Christopher Yates

Dr. Christopher Yates is an Instructor of Philosophy at James Madison University (JMU), specializing in 19th-20th century European philosophy, aesthetics, phenomenology, and German Idealism. He holds an M.A. from the University of Memphis and a Ph.D. from Boston College. His research explores intersections of philosophy with visual and literary arts, including works by Heidegger, Schelling, and authors like Cormac McCarthy and Knut Hamsun. He is currently writing a book on imagination and longing in reason.

He previously taught at Boston College, the University of Virginia, and the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA). In 2010, he received the Donald J. White Teaching Excellence Award at Boston College. He is also a Foundation Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia.

Yates teaches courses in ethics, philosophy, and aesthetics at JMU. His scholarly publications span topics in existentialism, poetics, and ontology, with a focus on how artistic practices engage philosophical concepts.