Ally Peabody Smith, PhD

Ally Peabody Smith is a philosopher and mixed-methods researcher specializing in ethics, philosophy of disability, philosophy of medicine, and bio- and neuroethics. She received her PhD in philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2021, where she specialized in moral philosophy. Her work encompasses four, interconnected lines of inquiry: (1) moral status; (2) capacity and communication; (3) bio- and neuroethics; and (4) the emotional, political, and social contexts of disability. Situated between philosophical theory and empirical domains, her research emphasizes how ethical theory can be used to assess questions about disability and bioethics, and how questions about disability force us to rethink foundational topics in ethical and political theory.

Current projects include NSF-sponsored research on the ethical implications of human stem cell-derived organoid development; the development of a healthcare app bringing together complex care teams for non-speaking patients; the development of a virtue theoretical medical ethics curriculum for medical schools; an investigation into the metaphysics of psychiatric diagnostic criteria, and the role of social media self-diagnostic communities therein; a paper on the bidirectional influence between philosophical theories of moral status and those excluded from social practices; and work on just advocacy for non-speaking intellectually and developmentally disabled persons. Peabody Smith is also working on her first monograph, 'Love without Language,' which brings together her empirical and theoretical work on the role that indexed, situated forms of communication play for non-speaking entities. Finally, she is co-editing a volume for Lehigh University Press based on the proceedings of Lehigh's Phenomenologies of Mental Health Conference (Sept. 2025) with Ellie Anderson (Pomona College).

More information and a current CV can be accessed at www.allypeabodysmith.com.

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