Pamela Hieronymi () is an American philosopher who is professor of
philosophy at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
.
She is mainly known for her work in
moral psychology.
Education and career
Hieronymi earned her A.B. from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
in 1992
and earned her Ph.D. from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in 2000. She has worked at UCLA since July 2000, where she was awarded tenure in 2007.
She has presented her research widely, both nationally and internationally.
In addition, she has appeared on ''Philosophy Talk'' public radio and her thoughts on technology and teaching were published by the ''Chronicle of Higher Education.''
In 2010 she won the Frederick Burkhardt Residential Fellowship for Recently Tenured Scholars from the American Council of Learned Societies.
She spent the 2011–2012 academic year as a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at
Stanford University.
Philosophical work
An expert in
moral psychology, Hieronymi has written widely on issues about responsibility and agency, as well as on reasons, trust, forgiveness, and the voluntariness of belief. The work has been influential and widely cited.
Media consulting
Hieronymi served as an advisor on moral philosophy and ethics for the popular NBC
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
''
The Good Place
''The Good Place'' is an American fantasy comedy television series created by Michael Schur. It premiered on NBC on September 19, 2016, and concluded on January 30, 2020, after four seasons and 53 episodes.
Although the plot evolves signific ...
'', and subsequently became a "consulting philosopher" for the show; "surely a first in sitcom history." Hieronymi guided the show to feature the work of her dissertation advisor, Harvard emeritus professor
T. M. Scanlon, and also advised the writers on "
existentialism
Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and valu ...
and the famous thought experiment known as
the Trolley Problem," among other topics. In the final episode, she appeared as a cameo alongside political philosopher
Todd May
Todd Gifford May (born May 13, 1955) is a political philosopher who writes on topics of anarchism, poststructuralism, and post-structuralist anarchism. More recently he has published books on existentialism and moral philosophy. He is currentl ...
.
Selected articles
* "Reflection and Responsibility," ''Philosophy and Public Affairs'' 42, no 1 (Winter 2014): 3–41.
* "forgiveness, blame, reasons…" Interview with Richard Marshall. ''3:am magazine'', October 25, 2013, http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/forgiveness-blame-reasons/
* "The Use of Reasons in Thought (and the use of earmarks in arguments)," ''Ethics'' 124, no. 1 (October 2013): 114–27.
* "Don't Confuse Technology with Teaching," Chronicle of Higher Education 63, no. 44 (August 13, 2012): A19 and at http://chronicle.com/article/Dont-Confuse-Technology-With/133551/
* "Reasons for Action," ''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society'' 111 (2011): 407–27.
* "Believing at Will," ''Canadian Journal of Philosophy Supplementary Volume'' 35 (2009): 149–187.
* "Of Metaphysics and Motivation: The Appeal of Contractualism," ''Reasons and Recognition: Essays on the Philosophy of T. M. Scanlon'', R. Jay Wallace, Rahul Kumar, and Samuel Freeman, eds. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011): 101–128.
* "Two Kinds of Agency," ''Mental Actions'', Lucy O'Brien and Matthew Soteriou, eds. (Oxford: Oxford University Press: 2009): 138–62.
* "The Reasons of Trust," ''The Australasian Journal of Philosophy'' 86, no. 2 (June 2008): 213–36.
* "Controlling Attitudes," ''Pacific Philosophical Quarterly'' 87, no. 1 (March 2006): 45–74.
* "The Wrong Kind of Reason," ''The Journal of Philosophy'' 102, no. 9 (September 2005): 437–57.
* "The Force and Fairness of Blame," Philosophical Perspectives 18, no. 1 (2004): 115–48.
* "Articulating an Uncompromising Forgiveness," ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' 62, no. 3 (May 2001): 529–55.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hieronymi, Pamela
American women philosophers
American moral psychologists
20th-century American philosophers
21st-century American philosophers
Harvard University alumni
Living people
Princeton University alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
The Good Place
UCLA Philosophy
20th-century American women
21st-century American women
American women psychologists