Bryan Benham, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Philosophy (Lecturer)
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology
Adjunct Assistant Professor – Pain Research Center
Associate – Division of Medical Ethics and Humanities
Faculty at The Brain Institute

University of Utah
Department of Philosophy
CTIHB, 4th Floor
215 S. Central Campus Dr.
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
(801) 581-7302
bryan.benham@philosophy.utah.edu
hum.utah.edu/~bbenham

Curriculum Vitae


Research Interests

My research focuses on questions at the intersection of science and human values. I have ongoing projects regarding issues in genetic research and neuro-cognitive explanations of behavior that have direct impact for understanding reductive explanatory strategies in the sciences, notions of emergence, and implications for concepts of moral agency and self. I also work on issues regarding research ethics, especially deceptive methods in the behavioral sciences. (See a description of my Research Projects).

Works in Progress

A Casebook for Research Ethics (Rowman & Littlefield; Under contract)

Should we be responsible for what neural lie detection reveals? (To be presented at Moral Responsibility: Neuroscience, Organization & Engineering, Delft, Netherlands, August 24-27, 2009.)

What is the problem of Reduction?

Genetics and Neural Circuitry of Sex Specific Behavior in the Nematode C. elegans

Developmental Essentialism (w/Matt Haber)

Lessons of Eugenics (w/James Tabery)

Varieties of Deception in Research

Is 'Authorized Deception' Ethical?

Suicide and Self-Harm in Chronic Pain Patients (w/Akiko Okifuji)

Neglected Ethical Aspects of International Microbicide Research (w/Patrick Kiser)

Memory, Self, and Pain

 

 

 

Courses 2009-2010

Prof. Benham has no teaching assignments for the school year. He will be spending the year in the Jorgensen lab studying neuro-genetic determinants of sex specific behavior in C. elegans. The year of research is supported by an NSF Professional Development Fellowship (Science, Technology, and Society Program).

 

Director of Graduate Teaching Links

  • CTLE: Center for Learning & Teaching Excellence
  • TACC: Technology Assisted Curriculum Center

 

Past Course Syllabi