Philosophy and Religious Studies

Kelly Sorensen
Kelly Sorensen

Kelly Sorensen

A brain ready for everything - that’s what an Ursinus education helps you develop.

Kelly Sorensen teaches and writes about ethics: ethical theory, biomedical ethics, environmental ethics, and metaethics. He also works on Kant, the history of philosophy, and the philosophy of religion. His work has appeared in The Journal of Philosophy, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Kantian Review, the Journal of Moral Philosophy, Bioethics, Neuroethics, Criminal Justice Ethics, the Journal of Medical Ethics, and other journals. Kelly joined Ursinus College in 2004 and was previously a Visiting Assistant Professor at Wesleyan University and a Baker-Steyer Instructor at Yale University. He was awarded the Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award in 2014.

Department

Philosophy and Religious Studies

Degrees

  • B.S., Brigham Young University
  • M.S., University of Utah
  • Ph.D., Yale University

Teaching

Ethics
Biomedical Ethics
Environmental Ethics
Topics in Ethics
Common Intellectual Experience

Research Interests

Ethics

Recent Work

Kant Book

Kant and the Faculty of Feeling (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018; edited with Diane Williamson). [Cambridge site] [Amazon]

“Unit 731 and Moral Repair,” Journal of Medical Ethics 43:4 (2017): 270-276 (student co-authors: Doug Hickey, Scarllet Sijia Li, Celia Morrison, Richard Schulz, and Michelle Thiry). [Published version

Review of Julian Wuerth, Kant on Mind, Action and Ethics, in Journal of the History of Philosophy 54:1 (January 2016): 175-176. [Published version]

“Moral Enhancement and Self-Subversion Objections,” Neuroethics 7:3 (2014): 275-286. [Published version]

“Counterfactuals and Moral Worth,” Journal of Moral Philosophy 11:3 (2014): 294-319. [Published version] [Pre-pub version]

Review of Nicholas Wolterstorff, Understanding Liberal Democracy (ed. Terence Cuneo), in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (September 2013). [Published version]

“Search, Seizure, and Immunity” Criminal Justice Ethics 32:2 (2013): 108-125 (co-author: Stephen E. Henderson). [Published version] [SSRN]

“Is Ender a Murderer?” in Ender’s Game and Philosophy, D. E. Wittkower and Lucinda Rush (eds.) (forthcoming) (student co-author: Thomas Sorensen) (Chicago: Open Court, 2013). [Published version]

“Effort and Moral Worth,” Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 13:1 (2010): 89-109. [Published version] [Pre-pub version]

“Genetic Enhancements and Expectations,” Journal of Medical Ethics 35:7 (July 1, 2009): 433-435. [Published version] [Pre-pub version]

Effort Expended, Effort Required, and the Theory of the Good,” Proceedings of the XXII World Congress of Philosophy 49 (2008): 83-110. [Published version]

“Enhancing Autonomy in Paid Surrogacy.” Bioethics 22:5 (2008): 269-277 (student co-author: Jennifer Damelio). [Published version] [Pre-pub version]

“The Paradox of Moral Worth,” The Journal of Philosophy 101:9 (September 2004): 465-483. [Published version]

“Kant’s Taxonomy of the Emotions,” Kantian Review 6 (2002): 109-128. [Published version] [Pre-pub version]