human" subjects given this new context. It was these interests that led me to pursue graduate work in Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, via the blessing of a Beinecke and a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. The support of these scholarships has allowed me to pursue a unique PhD project in foundations of Ethics, focused on what we may conclude from the overlapping structure of theoretical and practical deliberation. I am currently trying construct what I call a "positive ethics" which leans on metaethical constructivism, and its possibilities for moral "progress."  I am working on this project with Professor Simon Blackburn and Dr. Hallvard Lillehammer.

My time at Cambridge has also allowed me to be an active participant and leader in the "Gates Scholars Society," bringing some of what I learned at NU about interdisciplinarity and the role that philosophy can play to a series of research programs aimed at realizing this here in Cambridge. Following the PhD I am not sure what the future will hold, but I am prepared to take the academic work I do here into the wider world to make an impact as I know it can, and as I know philosophers may do if they are so minded--in either the academic or more pragmatic spheres. This is a lesson I learned at NU, and I am very grateful for the time I spent there, and the opportunities it has led me to.

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Daniel O'Keefe

B.A. 1993

Daniel J. O'Keefe is a Managing Director of Artisan Partners and lead portfolio manager for Artisan’s global value mutual fund and co-manager for Artisan’s non-U.S. value mutual fund.In 2008, Morningstar (a leading provider of independent investment research) gave Daniel and his partner, David Samra, its prestigious award in recognition of their investment excellence in managing an international stock fund. As of December 2010, the two currently manage in excess of nine billion dollars in global equities.

Prior to joining Artisan, Mr. O'Keefe was an analyst in international equities at Harris Associates LP in Chicago, from July 1997 through May 2002.  Before that, he was an associate in Mergers and Acquisitions at BancAmerica Securities from February 1995 through July 1997.  He started his career as an analyst with Morningstar from June 1993 through February 1995.

Mr. O'Keefe graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Northwestern University in 1993 with a degree in Philosophy. 

Daniel O'Keefe was the first Philosophy Alumni Lecturer in Spring 2011. Read more about the event here.

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