Philip Robbins

Philip Robbins
Professor; Chair
239 Middlebush Hall
(573) 882-2764
Faculty
Education

PhD, University of Chicago

AB, Harvard 

Research

Experimental Ethics, Moral Psychology, Philosophical Psychology

Teaching

Aesthetics, Applied Epistemology, Ethics, Experimental Philosophy, Logic, Moral Psychology, Philosophical Psychology

Select Publications

Robbins, P., & Alvear, F. (2026). Love, money, and blame: Effects of emotional and economic hardship on judgments of criminal behavior. Behavioral Sciences & the Law. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.70055

Robbins, P., & Jack, A.I. (2026). The genuine problem of consciousness. In A. Raffone (Ed.), Consciousness: A Comprehensive Reference. Elsevier.

Roderick, A., Guo, Y., Robbins, P., & Campione-Barr, N. (2026). Adults’ perceptions of childhood transgressions: The role of parental status and knowledge of child development. Journal of Moral Education, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2026.2640983

Malle, B.F., & Robbins, P. (2025). Modern moral psychology: An introduction to the terrain. In B.F. Malle & P. Robbins (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of moral psychology (pp. 1-30). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108894357.002

Malle, B.F., & Robbins, P. (Eds.). (2025). The Cambridge Handbook of Moral Psychology. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108894357

Robbins, P. (2025). Of machines and men: Attributions of moral responsibility in AI-assisted warfare. Ethics and Information Technology, 27(35). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-025-09844-3

Robbins, P. (2025). Moral categorization and mind perception. In B.F. Malle & P. Robbins (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of moral psychology (pp. 198-221). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108894357.012

Robbins, P., & Drayson, Z. (Fall 2025). Modularity of mind. In E.N. Zalta & U. Nodelman (Eds.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2025/entries/modularity-mind/

Robbins, P., & Alvear, F. (2023). Deformative experience: Explaining the effects of adversity on moral evaluation. Social Cognition, 41(5), 415–446. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2023.41.5.415

Robbins, P., Alvear, F., & Litton, P. (2021). Good deeds and hard knocks: The effect of past suffering on praise for moral behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2021.104216

Robbins P, & Litton P. (2018). Crime, punishment, and causation: The effect of etiological information on the perception of moral agency. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law,24(1), 118–127. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000146

Robbins P. (2015). Philosophizing the social brain. Cognitive Systems Research, 34–35, 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2015.09.001

Jack, A.I. , Robbins, P. , Friedman, J.P. , & Meyers, C.D. (2014). More Than a Feeling: Counterintuitive Effects of Compassion on Moral Judgment. In J. Sytsma (Ed.). Advances in Experimental Philosophy of Mind (pp. 125–180). London: Bloomsbury Academic. Retrieved April 27, 2026, from http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781472594136.ch-006

Robbins, P., & Shields, K. (2014). Explaining ideology: Two factors are better than one. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 37(3), 326–328. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X13002719

Robbins P. (2013). Modularity and mental architecture. WIREs Cognitive Science, 4(6), 641-649. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1255

Jack, A.I., & Robbins, P. (2012). The phenomenal stance revisited. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 3(3), 383–403. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-012-0104-5

Knobe, J., Buckwalter, W., Nichols, S., Robbins, P., Sarkissian, H., & Sommers, T. (2012). Experimental philosophy. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 81–99. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100350

Office Hours

Monday and Wednesday, 2:00-3:00 pm (Spring 2026)

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