Robert Edward Gordon

Robert Edward Gordon is an Instructor in the School of Music and a Senior Fellow in the Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Arizona, where he has held positions as Assistant Professor (General Studies) at the School of Music and Assistant Research Professor at the University Center for the Philosophy of Freedom. He teaches MUS 160D1 – Human Achievement & Innovation in the Arts. 

He is the author of Buddhist Architecture in America: Building for Enlightenment, the first comprehensive overview of the relationship between Buddhism and architecture in North America (Routledge 2023) and The Necessity of Living Happy and Free: Art, Aesthetics, and Humanity (Ethics International Press, 2026). Other writings can be found in The Wall Street Journal, Social Philosophy & Policy, Philosophies, Space and Culture, Humanities, Athenaeum Review, the Japanese American National Museum’s Traveling Exhibition, and elsewhere.

Dr. Gordon has taught art history and philosophy at various colleges and universities, lectured at large corporations and museums, and has worked in his hometown of Chicago as a corporate art consultant and gallery manager. 

Trained as a philosopher and an art historian, Dr. Gordon's work is rooted in the interdisciplinary humanities (art history, philosophy, and religion) with an emphasis on East-West transcultural interchange; modern and contemporary art; cultural economics; and aesthetic epistemology.

“There is something about human beings as we proceed through life that makes us want to share what we know, to help the young and others by imparting our knowledge and wisdom in order to make a better society. At root we want to share our hearts.” ~Robert Edward Gordon