About

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As a teenager I chanced on Thomas Aquinas’s five proofs of God. Though I read the proofs with more bafflement than understanding, the experience somehow revealed to me that whatever this guy was doing—thinking and writing about what matters most—was how I wanted to spend the rest of my life. So, I went on to study philosophy and then to become a teacher and a writer.

Though I have great respect for scholars (well, some of them), and though institutions of higher education have often tolerated me, my kind of thinking and writing, which involves the practice of the examined life, has led me beyond academia. My first book The Deepest Human Life was inspired by teaching working-class students at a community college. My second book Seven Ways of Looking at Pointless Suffering grew out of teaching in prison. My third book Rome as a Guide to the Good Life is a philosophical travel guide. My most recent book To Taste: On Cooking and the Good Life (also my most personal book) concerns what I’ve learned about being human through making and sharing food.

I’m the proud father of a daughter (a budding therapist and an artist) and a son (an artist, composer, and musician). I’m married to a Renaissance art historian (we met in Rome). I’ve worked as a movie critic, a host of a Sunday-morning talk show about ethics, and a sous chef at a French restaurant. I’ve long been a committed cook. As a teacher and writer, it’s good to get my head out of the clouds and my hands on a knife.

I currently hold a joint position at Iowa State University in Philosophy & Religious Studies and Extension & Outreach. I often work with the Catherine Project, where experienced teachers study great books with a small group of readers for free. For my work in bringing philosophy to the public, I won the 2015 Hiett Prize in the Humanities. I’m also a regular contributor of short essays to 3 Quarks Daily.