RESEARCH

My research agenda is to argue against political ideologies, policies, and economic theories that suppress the individual, with an emphasis on protecting individual liberty and autonomy. The broad aim of my research in political philosophy (although there is overlap with biomedical ethics) is to defend the individual against the state. The state is coercive by nature and this presents a problem for any individual who must live within a state (which is nearly everyone). My research deals with self-defense issues against the state.

In biomedical ethics, I am concerned with situations that don’t allow for individuals to exercise their full autonomy, such as euthanasia. I also seek to better understand the mechanisms that prevent individuals from fully being a self-governing agent in medical-type settings. One area I am specifically interested in is vaccine protocol for minors. I am also concerned wth the labor and birth experience of women.

In applied ethics, I have been exploring issues surrounding sexual consent and its relationship to free speech. In a current paper, I argue against the position that affirmative consent is required for sex to be considered consensual.

Given my background in cognitive neuroscience, I find the field of philosophy of technology fascinating. Our understanding of how our technological use impacts our psychology and our moral being is still in its infancy, but what does appear to be clear is that social media use creates new ethical problems for the individual. I argue, in a current paper, that social media use exacerbates the problem of preference falsification and increases the costs of falsifying a preference, even when falsifying a preference is socially desirable to do so.