I am a professor of philosophy who studies happiness, or as philosophers like to say, “conceptions of the good life.” My approach is comparative, and so uses the outlooks of different world cultures, especially ancient Greece (Aristotle) and the Aztecs.
I’ve been fortunate enough to receive some awards for my work, including the American Philosophical Association’s prize in Latin American Thought, and financial support from the National Endowment of the Humanities, the National Endowment of the Arts, the Nuala Drescher Program, the Templeton Foundation, and The Learning by Giving Foundation, which is part of the Warren Buffett family foundations.
Philosophy should be something that everyone engages, and so I’ve written some popular pieces. Venues as diverse as the BBC World, GEO Magazine (German), Business Insider, and Aeon.co have featured or covered my research. I’ve also given many, many talks, from places as diverse as the Brooklyn Public Library to the Chataqua Institution.
Currently, I’m an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Cortland. I’m also the Director of the Honors Program and the Coordinator of the Latinx and Latin American Studies program.