Brandon Smith

Welcome! I'm Brandon Smith, a FRQSC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Institute for Research in the Humanities. My research concerns philosophy of happiness. More specifically, I'm interested in the history and contemporary applicability of eudaimonism, which considers happiness the highest natural and structurally stable good. My current focus is on Spinoza as an early modern eudaimonist whose views on the identity and equality of mind and body may offer valuable insights to us today in our pursuit of happy, flourishing lives. 

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I am also interested in the potential eudaimonism of early modern thinkers like Rene Descartes, Pierre Gassendi, G. W. Leibniz, Mary Astell, Gabrielle Suchon, and Émilie du Châtelet, all of whom have compelling things to say about happiness. In the contemporary context, I am interested in examining the strengths and weaknesses of modern attempts to revive eudaimonistic virtue ethics by moral philosophers such as Julia Annas, Paul Bloomfield, and Mark Lebar.

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