Kevin DeLapp

Kevin DeLapp holds the Harold E. Fleming Chair of Philosophy and serves as coordinator of the philosophy program at Converse. A native of Sacramento, California, Kevin studied philosophy first at the University of California, Santa Cruz and then at Duke University, before coming to Converse in 2006.

Dr. DeLapp often participates in the First-Year Seminar program and the Nisbet Honors program, teaching courses and directing independent studies on topics such as mythology, the philosophy of biology, human nature, science fiction, and heroes and monsters. He has been a recipient of the Curriculum Innovation Award and the Kathryne Amelia Brown award for excellence in teaching and has been recognized by the Association of South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities for his teaching performance. Dr. DeLapp has led several foreign tours with students throughout Europe. He has twice been president of the South Carolina Society for Philosophy and he also regularly teaches fencing as a P.E. class at Converse.

Scholarly & Research Activity

His research focuses on the foundations of morality and he often teaches courses in ethics, Greek and Chinese philosophy, logic, aesthetics, and metaphysics.

Selected Publications & Presentations

Dr. DeLapp has published articles in the fields of metaethics, moral psychology, and cross-cultural philosophy, and he is the author of the books Moral Realism (2013) and Partial Values: A Comparative Study in the Limits of Objectivity (2019), co-editor of Lying and Truthfulness: A Reader (2016), and lead editor of the two-volume Portraits of Confucius: The Reception of Confucianism, 1560-1960 (2022) as well as the six-volume project A Cultural History of Confucianism (under contract, expected 2026).