Anna C. Lannstrom

Anna C. Lannstrom

Professor of Philosophy

alannstrom@stonehill.edu
508-565-1170
May 206
Philosophy

Biography

Anna Lännström is professor of philosophy at Stonehill College where she teaches ethics, moral psychology, philosophy of religion, ancient Greek philosophy, Buddhist thought, and mindfulness and Indian philosophy.  She’s the author of Loving the Fine, a book on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, as well as several articles on the religion of Socrates.

Her more recent research focuses on the scholarship of teaching and learning: How can we broaden philosophy to include insights from other traditions and disciplines, and how will doing so change our understanding of ourselves and the world?

She also writes public philosophy, asking how we can better integrate theory and practice, using philosophy to live better lives.  Why are we all increasingly stressed, distracted, lonely, and angry? Can techniques like yoga and meditation from the Hindu and Buddhist traditions help us live better lives, and if they can, how do we address the ethical challenges involved in borrowing such techniques?  She blogs for The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, Medium and Thrive global.

Lännström was born and raised in Sweden. Before she came to Stonehill, she studied and taught philosophy at Boston University and served as the assistant director for the university’s Institute for Philosophy and Religion.

Education

  • Ph.D., Boston University. Dissertation topic: Aristotle’s ethics
  • M.A., Boston University, Thesis Topic: Speaking about Brahman in Advaita Vedanta
  • B.A., English Writing and Philosophy, State University of New York at Potsdam. Summa Cum Laude.

Courses Taught

  • Is God dead?
  • Mindfulness and Indian Philosophy
  • Ancient Greek Philosophy
  • Moral Psychology
  • Ethics and the Good Life

Selected Publications, Articles & Presentations

  • Let’s be Buddhists for the Next Few Weeks!  Costs and Benefits of Making Students Explore Buddhism from the Inside.” The Wabash Center Journal on Teaching.  2(1), 2021.

  • “Trusting the Daimonion: Faith and Reason in the Case of Socrates,” Asian Philosophies and the Idea of Religion: Beyond Faith and Reason.  Eds. Sonia Sikka and Ashwani Kumar Peetush.  London and New York: Routledge, 2020.

  • “Socrates’ Moral Impiety and Its Role at the Trial: A Reading of Euthyphro 6a.”  Polis: The Journal of the Society for Greek Political Thought, 30(1), 2013: 30-48
  • “Trusting the Divine Voice: Socrates and His Daimonion.” Apeiron, 2012, 45(1), 32-49.
  • “A Religious Revolution? How Socrates Undermined the Practice of Sacrifice.” Ancient Philosophy, 2011, 31:2. 261-274.
  •  Loving the Fine: Goodness and Happiness in Aristotle's Ethics. Notre Dame: Notre Dame UP, 2006.
  • Editor. The Stranger’s Religion: Fascination and Fear. Boston University Studies in Philosophy and Religion. Vol. 25. Notre Dame: Notre Dame UP, 2004.
  • Editor.  Promise and Peril: The Paradox of Religion as Resource and Threat.  Boston University Studies in Philosophy and Religion .  Vol. 24.  Notre Dame: Notre Dame UP, 2003.

  • “Contemporary Western yoga as spiritual practice for the SBNR generations: Will it help or hurt?” Dharma Academy of North America panel, American Academy of Religion Annual meeting, virtual meeting, November 2021.

  •  

    Evolution, race and yoga: Three ways of uniting research and pedagogy inside and outside the classroom.”  American Association of Philosophy Teachers panel, American Philosophical Association Central division meeting, Chicago, February 2020.

  • “Let’s be Buddhists for the Next Few Weeks!  Costs and Benefits of Making Students Explore Buddhism from the Inside.”  Buddhist Pedagogy Panel, American Academy of Religion Annual meeting, San Diego, November 2019.

  • “Yoga and Meditation in the Philosophy Classroom.” Wellness in Asian Traditions of Theory and Practice. Asian Studies Development Program 25th annual conference, Nashville, TN, March 2019.
  • “Learning to Listen: Why Western Philosophy Needs Contemplative Practices,” D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership Conference on Contemplation, Viterbo University, April 2018.
  • “Trusting the Daimonion: Faith and Reason in the Case of Socrates,” Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Religion, Reason and Faith workshop, September 2017, University of Ottawa.
  • “Escaping The Analects: Why We Need to Teach More Contemporary Asian Texts,” APA Committee on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies panel at the Central American Philosophical Association meeting, Kansas City, MI, March 2017.
  • “Using Meditation to Help Us Teach the Bhagavad-Gita,” Teaching Religion panel at the American Academy of Religion annual meeting, San Antonio, TX, November 2016.
  • “Integrating Hatha Yoga and Indian Philosophy in a College Course” (Poster presentation), with Kristy Kuhn and Rachel Santos.  The 8th Annual Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education Conference, Amherst, MA, October 2016.

Philosophy of Yoga Course Stretches Students’ Perspectives and Limbs

A course that combines yoga and philosophy stretches students' perspectives and limbs while exemplifying Stonehill’s innovation-fostering culture.

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