Director of Graduate Studies; Professor of Philosophy
Website: https://www.paulkatsafanas.com/
Interests: Nineteenth-century Philosophy, Ethics, and Philosophy of Action
Paul Katsafanas received his BA from Vassar College and his PhD from Harvard University. He works on ethics, moral psychology, and nineteenth-century philosophy (especially Nietzsche).
His research explores how the intricacies and ambivalences of human psychology shape our relations to ourselves, to others, and to the values we hold. He has written on the interplay between the conscious and unconscious mind, the challenges of self-knowledge, the nature of freedom, and the affective undercurrents of political and social life.
His recent work examines how resentiment, fanaticism, and devotion shape identity and sometimes drive political antagonism. He is the author of Philosophy of Devotion: The Longing for Invulnerable Ideals (Oxford University Press, 2023), which argues that devotion plays a crucial but overlooked role in grounding meaning and value. His other works include The Nietzschean Self (Oxford University Press, 2016), Agency and the Foundations of Ethics (Oxford University Press, 2013), and numerous articles on moral psychology, ethics, and nineteenth-century philosophy. He is the Executive Director of the North American Nietzsche Society.
For more details, see https://www.paulkatsafanas.com/