I investigate the role of emotions and the imagination in our moral agency. I discuss my research in an interview for the ‘Ideas that Matter’ series, here.

In my current projects, I am developing Aristotle’s thinking on the role of the imagination in reasoning and the emotion of hate. In my previous research, collected in a set of papers, I argue that emotions are sources of ethically significant knowledge. In my paper ‘Moral Emotions, Unnamed Wrongs, and Epistemic Injustice’ (with Ergo), I argue that emotions, such as shame, allow victims to develop an ability to identify instances of an (as yet) unnamed wrong and to communicate the wrong to certain third parties. Others are under review.

Other Completed Works:

“Katharsis.” Fully revised Entry. In Oxford Encyclopedia of Aesthetics. 2nd Edition. Ed. Michael Kelly. Oxford University Press, 2015.

“What lovers Seek: Erōs and Poiēsis in Plato’s Symposium,” co-written with Jonathan Fine.The Xth Symposium Platonicum. International Plato Society, 2012.

“Emotional Pain and Pleasure in Aristotle,” R& R.

Paper on emotions and agency (under review)

Paper on emotions and good judgment in Aristotle (under review)

Ongoing Projects:

In-Progress short monograph, Beginnings of Knowledge: Aristotle on Epagōgē. Epagōgē (induction) is the precursor of the modern concept of induction, but it remains poorly understood. I distinguish the reasoning involved in epagōgē from deductive reasoning and other related mental processes. I give an account of the psychological process involved in such reasoning, especially as it involves the imagination (phantasia).

In-Progress monograph, Untamed Flesh: Misogyny Old & New, that presents a new account of misogyny that emerges partly from tracing its beginnings in pre-classical Greek texts and practices.

I contend that misogyny ought to characterise the most deeply hostile, violent attitudes and actions toward women. Firstly, I develop Aristotle’s account of hate as not necessarily felt but characterised instead by a deeply destructive desire. Then, I examine the term admētos (untamed) for young, unmarried women (and cattle) in pre-classical Greek texts, and argue its relation to sexual practices and violence against women. Lastly, I develop similar dehumanising practices in modern and contemporary culture. Here I draw on the work of Hortense Spillers, contemporary news reports (and memoirs), and sociological research on sex trafficking, and exploitation.

Apt Anger and Moral Agency (In-progress)

In picture, Bernie Sanders Nathan