Travis Timmerman, Ph.D.

Chair and Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy

Dr. Timmerman's main research interests are in normative ethics, applied ethics, and the philosophy of death. In normative ethics, he primarily focuses on the actualism/possibilism debate and axiological issues concerning the concept of "harm." Recent work in normative ethics includes "The Limits of Virtue Ethics" forthcoming in Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics and "Actualism, Possibilism, and the Nature of Consequentialism" forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook of Consequentialism (co-authored with Yishai Cohen). In the philosophy of death, he primarily focuses on issues related to the question of whether death can be bad for the person who dies and fitting attitudes toward death. Recent publications on death include "The (Un)desirability of Immortality" (2020) in Philosophy Compass (co-authored with Felipe Pereira) and "A Dilemma for Epicureanism" (2019) in Philosophical Studies. In applied ethics, he has written on animal welfare, global poverty, and the ethics of Confederate monuments. Recent publications in applied ethics include "Sweatshops and Free Action" in the Journal of Business Ethics (co-authored with Abe Zakhem) and "A Case for Removing Confederate Monuments" (2020) in Oxford University Press's book Ethics Left and Right: The Moral Issues that Divide Us.