My research focuses on the rich, creative period in the history of moral philosophy between the decline of traditional eudaimonistic ethics at the beginning of the seventeenth century and the emergence of utilitarianism and Kantian ethics at the end of the eighteenth century. I am particularly interested in how moral philosophers during this period worked to ground moral concepts and commitments in human nature in the face of a rapidly changing conception of the natural world. This leads me to a related interest in philosophical accounts of the passions.
I am interested in this history because it is formative to our understanding of key moral concepts: freedom, happiness, the passions, the self, and the good life. In general, I am interested in the history of philosophy because it helps us to answer the question of how we got here, which is critical to answering the question of, where do we go from here. Thus, I see the history of philosophy as living in the present and as essential to philosophy today. Relatedly, I believe that philosophy, then and now, responds to the wider world, including science, the arts, culture, and social and economic conditions. Consequently, I see philosophy as inherently interdisciplinary, and I resist efforts to understand the history of philosophy in isolation from history generally, for instance, as a conversation among great minds about timeless big questions.
My book, Spinoza’s on Human Freedom: Reason, Autonomy, and the Good Life (Cambridge, 2011), examines how Spinoza builds a naturalistic ethics around the concept of freedom and autonomy. I am currently working on a book defending Spinoza’s legacy as the founder of modern secular moral philosophy, Spinoza’s Moral Revolution: The Fate of Virtue in a Godless World. I also write on Descartes and the British Moralists, especially Hobbes and Shaftesbury, and I am working on a book about the nature and moral importance of wonder, which is partly based on reflection about the history of ethics.
Finally, I am actively engaged in environmental justice work, which is connected to developing interests in the environmental ethics. This work has been supported by grants (approximately $100,000) from the Ann Johnson Institute for Science, Technology, and Society and a five-year, $10 million grant ($1 million sub award to the University of South Carolina) from the Environmental Protection Agency.
