Professor Superson's areas of specialization include ethics (metaethics and normative ethics), social and political philosophy (including feminism), and applied ethics. Professor Superson's current research interests include practical skepticism in ethics and feminist ethics.

I will be visiting at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, for the Winter Semester 2008. There I will be teaching PHIL 355, Contemporary Moral Issues, with emphasis on race and gender, and PHIL 486, Feminist Philosophy.

Recent Publications:

(Invited) "Response to Four Commentaries (Antony, Darwall, Thomas, Uleman) on 'Privilege, Immorality, and Responsibility for Attending to the 'Facts' about Humanity'," Symposia on Gender, Race and Philosophy (Jan. 2006): 1-12 (http://web.mit.edu/sgrp)

"Deformed Desires and Informed Desire Tests" (Hypatia: special issue on Analytical Feminism)(Fall 2005): 109-126.

"The Rationality of Dispositions and the Rationality of Actions: The Interdependency Thesis." (Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review)(forthcoming).

Invited Book Review of Setting the Moral Compass: Essays by Women Philosophers, ed. Cheshire Calhoun (Notre Dame Philosophical Review 2004.12.07).

"Liberating the Self from Oppression: A Commentary on Multiple Feminist Perspectives" American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy. (2003) Guest editor for the volume, on "Feminism As a Meeting Place: Analytical and Continental Traditions," and authored the introduction.

"Privilege, Immorality, and Responsibility for Attending to the Facts About Humanity" (Journal of Social Philosophy) (2004).

“Amorous Relationships Between Faculty and Students” (The Southern Journal of Philosophy)(2001).

“Skepticism About Moral Motives” (Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review)(1996).

“Right-Wing Women: Causes, Choices, and Blaming the Victim” (Journal of Social Philosophy)(1993).

“A Feminist Definition of Sexual Harassment” (Journal of Social Philosophy)(1993).

“The Self-Interest Based Contractarian Response to the Why-Be-Moral Skeptic” (The Southern Journal of Philosophy)(1990).

She is co-editor (with Ann Cudd) of Theorizing Backlash: Philosophical Reflections on the Resistance to Feminism, in James P. Sterba’s Studies in Social, Political, and Legal Philosophy Series (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002).  The anthology includes two of her papers: "Welcome to the Boys' Club: Male Socialization and the Backlash Against Feminism in Tenure Decisions," and "Sexism in the Classroom: The Role of Gender Stereotypes in the Evaluation of Female Faculty"

She is co-editor (with Samantha Brennan) of a special edition of Hypatia on analytical feminism (Fall 2005). The volume includes her paper, "Deformed Desires and Informed Desire Tests."

She is currently working on a book on moral skepticism, as well as papers on the following topics:

• responsibility and moral agency in the Deferential Wife
• self-interest versus evil and the parameters of skepticism
• amoralism
• bodily autonomy

Recent Courses Taught:

Graduate Seminar in Ethics: The Authority of Reason (Jean Hampton's book of the same name, and related journal articles).

Advanced Topics in Ethics: Philosophical Issues Surrounding Abortion.

Graduate Seminar in Ethics: Dignity and Self-Respect (Robin Dillon’s Dignity, Character, and Self-Respect, and articles on Kant’s view of self-respect, servility, dignity, respect, losing self-respect, self-respecting responses to evil, and social influences and self-respect).

Graduate Seminar in Ethics: The Role of Values in Theories of Morality and Rationality (James Griffin’s Well-Being; Elizabeth Anderson’s Values in Ethics and Economics, and Christine Korsgaard’s Theories of Normativity).

Advanced Topics in Ethics: Evil, Immorality, and Amorality (Ronald Milo’s Amorality, as well as journal articles on weakness of will, self-deception, psychopathy, wickedness, conscience, institutional evil, and responsibility, and literary accounts of evil).

Professional Activities:

She is the recipient of an AAUW Postdoctoral Fellowship for 2005-2006, and will be working on a monograph on moral skepticism.

She was a main organizer for the first APA-Independent conference for the Society for Analytical Feminism, "Feminist Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition," at the University of Western Ontario, in London, Ontario, Canada, June 4-6, 2004.

Recently invited to the University of Kansas to present “Deformed Desires and Informed Desire Tests” to the Hall Center for Humanities Gender Seminar, and “The Rationality of Dispositions and the Rationality of Actions: The Interdependency Thesis” to the Philosophy Department. 

Recently presented papers at meetings of the APA, CPA, Central States Philosophical Association, and Feminist Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition conference.

Member of the APA Committee on the Status of Women (2003-2006).

Was a founding member and served as president (1999-2003) of the Society for Analytical Feminism.

Participates in the Philosophy Department’s reading group.

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