About Me

I am an Associate Professor at Nipissing University in North Bay, with a cross-appointment in Philosophy and Political Science.  My doctorate and most of my teaching, however, are in Philosophy.  I completed my dissertation in 2008 at Fordham University in New York and subsequently taught at the University of Winnipeg.  I have been at Nipissing University since 2010.  I am currently the Chair of the Department of Political Science, Philosophy, and Economics.

My research concerns two clusters of issues: (1) materialist social theory (Marx, early Frankfurt School, Habermas, etc.); and (2) the articulation and defence of an ethical, and associated metaethical, theory compatible with materialist social theory. Some of my work has pursued either the first or the second theme on its own; in other places, I have tried to develop the links between them.  Much of my recent work has involved the articulation and defence of a form of contractualism centred on the pursuit of actual agreement in the specific, non-ideal conditions of our existing social world.

Recent Publications

‘Regressive De-Moralization’, Radical Philosophy Review, forthcoming; Online First: 9 July 2022; DOI: 10.5840/radphilrev202275123

‘Self-Deception and Moral Interests,’ European Journal of Philosophy, Online First: 17 January 2022; DOI: 10.1111/ejop.12756

‘First-Personal Moral Testimony: A Defence,’ Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 23: 1 (2020): 163-179

‘Bourgeois Illusions: Axel Honneth and the Ruling Ideas of Capitalist Societies’ in Axel Honneth and the Critical Theory of Recognition, edited by Volker Schmitz.  New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

‘Materialism in Critical Theory: Marx and the Early Horkheimer’ in The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Theory, edited by Michael J. Thompson.  New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017

‘Contractualism and the Right to Strike,’ Res Publica 23: 1 (2017): 81-98

‘Actual Agreement Contractualism,’ Dialogue 54: 3 (2015): 519-539

‘Protest, Parasitism, and Community: Reflections on the Boycott,’ Social Philosophy Today 31: 7 (2015): 7-22

‘Going Social with Constitutivism,’ The Philosophical Forum 46: 2 (2015): 205-215