Faculty Profile: Patrick Lewtas

Professor Patrick Lewtas

A new faculty member in the Department of Philosophy at AUB this year is Patrick Lewtas, a native Canadian, who was a practicing lawyer for most of his career but eventually broke away from the judicial scene to pursue his life-long passion for philosophy.

First, Lewtas graduated from Harvard University in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in political philosophy and continued his studies at the University of Toronto to attain a law degree in 1985, which opened up his career as a lawyer. Lewtas then spent the next eleven years in practice at a law firm in Toronto and later worked with Native American Indians in Northwest Ontario. It was only after his years as a lawyer that he finally gave in to his urge to become a philosopher.

A driving factor in his desire to study and understand the world is the uncompromising passion Lewtas has for the wilderness. "I think that philosophy is not just a way to play with language, but that it gives us an opportunity to study the world in its own right," he explained. As such, Lewtas enjoys going on long excursions, sometimes for a month at a time, to Northern Canada where he traverses the land in excruciating conditions and experiences a visceral connection to the world.

After leaving behind his career as a lawyer, Lewtas took philosophy courses at the University of Toronto, then enrolled in a doctorate program in philosophy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Though the university faculty was primarily interested in issues of morality and ethics, Lewtas chose a path towards metaphysics and consciousness. In his dissertation, Lewtas posited a defense for panpsychism-the view that at least some of the basic components of our universe have properties of consciousness, which our consciousness is dependent on- and attempted to develop that view.

Immediately after finishing his dissertation and receiving his degree, Lewtas found himself on a plane to Lebanon to accept a position as an assistant professor of philosophy at AUB. Expressing great pleasure in his decision to move to Lebanon, Lewtas says, "AUB students are surprisingly good. They have great command of the English language, when compared to students of other American universities I've taught at."

Lewtas enjoys teaching both his undergraduate and graduate courses and very much looks forward to watching his students become more curious about the world.