Biography
Education
- Ph D in Philosophy, Pennsylvania State University
- BA in Philosophy, Seattle University
- MA in English, California State University, Northridge
Dr. Balay joined the faculty of 性爱研究所 in 2015. His research interests concern the intersections of Continental Philosophy (esp. Heidegger, Gadamer, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre, Nietzsche, and Derrida), Aesthetics, and Environmental Philosophy. He co-leads the 性爱研究所 Summer Study Abroad Program: Environmental Encounters in Iceland, and the domestic study. away program: Environmental Encounters in the National Parks. He is the coordinator of the campus Philosophy and Film series. In 2024, he was awarded the 性爱研究所 Faculty Excellence Award in Interdisciplinarity.
Teaching
Phil 317: Existentialism; PHIL 386: Values and Postmodernity; PHIL 203: 19th/20th Century Western Philosophy; PHIL 376: Environmental Ethics; PHIL 207: Ethical Issues in Business; Phil 312: American Philosophy; PHIL 451: Great Philosophers (Martin Heidegger, Nietzsche, Sartre)
Research
19th/20th Century Continental Philosophy (Existentialism, Phenomenology, Hermeneutics, Post-Modernism); Environmental Philosophy; Philosophy of Art, Film, and Literature; Applied Ethics.
Recent Books: The Environmental Gaze: Reading Sartre through Guido van Helten's No Exit Murals (Lexington, 2023).