Dr. Ed Wall

I grew up in Massachusetts, and, way back in 1989, obtained my Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I have been at East Carolina University for well over 20 years now, where I am an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies.

As far as research goes, throughout the years, eighteen of my papers have appeared in main-stream philosophy journals. My current research interests involve various aspects of ethical theory, such as the critical examination of the nature and justification of various foundations for moral systems which have been proposed throughout the years.

Here at ECU I have been teaching mainly professional ethics courses and an upper-level social and political philosophy course. Some of the issues covered in the professional ethics courses have been criminal defense attorneys using deception in order to protect a client’s confidentiality, the moral resolution of value-conflicts between counselors and clients, and the impact of cultural values on moral decision-making with regard to professionals on the international scene. In the upper-level social and political philosophy course, among other things, we have examined Locke’s moral foundation for government (i.e., law of nature, natural rights, tacit consent, etc.), as well as Plato’s and Thoreau’s respective moral approaches toward civil disobedience.