Reza Lahroodi

Why I teach:
My adolescence coincided with the years leading to and following the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In its immediate aftermath, the Iranians, for the first time in decades, enjoyed immense freedom of speech. As a result, my generation was exposed to an unprecedented variety of ideologies and political persuasions.

Having been raised on a steady diet of traditional beliefs, I was fascinated, bewildered and alarmed, in equal measures, by the new ideas then freely circulating in the society. I fell under the spell of a charismatic philosopher, and came to see philosophy as an invaluable tool in sorting out my thoughts. As to the formal study of philosophy, I became a philosophy major in college only after a stint as a science major in a prestigious university known for its science and engineering programs.