Dr. Courtney Morris, Ph.D.

Dr. Courtney Morris is an associate professor, academic counselor and philosophy program director in the Department of Law & Philosophy at the United States Military Academy (USMA). She regularly teaches Philosophy and Ethical Reasoning, Philosophical Methods, Reality and Knowledge, Kant and 19th-Century Philosophy, 17th- and 18th-Century Philosophy, and Logic.

She specializes in meta-philosophy - the study of what philosophy is and what philosophers are doing when they practice it. Her work explores foundational questions such as what distinguishes philosophy from literature, who counts as a philosopher, and how these distinctions should shape the aims and methods of philosophy education.

Drawing on her background in the history of philosophy, Dr. Morris examines how past thinkers addressed these questions, often embedding their views within broader discussions. Her research uncovers rich and sometimes impassioned meta-philosophical positions that speak directly to contemporary classrooms. She aims to foster students who authentically engage in philosophical inquiry rather than merely absorb and repeat information. Her scholarship sits at the intersection of the history of philosophy, the philosophy of education, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Dr. Morris grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, and completed bachelor’s degrees in English and philosophy at the University of Utah. She earned a master’s degree in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo, followed by a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She received her doctorate in philosophy from the University of California, Riverside, where she wrote her dissertation on Immanuel Kant’s metaphysics.

She serves on the West Point Press editorial board and is also officer in charge of the West Point Humanist Association.