Assistant Professor, Philosophy
- B.A. University of Washington
- M.A. Brandeis University
- Ph.D. Tulane University
Daniel Tigard's scholarship addresses topics in ethical theory, such as moral dilemmas and moral responsibility, often with concrete applications to issues in bioethics. His doctoral dissertation, written under the direction of Professor David Shoemaker, utilized theories of responsibility and moral psychology to analyze the nature and value of moral distress in medical practice. More recently, he has worked to develop concepts of moral agency and responsibility to address ethical questions surrounding emerging technologies, such as robotics and artificial intelligence.
Scholarly Work
Tigard's postdoctoral research began at the Human Technology Center at RWTH Aachen University in Germany, where he focused on ethical issues in medical technology and human-computer interaction. He then held a position as Senior Research Associate in the Institute for History and Ethics of Medicine at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). As part of an interdisciplinary project on “Responsible Robotics”, Dr. Tigard worked closely with members of TUM’s Department of Science, Technology and Society, and with engineers at the Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence. Together they worked to “embed” ethics into the development of sophisticated technologies, namely a humanoid robotic assistant intended for elderly persons and telemedical systems. Dr. Tigard is passionate about helping students and young professionals to think carefully about how we interact with technology and how technology is changing our interactions with one another.