Timothy Rosenkoetter, a visiting professor, brings a wealth of knowledge and experience with him to Hopkins this year as a philosophy professor specializing in ethics philosophy and the works of Immanuel Kant.
Rosenkoetter was born in Illinois and raised in a small city in Kansas. As the son of two professors, he has had the opportunity to travel vastly in the United States with family, often for six to seven weeks at a time during the summer recess. Rosenkoetter found this to be both enjoyable and educational, and he found that his travels of the country sparked an interest in exploring and learning.
Rosenkoetter first began his undergraduate studies at Bowdoin College in Maine, where he planned on majoring in mathematics and economics, the two subject areas he found most interesting. However in order to "learn to think better," Rosenkoetter also took some courses in philosophy and discovered a new passion.
Philosophy offered Rosenketter a "plethora of interesting puzzles," driving him to pursue the subject to wherever it led him.
Rosenkoetter recalled his first year at college as an experience where he first began to satiate his "hunger for knowledge" and discovered like-minded people around him. As he continued his undergraduate studies, now with his mind set on pursuing a degree in philosophy, he decided that he would benefit from studying at more than just one university.
After taking a break from Bowdoin, he studied abroad in Munich, Germany. Rosenkoetter then transferred to Harvard University, where he continued his studies in philosophy. As a graduate student, Rosenkoetter later returned to the city of Bochum in Germany to continue studying his favorite philosopher, Immanuel Kant.
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Harvard, Rosenkoetter began his graduate work at the University of Pittsburg, but eventually transferred and received his doctoral degree in philosophy from University of Chicago for his work on Kant.
Rosenkoetter first received an appointment as a postdoctoral fellow at University of Georgia. Next he worked as a visiting professor at Dartmouth, New York University and finally University of the South, Sewanee before accepting a position as visiting professor here at Hopkins.
Rosenkoetter's frequent and widespread travels around the country have given him a very distinct view on life and a thirst for knowledge that he hopes to share with all Hopkins undergraduates.
"[Education] gives us the tools necessary to make good moral decisions" and "habituates the task of making decisions," Rosenkoetter said.
Rosenkoetter believes there are two ways to practice philosophy after studying it so thoroughly: If one finds philosophy intrinsically worthwhile, then one should think for one's own reasons. If one wants to see the effect of philosophy on real life, one should explore philosophy in a way so that it can be taught and explained to the public through real applications. Since Rosenkoetter believes both have equal importance, he has chosen a medium between the two by working as a professor, where he can explore philosophical concepts and still demonstrate how philosophy applies to real life.
"People are not often aware of the moral questions they face; It is more than just the morality of punishable crimes. Moral decisions are made every day," Rosenkoetter pointed out.
This is evident, he added, when one simply observes the college atmosphere. Decisions such as drinking, drug usage, sexual relationships and academic dishonesty are among the most significant decisions college students face. Although not always viewed as moral decisions, they have a distinct level of ethical choice. Rosenkoetter believes that college teaches students to think for themselves, to think problems through thoroughly and to analyze their decisions.
