Faculty Profile

Leah Kalmanson

Title
Associate Professor
Department
Philosophy and Religion
College
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

    

    

      


                          

            
Curriculum Vitae

            

              Click Here to View Faculty CV
            

          

        
                          

            
Education

            



  

  


  
PhD, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2010. 
Major: Philosophy
Degree Specialization: Comparative Philosophy
Dissertation Title: The Politics of Emptiness: Alterity, Autonomy, and the Radical Subjectivity of No-Self
MA, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2005. 
Major: Philosophy
BA, Oglethorpe University, 2000. 
Major: Philosophy





          

        
                

          
Current Scheduled Teaching*


          
PHIL 4500.001, Existentialism, Spring 2024 Syllabus
PHIL 6960.001, Semester in Problems of Philosophy, Spring 2024 Syllabus


          
*
  Texas Education Code 51.974 (HB 2504) requires each institution of
  higher education to make available to the public, a syllabus for
  undergraduate lecture courses offered for credit by the institution.
  

        

      

    

  


    

    

      


        


          


            
Previous Scheduled Teaching*


            
                    

                    PHIL 3680.001, Buddhism, Daoism, Shintoism, Fall 2023 Syllabus SPOT
                    

                    PHIL 4951.001, Honors College Capstone Thesis, Fall 2023 
                    

                    PHIL 3630.001, Jainism, Fall 2023 Syllabus SPOT
                    

                    PHIL 4500.001, Existentialism, Spring 2023 Syllabus SPOT
                    

                    PHIL 3620.001, Hinduism, Spring 2023 Syllabus SPOT
                    

                    PHIL 3996.001, Honors College Mentored Research Experience, Spring 2023 Syllabus
                    

                    PHIL 5900.006, Special Problems, Spring 2023 Syllabus
                    

                    PHIL 3680.001, Buddhism, Daoism, Shintoism, Fall 2022 Syllabus SPOT
                    

                    PHIL 6960.001, Semester in Problems of Philosophy, Fall 2022 Syllabus SPOT
                    

                    PHIL 6900.713, Special Problems, Fall 2022 Syllabus
                    

                    PHIL 2070.001, World Religions, Spring 2022 Syllabus SPOT
                    

                    PHIL 3680.001, Buddhism, Daoism, Shintoism, Fall 2021 Syllabus SPOT
                    

                    PHIL 3620.001, Hinduism I : From the Vedas to the Gita, Fall 2021 Syllabus SPOT

          


          
*
  Texas Education Code 51.974 (HB 2504) requires each institution of
  higher education to make available to the public, a syllabus for
  undergraduate lecture courses offered for credit by the institution.
  

        

      

    

  

  
  	

	

	  

		

		   
Published Publications



  

