Current Graduate Students

Alex’s main research interest is in the ethics of collective action, especially environmental ethics and the ethics of voting. He engages arguments that explore the efficacy of individuals and how collective action shapes moral requirements. He also enjoys the history of philosophy, particularly as related to modern political philosophy as well as ancient and contemporary accounts of virtue ethics. Alex earned a B.A. in philosophy from Bethel University in Saint Paul, MN (’05) and an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ (’08). He spent a few years cultivating his love of teaching philosophy at community colleges in New Jersey and Minnesota before arriving at Bowling Green.

Colin started his educational journey as a biology major at Iowa State University before changing his major to philosophy realizing that it was in the world's interest that he not screw things up in labs. His research focuses on developing philosophical accounts of when to attribute climate change as a cause to specific weather events.

Joseph Duda arrived in Bowling Green in August of 2020 as a graduate student. He is currently a 3rd year PhD candidate with an interest in applied ethics, particularly bioethics. His other academic interests are in philosophy of mind, personal identity, ethics of sex, moral psychology, philosophy of science, and business ethics. He earned his master's degree at the University of Mississippi in 2017 under the supervision of Dr. Deborah Mower. Joe completed his bachelor's of art degree in philosophy with a minor in business management in 2013 from Marywood University.  Joe helped to create the certificate in bioethics program at Marywood University with BGSU alum Dr. Aaron Simmons, and was in the first class to complete the certificate program.
     In addition to the above, he assists with the BGSU Ethics Bowl Team and the University of Mississippi Ethics Bowl Team.
     Joe is originally from Easton, Pennsylvania but he has lived in several states and foreign countries throughout his life. He lived in Belgium as a child where he had the opportunity to visit over 10 different countries. He has been a resident of Scranton, PA where he served as an ethics advisor and researcher for the start up company Aya Fair Trade. He has also served as a tutor, Resident Assistant, Writing Fellow, Assistant Coach for Ethics Bowl Team (University of Mississippi), and Graduate student council member.
     Joe is an avid "gamer", amateur chess player, and sort-of-cinephile. He also collects comic books and other related merchandise and is a car and tech enthusiast. 

Cade received his bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Kansas. He is now in the Philosophy Ph.D. program at BGSU. Cade's main area of interest is political and economic philosophy, with a specific focus on distributive justice.

Joseph received his master's degree in Philosophy from Oklahoma State University. He arrived at BGSU in August 2021 and is currently a 2nd-year graduate student. Joseph's main area of interest is animal ethics. Other academic interests include normative ethics, applied ethics, philosophy of mind, and moral psychology. Outside of philosophy, Joseph enjoys gaming in various forms (video games, tabletop, board games, etc.) and watching movies. 

Sara studied biochemistry, art, and philosophy as an undergraduate student at The College of St. Catherine, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Sara received her master’s degree in philosophy at Ohio University, in Athens, Ohio. Sara is now completing her doctoral degree in applied philosophy and researching problems in moral responsibility. 

Zeke received his B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Michigan. He also received a B.A. in Anthropology, focusing on Archaeology. He finished his M.A. in Philosophy at Wayne State University in Detroit, writing on the ethics of cognitive enhancement.  His primary interests are ethics (meta, normative, and applied), anything relating to John Stuart Mill, and 16th-17th century Metaphysics. When he isn't agonizing over whether or not he's doing the "right" thing, Zeke is an avid gamer (both the video and tabletop variety) with an intense interest in game design, speed-running, and E-sports. He also enjoys playing bass guitar and savoring rye whiskeys.  

Trevor’s first exposure to philosophy was a bioethics course he begrudgingly enrolled in as a pre-med in undergrad. Soon after he graduated from UAB in 2020 with a BA in philosophy, where he developed a passion for reading, writing, and discussing academic philosophical ideas. At the present, Trevor is a 2nd-year Master’s student here at BGSU studying philosophy. Since joining the Falcons he’s developed broad interests, but he is especially interested in ethics, epistemology, and normativity. He’s currently working on a project in social epistemology addressing an under-explored phenomenon: interpersonal misunderstanding. Here he analyzes the normative and epistemic nature underlying an agent misunderstanding another’s utterance. His interests in metaethics pertain to constructivism and realism, as well as the puzzle of normative force broadly.

