About

As a researcher, teacher, rights advocate, and international development practitioner, I have devoted much of my life to trying to shape a more livable world, where rights are protected and respected, and everyone can thrive and live without fear or discrimination.

I am presently an Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Lone Star College–Kingwood and Houston Community College, a Research Fellow in the Department of Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology at the University of South Africa, and an International Research Associate at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM).

Previously, I was a Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Houston (2023), a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre de Recherche en Éthique in Montréal (2020-21), a Lecturer of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at UDSM (2017-19), a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Johannesburg (2016-17), an Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Lone Star College–Tomball (2016), and a Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics (2012-25).

I graduated from Rice University with a PhD in Philosophy in May 2016. I further hold Master’s degrees in Physics (Heidelberg University, 2009) and Philosophy (Rice University, 2014).

In my doctoral dissertation, which I wrote under the direction of Professor George Sher, I defend a novel account of the wrongness of killing, according to which it is no less seriously wrong to kill a non-human conscious animal than it is to kill you or me.

I believe that philosophical thinking has an important role to play in public life, and I regularly write columns for newspapers in the United States and a number of countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa, some of which are available on my blog.

I travel a good deal, both to learn more about the world and to speak, collaborate, and work on projects in education, development, and human and animal rights.

When I am free, I enjoy cycling, hiking, catching up with friends, and spending time with my wife, Khukie.

I grew up in the small Swabian village of Adelmannsfelden in Southwest Germany.