Philosophy Alumni Profile
Derek Jones
Class of 2003
Though Derek Jones started at UE as an English major, he was drawn towards the clarity and precision of philosophy. "Although I enjoyed many of my other courses," he noted, "I found that the things I liked most about them — discussions of meaning, knowledge, and the nature of the world around me — were handled most directly and precisely in the philosophy curriculum." At UE, Derek was active academically and socially. He held positions in a number of student organizations and graduated with majors in philosophy, literature, and creative writing.
After graduating from UE, Derek was deployed to Pristina, Kosovo, with the U.S. Army National Guard. Serving as executive officer for an infantry company, he found himself balancing logistical responsibilities with additional duties, including intelligence analysis and public relations. "Though some think philosophy isn't a practical discipline, my philosophical training at UE provided me with the skills I needed to produce original solutions to unconventional problems in a complex and morally ambiguous environment."
Since returning from Kosovo, Derek has earned an MA in philosophy from the University of Houston and works as a research assistant for the Houston Center for Neuro-Engineering and Cognitive Science. He also teaches philosophy at Houston Community College. His research interests include the nature of mechanistic explanation in the sciences, the semantic content of concepts and their role in perception and behavior, and various problems in epistemology. He intends to begin work on his PhD in the fall of 2008 and is presently weighing multiple fellowship offers.
