Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Co-director of The Center for Law & Society

Office phone: (716) 375-2292
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Francis Hall 249

• Critical Thinking
• Symbolic Logic
• Introduction to Ethics
• Global Moral Issues
• Bioethics
• Data Ethics
• Introduction to Philosophy
• Metaphysics
• Philosophy of Mind
• Philosophy of Religion
• Philosophy of Law
• Ancient & Medieval Philosophy

• Ph.D., Purdue University, 2018
• B.A., Wabash College, 2013

Gillham completed his graduate work at Purdue University, where he wrote a dissertation on Epicurus’ ethics under the supervision of Patricia Curd. After finishing his Ph.D., Gillham spent a year as a visiting lecturer at Indiana University Kokomo. He then came to St. Bonaventure University as an assistant professor, where he assists with pre-law advising, coaching mock trial, and running the Center for Law & Society. Gillham’s primary devotion is teaching, although he maintains an active research agenda in ancient philosophy, philosophy of religion, ethics, and epistemology.

Publications

• Gillham, Alex R. (Forthcoming). “(How) Are Friends and Friendship Worthwhile to the Advanced Epicurean?” Rhizomata: A Journal for Ancient Philosophy and Science.
• Gillham, Alex R. (Forthcoming). “Deprivationism, Value Predication, and Harm by Omission.” Auslegung: A Journal of Philosophy.
• Gillham, Alex R. (Forthcoming). “Abortion, the Impairment Argument, and Theories of Well-Being.” Journal of Medicine and Philosophy.
• Gillham, Alex R. (2021). “Expressing Tranquility: Worthwhile Action at the Limit of Epicurean Pleasure.” Forum Philosophicum International Journal for Philosophy 26(1): 143-161. doi: 10.35765/forphil.2021.2601.09
• Gillham, Alex R. (2021). “Classifying the Epicurean Goods.” Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia 77(1): 47-70. doi: 10.17990/rpf/2021_77_1_0047
• Gillham, Alex R. (2021). “Epicurean Tranquility and the Pleasure of Philosophy.” Southwest Philosophy Review 37(1): 149-158. doi.org/10.5840/swphilreview202137116
• Gillham, Alex R. (2020). “Threats, Coercion, and Willingness to Damn: Three More Objections against the Unpopulated Hell View.” Forum Philosophicum International Journal for Philosophy 25(2): 235-254. doi:10.35765/forphil.2020.2502.16
• Gillham, Alex R. (2020). “Against the Strengthened Impairment Argument: Never-Born Fetuses Have No FLO to Deprive.” Journal of Medical Ethics 0: 1-4. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2020-106579
• Gillham, Alex R. (2020). “How Problematic is an Unpopulated Hell?” Forum Philosophicum International Journal for Philosophy 25(1): 107-121. doi:10.35765/forphil.2020.2501.7
• Gillham, Alex R. (2020). “Religious Experience, Pragmatic Encroachment, and Justified Belief in God.” Open Theology 6(1): 296-305. doi: 10.1515/opth-2020-0021

My role as a professor of philosophy is to guide students through the logical space relevant to a particular course. As such, I aim to familiarize students with (1) the important philosophical questions pertinent to a given course, (2) the best answers that philosophers have given to these questions, and (3) the arguments for and against these answers. In doing so, students hone their capacities to ask good questions, construct arguments in response to them, and assess the merits of solutions developed by thinkers of historical significance.

When Gillham is not teaching or writing, he enjoys attending concerts and playing pickup basketball. He also volunteers for We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, a program that promotes civic competence and responsibility among upper elementary and secondary students.