Background
In addition to being a Binghamton University philosophy professor, Lisa Tessman is also a senior researcher at the University of Oslo, where she is currently doing collaborative work on the topic of moral residue.
Her research is in ethics, moral psychology and feminist philosophy, with a focus on how people experience morality under difficult conditions. She is currently (2023-2024) president of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association.
Publications
Tessman, Lisa. 2023. “When the Heavens Fall: The Unintelligible and the Unthinkable.” Journal of Ethics Special Issue on the 50th Anniversary of the Publication of Michael Walzer’s “Political Action: The Problem of Dirty Hands”. doi.org/10.1007/s10892-023-09444-7
Tessman, Lisa. 2023. “Moral Injury and Moral Failure.” In How to End a War: Essays on Justice, Peace, and Repair, edited by Graham Parsons and Mark Wilson. Cambridge University Press: 31-58.
Tessman, Lisa. 2017. When Doing the Right Thing Is Impossible. Oxford University Press.
Tessman, Lisa. 2015. Moral Failure: On the Impossible Demands of Morality. Oxford University Press.
Tessman, Lisa. 2005. Burdened Virtues: Virtues Ethics for Liberatory Struggles. Oxford University Press.
Education
- University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA: MA in Philosophy 1992; PhD in Philosophy 1996.
- Carleton College, Northfield, MN: BA in Philosophy 1988.
Research Interests
- Normative ethics
- Metaethics
- Moral psychology
- Feminist ethics
Teaching Interests
- Ethical theory
- Moral value pluralism
- Moral responsibility
- Moral psychology
- Feminist ethics
Awards
- “Moral Residue—Epistemological Ramifications, Ethical Implications, and Didactic Opportunities.” Principal Investigator: Jan Helge Solbakk, University of Oslo.
- Senior researcher on “Advanced Grant” project funded by the European Research Council. Funding awarded: 2.455 million Euros. 2022-2027.
- President of the American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division, July 2023-present.
- State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities, 2017-2018.
