Dr. Sylvia Burrow | Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies


Research Interests

My overall research plan is to develop an alternative to the standard view that moral reflection is simply reasoned reflection. I examine issues such as autonomy, integrity, moral reflection, moral understanding and moral progress with the understanding that moral agents are not only reasoning, but also imaginative, emotive, embodied, and relational persons rooted within specific social and historical contexts.

My research furthers three broad philosophical outcomes. First, it advances current discussions within feminist ethics that are concerned to establish how emotion best features in moral life. Second, it shows how traditional moral theory can include embodied persons in its view of ideal moral persons, as those who are situated in concrete contexts with particular relations and emotional responses to other persons. Third, it includes the emotions in moral life, showing emotion to be a significant means of moving moral philosophy beyond historical constraints, such as those that exclude women as ideal moral persons.

.Journal Contributions
“The Political Interpretation of Emotion: From Dismissal to Dialogue.” Hypatia no. 4, v.20, Fall 2005: 27-43

“Reasonable Moral Psychology and the Kantian Ace in the Hole.” Social Philosophy Today v.17: Communication, Conflict, and Reconciliation. Cheryl Hughes and James Wong, eds. Charlottesville, VA: Philosophy Documentation Center, April 2003.

Book Chapters
“Bodily Limits to Autonomy: Emotion, Attitude, and Self-Defence.” Agency and Embodiment. Letitia Meynell, Susan Campbell, and Susan Sherwin, eds. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009.

“Gendered Politeness, Self-Respect, and Autonomy.” In De la Politesse linguistique au Cameroun / Linguistic Politeness in Cameroon. Bernard Mulo Farenkia, ed. Bern: Peter Lang, 2007.

“Courage, Self-Trust, and Self-Defence.” An Anthology of Philosophical Studies. Patricia Hanna, Adrianne McEvoy & Penelope Voutsina, eds. Athens: Athens Institute for Education and Research, 2006: 235-246.

“Humean Character Revision: Reflections of Pride and Shame.” Philosophical Counselling and the Unconscious. Peter Raabe, ed. Amherst, NY: Trivium, 2006.

Book Reviews
Lack of Character, John Doris, Metapsychology Online Review Service, March 2003.

The Rape of Lucretia and the Founding of Republics, Melissa M. Matthes, American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy, Fall 2002.

Feminist Ethics and Politics, Claudia Card, Philosophy In Review 20, no. 1, February 2000.

Under Review
“Empathy and Moral Progress”

“Autonomy: Self-Confidence, Self-Appreciation, and Self-Protection"


| ©2009 Sylvia Burrow