Joel Marks is an American writer and academic who is professor emeritus of Philosophy at the University of New Haven and a Bioethics Center Scholar at Yale University. Marks has edited two books on philosophical psychology and authored many articles and books on ethics, most recently Ethics without Morals.
He received a B.A. in psychology from Cornell University [1] and an M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Connecticut in 1982. [2]
In addition to his own speaking engagements, Marks has organized and chaired symposia, panels, and colloquia. For many years Marks also hosted an interview program on radio station WNHU in West Haven, Connecticut. [3]
Marks founded the Animal Ethics Study Group at Yale University's Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics in 2008. [4]
In 2010 Marks wrote about the threat of a planetary impact event in an article entitled 'Not With A Whimper, But With A Bang!' in Philosophy Now . [5]
In 2013 Marks' book Ethics without Morals: In Defence of Amorality was a foundational text outlining his shift from a traditional moralist to an amoralist. [6] Bad Faith: A Philosophical Memoir was published the same year and is an autobiographical account of his transition to amoralism. It was reviewed by Timothy Schroeder in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews where he gave it mild praise. It was also reviewed by Bill Meacham in Philosophy Now who praised the work. [7]
His 2016 book Hard Atheism and the Ethics of Desire argues that atheism is only consistent if it also rejects objective morality.
In 2025 Marks' book Ethical Health: Managing Our Moral Impulses treats "moralism" as an emotional problem akin to one needing psychotherapy.