Our Professors
Assistant Professor
I specialize in Kant and ethics (but not necessarily Kantian ethics). I have lots of other interests in ethics (collective action, technology, advertising, just war, animal ethics, and so on). I’m also interested in early modern, ancient, and political philosophy. When I’m not studying philosophy, I’m probably pursuing one of my many hobbies. I play tennis; I run (a lot); I bike; and I love the board game go. I also play a lot of music, mostly guitar. These days, I’m very busy raising two small children, but I find time for these hobbies whenever I can. I also love traveling and learning new languages (I’ve lived in Spain, Singapore, Thailand, and Bangladesh). I have studied Spanish, Bengali, French, German, Greek, Latin, and Thai (but that’s not to say that I speak them all fluently).
Michelle C. Beer
Associate Professor
Assistant Professor
Clinton mainly works in epistemology, applied ethics, and their overlap. His work in epistemology has focused on epistemic permissivism, accuracy-first epistemology, and a host of issues that fall under the umbrella of the ethics of belief. In applied ethics, he is interested in fairness in machine learning, respect for persons in automated decision-making, and the moral limits of the attention and data economies. He also has interests in constitutivism and constructivism in metaethics, decision theory, logic, and the history of philosophy.
Aside from spending time with his family, Clinton's favorite activity outside of professional philosophy is... philosophy. Right now, his favorite philosophers to read and reread outside of his professional work are Christine Korsgaard and Derek Parfit. He also enjoys nature, meditation, and trying to make the world a better place.
You can read more about him and his research here, here, and here.
Tony Dennis
Assistant Teaching Professor
Kenton S. Harris
Teaching Professor; Faculty Advisor
Born to a fabulously wealthy family of international distinction, Kenton found it difficult to live the quiet life of study and contemplation his exquisite genius so desperately craves. His pursuit of scholarly excellence was further hampered by almost preternatural good looks, besieged as he was throughout his college and graduate school years by professional modeling contracts and film offers. Nevertheless, his selfless devotion to the advancement of knowledge has benefited us all with his recent breakthrough discoveries in Metaphysics (All that is real exists.) Aesthetics (Art is tart withOUT the “T.”) and Ethics (Who are WE to say what we should do?). When not lecturing to overflowing classes or advising students, Kenton can be found teaching sign language, performing light opera, doing needle-point or acting as a landscape architecture consultant for the poor. The ever self-effacing Kenton claims, “After that grueling European book tour, I’m just happy to be back in a place I shall always think of as home, FIU.”
Sean J. Allen Hermanson
Professor
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Assistant Professor
In Dreams of a Spirit-Seer, Kant quips that he has had the "fate" to "have fallen in love" with metaphysics, but "can boast of only a few favors." I feel the same about philosophy as a whole. Sigh.
My AOSs are: Feminist Philosophy, Philosophy of Race, and Continental Philosophy.
My AOCs are: Ancient Philosophy, Early Modern Philosophy, and Ethics.
My favorite philosopher is Simone de Beauvoir.
Gwendolyn Marshall
Associate Professor
Elizabeth A. Scarbrough
Assistant Teaching Professor
Elizabeth Scarbrough works in aesthetics and ethics, especially in the overlap between the two. Much of her research has focused on the beauty of immovable cultural heritage (such as ruins), and our ethical obligation to cultural heritage. This includes heritage repatriation debates, removal of monuments and memorials, tourism, and heritage management. She also has interests in body aesthetics, environmental aesthetics, and the ethics of museums. At FIU she teaches Introduction to Ethics, Ethics, Aesthetics, Global Aesthetic (GL), and Philosophy of Film. She is the faculty advisor for PST / The Philosophy Club and the faculty liaison for the Philosophy Department Peer Tutoring Center. She has a blog aimed at students that she doesn’t expect you to read. You can also follow her on letterboxd.com (lizscar) or read her posts in Aesthetics for Birds.
Elizabeth considers herself a failed musician and a successful film buff. When not thinking about philosophy, she enjoys ocean swimming, museum-going, film watching, novel reading, earth traveling, and cat annoying. She lives with Minerva Scarbrough (her cat) in Miami Beach. Find out more about her and her research here.
Eric J. Scarffe
Assistant Professor
My research interests include political philosophy, the philosophy of law, ethics, and biomedical ethics. In particular, I am interested in the philosophy of international law and its relationship with ‘dignity.’
Outside of philosophy, I have held positions as a researcher on trade-related issues with UNIFOR (Canada’s largest private sector union) and as a financial editor with Desjardins Capital Markets. I also enjoy sports with balls and pucks. For up to date information, feel free to visit my website.
Laurie Jeanne Shrage
Professor
Kiriake K. Xerohemona
Teaching Professor
Paul R. Warren
Professor; Chair, Department of Philosophy
Paul Warren is a Professor of Philosophy at Florida International University (Miami), where he also serves as Department Chairperson. He has published articles in the Social Theory and Practice, Res Publica, Journal of Political Philosophy, Archiv fur Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, and other journals and scholarly collections. His principal teaching and research interests are in the areas of social and political philosophy, Marxism, and ancient Greek ethical and political thought. He has been the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Research Award. Plus, he has been teaching at FIU since the Fall of 1988.