John Robison

John Robison is a Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Indiana University Bloomington, part of the College of Arts & Sciences. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2019) and a B.A. in Philosophy and Music from the University of Rochester (2009).

His research focuses on the intersection of moral philosophy and epistemology, particularly how values shape our information processing and access. His work explores moral and epistemic responsibility, respect, friendship, trust, and the epistemology of testimony. He also has significant interests in early modern philosophy and responses to skeptical arguments.

Dr. Robison's research has been published in prestigious journals including Philosophical Studies, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, and Ergo. His work addresses topics such as exculpatory moral ignorance, consciousness conditions on moral responsibility, responsibility for mental states, and respect as proper responsiveness to persons. His current research builds on these projects to examine trust, friendship, blaming and excusing, and the epistemology of self-conception.

At Indiana University, he teaches undergraduate courses including Introduction to Ethics, Biomedical Ethics, Ethics and Responsible Management, and supervises Honors Theses. Prior to joining IU, he taught at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Smith College. His dissertation, "The Epistemic Dimensions of Moral Responsibility and Respect," was supervised by Hilary Kornblith, Sophie Horowitz, Katia Vavova, and Timothy Pachirat.