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Faculty Experts Directory
Richard Dees
Associate Professor
Arts, Sciences, and Engineering
Department of Philosophy
Areas of expertise: Medical ethics, public health ethics, social and political philosophy
Press contact:
Valerie Alhart
valerie.alhart@rochester.edu
585.276.3256
Related Links:
Philosophy faculty: Richard H. Dees
In the News
WXXI 1370
1370 Connection: Richard Dees of the U of R
August 14, 2008
Biography
Professor Dee's research falls into three broad categories.
His work involves a number of issues surrounding health care ethics. He is most interested in the extent to which we think that we should be able to use medicine to make ourselves better than we feel normally. He is interested in the justifications for modifying our brains to improve our memory, cognition, moods, and personality.
He is also interested in the intersection of health care and political philosophy in public heath ethics. Secondly, Dees has a continuing interest in the social and conceptual foundations of liberal institutions and practices. He is particularly interested in the philosophical justifications for toleration, the subject of his book Trust and Toleration. Dees also studies the historical foundations of modern politics in the eighteen century, particularly the works of the great Scottish philosopher David Hume in the works of the American Founders.