Michael Huemer ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|j|uː|m|ər}}; born December 27, 1969) is an American professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado, Boulder.{{cite web | url=https://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/people/faculty/michael-huemer | title=Michael Huemer | date=March 24, 2015 }} He has defended ethical intuitionism, direct realism, metaphysical libertarianism, phenomenal conservatism, substance dualism, reincarnation, the repugnant conclusion,{{cite journal |last1=Huemer |first1=Michael |title=In Defence of Repugnance |journal=Mind |date=2008 |volume=117 |issue=468 |pages=899–933 |doi=10.1093/mind/fzn079 |jstor=20532700 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/20532700 |issn=0026-4423|url-access=subscription }} and philosophical anarchism.

Education and career

Huemer graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and earned his Ph.D. at Rutgers University in 1998 under the supervision of Peter D. Klein.{{Cite web|url=http://www.owl232.net/cv.htm|title=Curriculum Vitae|access-date=October 7, 2019|archive-date=February 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220223003453/http://owl232.net/cv.htm|url-status=dead}}

Philosophical work

Huemer is a philosophical dualist{{Cite web|last=Sosis|first=Cliff|date=2021|title=Michael Huemer Interview |url=https://www.whatisitliketobeaphilosopher.com/michael-huemer|website=What is it like to be a Philosopher?|archive-date=|archive-url=}} and an agnostic.{{Cite web|last=Lemieux|first=Pierre|date=2022|title=A Wide Ranging Libertarian Philosopher, Reasonable and Radical|url=https://www.cato.org/regulation/winter-2021/2022/wide-ranging-libertarian-philosopher-reasonable-radical|website=Cato Institute|language=en-GB|archive-date=February 25, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225023932/https://www.cato.org/regulation/winter-2021/2022/wide-ranging-libertarian-philosopher-reasonable-radical|url-status=live}}

His 2005 book, Ethical Intuitionism, was reviewed in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews,{{cite journal |last=McNaughton |first=David |title=Michael Huemer: Ethical Intuitionism |url=http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/25112/?id=7604 |date=September 10, 2006 |journal=Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews |issn=1538-1617}} Philosophy and Phenomenological Research,{{cite journal |last=Schroeder |first=Mark |title=Review: Huemer's Clarkeanism: Ethical Intuitionism by Michael Huemer |journal=Philosophy and Phenomenological Research |date=2009 |volume=78 |issue=1 |pages=197–204 |doi=10.1111/j.1933-1592.2008.00239.x |jstor=40380419}} and Mind.{{cite journal |last1=Lemos |first1=Noah |title=Review: Michael Huemer: Ethical Intuitionism |journal=Mind |volume=117 |issue=466 |year=2008 |pages=483–486 |issn=0026-4423 |doi=10.1093/mind/fzn063}}

In 2013, he published The Problem of Political Authority, in which he argues that modern arguments for political authority fail and that society can function properly without state coercion.{{cite journal |author= Skoble, Aeon J.|title=Reviewed Work: The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey by Michael Huemer|journal=The Independent Review|volume=19 |issue=1 |year=2014 |pages=144–147|jstor=24563269}}

=Phenomenal conservatism=

Huemer has defended phenomenal conservatism, the epistemological view that it is reasonable to assume that things are as they appear, except when there are positive grounds for doubting this.{{Cite journal |last=Huemer |first=Michael |date=2007 |title=Compassionate Phenomenal Conservatism |url=https://philpapers.org/archive/HUECPC.pdf |journal=Philosophy and Phenomenological Research |volume=74 |issue=1 |pages=30–55 |issn=0031-8205}}{{Cite web |title=Phenomenal Conservatism |url=https://iep.utm.edu/phen-con/ |access-date=October 14, 2024 |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy}}

=Problem of evil=

Huemer has stated that the presence of evil in the world, such as children with terrible diseases, is strong evidence that an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent God does not exist.

