Mark Alfano is a contemporary analytic philosopher specializing in moral psychology, virtue theory, and social epistemology. He is best known for his empirically-informed skepticism about stable character traits, arguing that situational factors undermine traditional virtue ethics. He has held academic positions at institutions including Delft University of Technology and Australian Catholic University.
Authored 'Character as Moral Fiction' (2013), a sustained situationist critique of character-based virtue ethics
Developed empirically-grounded challenges to the psychological reality of stable character traits
Contributed to debates in virtue epistemology, including the scope of general thinking skills
Applied findings from social psychology to core questions in moral theory and epistemology
Edited and contributed to interdisciplinary work bridging philosophy and empirical psychology