I am a moral philosopher probably best known for my work on Kierkegaard, but also interested in the virtues, vices, and moral emotions; forgiveness; the philosophy of love and friendship; and various aspects of the interfaces between philosophy, theology, literature and film. My main current project, generously funded under the ERC-CZ research grant scheme, is “Combatting Self-Righteousness: A Vice of the Digital Age”.

About me

I am Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame Australia and the University of Pardubice. I currently hold two half-time appointments: one at Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics & Society, based in Sydney, where I served as Institute Director from 2020-24. The second is in the Centre for Ethics as Study of Human Value at Pardubice, where I am currently working on a study of self-righteousness as one of the most significant vices of the digital age. This research is supported by a five-year 45,000,000 CZK (approx. AUD$3.2million/£1.6million) ERC-CZ Grant (2024-28). I worked for many years at the University of Hertfordshire, where I remain a Visiting Professor. While at Hertfordshire, I served as Director of Research for the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities Research Institute and as Research Leader for Philosophy, as well as teaching various courses in Philosophy and Religious Studies. I also served as a pro bono ethics advisor to various police organisations in the UK, work which was the subject of an impact case study for REF 2021.

I am currently working on two books: Combatting Self-Righteousness and a short monograph on Kierkegaard’s Early Discourses for the Cambridge University Press Elements series. My most recent monograph, Love’s Forgiveness, was published by Oxford University Press in 2020. This research was supported by a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship (2018-20). For details of this and previous books, see under Publications. I have also been awarded research grants by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) of the UK, the British Academy, the UK Higher Education Academy, the Kierkegaard House Foundation (USA) and (collaboratively with Dr Patrick Stokes) the EU FP7-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Programme.

This website aims to provide an overview of my work and provide information about selected projects, publications and talks.