Connor Leflar

Philosophical Interests: Ethics, Bioethics, Transcendentalism, Feminist Theory

The research that I will be undertaking in my MA (and hopefully beyond) focuses on American Transcendentalism and its implications for, and application to, contemporary ethical discourse and theory. I will primarily be working with the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, but will also include the works and thoughts of other members of the Transcendental movement, with particular attention being paid to Henry David Thoreau and Margaret Fuller. The goal of my research is to develop, or advocate for the possibility of, a coherent ethical theory that can be extracted from the works of these authors. I believe that the accomplishments of this research will be twofold. Firstly, this project will advocate for a reading of these authors, and the school of thought more broadly, as containing the fundamental theories and arguments necessary for an ethical framework. Secondly, the ethical framework that I believe exists implicitly within American Transcendentalism will allow for a novel perspective and approach to the contemporary issues of ethics and will ideally offer new insights into the means by which these issues can be addressed both at the individual and the societal levels.