Rate My Professor Peter Amato

Peter Amato, PhD, is a Teaching Professor of Philosophy in the Department of English and Philosophy at Drexel University’s College of Arts and Sciences, where he has served since 2000, initially as an adjunct instructor and advancing to his current role in 2013. He has been Director of the Philosophy Programs since 2011 and Co-director of the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics program. Amato also held positions as Associate Teaching Professor from 2008 to 2013 and Instructor from 2002 to 2008 at Drexel. Previously, he was Visiting Assistant Professor at Saint Joseph’s University (2001–2002), and adjunct faculty at several institutions including Philadelphia University (1999–2000), Fordham University (1992–1999), Iona College (1990–1991), and Hunter College (1989–1997). His academic background includes a PhD in Philosophy from Fordham University (1998, dissertation: “Marx’s Dialectic: Structure & History”), MA in Anthropology from Hunter College, CUNY (1993), and BA in Anthropology from Fordham University (1984).

Amato’s research and teaching focus on social and political philosophy, ethics, the history of Western philosophy, philosophical hermeneutics, Marxism, and African and Africana philosophy. Key publications include the edited volume Virtue, Order, Mind: Ancient, Modern and Post-Modern Perspectives (State University College at Oneonta, 1994); chapters such as “African Philosophy and Modernity” in Post-Colonial African Philosophy: A Critical Reader (Blackwell, 1997), “Marxist Critique and Philosophical Hermeneutics” in Radical Philosophy Today (2006), “Radical Protest and Dialectical Ethics” in Peace Philosophy and Public Life (Rodopi, 2014), and “On Vernacular Rationality: Gadamer and Eze in Conversation” in The Palgrave Handbook of African Philosophy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017); refereed articles like “The Menkiti-Gyekye Conversation: Framing Persons” (Filosofia Theoretica, 2018) and “Hobbes, Darwinism, and Conceptions of Human Nature” (Minerva, 2002); and numerous book reviews in journals including Radical Philosophy Review and Research in Phenomenology. He received the Teaching Fellow of the Year award from Fordham University Graduate School (1989–1990) and the Pennoni Honors College Fellowships Office Mentor Award from Drexel University (2018).