Erin Taylor
Erin Taylor teaches and writes on normative ethics, medical ethics, research ethics, and AI alignment. Her research asks how people, institutions, and AI systems can determine the right thing to do in particular situations.
Erin Taylor
Associate Professor of Philosophy
- Washington Hall 316
- P: 540-458-8051
- E: taylore@wlu.edu
Program Affiliations
Erin Taylor is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Washington and Lee University. Her research asks how people, institutions, and AI systems can determine the right thing to do in particular situations.
She studies the mechanisms medical ethics and research ethics use to move from general principles to concrete decisions, and she uses what they teach us to address the specification problem in AI alignment. Her current work includes normative world models, human-in-the-loop systems, social conventions, and role-based obligations.
Her book project is Doing the Right Thing: A Normative World Model for Humans and Machines. She serves on North Star Institutional Review Board.
Education
- Ph.D., Philosophy, University of California at Los Angeles
- B.A., Philosophy, Florida International University
Research
- Normative ethics
- Medical ethics
- Research ethics
- AI alignment
- Normative specifications and institutional governance
Teaching
- Ancient Philosophy
- Ethics
- Social and Political Philosophy
- Medical Ethics
- Poverty Studies
Selected Publications
- “When Human-in-the-Loop Amplifies the Risk of Misalignment.” Ethics & Human Research. Forthcoming.
- “The Competence Problem of AI Alignment.” Public preprint. https://philpapers.org/rec/TAYTCP-8
- “All Together Now: When Is a Role Obligation Morally Binding?” In The Ethics of Social Roles. Oxford University Press, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192843562.003.0006
- “Taming Wickedness: Towards an Implementation Framework for Medical Ethics.” Health Care Analysis 30, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-022-00445-5
- “Beyond Deep Disagreement: Paralysis as a Kind of Argument Failure in Medicine.” Rivista Italiana di Filosofia del Linguaggio 12, no. 1, 2018. https://rifl.unical.it/index.php/rifl/issue/view/30
- “Irreconcilable Differences.” American Philosophical Quarterly 50, no. 2, 2013. https://philpapers.org/rec/TAYID
- “A New Conventionalist Theory of Promising.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 91, no. 4, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2013.768278