  
Published Intellectual Contributions


  
Book
Kalmanson, L., Kirloskar-Steinbach, M.  (2021). A Practical Guide to World Philosophies: Selves, Worlds, and Ways of Knowing. Bloomsbury. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2020). Cross-Cultural Existentialism: On the Meaning of Life in Asian and Western Thought. 
Kalmanson, L., Rivera-Berruz, S.  (2018). Comparative Studies in Asian and Latin American Philosophies. Bloomsbury. 
Kalmanson, L., Knepper, T.  (2017). Ineffability: An Exercise in Comparative Philosophy of Religion. Springer. 
Kalmanson, L., Shields, J. M. (2014). Buddhist Responses to Globalization. 
Kalmanson, L., Mattice, S., F. G. (2013). Levinas and Asian Thought. 
Kalmanson, L., Chang, W.  (2010). Confucianism in Context: Classic Philosophy and Contemporary Issues, East Asia and Beyond. 
Book Chapter
Kalmanson, L. E. (2024). Not a Moment of Worry: Confucian Views on the Value of Anxiety. The Moral Psychology of Anxiety. 
Kalmanson, L. E. (2023). The Theological Irony of White Christian Nationalism: A View from the South. In Sheep's Clothing: The Idolatry of White Christian Nationalism. Rowman & Littlefield. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2023). Theory and Method in the Philosophy of Religion in China’s Song Dynasty. Diversifying  Philosophy of Religion: Critiques, Methods, and Case Studies. Bloomsbury. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/diversifying-philosophy-of-religion-9781350264021/
Kalmanson, L.  (2023). Self-Cultivation and Political Power in Feminism and Chinese Philosophy. Key Concepts in World Philosophies: A Toolkit for Philosophers. Bloomsbury. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/key-concepts-in-world-philosophies-9781350168138/
Kalmanson, L.  (2022). Jewish Perspectives on Charity: A Philosophy for Hopeless Times. Applying Jewish Ethics:  Beyond the Rabbinic Tradition. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793655318/Applying-Jewish-Ethics-Beyond-the-Rabbinic-Tradition
Kalmanson, L. E., Ishii, M.  (2022). 内部性とはな にか──レヴィナスとアジア思想における超越と内的経験 [What is interiority? Transcendence and inner experience in Levinas and Asian thought]. 個と普遍──レヴィナス哲学の新たな広がり [Individual and universal: the new spread of the philosophy of Levinas].  Tokyo: Hosei University Press. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2021). Roots and Branches: Self-Cultivation as Political Transformation in Neo-Confucian Thought. The Chinese Ideology. Routledge. 
Kalmanson, L., Guerrero, L., Mattice, S.  (2020). The East in the West: Chinese, Japanese, and Indian Philosophy in the 20th Century. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2019). Whiteness and the Construction of Buddhist Philosophy in Meiji Japan. Buddhism and Whiteness. Lexington. 
Kalmanson, L., Yusa, M.  (2019). Raichō: Zen and the Female Body in the Development of Japanese Feminist Philosophy. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2018). Like You Mean It: Buddhist Teachings on Selflessness, Sincerity, and the Performative Practice of Liberation. Self/No-Self: Claremont Studies in Philosophy of Religion. Mohr Siebeck. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2017). Dharma and Dao: Key Terms in the Comparative Philosophy of Religion. Ineffability: An  Exercise in Comparative Philosophy of Religion. Springer. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2017). Pure Land Ecology: Taking the Supernatural Seriously in Environmental Philosophy. Japanese Environmental Philosophy. Oxford. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2016). Commentary on Giving. Engaging Dōgen’s Zen: The Philosophy of Practice as Liberation. Wisdom Publications. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2014). An Inexhaustible Storehouse for an Insurmountable Debt: A Buddhist Reading of Reparations. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2009). The Ethics of Emptiness: A Comparative Study of Watsuji Tetsurō and Emmanuel Levinas. 
Book Review
Kalmanson, L. E. (2023). Reflections on Buddhism and Structural Change (review of Daniel Capper’s Roaming Free Like  a Deer: Buddhism and the Natural World). Sakyadhita: International Association of Buddhist Women. 31(1), . 
Kalmanson, L. E. (2022). Sokthan Yeng and the Superpower of Buddhist Feminism. The Arrow: A Journal of Wakeful Society, Culture, and Politics. 9(3), . https://arrow-journal.org/contemplative-superpowers-for-social-change/
Kalmanson, L.  (2022). Wild Dreams: Cultivating Change in and with Community. Philosophy East and West. Response to readers in a review feature on Cross-Cultural Existentialism by Leah Kalmanson. 72(1), 290-293. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2021). Philosophy as ‘Commentary’: Ruminating on Buddhas Old and New. Philosophy East and West. Contribution to a review feature on Nietzsche and Other Buddhas: Philosophy after Comparative Philosophy by Jason Wirth. 71(4), 1060-1069. 
Broadcast Media
