Pamela Hieronymi
UCLA

Pamela Hieronymi is a Professor of Philosophy at UCLA. She has published on moral responsibility and on our control over our own states of mind. She is currently bringing these two strands together into a book, Minds Matter, in order to unwind the traditional problem of free will. In addition to her academic publications, Hieronymi has been a guest on a number of podcasts, her thoughts on technology and teaching were published by The Chronicle of Higher Education, and she has served as a consultant for NBC’s sitcom, The Good Place.

In large part due to our unequaled intelligence, humans have enjoyed our status as the most powerful population on the planet. Our challenge has been to live peacefully with each other. To the extent we succeed, we succeed, not through our intelligence, but through our sociability, which constrains our decisions and intentions. Better understanding the relation between intentions, sociability, power, and peacefulness will be crucial.