Research
Philosophy & Ethics of Technology; Virtue Ethics
Philosophy of Technology
Integrates virtue ethics, MacIntyre’s concept of practices, and social philosophy into the philosophy of technology.
Interrogates a Neo-Aristotelian philosophical framework for human-technology relations in comparison to Extended Mind, Affordance, and Postphenomenological Frameworks.
Develops technoamicitia, a Neo-Aristotelian framework for understanding human–technology bonds.
Virtue Ethics & Moral Psychology
Investigates debates in virtue ethics, such as the virtue-as-skill model and moral psychological critiques of character-based ethics.
Explores decision-making, moral education, and the role of friendship in human flourishing.
Applied Ethics
Examines the cultivation of virtues in contemporary contexts, from online communities to gaming platforms; uses philosophy to inform public-facing and interdisciplinary work.
Applies ethical theory to AI, human–computer interaction, and emerging digital environments.
My research sits at the intersection of ethics, technology, and human flourishing, grounded in Aristotelian virtue ethics and Alasdair MacIntyre’s philosophy.
I examine how technological design and digital environments shape moral life, with a focus on technoamicitia, a framework for understanding the affective bonds that form between humans and technologies.
I also write on virtue theory, friendship, and moral psychology, engaging classical texts alongside current debates in AI ethics, human–computer interaction, and digital culture.
Across all projects, I aim to show how ethical theory and design can work together to ensure technology enriches human life rather than contributing to its moral, social, and existential erosion.
I also have interests in the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza, Ancient Philosophy, Business Ethics, and Cognitive Science.
See below for specifics of published works, conference presentations, and works-in-progress.
You can also follow me on PhilPapers
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Ethics at the Intersection: Human-Centered AI & User Experience Design
in Maria Axente, Jean-Louise Denis, Atsuo Kishimoto & Catherine Régis (eds.), Human-Centered AI: A Multidisciplinary Perspective for Policy-Makers, Auditors, and Users, CRC Press. 2024.
This work explores how human-centered AI can address ethical challenges by bringing together the philosophy of technology, moral philosophy, and user experience design. It examines how AI operates within social and digital contexts, identifying intersections between technology ethics and human–computer interaction. The goal is to frame design practices around human values, offering insights for the responsible deployment of AI.
AI Ethics; Design Ethics; User Experience Design Ethics
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Make Friends, Not Tools: Designing AI for Technoamicitia
With Georg Theiner
Conference Proceedings: Workshops at the Third International Conference on Hybrid Human-Artificial Intelligence (HHAI) Malmö, Sweden. 2024.
We argue the development often associated with human technology use identifies a relation we call technoamicitia. It calls for a “user-friendly” design of technologies—with an emphasis on friendliness that is markedly more demanding than what is commonly captured by the “Five E’s” of usability. Given the increasingly tenuous foundations for viewing artificial intelligence as akin to a tool, we believe designing for technoamicitia is an especially attractive framework for human-artificial intelligence interaction, over and against “extended mind” based models.
Philosophy of Technology; AI Ethics; Philosophy of Mind
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Virtual Friendship Reconsidered
in Sarah Malanowski & Nicholas R. Baima (eds.), Virtue Theory and Video Games: Level Up Your Character, Routledge.
Forthcoming
This chapter defends the possibility of genuine virtual friendship. Drawing on Aristotelian virtue ethics and Alasdair MacIntyre’s concept of practices, it examines how gaming communities—through shared activity, reciprocity, and mutual commitment—can cultivate the qualities of character-friendship. Case studies from World of Warcraft and Animal Crossing illustrate how digital architectures can both support and undermine these bonds. By situating friendship within the social and technological contexts that shape it, the chapter offers a refined framework for understanding and designing environments that foster human flourishing online.
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Characterizing Digital Design: A Philosophical Apporach
Dissertation. Villanova University. Director: Sally J. Scholz. External Reader: Shannon Vallor (Edinburgh). 2024.
In this dissertation, I investigate the resources for Neo-Aristotelian moral philosophy to address social and ethical issues that arise in the use of technologies that rely on digital environments. I aim to answer the following question: What moral and social issues arise in 21st-century digital environments that Neo-Aristotelian philosophy can address? I propose that Neo-Aristotelian philosophy, inspired by the work of Alasdair MacIntyre, is particularly well-suited to addressing the issues in digital environments that users regularly experience. This dissertation contributes to scholarship within Neo-Aristotelian ethics of technology, MacIntyrean approaches to virtue theory, and the ethics of technology more broadly.
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Information Communication Technology (2023)
Encyclopedia Entry in Mortimer Sellers & Stephan Kirste, Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy.
This encyclopedia entry provides an introductory examination information communication technology (ICT) as a subject of moral, social, and legal analysis. The entry begins with a survey of philosophical perspectives on human-computer interaction such as the moral agency of artifacts, mediation theory, trans or posthumanism, and extension theory. The entry then turns to survey normative and epistemic issues in ICT including the nature of socially disruptive technology, the outsourcing of human capabilities, privacy, echo chambers, epistemic bubbles, and the effect of ICTs on moral virtue and attention.
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Works-In-Progress
Review of Howard Curzer’s Difficult Virtues: An Aristotelian Perspective (Routledge) for The Journal of Moral Philosophy.
“Dependence & Moral Virtue: Exploring the Limits of Artificial Moral Assistants.” Oxford Intersections: AI & Society, Oxford University Press.
“Technoamicitia: A Neo-Aristotelian Account of User-Friendly Technology.”
“Make Friends, Not Tools: Designing artificial intelligence for Technoamicitia” (with Georg Theiner).
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Conference Presentations
Most Recent:
“Technoamicitia: A Neo-Aristotelian Account of User-Friendly Technology” Technology Ethics Reading Group, Rice University, Houston, Texas. Spring 2025.
“Technoamicitia: A Neo-Aristotelian Account of User-Friendly Technology” Ethics and Normativity Speaker Series, Department of Philosophy, Department of Liberal Studies, University of Houston, Houston, Texas. Spring 2025.
“Rethinking the Nature of Virtual Friendships” 3rd Annual Philosophy of Video Games Conference, Jupiter, Florida, Florida Atlantic University Honors College. 2025.
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Awards & Honors
Most recent:
Faculty Teaching Excellence Award Nomination, Houston City College. 2025.
John G. Tich Memorial Award for Excellence in Research, Department of Philosophy, Villanova University. 2023-2024.