Kalmanson, L., Dolinsek, C., Yeng, S., Sparrow, T., Jones Medine, C., Song, B.  (2022). Symposium on Cross-Cultural Existentialism by Leah Kalmanson. Syndicate: A Living Network of Scholarship in the Humanities (online magazine). https://syndicate.network/symposia/philosophy/cross-cultural-existentialism/
Kalmanson, L., Kirloskar-Steinbach, M.  (2022). Views from Everywhere. Aeon Magazine. Aeon Media Group. https://aeon.co/essays/how-academic-philosophy-can-become-truly-diverse-and-global
Journal Article
Kalmanson, L. E. (2023). How to Change Your Mind: The Contemplative Practices of Philosophy. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements. 93(May), 69-79. 
Kalmanson, L. E. (2022). The Multiple Histories of Philosophy: Or, Reimagining Modernity from Tokugawa Japan. Pragmatism Today. 13(1), 50-60. https://www.pragmatismtoday.eu/summer2022/The-Multiple-Histories-of-Philosophy-Or-Reimagining-Modernity-from-Tokugawa-Japan-Leah-Kalmanson.pdf
Kalmanson, L.  (2022). From Speculative Realism to Ki-Realism: Or, Reality as Realization in Japanese Aesthetics. APA Studies on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies. https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.apaonline.org/resource/collection/2EAF6689-4B0D-4CCB-9DC6-FB926D8FF530/AsianV21n1-2.pdf
Kalmanson, L.  (2021). A Visit to the Local God: Reclaiming the Diversity of the Divine. Journal of the Pacific Association for the Continental Tradition. 4, 22-44. https://hilo.hawaii.edu/jpact/issues/documents/jpact/volume-4-2021/JPACT04Kalmanson.pdf
Kalmanson, L.  (2019). Lessons from the Sanjie: Merit Economies as Catalysts for Social Change. Studies in Chinese Religions. 5(2), 142-150. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2018). Speculation as Transformation in Chinese Philosophy: Speculative Realism, ‘New’ Materialism, and the Study of Li (理) and Qi (氣). Journal of World Philosophies. 3(1), 17-30. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2017). The Ritual Methods of Comparative Philosophy. Philosophy East and West. 67(2), 399-418. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2015). If You Show Me Yours: Reading all ‘Difference’ as ‘Colonial Difference’ in Comparative Philosophy. Comparative and Continental Philosophy. 7(2), 201-213. 
Kalmanson, L., Mattice, S.  (2015). The De of Levinas: Cultivating the Heart-Mind of Radical Passivity. Frontiers of Philosophy in China. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2012). Buddhism and bell hooks: Liberatory Aesthetics and the Radical Subjectivity of No-Self. Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2012). The Messiah and the Bodhisattva: Anti-Utopianism Re-Revisited. Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies. 
Kalmanson, L.  (2010). Levinas in Japan: The Ethics of Alterity and the Philosophy of No-Self. Continental Philosophy Review. 
Scholarly Preface
Kalmanson, L. E., Emmanuel, S. M. (2021). Foreword. Philosophy’s Big Questions: Comparing Buddhist and Western Approaches. https://cup.columbia.edu/book/philosophys-big-questions/9780231174879
Webpage
Kalmanson, L.  (2023). Diversification is Not Decolonization. Philosophy of Religion: Big Question Philosophy for Scholars and Students. https://philosophyofreligion.org/?p=525855
Kalmanson, L.  (2022). Leah Kalmanson on “Is There a Future for the Philosophy of Religion?”. Philosophy of Religion: Big Question Philosophy for Scholars and Students. https://philosophyofreligion.org/?p=525661



	
		
		
	  

	

	

  
    
	

	

	  

		

		   	
		
		
	  

	

	

	
	

  
  
  

  	

		

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  • Overall Summative Rating (median):
    
			This rating represents the combined responses of students to the four global summative items and is presented to provide an overall index of the class’s quality. Overall summative statements include the following (response options include a Likert scale ranging from 5 = Excellent, 3 = Good, and 1= Very poor):
				
      
					
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  • Challenge and Engagement Index:
    
			This rating combines student responses to several SPOT items relating to how academically challenging students found the course to be and how engaged they were. Challenge and Engagement Index items include the following (response options include a Likert scale ranging from 7 = Much higher, 4 = Average, and 1 = Much lower):
				
      
					
    • Do you expect your grade in this course to be
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    • The intellectual challenge presented was
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    • The amount of effort you put into this course was
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    • The amount of effort to succeed in this course was
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    • Your involvement in course (doing assignments, attending classes, etc.) was
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