Leonard Kahn

My primary areas of research are moral theory and applied ethics, especially the intersection of the ethics of technology and just war theory. However, my teaching interests include political philosophy, philosophy of law, philosophy of mind and action, feminist philosophy, and both decision and game theory.

During the 2021-2022 academic year I was the Donald and Beverly Freeman Fellow at the US Naval Academy's Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership. Before coming to Loyola, I taught in the Department of Philosophy at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I have also been a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta and a Visiting Scholar at both the Yale University Center for Bioethics and the Hastings Center for Bioethics. I completed my doctorate at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College) under the supervision of Derek Parfit and Roger Crisp. While working on my doctorate, I was a Visiting Lecturer at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and at the University of Reading in Reading, UK.

My most recent publications:

• "Just War, Proportionality, and Environmentally Mediated Harm," in Fragile Lands, Power Politics: Effects of Violence and Injustice on People, Politics, and the Environment (Brill), edited by Rachel Dichter and Kathryn Schmidt, (Author, Forthcoming)

• "Buying Luxuries and Saving Lives, Southwest Philosophy Review 43 (Author, Forthcoming)

• "How Soon Is Now? On the Timing & Conditions for Adopting Widespread Use of Autonomous Vehicles," Autonomous Vehicle Ethics: Beyond the Trolley Problem, edited by Ryan Jenkins et al., Oxford University Press (Author, 2022)

• "The Place of Political Forgiveness in Jus post Bellum," Underrepresented Perspectives on Forgiveness, ed. by Court Lewis, Vernon Press (Author, 2022)

• "Medical Deportation, Non-Citizen Patients, and Nonideal Theory," Applying Nonideal Theory to Bioethics: Living and Dying in a Nonideal World, edited by Elizabeth Victor and Laura Guidry-Grimes, Springer Press (Author, 2021)

• "The Equifax Hack" in Business Ethics in Focus, ed. by Alex Sager and Fritz Allhoff, Broadview Press (Author, 2020)

• "Is There an Obligation to Abort? Act-Utilitarianism and the Ethics of Procreation" in Essays in Philosophy (Author, 2019)

• "Liability to Deadly Force in War" in Who Should Die? ed. by B.J. Strawser et al., Oxford University Press (Author, 2017)

• "Robophobia: Moral Limits on the Use of Military Robots" in Robot Ethics 2.0, ed. Patrick Lin et al., Oxford University Press (Author, 2017)

• “Third-Party Forgiveness” in The Philosophy of Forgiveness, ed. Court Lewis, Vernon Press (Author, 2016)

• "On Liberty" by John Stuart Mill, Broadview Press (Editor, 2015), 

• Consequentialism and Environmental Ethics, Routledge Press (Co-editor with Avram Hiller and Ramona Ilea, 2013)

• "Just Cause and Cyber-Attacks," in The Routledge Handbook of Ethics and Wars: Just War in the 21st Century, eds. Fritz Allhoff et al., Routledge Press (Author, 2013)

• "Rule Consequentialism and Disasters" in Philosophical Studies (Author, 2013)

• "Voluntary Human Engineering, Climate Change, and N-Person Prisoner's Dilemmas," in Ethics, Policy, & Environment (Author, 2012)

• Legal Theory, Law, and Normativity, in Journal of Moral Philosophy (Author, 2012) Reprinted in Law and Legal Theory, ed. by Thom Brooks

• Mill on Justice, Palgrave Macmillan Press (Editor, 2012)

• “Rule Consequentialism and Scope” in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (Author, 2012)

• "The Objection from Justice and the Conceptual/Substantive Distinction," in Mill on Justice, ed. by Leonard Kahn, Palgrave Macmillan (Author, 2012)

• "Moral Blameworthiness and the Reactive Attitudes," in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (Author, 2011)

• "Conflict, Regret, and Modern Moral Philosophy," in New Waves in Ethics, ed. by Thom Brooks, Palgrave Macmillan (Author 2011)

Occasionally, I publish lighter pieces that intersect with various aspects of popular culture.

• "Morality and Manipulation in Asimov’s Foundation Series," Asimov’s Foundation and Philosophy, ed. by Joshua Heter and Josef Thomas Simpson, Carus (Author, 2023)

• "AI Risk, Moral Agency, and Computers That Can Suffer," Sam Harris: Critical Responses, ed. by Sandra Woein, Carus (Author, 2023)

• "Humanity’s Dilemma before Abaddon’s Gate," The Expanse and Philosophy, ed. by Bill Irwin, Blackwell. Also featured by the editor as a blog post (Author, 2021)

• "How Not to Make the Universe Grateful: Population Ethics for Mad Gods," Avengers Infinity Saga and Philosophy, ed. by Robert Arp and Heather L. Rivera, Open Court (Autor, 2020)