William C. Gay

William C. Gay

Emeritus Professor (Retired)

William C. Gay received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Boston College in 1976. Since 1996 he has held the rank of Professor in the Department of Philosophy at UNC Charlotte where he began teaching in 1980. At UNC Charlotte, he was Chair of the Department of Philosophy from 1993-2001 and has been a Faculty Associate of the Center for Professional and Applied Ethics since 1999.

Dr. Gay specializes in war and peace studies (focusing on weapons of mass destruction and nonviolent strategies), social and political philosophy (focusing on Soviet and post-Soviet Russian political thought), and continental philosophy (focusing on linguistic alienation and linguistic violence). In addition to his five books, Dr. Gay has published over 100 articles and book chapters in his areas of specialization. He has been on seven lecture tours in the former Soviet Union and the current Russian Federation. He also lectured for the U.S. Department of State for a week in Minsk, Belarus in the U.S. Speaker Program. He has also lectured in Canada, Germany, Kenya, and Turkey and has delivered over eighty lectures in the United States.

With Michael Pearson, he co-authored The Nuclear Arms Race (American Library Association, 1987). With T.A. Alekseeva, he co-authored Capitalism with a Human Face: The Quest for a Middle Road in Russian Politics (Rowman & Littlefield, 1996). With Alekseeva, he has also co-edited two volumes. On the Eve of the 21st Century: Perspectives of Russian and American Philosophers (Rowman & Littlefield, 1994) was the first post-Soviet collections of essays by Russian and American philosophers. Democracy and the Quest for Justice (Rodopi, 2004) is a collection of essays by Russian and American political theorists. Finally, he is the editor of the English edition of Global Studies Encyclopedia published in Moscow by Raduga in 2003. English and Russian editions were released at the World Congress of Philosophy in Istanbul in 2003.

Dr. Gay is a member of several philosophical societies. He is most active in Concerned Philosophers for Peace, having served as President, Executive Director, and Newsletter Editor. He has also organized numerous Russian-American exchanges and collaborations, particularly with the Institute of Philosophy in Moscow and with the Russian Philosophical Society.

Education:

* Ph.D. in Philosophy from Boston College in 1976
Areas of Specialization:

* War and Peace Studies;
* Social and Political Philosophy;
* Philosophy of Language;
* 19th- and 20th-Century Continental Philosophy

Faculty Website