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: Philosophical Quarterly, Journal of Applied Philosophy, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Philosophers’ Magazine
Podcasts, interviews, and other media
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
“How shall public art commemorate the Covid dad?” Workshop on Public Art, British Society for Aesthetics, Kings College London, Nov 2022
“Grief, empathy, and psychopathy.”
– University of Glasgow, Oct 2022
– University of Turku, Oct 2022
– University of York Grief Project Workshop, June 2022
– University of Alabama, Nov 2021
– University of Liverpool, Interpersonal Understanding and Affective Empathy Project, June 2021
“Public grief as a catalyst for solidarity and social justice.” The Political Role of Moral Emotions, University of Geneva, June 2022
“Grief as attention.” European Philosophical Society for the Study of Emotions, Graz, June 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, April 2022
“Who we grieve for and why.”
– Seton Hall University, April 2022
– University of Alabama Philosophy Talk series, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, November 2021
“Grieving our way back to meaningfulness.”
– University of Florida, November 2021
– Royal Institute of Philosophy Conference, Meaning in Life and Knowledge of Death, July 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.., February 2021 [online]
“The duty to grieve.” American Philosophical Association Eastern Division meeting, Savannah, Ga., January 2018 [invited symposium paper]
“Why we should think twice about medicalizing grief.” Occidental College, November 2018
“Resilience, regret, and the nature of grief.” Public Lecture series, University of Turku, Finland, September 2016
“Resilience and the nature of grief.” American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division Meeting, San Francisco, Ca., April 2016
Future events
Current grief-related research
“Grief justice and the role of medicine after Covid-19” (in preparation)
“Grief, empathy, and psychopathy” (in preparation)
“Public grief as a catalyst for solidarity and social justice” (in preparation)
“The right to grieve, the right to be grieved” (in preparation)
“The paradox of tragedy, the paradox of grief” (in preparation)
“Grief and the virtues” (in preparation)
“Can we grieve our own deaths?” (in preparation)
“Love and the duty to grieve” (in preparation)
Academic articles
“Against the medicalization of grief.” In T. Schramme and M. Walker, eds., Springer Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine (commissioned, publication expected 2024)
“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.
