I’m Professor of Philosophy and Affiliate of the Data Science Institute (DSI) at Columbia University, New York City. In my books and papers, I focus on questions that figure both in ancient and contemporary discussions: What are values? What kind of values are knowledge and truth? What is the role of epistemic norms in ethics? Since the pandemic, I also post video introductions on questions related to my research and teaching.
I’m currently working on generics and generalizations (“Precisifying Generics,” “The Epicurean Riddle of Induction”). Another set of papers examines the relation between knowledge and virtue (“Virtue is Knowledge” forthcoming, “The Philosopher-Warrior” forthcoming, “Kant on the Unity and Plurality of the Virtues” forthcoming). In two recent papers, I argue that Plato’s Euthyphro offers a metaethics that integrates dimensions of realism and anti-realism (“The Euthyphro Problem Revisited” 2020, “Metaethics of Discord” 2022). I’m finalizing a set of papers for a monograph, The Original Stoics. This includes papers on Stoic logic (“Vagueness and Kataleptic Impressions” 2022, “Stoic Definitions Without Essences” forthcoming, “The Flaw of Generics” forthcoming), physics (“The Agency of the World” 2021) and ethics (“The Stoic Conception of Law” 2021).
In Desiring the Good: Ancient Proposals and Contemporary Theory (OUP, 2017, paperback 2021), I aim to show in which sense it may be true that human beings are “the measure” such that this is not a relativist proposal, but an insight about the nature of ethics. I co-authored four papers with Jens Haas, “Incomplete Ignorance” (2020), “Ignorance and Investigation” (2015 and 2022), “Love and Hatred” (2018), and “Good and Evil?” (2022). In Epistemology After Sextus Empiricus (OUP, 2020), co-edited with Justin Vlasits, I return to my long-term interest in skepticism, which I also pursue in papers on Pyrrho (“Pyrrhonian Indeterminacy” 2021, “Pyrrhonian Skepticism and Relativism” forthcoming).
I serve as an editor of Nous, on the editorial boards of the Journal of Philosophy, Apeiron, and Rhizomata, as an associate editor for philosophy of language, epistemology, and logic of Dialogoi: Ancient Philosophy Today, and as one of three co-editors of the Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie. At Columbia University, I became interested in the opportunities and challenges of teaching and conducting research remotely. I chaired a committee on Teaching Modalities and continue to contribute to a range of related committees. I’m an academic sponsor of Logic Made Accessible, a project devoted to making ancient logic freely accessible for students of all ages.
When I’m not in the city, I’m traveling with photographer and artist Jens Haas. On the Road has become an art project and a philosophical diary. Movies and Morals, in collaboration with H8URS, is a growing series of video commentary on philosophy and art in contemporary film and television shows.