Cureton Awarded Lindsay Young Professorship
Adam Cureton, professor and director of undergraduate studies in the UT Department of Philosophy, has been named a Lindsay Young Professor.
His work focuses on ethics, Immanuel Kant, and philosophy of disability. Cureton has written several books, most recently Sovereign Reason: Autonomy and our Interests of Reason, and Respecting Disability: Attitudes, Policies, and Relationships, both of which were published by Oxford University Press in 2025. He has published articles in scholarly journals and collections such as The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of John Rawls, and Philosophical Foundations of Disability Law. His research explores autonomy, freedom, dignity, disability, and the ideals of moral and civic life, as well as ethical questions raised by new and emerging technologies.
A winner of the Chancellor’s Excellence in Research and Creative Achievement award, Cureton has also served on the Chancellor’s Commission for Disability. He has received multiple fellowships, grants, and scholarships in his time as a researcher, including two fellowships from UT: the UT Humanities Center Fellowship in 2019 and the Donald S. and Jacquelyn L. Denbo Humanities Faculty Fellowship in 2021. His current work includes projects on public moral reasoning and on appreciation as a moral ideal, especially in relation to disability.
Established in 1980 by Knoxville lawyer Lindsay Young, these endowed professorships reward faculty who are outstanding teachers, researchers, and public servants. Ten awards are made each year: one in law, one in veterinary medicine, and eight in the humanities. This professorship will support Cureton’s work in moral philosophy, including his efforts to deepen our understanding of autonomy, respect, appreciation, and disability.
by Sloan Docekal