Welcome to my home page. I hold a chair in philosophy at the University of Edinburgh.
- My research addresses a variety of areas within ethics, including the philosophy of death and dying (especially grief, suicide and assisted dying, immortality, and attitudes toward death), work and labor, punishment, Kantian ethics, paternalism, and moral psychology.
- In recent years, grief has been the centerpiece of my research. Learn more here. My Grief: A Philosophical Guide, the first-ever book on grief and bereavement from a philosophical perspective, is now available for order from Princeton University Press. My essay “Empathy and Psychopaths’ Inability to Grieve” was awarded the Royal Institute of Philosophy Essay Prize for 2022.
- My book Understanding Kant’s Ethics (Cambridge University Press) was published in 2016. My book, Suicide: The Philosophical Dimensions (2011) was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title. My books are available for purchase here.
- I have also published over 80 peer-reviewed articles, including articles in Mind, Ethics, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Philosophical Studies, Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics, and the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, as well as in collections published by Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Routledge.
- I’m also a founding member of the International Association for the Philosophy of Death and Dying and a former member of the American Philosophical Association Committees on Public Philosophy, Teaching Philosophy, and International Cooperation.
- I serve on the editorial boards of the Philosophical Quarterly, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, the Journal of Applied Philosophy and Social Theory and Practice. I happen to like reviewing manuscripts!
Learn More
Many of my online interviews, podcasts, etc., are available at this playlist. Some other highlights:
- a video podcast from Eclectic Spacewalk – a good general introduction to my research, my background, and philosophical interests
- my article on suicide in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- my article on work and labor in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- an interview about my background and my work in the philosophy of grief
- my award-winning article on grief and psychopathy
- an interview on philosophy of death and dying in light of the pandemic
- a television interview with French/German TV on grief, death, and assisted dying
- a discussion at PEA Soup of my article “Black Lives Matter and the call for death penalty abolition”
- my Reddit Philosophy AMA (Ask Me Anything) session, January 2018
- “Identity Threat” (a good introduction to some of my views on paternalism)
- my work with the Philosophers’ Consortium on Assisted Dying in Scotland (PCADS)
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