Associate Professor
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I am an associate professor of philosophy and bioethics at the University of Rochester, with research and teaching interests in public health ethics, neuroethics, and political philosophy.
In addition to my primary appointment in Philosophy, I also serve as chair of the Steering Committee for the Public Health-Related Majors, a group of five interdisciplinary majors: Bioethics, Environmental Health, Epidemiology, Health Policy, and Health, Behavior, and Society. Within the program, I direct the Bioethics major. I also hold an appointment in Bioethics in the Division of Medical Humanities and Bioethics at the University of Rochester Medical School, and I work with the Clinical Ethics program, the Ethics Committee, and the solid organ transplant teams. Outside Rochester, I serve on the Ethics Committee of the Empire State Stem Cell Board for the State of New York. 
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"My country is the world and my religion to do good."
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Research
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My research falls into four broad categories. First, I work in a number of issues in health care ethics. I am particularly interested in the ethical justifications for public health initiatives and especially on newborn screening. In addition, I have on ongoing interest in the myriad of ethical issues that arise in organ transplants and in the complex set of ethical issues at the intersection of neuroscience, neurology, and ethics, in particular in the extent to which we think that we should be able to use medicine to modify our brains to improve our memory, our cognition, our moods, and our personality.
Second, related to these issues, I have an ongoing interest in the meaning and implications of death, both for how it affects bioethical issues, but also for how it affects the way we create meaning in our lives. Third I have a continuing interest in the social and conceptual foundations of liberal institutions and practices. I am particularly interested in the philosophical justifications for toleration, which is the subject of my book Trust and Toleration. Fourth, I study the historical foundations of modern politics in the eighteenth century, particularly in the works of the great Scottish philosopher David Hume and those of the American Founders. |
Teaching
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Philosophy is not a set of facts to be learned, but a method of inquiry. I hope both to model that method and to encourage it in my students, through discussions and writing assignments. Every year, I teach Public Helath Ethics (PHL 228), and every other year I teach courses on Neuroethics, the Philosophical Foundations of the American Revolution, Death, and a Seminar in Bioethics.
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Steering Committee for Public Health-Related Majors: Richard Dees, Edwin van Wijngaarden, Nancy Chin, Ted Brown
Teaching, Fall 2017
PHL 221: Philosophical Foundations of the American Revolution. In this course, we study the American Revolution by examining the political theory which sparked the revolution itself and which lay behind the writing of the Constitution. We will begin by looking at the important predecessors to the revolution, particularly the works of John Locke, the Baron de Montesquieu, and David Hume. We will then consider important works from the period surrounding the revolution, including works by Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson. Finally, we will look at the debates surrounding the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, including the Federalist Papers and important anti-Federalist works. The eighteenth century was a time of remarkable intellectual activity in the West, and the Americans played a central role in it, both reflecting the thought in Europe and influencing the course of thoughts and events there.
PHL 228: Public Health Ethics. Most health care ethics focuses on the individual decisions about treatments, but many ethical questions have implications for society at large. The demands that individual health decisions make on the system may create collective problems, and conversely, the needs of society may limit the freedoms that individuals think they should have. Public health ethics then, lie at the intersection of medicine, political philosophy, and public policy. This course will examine the values of health, social needs, and freedom through a systematic examination of situations in which these conflicts arise. We will examine the issues by looking at it through three levels: through theoretical readings in philosophy, through readings in the broad issues of public health, and by considering case studies.
Teaching, Spring 2018
PHL 312: Neuroethics. Advances in neuroscience allow us to understand the brain and its functions more completely now than ever before. From these findings, new medical techniques and technologies are being developed that will allow us to peer into the working of others’ minds and to alter our cognitive functions, our memory, and our moods, raising fundamental questions about free will, about the basis for our identity as persons, and about morality itself. For these reasons, neuroscience may pose a deeper set of moral issues than any other science and this course will seek to explore the ethical issues that it raises.
PHL 221: Philosophical Foundations of the American Revolution. In this course, we study the American Revolution by examining the political theory which sparked the revolution itself and which lay behind the writing of the Constitution. We will begin by looking at the important predecessors to the revolution, particularly the works of John Locke, the Baron de Montesquieu, and David Hume. We will then consider important works from the period surrounding the revolution, including works by Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson. Finally, we will look at the debates surrounding the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, including the Federalist Papers and important anti-Federalist works. The eighteenth century was a time of remarkable intellectual activity in the West, and the Americans played a central role in it, both reflecting the thought in Europe and influencing the course of thoughts and events there.
PHL 228: Public Health Ethics. Most health care ethics focuses on the individual decisions about treatments, but many ethical questions have implications for society at large. The demands that individual health decisions make on the system may create collective problems, and conversely, the needs of society may limit the freedoms that individuals think they should have. Public health ethics then, lie at the intersection of medicine, political philosophy, and public policy. This course will examine the values of health, social needs, and freedom through a systematic examination of situations in which these conflicts arise. We will examine the issues by looking at it through three levels: through theoretical readings in philosophy, through readings in the broad issues of public health, and by considering case studies.
Teaching, Spring 2018
PHL 312: Neuroethics. Advances in neuroscience allow us to understand the brain and its functions more completely now than ever before. From these findings, new medical techniques and technologies are being developed that will allow us to peer into the working of others’ minds and to alter our cognitive functions, our memory, and our moods, raising fundamental questions about free will, about the basis for our identity as persons, and about morality itself. For these reasons, neuroscience may pose a deeper set of moral issues than any other science and this course will seek to explore the ethical issues that it raises.
Contact information
Office hours: Fall 2017
Mondays 11:45-12:45, Thursdays 12:00-1:00 and by appointment
Mondays 11:45-12:45, Thursdays 12:00-1:00 and by appointment
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phone |
585-275-8110
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office |
Lattimore 529
Medical Center G-8011K |
