Peter Rose-Barry Spotlight

My research sits at the intersection of ethics, moral psychology, and social-political philosophy. Much of my earlier work examined the nature of evil: what distinguishes an evil from that which is merely wrong or bad, whether evil people really exist and how they differ from the rest of us, and what literature and philosophy together can teach us about the darkest dimensions of human character. That work led to books such as Evil and Moral Psychology and The Fiction of Evil, where I explored how moral concepts are shaped not only by abstract theory but also by literature and narrative. My conviction was that understanding matters at the margin can help us better understand matters at the core. 

More recently, I have turned to the moral and political thought of George Orwell. In George Orwell: The Ethics of Equality, I argue that Orwell was not simply a novelist or journalist, but a serious thinker whose work illuminates enduring questions about equality, freedom, responsibility, decency, and democratic life. By examining Orwell’s full body of writing, I aim to show that literature can be a powerful vehicle for philosophical insight but also that philosophy can help us better understand literary works and their authors. 

What motivates my work is the belief that philosophy should help us better understand human beings. Whether investigating cruelty, character, or political injustice, I am drawn to questions that matter beyond the classroom. I hope this research encourages readers to think more carefully about moral responsibility, to recognize threats to equality and freedom, and to appreciate how philosophical reflection can emerge from novels, essays, and everyday experience as much as from traditional academic texts.