I am interested in the nature of value. I investigate the hypothesis that value is relational, and more particularly, that good is good for someone. I find myself thinking about hard cases for this style of proposal, for example, the value of humanity, and perfectionist values such as exemplary artworks and intellectual pursuits. The value of humanity is a signature topic in Kantian ethics (and the subject of my monograph). Perfectionist values are a point of focus for those broadly indebted to G. E. Moore. To that extent, my work engages with two dominant approaches in modern ethical theory (though the proposals I develop are fundamentally non-Kantian and non-Moorean). My work is grounded in the history of philosophy even as it is fundamentally constructive and oriented towards contemporary discussions.  I have written on Kant’s moral philosophy, regress arguments, ethical realism, aesthetic value, and the nature of well-being. I am writing a book on the good—a topic I have come to see as almost impossibly difficult. Lately I want to know what can be said for the idea that our relationship to ourselves is at the heart of ethics. This puts me in conversation (and sometimes disagreement) with Iris Murdoch whose work is inspiring a new series of papers. Before joining the faculty at Rice in 2024, I was an associate professor in Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. 

Selected publications

2024: “Against the Fundamentality of GOOD,” forthcoming in The Journal of Philosophy.

2023: Rethinking the Value of Humanity (co-editor with Sarah Buss), Oxford University Press.

2023: “Activity, Consciousness, and Well-Being,” Analysis, Volume 83, Issue 1, 134–146.

2020: The Value of Humanity, Oxford University Press.

2018: “Must We Be Just Plain Good? On Regress Arguments for the Value of Humanity,” Ethics, 128, No. 2, pp. 346-372.

2016: “Kant’s Commitment to Metaphysics of Morals,” European Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 24, Iss. 1, pp. 103-128.