Steven Coyne
Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Philosophy and Department of Computer Science
Steve Coyne is an assistant professor, teaching stream in the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Computer Science. He teaches courses in moral and political philosophy, as well as philosophy of law. He also prepares and deliver ethics modules in computer science classes for the Embedded Ethics Education Initiative in collaboration with instructors from the Department of Computer Science.
Coyne is primarily working on the problem of political authority. What exactly is involved in the state’s claim to legitimate authority over its citizens, and how is that claim vindicated? His answer, in short, is that the legitimacy of the state’s authority rests on its ability to arbitrate our moral disagreements, and in doing so, confer a form of objectivity on at least some of our moral judgments.
Coyne completed his PhD thesis, Liberal Theories of Political Authority, at the University of Toronto under the supervision of David Dyzenhaus. His research concerns also include civil disobedience and various problems in AI ethics.