Stephen Harris is a University Lecturer at the Institute for Philosophy.

More information about Stephen Harris

Fields of interest

• Indian Philosophy
• Buddhist Ethics
• Ethical Theory
• Ancient Philosophy (Indian, Chinese and Greek)

Research

My research focuses on Indian philosophical texts, in particular Buddhist moral philosophy, and their conceptual relationship to issues investigated in contemporary philosophy. Current interests include moral demandingness in the writing of the 8th century Indian Buddhist philosopher, Śāntideva, and cross-cultural study of well-being.

Other interests include comparative virtue theory, the role of suffering in ethical theory and the relation between personal identity and ethics. My research is also influenced by phenomenology, as well as ancient philosophy, including Chinese and Greek thought.

Teaching activities

I teach courses on comparative and Asian philosophy, as well as ethics and the history of philosophy, at the Institute for Philosophy in Leiden, as well as Leiden University College and the International B.A. program, both located in The Hague.

Curriculum vitae

Dr. Harris received his PhD from the philosophy department at the University of New Mexico in the U.S. Before coming to Leiden University, he was a pre-doctoral fellow at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He has articles published or forthcoming by the journals Contemporary Pragmatism, The Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Philosophy East and West, Asian Philosophy and Sophia.

Publications