Research

Philosophy that matters

UofL philosophers do philosophy that reaches beyond the seminar room – into hospital ethics committees, cognitive science labs, literary criticism and public life. Faculty research spans six areas, and undergraduate and graduate students take part in all of them.

Bioethics, health justice and philosophy of medicine

The department has particular strength in bioethics, with faculty whose work directly shapes healthcare policy and practice. Lauren Freeman conducts interdisciplinary research on health equity, philosophy of medicine and the ethical dimensions of medical practice, and her work has been featured in Nature and leading health policy journals. Olivia Schuman, who also serves as a clinical ethicist at Norton Healthcare, specializes in clinical ethics, bioethics and normative ethics – bridging academic philosophy with real institutional practice.

Philosophy of mind, consciousness and cognition

Guy Dove argues that language is more than a medium of communication – it is a medium of thought itself, extending our cognitive abilities in ways that go beyond conveying information; his work engages cognitive neuroscience, embodied cognition and the philosophy of abstract concepts. Andreas Elpidorou contributes through his work on consciousness and physicalism, including phenomenal concepts – the special concepts we use when thinking about our own conscious experiences – and what they reveal about the relationship between mind and brain.

Aesthetics and philosophy of literature

John Gibson explores the unique forms of meaning that artworks bear and what they imply for the cultural, ethical and cognitive significance of art. His book Fiction and the Weave of Life (Oxford University Press) tackles one of the oldest questions in aesthetics – how invented works give genuine insight into the real world and the human condition – and his work has helped establish philosophy of literature as a central subfield of analytic philosophy.

Philosophy of emotions and moral psychology

Andreas Elpidorou is internationally recognized for his work on boredom – its nature, function and value – including Propelled (Oxford University Press, 2020) and The Anatomy of Boredom (2025). A related question animates Glenn “Boomer” Trujillo’s work: not what happens when we lack engagement, but what it looks like when we are genuinely at play. His book The Virtue of Playfulness develops an Aristotelian argument that playfulness is a genuine virtue – as necessary for a flourishing life as courage or practical wisdom. Lyn Radke contributes through feminist philosophy and moral psychology, examining how character, social context and power shape our moral lives and ethical obligations.

African and diasporic philosophies, applied ethics and epistemology

Eve Polley works at the intersection of African and African Diasporic philosophies, applied ethics and epistemology, bringing underrepresented philosophical traditions into conversation with contemporary ethical and political questions – reflecting the department’s broader commitment to inclusive and globally engaged inquiry.

History of philosophy and continental thought

The department has significant strength in the history of philosophy, spanning ancient, modern and contemporary European traditions. Michael Portal specializes in Jewish philosophy and twentieth- and twenty-first-century Francophone philosophy, and is writing a manuscript on phenomenology and Jewish messianism drawing on Emmanuel Levinas and Maurice Blanchot. Ryan Froese works in modern German philosophy, metaphysics and theories of normativity, from Kant through the twentieth century. Trujillo’s historical work covers ancient philosophy – Aristotle and the Cynics; Gibson co-edited a volume on the literary Wittgenstein; and Freeman and Elpidorou both contribute to the phenomenological tradition, from Heidegger’s account of mood and boredom in Being and Time to a co-edited volume bringing phenomenological and analytic approaches to philosophy of mind into dialogue. Together, this expertise lets the department engage the full sweep of Western philosophy while connecting historical questions to live debates in ethics, moral psychology, philosophy of mind and aesthetics.