Much of my recent research addresses philosophical and ethical questions related to grief and bereavement.
I. My book
II. Podcasts, interviews, and other media
III. Lectures, presentations, and public events
IV. Future events
V. Current grief-related research
VI. Academic articles
Grief: A Philosophical Guide
The first book-length investigation of the philosophical questions raised by grief
- Selected as a Seminary Co-op Notable Title
- Preview the contents and introduction — and buy at Princeton University Press
Symposium, with my précis and reply to commentators in the Journal of Philosophy of Emotion
Reviews in Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, NRC (Netherlands)
Academic reviews: Ethics, Journal of Applied Philosophy, Philosophical Quarterly, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Philosophers’ Magazine
(Translations into Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Persian/Farsi)
Podcasts, interviews, and other media
“‘It’s about capturing their humanness’: the future of funerals, from VR clones to hydrocremations”, (quoted) TimeOut UK, May 2024
“Transformative grief.” Interview, New Philosopher magazine, issue 42, Dec 2023
PPLS Perspectives podcast, University of Edinburgh, ep. 1, “The Philosophy of Grief,” Nov 2023
Interview for Plato’s Academy Newsletter, “Talking About Death Never Killed Anyone,” Oct 2023
Thoughts Podcast, “Grief,” University of Glasgow Philosophy Department, , Oct 2023
Brain in a Vat podcast (on Grief: A Philosophical Guide), Jul 2023
27, ARTE TV (Paris), ‘Grand Interview,’ Nov 2022
The National (Scotland), “It is problematic to say we are ‘united’ in grief” (J. Duffy, 18 Sept 2022)
BBC Northern Ireland (Radio Ulster), Talkback with William Crawley, 15 Sept 2022
Nature (News), “Why are people grieving for a queen they never met?” (K. Sanderson, 14 Sept 2022)
Guardian Science Weekly Podcast, “Why do we grieve the death of public figures?” Sept 2022
“What’s new in death?”, Australian Broadcasting Corporation Philosophers’ Zone (part 1, part 2)August 2022
“There is consolation in a philosophical approach to grief.” Psyche, July 2022
Science of Psychotherapy podcast, June 2022
First Things podcast with Mark Bauerlein, March 2022
Wise Hypocrite podcast with Patrick Daniel, March 2022
Chris Voss Show (video podcast), February 2022
“What Can Grief Teach Us About Ourselves?“, Royal College of Psychiatrists podcasts, February 2022
“Who We Grieve for and Why,” Harvard Bookstore, January 2022
“The Pandemic Has Flooded the World with Grief, But We’re Not in a ‘Grief Pandemic.” Princeton Ideas blog, January 2022
Ethical Theory Review podcast, January 2022
New Books in Philosophy podcast, December 2021
Panelist, LSE Forum on Grief [online], November 2021 (podcast, recording)
“All About Grief: What Causes It, How to Cope With It, and When to Get Help.” Everyday Health, October 2021 [quoted]
“How to Be Philosophical About Grief.” The Good Is In the Details podcast, October 2021
“Who We Grieve For — and Why.” Massachusetts University of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, September 2021
“Understanding Grief and Death in the Age of Covid-19,” Saed News, September 2021 (Persian version)
Interview, “Thinking About Grief,” Eudaimonia Junction, September 2021
Interviewee, Dokeo Podcast — Philosophy for the Now (part 1) (part 2), April 2021
Philosophy Foundation Happy Prisoner Festival, panelist on ecological grief, March 2021 (preview)
Interview, “The Shock of Vulnerability: Contemplations on Death and Dying in the Pandemic.” University of Edinburgh Covid-19 Perspectives, January 2021
Podcast guest, Philosophical Disquisitions, “Grief in the Time of a Pandemic,” May 2020
Interviewee, Eclectic Spacewalk video podcast, January 2020
“The Stranger, the Saint, and Grief’s Goodness” [article on Camus, Augustine, and the nature of grief]
Lectures, presentations, and public events
“Grief and the value of tragedy.” Princeton University Normative Philosophy workshop, Nov 2024
“Practical fidelity and the duty to grieve.”
- Edinburgh University Ethics Seminar, Dec 2024
- Rutgers University Value Theory Colloquium, Nov 2024
- Departmental colloquium, State University of New York New Paltz, Nov 2024
“Griefbots, memory, and death denial.” Keynote presentation, Leiden University workshop, Death and the Digital Realm, Oct 2024
“The human right to grief and the wrong of disenfranchisement.” Workshop on Cultures of Disenfranchised Grief, Newcastle University, Jun 2024
“Warranted ambivalence: The case of grief.”
- International Association for the Philosophy of Death and Dying [online], Jul 2024
- European Philosophical Society for the Study of Emotion, 10th Annual Conference, Lisbon, Jun 2024
“Fearing our deaths, grieving our selves.” International Association for the Philosophy of Death and Dying/Scots Philosophical Association Conference, ‘Relating to Death, Relating to the Dead’, University of Edinburgh, May 2024
“Attention, solitude, and the social dimensions of grief.” Keynote address, Alone Together: Solitude in Theory and Practice (International Society for Research on Solitude), Bishop Grosseteste University (Lincoln, UK), Apr 2024
“Memory and mimesis in our relationships with posthumous avatars.” Workshop on Philosophy of Avatars, University of Aberdeen, Mar 2024
“Love, identity, and the duty to grieve.”
