Steven Werlin, Professor of Liberal Arts

Werlin has been a member of the Shimer faculty since 1996. At Shimer he has taught core courses in Philosophy, Mathematical Logic, Aesthetics, Literature, Social Sciences, English Composition, Physics, and Biology. He presently lives in Pétion-

Ville Haiti where he serves as the Coordinator of Shimer's international educational outreach. Werlin, working with Haitian partners, explores ways to make the kind of discussion-based education that Shimer offers a part of the life of teaching and learning in Haiti. He works with teachers and learners at all levels: primary school, secondary school, university, and adult literacy.   Werlin has been a visiting tutor at St. John’s College, Annapolis, and has taught at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. 

“At Shimer, I love the life of the classroom, and I teach several courses each semester. My educational background is in philosophy, mainly ancient and medieval, but at Shimer I have had the opportunity to teach broadly throughout the curriculum. Through the constant dialogue with students and colleagues, I have become more and more interested in the natural sciences, particularly genetics.”—Steven Werlin

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Philosophy, Loyola University Chicago, 1995
M.A., Philosophy, Loyola University Chicago, 1991
BA., Liberal Arts, St. Johns College, Annapolis, Maryland, 1985

RECENT ELECTIVES AND TUTORIALS TAUGHT

Aristotle’s Metaphysics               
Plato
Hegel’s Reading of Aristotle’s On the Soul   
Heidegger
Musil’s The Man Without Qualities        
Dostoevski’s The Brothers Karamazov
Tolstoy’s War and Peace           
The Hebrew Scriptures
Yiddish Literature               
Der Nister’s The Family Mashber
Radical Pedagogy               
Botany
Beginning and Intermediate Greek       
Intermediate Latin
Intermediate German

COLLOQUIA

“When a Core Text is Too Hard and the Good Consequences that Ensue,” Association of Core Texts and Courses, Montreal, Canada, Spring 2002

“Herodotus in Haiti,” Great Books Foundation, Chicago, Illinois, Spring 2001
“An Introduction to Plato’s Meno,” Association of Catholic Youth, Port au Prince, Haiti (in Creole), January 2000

“Beginning to Read Plato’s Phaedo,” Shimer College, Waukegan, Illinois, Fall 1998

“The World of The Family Mashber,” St. Mary’s College, Moraga, California, Spring 1998

“Anselm’s Proslogion,” Graduate Theology Union, Berkeley, California, Spring 1994

“Friendship and nous in Aristotle’s Ethics,” St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland, Summer 1992

“The Four Causes,” St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland, Summer 1990