Faculty Profile
Amy McKiernan
Associate Professor of Philosophy; Director, Ethics Across Campus & the Curriculum (2017)
Contact Information
East College East College 204
717-254-8169
https://dickinson.academia.edu/AmyMcKiernan
Bio
I teach “Practical Ethics,” “Biomedical Ethics,” “The Ethics of Punishment and Forgiveness,” "Environmental Ethics," "Existentialism," "Fiction and Moral Philosophy," and "Ethical Theory." My current research investigates the pedagogical value of reading Iris Murdoch’s fiction alongside her philosophical texts. My recent publications include "Queer Care and Pleasure Activism" in The Bloomsbury Handbook of Care Ethics, "Teaching Moral Emotions" with Daniel Haggerty in Teaching Ethics, "Obstacles to Empathetic Listening After Sexual Violence" with Elspeth Campbell '18 in Hypatia, and "Blaming from Inside the Birdcage: Strawsonian Accounts of Blame and Feminist Care Ethics" in Feminist Philosophy Quarterly. I also serve as the Director of the Ethics Across Campus & the Curriculum program and I recently led work on the Dickinson Core Values Project. I welcome students to contact me with questions about the philosophy major, the ethics minor, or to chat about Severance, Pluribus, The Bear, Better Call Saul, Station Eleven, The Good Place, or your favorite work of ethics-related fiction.
Education
- B.A., The University of Scranton, 2007
- M.A., American University, 2011
- Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, 2017
2026-2027 Academic Year
Fall 2026
PHIL 104 Practical Ethics
This course introduces students to contemporary debates in practical ethics. Course materials investigate how theoretical approaches to ethics apply to practical issues, including discussions of animal ethics, environmental ethics, reproductive ethics, civil disobedience, and the ethics of mass incarceration and the death penalty. This course is best suited for students interested in thinking about the relationship between ethical theory and practice, with an emphasis on how power, privilege, and responsibility intersect in our everyday lives.
PHIL 215 Existentialism
A study of existentialist thinkers, including Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, de Beauvoir, and Camus, who treat the human condition as irreducibly
individual and yet philosophically communicable, and for whom the experience of the existing individual is of primary importance in issues
ranging from one's relationship to God to the inevitability of death.
PHIL 220 Biomedical Ethics
A study of ethical issues arising in the context of medical practice, biomedical research, and health related policy making, with focus on the ethical concepts, theories and reasoning methods developed to clarify and resolve these issues.
PHIL 500 Independent Study
PHIL 500 Philosophy of Games
Spring 2027
PHIL 104 Practical Ethics
This course introduces students to contemporary debates in practical ethics. Course materials investigate how theoretical approaches to ethics apply to practical issues, including discussions of animal ethics, environmental ethics, reproductive ethics, civil disobedience, and the ethics of mass incarceration and the death penalty. This course is best suited for students interested in thinking about the relationship between ethical theory and practice, with an emphasis on how power, privilege, and responsibility intersect in our everyday lives.
PHIL 302 Ethical Theory
This seminar will explore major issues or texts in classical or contemporary moral philosophy. Prerequisites: three prior courses in philosophy, at least two at the 200 level, or permission of the instructor. Offered at least once every two years.