About
Education
I received my B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from University of California, Los Angeles. It is a bit unusual to return to the same institution for one’s master and doctoral degrees. However, it worked out well. I was very lucky to work with so many excellent philosophers.
Teaching
At Pomona College I teach a variety of ethics courses: history (focusing on Kant, Aristotle, and Hume’s ethical theories); well-being and autonomy; moral responsibility; medical ethics; and introduction to ethics. Much can get in the way of pursuing one’s own answers to important ethical questions, such as feelings of overconfidence or inadequacy and the use of chatbots and social media. To arrive at answers that are original, interesting, insightful, and well-argued it takes a lot of emotional self-management, practice at logic, personal reflection, and discussion with others whose personal experiences differ from one’s own and who are willing to raise challenges in a productive way.
Research
My research focuses on:
- the ways in which the emotions shape the motive, manner, and moral
assessment of actions - who is morally responsible (AI, addicts, children, animals?)
and for what (actions, consequences, beliefs, motives?) - what moral status is, who has it, and in virtue of what
- the kinds ethical value that there are and their grounds
For more details see my CV [pdf]
