Steven R. Quartz

Steven R. Quartz is a Professor of Philosophy at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he bridges neuroscience with philosophy to explore fundamental questions about the mind, morality, and human behavior. His work focuses on the brain's value systems and their interaction with culture to shape moral, political, and economic lives.

• Education: B.A. (1986) and M.A. (1988) from University of Western Ontario, Huron College; Ph.D. (1993) from University of California, San Diego.

Research Interests span Neurophilosophy, Neuroeconomics, and Evolutionary Theory, with a broader goal of integrating neuroscience into humanities and social sciences. His Caltech Brain Imaging Center and T&C Chen Center for Social and Decision Neuroscience affiliations support his work in neuroethics, neuroaesthetics, and cultural biology.

Key Publications (2015–1997) examine topics like the neural basis of 'cool' in society, trader intuition, risk-reward computation, and multisensory perception. These works often blend neuroimaging, cognitive science, and behavioral economics.

Grants include Principal Investigator of the NSF IGERT PhD grant Brain, Mind, and Society, which trains interdisciplinary scientists at the intersection of neuroscience and social sciences.

Lab Research investigates 'Love, Compassion, and Care' through the lens of virtue science, aiming to understand real-life and laboratory-based exemplarity in human behavior.