Rate My Professor Steven Brown

Steven Brown is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Department of Philosophy at The Ohio State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from The Ohio State University in 2012, where he wrote his dissertation 'Virtue for the Rest of Us' under the supervision of Professor Justin D’Arms. The dissertation presents a virtue ethical theory of right action, maintaining that what it is right for a person to do is what any of their ideal counterparts would recommend them to do. Prior to his doctorate, Brown received a B.A., Summa Cum Laude, in Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh in 2004. His academic interests center on normative ethics, metaethics, and virtue ethics. In 2016, he published the article 'Supporting the best charities is harder than it seems' in the Journal of Global Ethics. Drawing from his practical experience, the paper examines difficulties in evaluating and recommending charities, critiques aspects of the Effective Altruism movement's focus on measurable impact, and proposes a virtue-based approach that incorporates personal insight from researchers and practitioners.

In 2011, Brown founded and serves as executive director of the Maximin Project, a nonprofit organization designed to facilitate effective charitable giving to alleviate extreme global poverty. The project offers resources including color-coded maps and a database of highly effective aid organizations to direct donor support to those in greatest need. Influenced by his work in virtue ethics, Brown advocates for data-driven and expertise-guided methods over purely calculative metrics. For his excellence in education, he was awarded the 2023 Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, which inducted him into the university’s Academy of Teaching in recognition of his leadership in enhancing teaching practices. Brown holds the position of Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the STEAM Factory at The Ohio State University and is affiliated with the Center for Ethics and Human Values and the Center for the Study of Religion. He leads philosophy summer camps and has pioneered the use of artificial intelligence in his courses, encouraging students to engage in extended discussions with AI chatbots, produce AI-assisted papers on topics like karma and returning shopping carts, and construct Platonic dialogues between fictional parties on controversial ethical issues to deepen understanding and creativity.