Sigrun Svavarsdottir

Sigrun Svavarsdottir is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Tufts University, located in Miner Hall, Medford, MA. She holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Michigan (1993) and a BA in Philosophy from the University of Washington (1982). Her research focuses on metaethics, addressing topics such as moral motivation, ethical objectivity, evaluative concepts, practical rationality, and personal integrity. She has held visiting positions at institutions including ANU, the National Humanities Center, and Princeton University’s Center for Human Values.

She teaches courses in meta-ethics, normative ethics, food ethics, political philosophy, and action theory. Notable publications include works in The Philosophical Review, Journal of Philosophy, and Oxford Studies in Metaethics. She has organized international ethics conferences in Croatia and Iceland and serves on the editorial board of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Her academic career includes faculty roles at NYU and OSU, alongside visiting appointments at Harvard and the University of Pittsburgh.

Her research explores how moral judgments interface with human motivation and rationality. Recent work re-examines cognitivist theories of value ascriptions and the practical role of value judgments. Her 2001 book Thinking in Moral Terms (Taylor & Francis) remains influential in metaethical discourse.