Research

I am currently working on a series of papers on two distinct themes: (1) vice and moral improvement in Plato and Aristotle, and (2) the relationship between law and virtue in Plato's Laws.

Publications

"Curable and Incurable Vice in Aristotle", Ancient Philosophy (forthcoming).
(with Rachana Kamtekar) "Happiness (eudaimonia)", Bloomsbury Handbook of Plato, Gerald Press and Mateo Duque (Eds).

Dissertation

Legislating for virtue: an essay on virtue and law in Plato’s Laws

It is Plato’s view in the Laws that promoting the virtue of citizens is the primary goal at which the laws should aim. This is a basic normative standard that the interlocutors design Magnesia’s law-code in accordance with, and it serves to situate the legislative project of Laws squarely in the perfectionist realm. A theory of this kind must be able to answer three basic questions: (1) What is law? (2) What is virtue? (3) How does the former promote the latter? I reconstruct Plato’s answers to all three, so as to unite the dialogue’s central ethical and political commitments.

"The offsprings of painting stand there as if they are alive, but if anyone asks them anything, they remain most solemnly silent. The same is true of written words. You’d think they were speaking as if they had some understanding, but if you question anything that has been said because you want to learn more, they continue to signify just that very same thing forever." (Phaedrus 275d-e.)

Header photo: Lake Michigan from Mt. McSauba Recreation Area. Charlevoix, Michigan.