Sam began his studies at BGSU in the fall of 2022. He is currently an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Cuyahoga Community College located in Cleveland Ohio where he has taught philosophy courses since 1991. His primary interests are in the area of bioethics, especially end-of-life care, brain death, and health care justice. His book, The Dying Experience: Expanding Options for Dying and Suffering Patients was published in by Rowman and Littlefield International in 2019. Sam has also published several articles in the field of bioethics. Sam also enjoys playing piano and providing piano lessons on occasion.

Kara completed her bachelors in Philosophy and English at the University of Louisville. Her primary areas of interest are political philosophy (specifically surrounding topics of gender, race, and class) and applied ethics, though she also studies existentialism and philosophy of aesthetics. Outside of her philosophical work, Kara is a dedicated writer and artist, her work primarily consisting within the horror genre and utilizing themes that tie back into her philosophical concerns.

Sam received his BA in Philosophy in 2018 from Warren Wilson College near Asheville, NC. His primary interests in philosophy lie in political philosophy, with a recent interest in John Dewey's democratic theory. He has also been reading about the relationship between ideal and non-ideal theory and thinking about what kind of role ideals (such as democratic equality) have in justifying economic systems. Outside of philosophy, Sam enjoys cycling, running, cooking, and reading science fiction.

Erica received her bachelor's degree from Purdue University Northwest. Her interests primarily lie with issues at the intersection of metaphysics and ethics, especially regarding the relationship between persons and points in time, such as personal identity, the Shape of a Life Phenomenon, and the Nonidentity Problem. She also has great interest in philosophy of logic, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of psychiatry. Outside of philosophical interests, Erica is interested in writing and producing music, trading card games, and video games.

Julia's background includes a BA in art history, a JD after which she practiced law, an LLM obtained from the LSE, and an MA in philosophy from Carleton University in Ottawa. It also includes years working in government in a political position. Her dissertation makes the case that all persons should be equally treated with respect and refutes arguments, that maintain persons can be unequally treated, as made in bad faith. 

Samantha received her B.A. in Philosophy and Psychology from the University of Akron, in Akron, Ohio. Her primary interest in Philosophy is looking at the important relationships and issues between Psychology and Philosophy. Outside of academia, Samantha enjoys snowboarding, playing soccer, and playing cards with her grandparents. 

James completed a BA in government, at California State University, Sacramento, and a JD at Indiana University, Maurer School of Law, in Bloomington. Before coming to grad school at BGSU, he worked as a public defender in Indianapolis. Within philosophy, his primary area of interest is animal ethics.

Academic Writing

"Animal-Rights Primitivism: A Vital Needs Argument Against Modern Technology," Between the Species (2023).
"Antinatalism and the Vegan's Dilemma," Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics (letter to the editor) (2024). 

Public Facing

"Ted Kaczynski was wrong about violence but mostly right about technology," The Plain Dealer (June 16, 2023).
"Justice requires ending marijuana prohibition in Ohio," The Plain Dealer (Jan. 22, 2023).
Quoted in "City's Animal Control Commission recommends banning dog, cat sales," The Herald-Times (July 10, 2019).

I work on political and moral philosophy, particularly in relation to the issue of how issues of autonomy and religion interplay. Freedom and religion are in a tension in contemporary American culture. I am working on a political theory seeking to integrate the two as basic goods.

Seth received his bachelor's degree in English and philosophy from the University of Vermont. He is a tech ethicist, with interests in surveillance capitalism, instrumentarianism, queer theory, and the philosophy of mind. He is also a fiction writer and poet, with work published in Strange Horizons, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, the Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, HAD, and elsewhere. Outside of scholarship and art, he enjoys videogames, horror movies, and cultivating carnivorous plants.

Tim tried out several possible majors, including political science and art history, before realizing that his real interest was in the philosophy of the various fields he was drawn to. His present philosophical interests are in all areas of ethics, with side interests in philosophy of mind and epistemology. In ethics, he is currently interested in a variety of puzzles that arise when considering the interaction between present and future ethical demands (as well as concurrent ethical demands that differ in temporal scope), and how these puzzles relate to collective action problems. He is also interested in the ethics of emerging technologies—in particular, the ethics of “virtue engineering” and of human enhancement more generally.