Christopher D. Quintana, PhD
Employment
Instructor — Department of Philosophy, Houston City College 2025 –
Adjunct Instructor — Department of Philosophy, Houston City College 2024 – 2025
Adjunct Instructor — Department of Philosophy, Villanova University 2019 – 2022
Managing Editorial Assistant — Social Epistemology: A Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Policy 2019 – 2020
Education
Ph.D. in Philosophy, Villanova University (2024)
Dissertation: Characterizing Digital Design: An Aristotelian Approach
Committee: Dr. Sally Scholz (Director), Dr. Georg Theiner, Dr. Justin Humphreys, Dr. Shannon Vallor (Edinburgh)
M.A. in Philosophy, Villanova University (2018)
B.A. in Philosophy & Political Science, Florida International University (2015)
Research areas
Areas of specialization: Philosophy & Ethics of Technology · Virtue Theory · Applied Ethics
Areas of competency: Ancient Philosophy · Social & Political Philosophy · Moral Psychology · Social Epistemology · Spinoza
Publications
Articles & book chapters
“Virtual Friendship Reconsidered: Sociality & User-Friendly Design in Gaming.” In Virtue Theory and Video Games, Routledge (forthcoming).
“Ethics at the Intersection of Human-Centered AI & UX Design.” In Human-Centered AI: A Multidisciplinary Perspective for Policy-Makers, Auditors, and Users, Routledge/CRC Press (2024).
Book reviews & proceedings
Review of Howard Curzer’s Difficult Virtues: An Aristotelian Perspective (Routledge) for The Journal of Moral Philosophy (in progress).
“Make Friends, Not Tools: Designing AI for Technoamicitia” (with Georg Theiner). HHAI-WS 2024 (Malmö, Sweden).
Encyclopedia entries
“Information Communications Technology.” In Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy, Springer (2023).
Additional works in progress
“Dependence & Moral Virtue: Exploring the Limits of Artificial Moral Assistants.” Oxford University Press (provisionally commissioned).
“Technoamicitia: A Neo-Aristotelian Account of User-Friendly Technology.” Manuscript in preparation.
“Make Friends, Not Tools: Designing Artificial Intelligence for Technoamicitia” (with Georg Theiner). Manuscript in preparation.
Awards and honors
Faculty Teaching Excellence Award Nomination, Houston City College (2025)
John G. Tich Memorial Award for Excellence in Research, Villanova University (2023–2024)
Audience Choice Winner & Finalist, 3-Minute Thesis, Villanova University (2022)
Fellowships — Summer Institute in Technology Ethics (Santa Clara University, 2022) · McCullen Center Research Fellowship (2022) · Collegium Institute at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate Fellow (2018–2024)
Grants — Summer Research Grant (Villanova, 2021) · Graduate Travel Grants (Villanova, 2017–2019)
Presentations and talks
Invited
“Technoamicitia: A Neo-Aristotelian Account of User-Friendly Technology.” Rice University (2025)
“Technoamicitia: A Neo-Aristotelian Account of User-Friendly Technology.” University of Houston (2025)
“AI and Character.” Markkula Center for Applied Ethics (2022)
“Baruch Spinoza’s Virtue Theory: Ethics IV.” New College of Florida (2020)
“Modernity and Aristotelian Friendships.” Collegium Institute (2020)
Refereed
“Rethinking the Nature of Virtual Friendships.” Philosophy of Video Games Conference (2025)
“Make Friends, Not Tools: Designing AI for Technoamicitia.” HHAI Conference (2024)
“Technological Habituation as Threat to Phrónēsis.” ESDIT Conference (2022)
“Philosophical & Ethical Issues in Digital Design.” International Social Philosophy Conference (2022)
“MacIntyre’s Aristotelian Questioning.” Notre Dame (2019)
“The Role of Spinoza’s Model of Human Nature.” University of Groningen (2018)
“Spinoza’s Stoic Letters?” Utrecht University (2017)
“Spinozistic Reflections on the Purification of the Intellect.” WPSA Meeting (2017)
“The American Dream’s Ideology.” Tulane University (2015)
Teaching experience
Houston City College — Instructor (2024 – Present)
Introduction to Philosophy · Introduction to Ethics · Ethics: Implications of Artificial Intelligence
14 sections taught, including 3 in the Human Horizons Transformative Texts program.
Villanova University — Adjunct Instructor (2019 – 2022)
Knowledge, Reality, Self (Intro to Philosophy, Augustinian Tradition) — 8 sections
Villanova University — Teaching Assistant (2019 – 2022)
Knowledge, Reality, Self · Introduction to Ethics · Ancient Philosophy · Augustinian Cultural Seminar
Professional activity and service
Conference Organizer, Philosophy and Humanities Conference, Houston City College (present)
Panelist, “Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Houston City College.” (2025)
Chair, “Value and Wrongdoing,” APA Central Meeting (2025)
Reading Group Facilitator, Fratelli Tutti (Villanova, 2019)
Departmental and committee service (Villanova, 2017–2019)
Memberships
American Philosophical Association · International Society for MacIntyrean Enquiry · Center for Contemporary Aristotelian Studies in Ethics and Politics · Society for Philosophy and Technology (Special Interest Group on Virtue Ethics) · North American Society for Social Philosophy
Public philosophy
“Aristotle on the Love of Wine, Things, and Friends.” Philosophically Drinking Series, Rudyard’s Pub, Houston (2024)
“The Promise and Problem of Pop Stoicism in Genealogies of Modernity.”
Languages
English — Native fluency
Spanish — Native fluency
Latin — Intermediate reading and translation proficiency