Derek Estes

I am currently the 2023-24 Seaver Faculty Fellow at Pepperdine University in the Religion and Philosophy Division. I am also a joint PhD candidate in Saint Louis University's Department of Philosophy and Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics. Before I was at SLU, I earned a Master's degree in Theology at Abilene Christian University.

Research

My work in bioethics explores how the subtleties of philosophical concepts are illuminated when they are employed in bioethical theory and applied in medical decision-making. 

My dissertation is one outgrowth of this interest. In it, I intervene in a contemporary debate within bioethics concerning the usefulness of the notion of human dignity. Many bioethicists assert that human dignity is an ambiguous or even vacuous concept. Debates surrounding physician-assisted death provide a salient example: one side argues that patients have a right to what is called “death with dignity,” while the other side argues that it is a fundamental violation of human dignity for physicians to intentionally kill their patient, even with the patient’s consent. Since both sides employ the same term as justification for their claims, many bioethicists have concluded that human dignity is a meaningless concept that ought to be excised from bioethical discourse. I disagree with this conclusion, however, and instead argue that, properly understood, human dignity is indispensable for medical decision-making. My dissertation advisor is Jason Eberl, and Eleonore Stump, Jeffrey Bishop, and Bryan Pilkington are on the committee.

In philosophy of religion, my interests are diverse, but I have specifically written on the Thomistic conception of the imago dei, on the possibility of disabilities existing in the bodies of the resurrected saints in heaven, and on reformed epistemology, among other things. In my dissertation on human dignity, I spend a chapter cashing out the foundations of human dignity through the Christian notion of the imago dei. I mainly draw inspiration from the work of Thomas Aquinas.

I am also interested in applied ethics. I have written a paper on the ethics of sex, and I am currently working on a paper about the ethics of contraception and natural family planning.

Abstracts of past publications as well as of papers in progress are available, which you can find here.

Teaching

My attraction to the world of academia has primarily been motivated by a love for teaching. Because of my interdisciplinary training in philosophy, bioethics, and theology, I have been able to teach courses in a variety of related disciplines, which has made teaching even more exciting. At Saint Louis University I led discussion labs for Introduction to Philosophy, a general education requirement, and was instructor of record for Ethics, a philosophy elective. I have also taught Foundations of Clinical Ethics, the introductory course for Bioethics and Health Studies majors at SLU’s Center for Health Care Ethics. At Abilene Christian University, I have taught Christianity in Culture, an upper division general education religion requirement, through the Department of Bible, Ministry, and Missions. These courses were offered in a wide variety of modalities—in-person, hybrid, and fully online—and several formats—regular semester, 8-week intensive, and 2-week intensive. Students report that my courses are formative and engaging, and in course evaluations I consistently outperform university and departmental averages in all metrics. Teaching evaluations are available upon request.

Service

One of my mentors, Eleonore Stump, often reminds her students that a life dedicated to the life of the mind is something almost no one in history has had the opportunity to enjoy. That makes those of us who do have this opportunity members of the aristocracy, and the only justification there has ever been for aristocracy (if there could be one) is charity. Service is thus a gift we give freely, because we have received freely.

Accordingly, I have served in a number of capacities. At Saint Louis University, I have served as vice president of administration of the Graduate Student Association (GSA), and I have served two years as a departmental representative for the Department of Philosophy in the GSA general assembly. I also currently serve as vice-president of the board of directors for The Christian Academy of Greater St. Louis (CAGSL), a K-12 school affiliated with the Churches of Christ in St. Louis. My service to the profession includes being a guest editor for an issue of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, and I was co-organizer of the annual Saint Louis University Philosophy Graduate Student Conference in 2022. I am also a standing committee member for the Christian Scholars' Conference planning committee for the Theology and Philosophy units.

Further details about my service to the profession and to the university are listed on my CV, which you can find here.

Personal

I was born and raised near Nashville, TN and attended undergrad at Freed-Hardeman University where I was also a scholarship-athlete on the soccer team for a year before I gave that up to focus more on academics. At FHU, I met Laura, who I would eventually marry. We have two delightful children, Miles and Henry.

In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family doing things like camping, going on walks in nearby parks, and trying new food. I am also an enthusiastic but mediocre chess player (I'm what they call an adult improver, since I only picked up the hobby during Covid), and I enjoy watching sports of all kinds.

I recently did an APA member interview, which you can find here.