Office: Cleveland 318
Phone: (540) 568-3531
Fax: (540) 568-8072

Education:

B.A. St. Louis University
M.A. University of York, England
Ph.D. St. Louis University

Research:

Dr. Piper specializes in normative ethics, especially debates concerning well-being and autonomy. He has also written on topics in metaethics, applied ethics, and the philosophy of education.

Teaching:

Dr. Piper teaches PHIL 101: Introduction to Philosophy (every summer), PHIL 120: Critical Thinking (every semester), PHIL 267: Philosophy of Law (once a year), PHIL 330: Moral Theory (once a year), and PHIL 440: Advanced Moral Philosophy (once every 2-3 years). He has also taught Ethical Reasoning and Problems in Applied Ethics.

Recent Publications:

"Ethics Teaching and the Motivation Challenge," in Preti and Weidel (eds.), A Companion to Doing Ethics (Wiley-Blackwell, 2025): 13-28.

"Well-Being is Dead, Long Live Well-Being!" International Journal of Philosophy and Social Values IV:1 (2024): 89-114.

"Flourishing and Awe," Ethics and Education 19:4 (2024): 625-640. 

"Prudent Forbearance in the Public Sphere," (with Pia Antolic-Piper) International Journal of Applied Philosophy 37:2 (2023): 61-76. 

“Justifying Respect for Personal Autonomy,” in Ben Colburn (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Autonomy (New York: Routledge, 2023): 293-302.

“Between Virtuous and Effective Leadership,” Journal of Character Education 17:2 (2021): 93-102.

“Administration, Faculty, and the Hard Free Speech Questions,” (with Jonathan R. Alger) Academe 105:1 (2019): 14-19.

“Struggling for Clarity on Well-Being,” Southwest Philosophy Review 35:1 (2018): 155-162.

“Critical Thinking and Empowerment,” in Steven M. Cahn, Alexandra Bradner, and Andrew P. Mills (eds.), Philosophers in the Classroom: Essays on Teaching (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2018): 75-82.

“Mink and Brace’s Accidental Conference on the Design Argument,” Philosophy Now (April/May 2018): 57-58

“Justifying Oneself,” European Journal of Analytic Philosophy 13:1 (2017): 27-38.

“Mass-Audience Interactive Narrative Ethical Reasoning Instruction,” International Journal of Ethics Education 2:2 (2017): 161-173.