Projects

THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF PHILOSOPHY AND THE FAMILY

I am currently editing a new handbook for Routledge’s fantastic series of handbooks in philosophy. This volume will bring together contributions from a wide range of scholars – mainly in philosophy, but also from the broader humanities and social sciences – to place this often-taken-for-granted institution under the microscope. What is the family, and what moral and political import does this concept have? Is family membership defined by the social, legal or biological ties between individuals, by their self-understandings, or by their duties to one another? And if the latter, is familial duty prior to the family, or its product? Other contributions to the Handbook will take an applied approach, examining the role that family membership should play in decisions concerning migration, citizenship or refugee status, the propriety of state intervention in the family, and the nature and purpose of family law. Should families have a right of veto over their loved one’s organ donation? Is marriage a legal contract or a morally binding promise? Is it ethical to procreate in the face of climate crisis?

The handbook is expected to be completed in late 2026; stay tuned for further updates!

The Artificial Womb on Trial

Artificial womb technology is approaching over the scientific horizon. Recent proof-of-principle experiments using foetal animals have prompted a new surge of bioethical interest in the topic: scholars have asked what ectogenesis would mean for individuals, family, oppressed groups, and society at large; how we can or should regulate the technology; and whose interests motivate ectogenic research. However, a full investigation of the bioethics of ectogenesis must ask, ‘how do we get there?’
This title for the CUP series Cambridge Elements in Bioethics and Neuroethics places the research and development process itself under the microscope and explores the bioethical issues raised by human subject trials of ectogenic prototypes. It is available here.

Philosophy of the Family: Ethics, Identity and Responsibility

Almost all of us live in families of some sort or another, even if we might not currently live with family members.  The notion of the family is at once very familiar, but experienced in very diverse ways. This book, co-authored with Dr Christopher Cowley (University College Dublin) is a close philosophical and ethical examination of the main concepts that we use to make sense of family life. The book was published by Bloomsbury in February 2024 – you can find it here.

The Philosopher’s Guide to Parenthood: Storks, Surrogates and Stereotypes

What is parenthood? It’s a question we never normally think to ask – we all know what parents are. But in this book, I take parenthood to pieces, teasing apart the biological, social, moral and legal facets of this concept and the ways in which they depend on one another. From Roman adoption practices to the use of motherhood in war propaganda, I explore the myriad ways in which we understood and construct parenthood. This book built upon my PhD work as a member of the BUMP group at the University of Southampton, and I began writing it as a member of the IRLaB group at the Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences. The book was published by Cambridge University Press in January 2023, and you can get your copy here.