Brett T. Wilmot, PhD
Associate Director, Ethics Program | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Villanova University
- Villanova PA
Brett T. Wilmot, PhD, is an expert in religion and politics, philosophical ethics and theological ethics.
Areas of Expertise
Biography
Education
University of Chicago, Divinity School
PhD
University of Chicago, Divinity School
MA
Reed College
BA
Select Accomplishments
Faculty Fellow
The Center for Church Management at Villanova University
Affiliations
- Association for Practical and Professional Ethics
- Society of Christian Ethics
- American Academy of Religion
Select Media Appearances
Is Reclining Your Airplane Seat Upright Behavior or Downright Rude?
The Wall Street Journal
2023-08-17
Commercial airlines equip most planes with reclining seats, so passengers are entitled to tip them back. Yet few aspects of air travel spur so many gripes. Surveys show the public is split on the practice... Brett Wilmot, associate director of the ethics program at Villanova University, said that as an ethical matter, there is no right or wrong on the question. When passengers buy tickets, they enter into an agreement with airlines giving them rights to do certain things, including tipping back.
Action on Gun Violence Is a Respect Life Issue in the Eyes of Some
Catholic News Service
2016-06-29
In the first 181 days of 2016, there have been 163 mass shootings in the United States, data gathered by the Washington-based nonprofit Gun Violence Archive show... Brett Wilmot, associate director of Villanova University's ethics program, suggested in an email to CNS that the country needs "to change the way we think about reducing the presence and availability of guns in our communities." He called for reframing the arguments from one focusing on "the loss of individual rights and liberties or as evidence of our subordination and servility in the face of an oppressive government or as an increased threat of our falling victim to crime."
Berkeley Passes First-in-the-Nation Soda Tax. Will Other Cities Follow?
The Christian Science Monitor
2014-11-05
Election night 2014 saw a breakthrough of sorts in the so-called soda wars... This debate is not likely to go away, says Brett Wilmot, associate director of the ethics program at Villanova University, outside Philadelphia. "We've become increasingly sensitive to the ways in which putatively private choices affect society as a whole," he says via e-mail.
How Brittany Maynard Renewed Debate on Ethics of Right to Die Movement
The Christian Science Monitor
2014-11-03
The decision by Brittany Maynard—a 29-year-old who had received a terminal brain cancer diagnosis—to end her life on Sunday has sparked a heated national discussion... The California newlywed had argued online and in numerous media appearances... that individuals need the right to choose the manner and timing of their death. But this focus on individual rights "hollows out" our national discussion precisely at the moment when a more subtle and robust conversation about end-of-life issues is urgently needed, says Brett Wilmot, associate director of the ethics program at Villanova University in Philadelphia.
When Does Life End? Two Emotional Cases Probe the Complexities.
The Christian Science Monitor
2014-01-19
Some religious ethicists differ on how personhood is defined in a medical context and whether severely diminished personhood—as in the case of Terri Schiavo—provides justification for the termination of a human life, says Brett Wilmot, associate director of the ethics program at Villanova University, just outside Philadelphia.
Select Academic Articles
Looking Beyond the Individualism and Homo Economicus of Neoclassical Economics
Journal of Catholic Social ThoughtBrett Wilmot
2012
Scriptural Reasoning and the Problem of Metaphysics: Insights for Argument in Liberal Democracy
Journal of the Society of Christian EthicsBrett Wilmot
2009
