Alexandra Gustafson

Biography

Alexandra’s primary research interests are in moral psychology and the philosophy of love. In particular, she is interested in the phenomenology of love—especially attention and attachment—and how this experience bears on the question of whether we love for reasons. She has additional interests in the philosophy of disability and in public philosophy, generally speaking.

Alexandra has teaching interests in ethics and aesthetics, particularly at their intersection. She is the recipient of the University of Toronto (St. George) Department of Philosophy’s 2022 Martha Lile Love Teaching Award and the 2023 UofT Faculty of Arts & Science Superior Graduate Student Course Instructor Teaching Award. From 2023-24, she taught ethics in the UofT, St. George Department of Computer Science as part of the Embedded Ethics Education Initiative (E3I) teaching team.

Education

• PhD, Philosophy (University of Toronto)
• MA, Philosophy (Brandeis University)
• BA, Philosophy (College of Wooster)

Teaching Interests
Teaching in 2024-25

PHLB04H3: Philosophy and Literature

PHLB05H3: Social Issues
PHLB02H3: Environmental Ethics

PHLC06H3: Topics in Ethical Theory

Research Interests

Moral Psychology, Ethics, Philosophy of Disability, Aesthetics

Public Scholarship

• 2022. “Love transcends the self." Institute of Art and Ideas.
• 2022. “Why it can be sublime to love someone who doesn't love you back.” Psyche.