Researcher biography

I received my PhD in European Intellectual History from UC Berkeley in 2009 after earning degrees in diplomatic history from the University of Pennysylvania and the London School of Economics. Over the past decade I've published widely in modern French intellectual history, philosophy of history, and on the reception of Spinoza's philosophy. Recent publications include French Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (OUP 2020), co-authored with Stephen Gaukroger, and an article in History & Theory devoted to truth and meaning in historical intepretation. Since moving to Australia in 2011, I've taught philosophy at Flinders University, the University of Melbourne, and the Australian National University, where I held an ARC DECRA from 2014-2017. My current research looks at the secularization of ethics and considers a range of figures and traditions, from early modern Jansenism to the philosophical projects of Derek Parfit and Michel Foucault.