Hi there. I’m a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Sacramento State University.

My interests lie in Classical Confucian thought, Ancient Greek philosophy, ethical theories, and moral & social issues. I am also drawn to the complex role that technology plays in human flourishing.

Most importantly, I’m a member of our faculty union, the California Faculty Association. I strongly value public education and recognize it as a public good. Alongside my colleagues, we help advocate for workers’ rights and ensure that teachers are treated with the dignity they deserve through livable wages and just working conditions.

For students and faculty, please reach out to me at jonathan.chen@csus.edu.

I am also available during my office hours in Mendocino Hall 3036 from 8:50 – 9:35pm or by appointment.

Fall ’25 Course

PHIL 2-10 Ethics (Syllabus | Course Schedule)

“Philosophy is at once the most sublime and the most trivial of human pursuits. It works in the minutest crannies and it opens out the widest vistas. It ‘bakes no bread,’ as has been said, but it can inspire our souls with courage; and repugnant as its manners, its doubting and challenging, its quibbling and dialectics, often are to common people, no one of us can get along without the far-flashing beams of light it sends over the world’s perspectives.” – William James