My research interests involve connecting the history of philosophy, especially Hegel, with contemporary ethical and political theory. To bridge these two spheres, I focus on the concept of "practical identity," a term used to describe the commitments we make that inform our ethical lives. I am especially interested in the ethical nature of our inherited commitments, including family relations, nationality, and race. In "Hegel on Political Identity" (Northwestern University Press, 2011), I use Hegel's philosophy to consider the meaning of patriotism as a component of practical identity both historically and in contemporary society. In my current manuscript project, I explore what Hegel's theory of aesthetics can teach us about agency and practical identity. I am especially interested in how comedy as an art form reveals assumptions we make about our identities and the communities that shape them.

Book:
Hegel on Political Identity: Patriotism, Nationality, Cosmopolitanism (Northwestern University Press, 2011).

Selected articles:
"A Hegelian Approach to Global Poverty." In Hegel and Global Justice. Edited by Andrew Buchwalter. New York: Springer, 2012 (131-154).

"An Unrelieved Heart: Hegel, Tragedy, and Schiller's 'Wallenstein'." New German Critique 113 (2011): 1-23.

"Grasping the 'Raw I': Race and Tragedy in Philip Roth's 'The Human Stain'." Expositions: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities 2, no. 2 (2008): 27-46.

"Commitments of a Divided Self: Narrative, Change and Autonomy in Korsgaard's Ethics." European Journal of Analytic Philosophy 4, no. 1 (2008): 27-46.

"History and Patriotism in Hegel's Rechtsphilosophie." History of Political Thought 28, no. 3 (2007): 496-519.

"Inheriting, Earning and Owning: The Source of Practical Identity in Hegel's 'Anthropology'." The Own of Minerva: Journal of the Hegel Society of America 34, no. 2 (2003): 139-170.

"Fight, Flight or Respect? First Encounters of the Other in Kant and Hegel." History of Philosophy Quarterly 19, no. 4 (2002): 381-400.