My philosophical work bridges three main areas: the nature of science and its limits, ancient philosophy applied to contemporary life, and foundational questions about human nature and knowledge.
I’ve devoted considerable effort to understanding the demarcation problem—how we distinguish genuine science from pseudoscience—and more broadly, the nature and limits of scientific knowledge. This work, including my books Nonsense on Stilts and Philosophy of Pseudoscience (co-edited with Maarten Boudry), explores when and why we should trust scientific claims, what makes pseudoscience attractive yet problematic, and the dangers of scientism—the overreach of scientific authority into domains where it doesn’t belong. These aren’t just abstract questions: they matter for public reasoning, science education, and how we navigate an information landscape filled with competing claims to expertise.
My interest in ancient philosophy, particularly Stoicism and Academic Skepticism, grows from a conviction that philosophy should be more than theoretical analysis—it should offer practical guidance for living well. This is philosophy as a way of life, an approach I explore in books like How to Be a Stoic, The Quest for Character, Beyond Stoicism (with Greg Lopez and Meredith Kunz) and How to Be a (Happy) Skeptic. I’m drawn to how ancient philosophers developed systematic approaches to virtue, resilience, and human flourishing that remain surprisingly relevant to modern challenges.
The third strand of my work addresses conceptual and methodological questions about evolutionary biology. In papers and books like Making Sense of Evolution (with Jonathan Kaplan), I’ve argued that we need to move beyond simplistic nature-versus-nurture dichotomies and recognize the deeply integrated, multi-level character of biological inheritance. I’ve also written about consciousness from a biologist’s perspective, the concept of biological race, and how philosophy can clarify—or sometimes complicate—debates in evolutionary biology and cognitive science.
Throughout all this work runs a commitment to public philosophy. Philosophy shouldn’t remain cloistered in academic journals; it should engage with real questions people face about science, morality, politics, and how to live. Whether I’m writing technical papers on evolutionary theory or essays on Stoic practice, I aim to make philosophical thinking accessible and useful without sacrificing intellectual rigor.
Philosophy, Science, Stoicism 