Department of Philosophy

Office: B-3 225 Mackinac Hall; Allendale Campus

Email:  [email protected]

Phone: (616) 331-2845 (voicemail)

Professional Website: https://www.davidkilloren.com/

David Killoren is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Grand Valley State University. Previously, he's worked at Coastal Carolina University, Northwestern University, the Dianoia Institute at Australian Catholic University, Texas State University, and Koç University (Istanbul). He received his PhD at the University of Wisconsin in 2012 with Russ Shafer-Landau as his advisor. 

He specializes in moral philosophy. He's published work in the areas of metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics in well-regarded venues such as Philosophical Studies, Oxford Studies in Metaethics, Ethical Theory & Moral Practice, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Journal of Ethics & Social Philosophy, Journal of Applied Philosophy, and Analytic Philosophy, among other places.

His biggest current project is a book with Rob Streiffer (Wisconsin) under contract with Oxford University Press entitled Our Relationships with Animals: A New Comprehensive Moral Theory and a New Approach in Animal Ethics. The book has a wide scope: it aims to make substantial and original contributions to current debates in metaethics, normative ethics, and animal ethics. In conjunction with this project, Rob and David are also preparing a chapter on the nature of social relationships for The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Personal Relationships, edited by Sarah Stroud.

Additionally, David is working on a few projects in metaethics, the most significant of which is a collaboration with Jacob Sparks (Cal Poly) that includes a co-authored paper, a co-organized workshop, and a co-edited volume on The Moral Universe, the monumental new book by John Bengson, Terence Cuneo, and Russ Shafer-Landau.

David is also working on topics related to activism and social change. These include a philosophical dialogue about leftist critiques of ethical veganism, written collaboratively with sociologist and artist Onur Alptekin (Koç); a piece on human and animal political speech, written collaboratively with philosopher Dilara Diegelman (Bonn) and Australian activist Joanne Lee; and a single-author piece on ostension and social movements.