Lawrence J. Hatab
Louis I. Jaffe Professor of Philosophy
Old Dominion University
Lawrence J. Hatab is the Louis I. Jaffe Professor of Philosophy and University Professor at Old Dominion University, where he has taught for 32 years. Dr. Hatab is an award-winning teacher, an internationally recognized scholar, and an extensive contributor to university service. He is the only person in the College of Arts and Letters to have received both its teaching and research award. His College has awarded him an endowed Professorship, and Old Dominion has named him a University Professor, which is awarded for teaching excellence. Professor Hatab also served for twelve years as Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, and twice he has been a significant participant in the University’s design and implementation of general education reform.
Dr. Hatab has regularly taught 12 different courses at all levels in the Philosophy Department, with special emphasis on Continental Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy, and Social and Political Philosophy. His students consistently praise his enthusiasm, expertise, challenging standards, and ability to explain and communicate difficult philosophical material. It is not uncommon for students to call him the best or one of the best professors they have ever had. He has great success teaching some of the most demanding thinkers in the Western tradition, particularly Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Aristotle. In the classroom, Dr. Hatab emphasizes four ingredients that he considers essential for successful teaching: cultivating the seductive and inspirational force of the learning environment; constant attention to the “entry” position of students that scholars can easily forget; stressing the relevance of course material for the concrete life concerns of students; and the patience to let students come to insights at their own pace.
In research, Dr. Hatab’s accomplishments are equally noteworthy. He has published six books (all monographs), the most recent being Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morality (Cambridge University Press, 2008). Other titles include Nietzsche’s Life Sentence: Coming to Terms with Eternal Recurrence (Routledge, 2005) and Ethics and Finitude: Heideggerian Contributions to Moral Philosophy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2000). He has published more than 40 articles, book chapters, and reviews, and has also delivered over 60 presentations to professional organizations. Significant philosophers in the Continental tradition have attested that Dr. Hatab is among the major writers in the United States, and his reputation is well established in Europe as well. Much of his work has been called groundbreaking, and he has been consistently praised for his lucid and engaging writing style. (As a recovering academic, he hopes to be jargon-free some day.)
Dr. Hatab is married to Chelsy Carter, who works for Gannett Publishing. His stepdaughter Stephanie and her husband Rustum are public school teachers in Los Angeles.
