Department of Philosophy

Abramson's areas of specialization include Hume, contemporary ethics (especially issues in moral psychology and character), and philosophical feminism. She is in the final stages of completing two monographs. The first begins where her (2014) article “Turning up the Lights on Gaslighting” left off. This is a book about what gaslighting is, how it relates to other nearby phenomena, what’s wrong with interacting with someone in this way, and what a close look at gaslighting can teach us about other significant features of social life. The second monograph is about Hume's moral philosophy tentatively titled The Artifice of Nature. Some of her recent publications include, "Character as a Mode of Evaluation" (2017), “Empathy without Sharing” (with Adam Leite, 2019), "What's so 'Natural' about the Natural Virtues?" ( 2015), “Love, Value and Reasons (with Adam Leite, 2018); "Affective Conflict and Virtue" (2013), "Love as a Reactive Emotion" (with Adam Leite, 2011, winner of the annual Philosophical Quarterly essay competition), and "A Sentimentalist's Defense of Shame, Contempt and Disdain" (2011). She has been a fellow at the Rockefeller Center for Human Values at Princeton University, and received grants from the American Council of Learned Societies and the American Philosophical Society. She was also awarded a grant by the AAUW and a fellow position the Newberry Library which she had to decline, having accepted other grant/fellow combinations.

She is a signatory on the 'Online Petition in Support of the Gendered Conference Campaign.'