Photo by Sy Bean
I am Associate Professor at University of Puget Sound in unassumingly beautiful Tacoma, WA. I did my PhD in philosophy at Yale University and at University of Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum.
I think, write and teach about various topics, whose common thread might be the idea that light and beauty can be found in unexpected corners, and that, vice versa, even the most luminous aspects of human experience conceal darkness and flaws. Less cryptically (and simplifying quite a bit), I defend the views that genuine envy can be good; that true love can be unrequited; that "ugly" bodies can be beautiful.
My book The Philosophy of Envy, was published by Cambridge University Press (July 2021). In it, I defend a novel taxonomy of envy and show its implications in ethics, politics, and personal relationships. For a list of my publications, see my research page (for penultimate drafts of them, you can check out my philpapers page). For drafts of my works in progress, email me.
In the last few years I have engaged in the public in various ways.
Among other things, I enjoyed being interviewed by Brett McKay for The Art of Manliness podcast, chatting with Krista Thomason for The Philosopher , and giving a public lecture titled Envy and Resentment in the time of Coronavirus for Humanities Washington. I was interviewed for articles that appeared in American, Canadian, Italian, Austrian, and British magazines and newspapers. I have chatted with the late Kenneth Taylor, and with Joshua Landy at Philosophy Talk, and I have been interviewed by Amanda Vanstone for Counterpoint (Australia Broadcast Corporation) on the topic of love and envy. I also wrote an essay for Aeon on this same topic. My latest popular essay explains how envy can lead to self-actualization.
For updated and complete information on my education, employment, publications, talks, public engagements, and more, please refer to my CV.
I think, write and teach about various topics, whose common thread might be the idea that light and beauty can be found in unexpected corners, and that, vice versa, even the most luminous aspects of human experience conceal darkness and flaws. Less cryptically (and simplifying quite a bit), I defend the views that genuine envy can be good; that true love can be unrequited; that "ugly" bodies can be beautiful.
My book The Philosophy of Envy, was published by Cambridge University Press (July 2021). In it, I defend a novel taxonomy of envy and show its implications in ethics, politics, and personal relationships. For a list of my publications, see my research page (for penultimate drafts of them, you can check out my philpapers page). For drafts of my works in progress, email me.
In the last few years I have engaged in the public in various ways.
Among other things, I enjoyed being interviewed by Brett McKay for The Art of Manliness podcast, chatting with Krista Thomason for The Philosopher , and giving a public lecture titled Envy and Resentment in the time of Coronavirus for Humanities Washington. I was interviewed for articles that appeared in American, Canadian, Italian, Austrian, and British magazines and newspapers. I have chatted with the late Kenneth Taylor, and with Joshua Landy at Philosophy Talk, and I have been interviewed by Amanda Vanstone for Counterpoint (Australia Broadcast Corporation) on the topic of love and envy. I also wrote an essay for Aeon on this same topic. My latest popular essay explains how envy can lead to self-actualization.
For updated and complete information on my education, employment, publications, talks, public engagements, and more, please refer to my CV.