=Reincarnation=

Huemer defended reincarnation in his 2021 paper "Existence Is Evidence of Immortality".{{cite journal|author=Jäger, Jens|year=2021|title=Immortal Beauty: Does Existence Confirm Reincarnation?|journal=Australasian Journal of Philosophy|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00048402.2021.1938150|volume=100|issue=4|pages=789–807| doi=10.1080/00048402.2021.1938150}} He has argued that immaterial souls exist, and in 2022, he debated Graham Oppy on the topic.{{Cite web|date=2022|title=Do Souls Exist?:Mike Huemer (Yes): Graham Oppy (No): ep. 183|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxSi0htNihk|website=Youtube|archive-date=April 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220428224429/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxSi0htNihk|url-status=live}}

=Animal ethics=

On the ethics of eating meat, Huemer has commented that "In the overwhelming majority of actual cases, meat eaters do not have any reasons that could plausibly be claimed to justify the pain and suffering caused by their practice."{{Cite web |last=D'Amico |first=Michael Huemer, Daniel |date=September 26, 2018 |title=Debate: Libertarians Should Be Vegetarians |url=https://reason.com/2018/09/26/proposition-libertarians-shoul1/ |access-date=October 14, 2024 |website=Reason.com}}

In 2016, he debated Bryan Caplan on the ethical treatment of animals, including insects.[https://archive.today/20170427222657/http://www.learnliberty.org/blog/do-animals-have-rights-professors-bryan-caplan-and-michael-huemer-discuss/ "Do animals have rights? Professors Bryan Caplan and Michael Huemer discuss"]. Learnliberty.org. Retrieved August 6, 2021. Regarding killing insects, he has argued that they are not raised in horrible conditions like animals in factory farms and that animal farming requires killing more insects, claiming that it is "much less likely that insects feel pain".Huemer, Michael. (2019). Dialogues on Ethical Vegetarianism. Routledge. pp. 74–75. {{ISBN|978-1-138-32829-7}}

His 2019 book, Dialogues on Ethical Vegetarianism, is a series of dialogues on the ethics of eating meat. Peter Singer, who wrote the foreword to the book, commented that "In the future, when people ask me why I don't eat meat, I will tell them to read this book."{{Cite web |title=Interview with Michael Huemer, the author of ”Dialogues on Ethical Vegetarianism” |url=https://animainternational.org/blog/interview-with-michael-huemer/ |access-date=October 15, 2024 |website=animainternational.org |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Huemer |first=Michael |date=December 9, 2017 |title=Dialogues on Ethical Vegetarianism |url=https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/bts/vol22/iss1/2/ |journal=Between the Species |volume=22 |issue=1}}

== Ostroveganism ==

Huemer is an advocate of ostroveganism, a plant-based diet with the addition of oysters and other bivalves.{{Cite journal |last=Huemer |first=Michael |date=December 9, 2017 |title=Dialogues on Ethical Vegetarianism |url=https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/bts/vol22/iss1/2/ |journal=Between the Species |volume=22 |issue=1}}{{cite journal|author=Milburn, Josh; Bobier, Christopher|year=2022|title=New Omnivorism: a Novel Approach to Food and Animal Ethics|journal=Food Ethics|volume=7|issue=|page=5|doi=10.1007/s41055-022-00098-z|doi-access=free}} In a 2023 interview, Huemer stated that it is "fair game" to eat animals without brains such as scallops and that he also occasionally eats pasture-raised eggs.{{Cite web|last=Seferoğlu|first=Berat Mutluhan|date=2023|title=Michael Huemer: Defending Ethical Vegetarianism|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDCaN7TMpw8|website=YouTube|archive-date=July 19, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240719213358/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDCaN7TMpw8|url-status=live}} He has argued that is impossible to inflict pain on bivalves, because they do not have a brain.{{cite journal|author=Huemer, Michael|year=2018|title=Dialogues on Ethical Vegetarianism|journal=Between the Species|url=https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2174&context=bts|volume=22|issue=1|pages=20–135}}

Personal life

Huemer is married to Iskra Fileva, who teaches philosophy at the University of Colorado Boulder.{{cite web|title=Iskra Fileva |url=https://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/people/faculty/iskra-fileva |website=colorado.edu |access-date=September 18, 2024}}

Books

=Authored=

Skepticism and the Veil of Perception (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001)
Ethical Intuitionism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005)
The Problem of Political Authority (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)
Approaching Infinity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)
Paradox Lost (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018)
Dialogues on Ethical Vegetarianism (Routledge, 2019)
Knowledge, Reality, and Value: A Mostly Common Sense Guide to Philosophy (independently published, 2021)
Justice Before the Law (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021)
Understanding Knowledge (independently published, 2021)
Progressive Myths (independently published, 2024)

=Co-authored=

Is Political Authority an Illusion?: A Debate (with Daniel Layman, Routledge, 2022)
Can We Know Anything?: A Debate (with Bryan Frances, Routledge, 2023)