Brian Hutler is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Temple University, with affiliations at the Beasley School of Law and the Center for Urban Bioethics.
Previously, Brian was a postdoctoral fellow at the Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University. Brian holds a J.D. and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the UCLA Law and Philosophy Program.
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Brian works on applied political philosophy, in contexts such as constitutional law, healthcare, public health, and artificial intelligence.
Brian's research has been supported by grants from the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Greenwall Foundation. His work is published in journals such as Philosophy & Public Affairs, The Lancet, Bioethics, and the Journal of Applied Philosophy. His work has been referenced in Politico and in a petition filed before the U.S. Supreme Court (Haney v. Church of Scientology, 2021).
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Education
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Ph.D., UCLA Philosophy, 2018
Dissertation: Cooperation, Religious Freedom, and the Liberal State
Co-chairs: Barbara Herman and Seana Shiffrin
Committee: John Carriero, Mark Greenberg, Robert Goldstein
J.D., UCLA School of Law, 2014
Law and Philosophy Dual Degree Program
B.A., New York University, 2006
Cum laude, with highest honors in Philosophy
Honors Thesis: “Contents of Belief” (advised by Jim Pryor)
Selected Publications​
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"Indirect Discrimination and the Hospital Relocation Cases," Journal of Applied Philosophy (2024) https://doi.org/10.1111/japp.12740
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“Designing robots that do no harm: understanding the challenges of Ethics for Robots,” AI Ethics 4, 463–471 (2024) (with Travis N. Rieder, Debra J. H. Mathews, David A. Handelman and Ariel M. Greenberg) https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-023-00283-8
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“Assessing the Governance of Digital Contact Tracing in Response to COVID-19: Results of a Multi-National Study,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 50(4), 791–804 (2023) (with Alessandro Blasimme, et al.) https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2023.20
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“Causation and Injustice: Locating the Injustice of Racial and Ethnic
Health Disparities,” Bioethics, 36(3), 260–266 (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12994
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“Governing the ACT-Accelerator: Current Challenges and Opportunities for Change,” The Lancet, 399, 487–494 (2022) (with Suerie Moon, et al.)
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02344-8
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“Snap Exclusions and the Role of Citizen Participation in Policymaking,” Social Philosophy and Policy, 38(1), 266-288 (2021) (with Anne Barnhill)
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265052521000315
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“Compromise and Religious Freedom,” Law and Philosophy, 39(2), 177-202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10982-019-09365-3
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“Against the Political Use of Religious Exemptions,” Philosophy & Public Affairs, 47(3), 319-342. https://doi.org/10.1111/papa.12150
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Selected Courses Taught
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“Ethics of Artificial Intelligence”
Department of Philosophy, Temple University
“Ethics in Medicine”
Honors Program, Temple University
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“Graduate Seminar in Human Rights”
Department of Philosophy, Temple University
“Philosophy of Law”
Department of Philosophy, Temple University
Department of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania
“Bioethics and the Law” (with Anna C. Mastroianni)
Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University
“Intellectual Property: Theory and Practice”
Fox School of Business, Temple University
“Law and Social Values”
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
“The Arc of History and the Idea of Progress”
Department of Philosophy, UCLA
“Introduction to Political Philosophy”
Department of Philosophy, UCLA
“International Law and the Legitimacy of Global Governance”
Collegium of University Teaching Fellows, UCLA
“Theories of Punishment”
Department of Philosophy, UCLA
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Grant-Funded Research
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Principal Investigator, AI Interaction Fair, Temple University Internal Bridge Grant. Total grant amount: $17,094. (2024–2025)
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Co-Investigator, Enabling Machines to Reason about Potential Harms to Humans, Johns Hopkins University Discovery Award. PI: Ariel Greenberg. Total grant amount: $125,000. (2019–2023)
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Team member, World Health Organization (WHO) report on digital contact tracing. Collaboration between Johns Hopkins Berman Institute and ETH Zürich Health Ethics and Policy Lab. PI: Effy Vayena. Total grant amount: $30,000. (2020–2021)
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Public Philosophy
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“Snowflakes and Syllabi: Review of Ulrich Baer What Snowflakes Get Right,” Academe, 106(2) (2020)
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“Ethics of Social Distancing and Reopening” Johns Hopkins Infectious Diseases COVID-19 Grand Rounds (May 19, 2020)
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