Dr. Sahar Heydari Fard, a professor of philosophy, researches at the intersection of philosophy, ethics, and social movements. She discusses the evolving nature of ethics in complex societies, the concept of strategic injustice, the role of social movements in driving progress, and the importance of diversity in shaping norms and values in society.
Tristram McPherson, Professor of Philosophy, examines foundational philosophical questions about ethics, specifically meta-ethics; epistemology; and conceptual ethics. He looks at whether there are ethical facts that answer ethical questions and what the relationship is between God and ethical claims, among other areas.
Richard Samuels, Professor of Philosophy, researches cognitive development, reasoning, computational models of psychological capacities, and modular theories of cognition. He describes why cognitive science is different from psychology and why children can acquire the ability to count and to do basic arithmetic.
Piers Norris Turner, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Ethics and Human Values, researches utilitarianism and liberal political thoughts, especially as it relates to the moral and political philosophy of John Stuart Mill. He argues that Mill was far more than his famous essay on liberty, with wide-ranging interests in a variety of philosophical and political areas.
Declan Smithies, Professor and Director of Philosophy Graduate Studies, researches what it means to know something and to have consciousness. His book, The Epistemic Role of Consciousness, argues that consciousness gives humans knowledge of the external world and that without consciousness, we wouldn’t know anything. Since a dog can know whether there’s food in its bowl by perceiving its bowl, Smithies says, “it’s very plausible that the conscious experience of seeing or smelling the food in the bowl can give dogs knowledge.”
Dana Howard, Assistant Professor of Philosophy with an appointment in the Ohio State Center for Bioethics, researches medical care, often in palliative and internal medicine, to discover how information is shared and decisions reached. She shares her research with David Staley on this week’s Voices of Excellence.
Professor of Philosophy, Justin D’Arms, researches moral theory, meta ethics, reason and rationality, evolutionary theory and the philosophy of emotion. His forthcoming book, Rational Sentimentalism, is an “articulation and defense of sentimentalist theory of value.”