Rate My Professor Katharine Loevy

Katharine Loevy is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Pacific University. She holds a PhD in Philosophy from Vanderbilt University, along with MA degrees in Religion and Art History from the same institution, and a BA from Grinnell College. Since joining Pacific University in 2012, she has advanced to her current position, contributing to both the Philosophy department and the Asia-Pacific Studies program. Loevy's expertise encompasses philosophy, with particular focus on Levinas and the animal question, Islamic philosophy including figures such as the Ikhwan al-Safa’ and al-Farabi, animal ethics, mysticism, literature, environmental philosophy, and phenomenology. Her scholarly work bridges continental philosophy with Islamic thought, exploring ethical dimensions of human-animal relations, the rhetoric of violence, and embodied mysticism.

Loevy has an extensive publication record in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. Notable works include “Literary Resistance to the Philosophy of Slavery in Medieval Islam: The Ikhwan as-Safa’ and al-Farabi,” published in Philosophy and Literature (2020); “The Ikhwan al-Safa’’s Animal Accusers: An Islamic Debate on Animal Slavery,” in Environmental Philosophy (2019); “Homo Homini Lupus: Levinas and the Animal Within,” in Face-to-Face with Animals: Levinas and the Animal Question (2019); “The Poetics of the Body in Islamic Mysticism,” in Philosophy East and West (2018); “The Fear of the Dog: Levinas’s Animal Images,” in Philosophy Today (2017); “Al-Farabi’s Images,” in Epoché: A Journal for the History of Philosophy (2016); “Animal Compassion: What the Jātakas Teach Levinas About Giving ‘The Bread from One’s Own Mouth,’” in Asian Perspectives on Animal Ethics (2014); “Levinas and the Binding of Isaac,” in Epoché (2012); and “Confronting Natural Death in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit,” in PhaenEx (2010). These publications demonstrate her impact on discussions in animal ethics, medieval Islamic philosophy, and phenomenological interpretations of ethical encounters. Loevy maintains an office in Drake House 107 on the Forest Grove campus.