- Workshop, Philosophy of Love and Loss, University of Edinburgh, Oct 2023
- Sapientia Series, Dartmouth College, Aug 2023
- Stapledon Colloquium, University of Liverpool, Apr 2023
“Grief, empathy, and psychopathy.”
- University of Geneva, Thumos Center, Mar 2023
- University of Glasgow, Oct 2022
- University of Turku, Oct 2022
- University of York Grief Project Workshop, Jun 2022
- University of Alabama, Nov 2021
- University of Liverpool, Interpersonal Understanding and Affective Empathy Project, Jun 2021
“How shall public art commemorate the Covid dead?” Workshop on Public Art, British Society for Aesthetics, Kings College London, Nov 2022
“Public grief as a catalyst for solidarity and social justice.” The Political Role of Moral Emotions, University of Geneva, Jun 2022
“Grief as attention.” European Philosophical Society for the Study of Emotions, Graz, Jun 2022
“Grief and the pandemic: Resisting the epidemiological turn.” Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, May 2022
Book Symposium: Grief: A Philosophical Guide, American Philosophical Association Pacific Division meeting, Apr 2022
“Who we grieve for and why.”
- University of North Carolina, School of Medicine Seminar on Philosophy, Ethics, and Mental Health, Feb 2023
- Seton Hall University, Apr 2022
- University of Alabama Philosophy Talk series, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Nov 2021
“Grieving our way back to meaningfulness.”
- University of Florida, Nov 2021
- Royal Institute of Philosophy Conference, Meaning in Life and Knowledge of Death, Jul 2021
“Grief justice and the role of medicine after Covid.” Philosophical Perspectives on Covid-19, University of Johannesburg, May 2021 [online]
Book symposium session, Grief: A Philosophical Guide. Society for the Philosophy of Emotion, New Orleans, La.., Feb 2021 [online]
“The duty to grieve.” American Philosophical Association Eastern Division meeting, Savannah, Ga., Jan 2018 [invited symposium paper]
“Why we should think twice about medicalizing grief.” Occidental College, Nov 2018
“Resilience, regret, and the nature of grief.” Public Lecture series, University of Turku, Finland, Sept 2016
“Resilience and the nature of grief.” American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division Meeting, San Francisco, Ca., Apr 2016
Future events
“Human capabilities and the right to grieve.” Invited presentation, American Philosophical Association Central Division Meeting, 2/25
Paper for workshop on attention and value, University of Oslo, 4/25
Paper for conference on philosophy of pain and suffering, University of Glasgow, 5/25
Paper on grief and memory, Centre for Philosophy of Memory, University of Grenoble, 6/25
Paper for Aristotelian Society/Mind Association, Joint Session, University of Leeds, 7/26
Current grief-related research
“Grief and mourning as human rights” (in preparation)
“Warranted affective ambivalence: The case of grief.” (in preparation)”
“Practical fidelity the duty to grieve” (in preparation)
“Grief and the value of tragedy.” (in preparation)
“Grief and euthanasia” (in preparation)
“Grief and solitude” (in preparation)
“Public grief as a catalyst for solidarity and social justice” (in preparation)
Academic articles
“Grief and memory.” In A. Sant’anna and C. Craver, eds., Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Memory (commissioned, publication expected 2026) [with Jelena Markovic]
“Memory and mimesis in our relationships with posthumous avatars.” Oxford Intersections: AI and Society (Relationships), forthcoming 2025.
“Fearing our deaths, grieving ourselves.” In A. Harbin, ed., The Moral Psychology of Fear, forthcoming 2025.
“Practical identity, fittingness, and the resolution of grief.” Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology, forthcoming 2025.
“The medicalization of grief.” In T. Schramme and M. Walker, eds., Springer Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine, 2024.
“Empathy and psychopaths’ inability to grieve.” Philosophy, (2023): 413-431. doi:10.1017/S0031819123000232 (awarded the Royal Institute of Philosophy Essay Prize, 2022)
“Grief as attention.” Journal of Consciousness Studies 29 (2022): 63-83.
“Grieving our way back to meaningfulness.” In M. Hauskeller, ed., Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement (Meaning in Life and the Knowledge of Death) 90 (2021): 235-251.
“Why grieve?” In M. Cholbi and T. Timmerman, eds., Exploring the Philosophy of Death and Dying: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives (Routledge, 2020), pp. 184-190.
“Holding on and letting go: Anticipatory grief and surrogate choices at the end of life.” American Journal of Bioethics 19 (2019): 42-43. DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2019.1674414
“Regret, resilience, and the nature of grief.” Journal of Moral Philosophy 16 (2019): 486-508.
“Finding the good in grief: What Augustine knew but Meursault could not.” Journal of the American Philosophical Association 3 (2017): 91-105.
“Grief’s rationality, backward and forward.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 94 (2017): 255-272.
“Grief and end-of-life medical decision making.” In J. Davis (ed.), Ethics at the End of Life: New Issues and Arguments (Routledge, 2017) pp. 201-217.
“Grief.” International Encyclopedia of Ethics (Wiley-Blackwell), 2015.
