Philosophy, Critical Thinking and Beer: WWU's Neal Tognazzini
WWU Professor of Philosophy Neal Tognazzini teaches his students to navigate the world by employing critical thinking to the big questions about life — death, meaning, love, free will, grief, shame, morality — through the foundations of philosophy.
Tognazzini’s path to teaching at WWU began here — he met his wife Anna in 2000 in Nash Hall. He and Anna moved to California, where he earned his doctorate at University of California Riverside, and then to Virginia, where he taught at William and Mary. After the birth of their daughter Geneva, they moved back to Bellingham.
Anna was an employee in the WWU Career Services Center before joining Mayor Kim Lund’s team at the City of Bellingham.
Tognazzini is a dedicated professor who loves to puzzle through issues of moral philosophy and critical thinking. One of his favorite courses is an Honors colloquium he teaches every two years.
“I really enjoy teaching moral psychology. We look at an emotional experience like grief, love and regret.” One course was centered around the moral world of Harry Potter. Another was on Taylor Swift.
“With Taylor Swift, there was a lot of discussion about the moral psychology of breakups,” he said.
Philosophy Department Chair Ryan Wasserman said Tognazzini is currently teaching a class on “awesomeness.”
“This makes sense, since he’s pretty much an expert at being awesome,” said Wasserman.
Tognazzini’s students are equally enthusiastic about his teaching.
Philosophy student Augustus Quale said Tognazzini’s strength as a teacher lies in being down-to-earth and easy to talk to.
“He takes care to explain things in a way that makes students feel like they're working through a problem with him, rather than him explaining a solution,” he said. “I would say he is the best at properly communicating ideas in a human way out of all the professors I've met.”
Lillian Zabihi took Ancient Chinese Philosophy from Tognazzini and was enthusiastic about her experience.
“Neal is a really encouraging and fun professor,” she said. “I appreciate how he includes a lot of variety in the material we read for his classes.”
Tognazzini isn’t just a popular and energetic professor, he’s also a homebrewer who has achieved several levels of success with his beer. He began homebrewing in Virginia as a hobby. Over the years, he has become more involved in the process, science and finer points of beer tasting. He is active with the Bellingham Homebrewers Guild.
“It’s the perfect mix of art and science,” said Tognazzini. “The rational brain that loves precision and also the creative part of your brain that wants to explore.”
He is not only a brewer, he is a contest judge and has become a certified Cicerone — the equivalent of a wine sommelier, but for beer.
His beer won the Bellingham Homebrewers Guild award in 2024. As his prize, he was able to brew a Saison — a dry, refreshing Belgian ale — for Beach Cat Brewing’s Bellingham location as Purrrrfessor Raspberry Saison.
His next venture will likely be a combination of his two loves: beer and philosophy.
“I can envision combining my passions of writing and beer into a book.”
Until then, he’ll continue brewing up the biggest questions for students to puzzle through — and award-winning beers.
Frances Badgett covers the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Fine and Performing Arts Communications. Reach out to her with story ideas at badgetf@wwu.edu.