Stephen T. Asma
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Stephen T. Asma

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Stephen T. Asma is Professor of Philosophy at Columbia College Chicago, where he holds the title of Distinguished Scholar.

Asma is the author of ten books, including "The Evolution of Imagination" (Univ. of Chicago Press), "On Monsters: an Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears" (Oxford Univ. Press), "Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads" (Oxford Univ. Press), "The Gods Drink Whiskey" (HarperOne), and the best selling "Buddha for Beginners" (originally published in 1996 and reissued in 2008). His writing has been translated into German, Spanish, Hebrew, Czech, Romanian, Hindi, Portuguese, Arabic, and Chinese.

Together with actor Paul Giamatti, Stephen Asma is host of the Chinwag Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts. At Chinwag he has hosted scholars, writers, and celebs including Stephen Colbert, Tom Hanks, Amy Sedaris, Don Cheadle, and Ken Burns.

Asma has written for the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Sunday Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Chicago Tribune, Aeon magazine, Skeptic magazine, and more.

Dr. Asma is a founding Fellow of the "Research Group in Mind, Science and Culture" at Columbia College Chicago. The Research Group is actively working on a philosophical and scientific understanding of the mind/brain that properly incorporates the emotional dimensions of mammalian consciousness.

In addition to Western philosophy, Asma has an abiding interest in Buddhism and Confucianism. In 2003, he was Visiting Professor at the Buddhist Institute in Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia, teaching a "Buddhist Philosophy" seminar course as part of their Graduate Program in Buddhist Studies. In addition to Cambodia, he has also researched Asian philosophies in Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Laos. He has also lived and studied in Shanghai China. Asma was a Fulbright scholar in Beijing in 2014.

Asma has lectured at Harvard, Brown University, Oxford, the Field Museum, Fudan University, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, and many more.
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