\documentclass[10pt]{article}

\usepackage{fullpage}
\usepackage{CJKutf8} 
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{setspace}
\usepackage{parskip}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\usepackage[section]{placeins}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{breakcites}
\usepackage{lineno}
\usepackage{hyphenat}





\PassOptionsToPackage{hyphens}{url}
\usepackage[colorlinks = true,
            linkcolor = blue,
            urlcolor  = blue,
            citecolor = blue,
            anchorcolor = blue]{hyperref}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\makeatletter
\patchcmd\@combinedblfloats{\box\@outputbox}{\unvbox\@outputbox}{}{%
  \errmessage{\noexpand\@combinedblfloats could not be patched}%
}%
\makeatother


\usepackage{natbib}




\renewenvironment{abstract}
  {{\bfseries\noindent{\abstractname}\par\nobreak}\footnotesize}
  {\bigskip}

\titlespacing{\section}{0pt}{*3}{*1}
\titlespacing{\subsection}{0pt}{*2}{*0.5}
\titlespacing{\subsubsection}{0pt}{*1.5}{0pt}


\usepackage{authblk}


\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[space]{grffile}
\usepackage{latexsym}
\usepackage{textcomp}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{tabulary}
\usepackage{booktabs,array,multirow}
\usepackage{amsfonts,amsmath,amssymb}
\providecommand\citet{\cite}
\providecommand\citep{\cite}
\providecommand\citealt{\cite}
% You can conditionalize code for latexml or normal latex using this.
\newif\iflatexml\latexmlfalse
\providecommand{\tightlist}{\setlength{\itemsep}{0pt}\setlength{\parskip}{0pt}}%

\AtBeginDocument{\DeclareGraphicsExtensions{.pdf,.PDF,.eps,.EPS,.png,.PNG,.tif,.TIF,.jpg,.JPG,.jpeg,.JPEG}}

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}



\usepackage{float}








\begin{document}
\begin{CJK}{UTF8}{gbsn}

\title{I am Michael Cholbi, a philosopher working on ethical theory, Kant,
paternalism, the philosophy of death and dying and more. AMA!}



\author[1]{mcholbi }%
\author[1]{r/Science AMAs}%
\affil[1]{Affiliation not available}%


\vspace{-1em}



  
  \date{April 23, 2026}


\begingroup
\let\center\flushleft
\let\endcenter\endflushleft
\maketitle
\endgroup





\selectlanguage{english}
\begin{abstract}
I am Michael Cholbi, Professor of Philosophy at California State
Polytechnic University, Pomona. I work and publish in a number of area
of ethics, including ethical theory, moral psychology, practical ethics,
and the history of moral philosophy. Much (though not all) of my work
has a Kantian flavor -- but do note I'm willing to take Kant and
Kantians to task when need be! (For a good overview of my work on Kant's
ethics, check out my book Understanding Kant's Ethics). Here are some
more specifics about my research: I'm perhaps best known for my work on
philosophy of death and dying, including my work on suicide and grief.
With respect to suicide, my views are complicated: I argue that most
acts of suicide violate our Kantian duty to preserve our rational
agency, but precisely because this is a self-regarding duty or duty to
self, then at a social level, individuals have an autonomy-based right
to shorten their lives, consistent with their moral obligations to
others; that medically assisted dying is not contrary to the moral norms
of medicine and that the medical profession should not monopolize access
to desirable ways of shortening our lives; that, all other things being
equal, mental health problems provide equally strong justifications for
suicide as do `physical' ailments, etc.; and that non-invasive public
health measures to prevent suicide are typically defensible. Grief is an
understudied phenomenon among philosophers. Much of my work here is
concerned with understanding how grief can makes our lives better ---
why we wouldn't find it desirable to be unable to grieve, like Meursault
in Camus' The Stranger --- despite the fact that it involves pain or
mental distress. In the book I'm writing, I propose that grief
represents an especially fruitful opportunity to know ourselves and
understand our own commitments and values more deeply. In other areas of
social ethics, I write on paternalism, defending what I call the
`rational will' conception of paternalism, wherein paternalism is wrong
because it intercedes in our powers of rational agency in various ways;
on race and criminal justice, where I argue (in a forthcoming paper in
Ethics) that racial bias in the administration of the death penalty in
the U.S. merits its de facto abolition; and on the philosophy of work
and labor, a new area of research where I'm exploring universal basic
income and notions of meaningful work. As you can tell, my work is very
diverse, both topically and methodologically. I try to integrate
empirical work from economics, legal studies, and psychiatry into my
research where appropriate. I look forward to discussing any and all of
my work with the reddit audience! Some of my work: My Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on suicide My review of Fischer and
Mitchell-Yellin's book on near death experiences A piece on grief in
Four By Three A blog post on paternalism from LSE's The Forum%
\end{abstract}%



\sloppy




\selectlanguage{english}
\FloatBarrier
\end{CJK}\end{document}

