Dr. Vannatta came to Morgan State University in 2010 after teaching at Casady School in Oklahoma City and spending four years in Southern Illinois earning his doctorate.  He was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2014 and full professor in 2018. He has served as Department Chair since 2015.  He is the author of Conservatism and Pragmatism in Law, Politics, and Ethics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014). His interests outside philosophy include golf, fitness, and other sports. 

Dr. Vannatta is on sabbatical for the Spring 2020 semester. Dr. Joanna Crosby is serving as Acting Chair of the Department for Spring 2020.

Curriculum Vitae

RESEARCH INTERESTS
American Philosophy (Classical and Contemporary Pragmatism), Philosophy of Law, History of Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Logic, Philosophy of Education, Ethics, Popular Culture and Philosophy

Philosophers of current interest include John Dewey, Michael Oakeshott, Edmund Burke, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Roger Scruton, and C.S. Peirce. His current project is Pragmatic Conservatism in Education and Art.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

The Pragmatism and Prejudice of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Ed. Seth Vannatta. (Lexington Books, 2019).
Vannatta, Seth. "Chidi's Indecision" in The Good Place and Philosophy. (Open Court, 2019), pp. 133-143.
Hills, Darrius and Vannatta, Seth. "Du Boisian Double Consciousness and the Appropriation of Black Bodies in Jordan Peele's Get Out." Civil American. Vol. 4, Article 1. (April 16, 2019). 
Vannatta, Seth. "Justice Holmes, the Social Darwinist." The Pluralist. Proceedings from the 2018 Meeting of SAAP, Vol. 14, No. 1, (2019), pp. 78-90.
Vannatta, Seth. "The Democratic Constitution: Butler and Posner on Pragmatism, Democracy, and Adjudication." Contemporary Pragmatism. Vol. 16, Issue 1 (2019), pp. 132-140.
Vannatta, Seth. "Conservative in What Sense? Conservatism and Pragmatism Revisited in Response to Plotica, Bell, and Mendenhall." Contemporary Pragmatism, Vol. 15, Issue 4, (2018), pp. 547-564.
Vannatta, Seth. "Leaping into the Gap: Religion and the Moral Life" in William James, Moral Philosophy, and the Moral Life. Jacob L. Goodson, Ed. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018). pp. 337-346.
Vannatta, Seth. "Essentialism and the Construction of Gender and Race on Season 2 of Lifetime's UnREAL." Popular Culture Review, Vol. 29, no. 1, (spring 2018), pp. 65-81.
Vannatta, Seth. "A Fallibilist Conservatism." Anamnesis. No. 6. (March, 2017), pp. 60-88.

COURSES TAUGHT AT MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

ASLP 602: Philosophy of Education (S17, S18)
PHIL 491: Senior Seminar II (S15-17)
PHIL 490: Senior Seminar I (F14-16)
PHIL 443: Great Books Seminar (F18-F19)
PHIL 441: Philosophy and Constitutional Thought (S15- S16, S19)
PHIL 438: Western Philosophy IV: Kant (F12, F13)
PHIL 423: Ethics and the Law (F10-11, F14-16)
PHIL 343: Philosophy of Law (F10-F13, F17)
PHIL 339: Western Philosophy V: 19th Century (S13)
PHIL 337: Western Philosophy III: Early Modern (S12, S18)
PHIL 310: Problems in Philosophy: American Pragmatism (F16)
PHIL 310: Problems in Philosophy: Philosophy of Education (S12)
PHIL 302: Formal and Informal Logic (S16, F17 - F18)
PHIL 223: Introduction to the Philosophy of Politics (S11)
PHIL 222: Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge (S14, S19)
PHIL 119: Honors Introduction to Critical Thinking (F19)
PHIL 109: Introduction to Logic (F/S, F10-S15)
ORLA 101E: Freshman Orientation (F13, F15)

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
American Philosophical Association
Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy