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Research

I research, write and teach on sexual ethics. I am particularly interested in the intersection of sex and technology. I am also interested in LGBTQ issues, alternative sexual identities, and issues relating to the rights of sexual minorities. I recently published a book, The Ethics of Sex: An Introduction. You can buy it here or here.

This book systematically and comprehensively examines the ethical issues surrounding the concept of sex . . . . Each chapter is rich in breadth and depth of discussion, especially the chapter on consent . . . The book would be ideal as a textbook for courses on sexual ethics. Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals; general readers.
–J. A. Kegley, CHOICE

I am also a specialist in the history of early modern philosophy. I am the author of the book David Hume’s Political Theory, the co-editor of David Hume’s Essays and Treatises, and the author of numerous articles and chapters on early modern philosophy. I recently published an article on Locke and sexual liberty.

You can find a selected list of my academic publications below.

Books

Co-Editor (with Arthur Schafer and Steven Lecce), Fragile Freedoms: The Global Struggle for Human Rights (Oxford University Press, 2017)

Contributors include A.C. Grayling, K. Anthony Appiah, Martha Nussbaum, John Borrows, Baroness Helena Kennedy, Steven Pinker, Germaine Greer

Co-Editor (with John Danaher), Robot Sex: Social and Ethical Implications (MIT Press, 2017)

Co-editor (with Lorne Falkenstein): David Hume, Essays and Treatises (Broadview Press, 2013)

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David Hume’s Political Theory: Law, Civilization and the Constitution of Government (University of Toronto Press, 2007)

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Articles (Selected)

“A Fearful Asymmetry: Locke on Legal Moralism, Toleration and Sexual Liberty,” History of Philosophy Quarterly 36 (2019): 337-358.

 “Hume and Legal Philosophy,” The Humean Mind, eds. Angela Coventry and Alexander Sager (Routledge, 2018)

“The Case for Sexbots,” in John Danaher and Neil McArthur, eds., Sex Robots: Social and Ethical Implications (MIT Press, 2017)

(with Markie Twist), “The Rise of Digisexuality: Therapeutic Challenges and Possibilities,” Sexual and Relationship Therapy 32 (2017)

“Political Philosophy”, The Oxford Handbook of David Hume, ed. Paul Russell (Oxford University Press, 2016), 489-504.

“Civil Society”, The Routledge Companion to Eighteenth Century Philosophy, ed. Aaron Garrett (Routledge, 2014), 643-662.

“Reform and Revolution”, The Oxford Handbook of British Philosophy in the Eighteenth Century, ed. James Harris (Oxford University Press, 2013), 555-574.

“The Scottish Enlightenment”, The Oxford Handbook of the History of Political Philosophy, ed. George Klosko (Oxford University Press, 2011), 319-330.


Click here to see interviews with me about my research.