About Us

Dr. Benjamin Scott Young

Read Dr. Young's full bio below and click here for a special faculty spotlight Q&A.

Benjamin Scott Young received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of South Florida and his B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from Eckerd College. 

Among his international initiatives, he leads the Honors Semester in Exeter program to the United Kingdom each spring and the Honors London program each summer.  Dr. Young also oversees the Medical Humanities in a Global Context pathway within the Judy Genshaft Honors College, which is made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).  Morover, Dr. Young coordinates the Judy Genshaft Honors College first-year seminar, Acquisition of Knowledge: Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Practical Wisdom.

He has taught numerous courses for the Judy Genshaft Honors College, the USF Department of Philosophy, as well as at New College of Florida. These include:

  • Flourishing: Cultivating Persons, Cultures, & Environments of Well-being
  • Wander: Perception, Understanding, and Improvisation
  • Physicians of the Soul: Philosophy, Medicine, and the Goodlife
  • Health Hermeneutics: Global Perspectives on Environments & Cultures of Well-being
  • Body Ethic: Practice, Place, and Community
  • Human Flourishing: Philosophical, Psychological, and Sociological Perspectives
  • Philosophy of Love and Desire
  • Love: Subversion and Redemption
  • Hermeneutics of Love, Friendship, and the Self
  • Doctor Who? Bioethics, Medicine, and the Human Condition
  • Work and Play: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives
  • Media Ethics: Politics, Persuasion, and Communication Technology
  • Moral Psychology
  • Phenomenology
  • Existentialism
  • Philosophy in Film and Literature

Dr. Young's primary research interests are in Ethics, Moral Psychology, Phenomenology, Philosophical Hermeneutics, and Interdisciplinary Pedagogy. He also has interests in Comparative Philosophy, Philosophy of Art and Architecture, Philosophy of Emotion, Ecological Ethics, and Ancient Philosophy. His current work investigates the temporal dynamics of first-person experience (e.g., perception, emotion, desire, normative moral intuitions, etc.) in relation to social and ecological systems. Ultimately, he aims to contribute to our understanding of human flourishing - with regards to the person, community, and environment. 

Contact Dr. Benjamin Young.