Iskra Fileva

Iskra Fileva is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, specializing in moral psychology, philosophy-psychiatry intersections, aesthetics, and epistemology. She holds a Ph.D. from Boston University (2009) and has taught at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and University of Michigan prior to joining CU Boulder. Fileva serves as Associate Director of the Center for Values and Social Policy and is currently working on a book manuscript 'Character and Values'.

Her research examines:

• Character fragmentation and psychological foundations of personality
• Boundaries between character flaws and psychiatric conditions
• Aesthetic judgment and taste formation
• Moral testimony and collective governance

Her publications consistently explore moral psychology through interdisciplinary lenses, with recent work focusing on virtue ethics, moral testimony, and the philosophy of disgust.

Awards include:

• Character Project's Essay Award (2013) for NYTimes essay 'Character and its Discontents'
• APA Public Philosophy Op-Ed Prize (2022) for 'What Do We Owe the Dead?'

As editor of 'Questions of Character' (Oxford University Press, 2016), she compiled interdisciplinary perspectives on character from leading philosophers and psychologists. She also hosts 'The Philosopher's Diaries' blog at Psychology Today.