Lorraine received her PhD in philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During her time at UNC, she had the fortune to work with some of the best scholars in ethics and the history of ethics, and it was here that her deep-seated interest in the 18th century Scottish philosopher, David Hume, took root. Hume is an empiricist who took the central aim of philosophy to be the scientific analysis of human nature as it exists in common life. Many of the views Hume develops in his Treatise bear the test of time: he believed people were sympathetically connected to others, and drew on this basic observation to argue that what’s most important, morally, is to develop character traits that were pleasing and useful to ourselves and others, and to be just and honest in all of our interactions. Hume advocated for the importance of enjoying life and the pleasures within it, and of not letting philosophy infiltrate all aspects of one’s life.
Lorraine’s work is deeply influenced by Hume’s analysis of human nature and his approach to philosophy. She specializes “moral psychology”, the area of philosophy that explores the nature of human psychology and its implications for what is right and wrong, and what forms of life we ought to aspire to. While she continues to read and write about historical views of human nature and ethics, most of her current work is contemporary, and interdisciplinary.
Her first academic book, Eudaimonic Ethics (2014), presents a view of human flourishing grounded within the self-determination theory of motivation, and explores its ethical implications for how we ought to act towards one another. Her second academic book, The Philosophy of Happiness: An Interdisciplinary Introduction (2021), more textbook in its nature, examines and presents the most influential findings and debates about happiness throughout the disciplines, including economics, public policy, psychology, and philosophy.
Lorraine’s collaborative research with the psychologist Shigehiro Oishi, funded through a grant from the John Templeton Foundation in collaboration with St. Louis University, explores the nature of psychological richness and its role within the good life. This research led Lorraine to explore what kind of value psychological richness contributes to our lives, which, she argues is the “interesting”.
Her current academic work explores the implications the intrinsic value of the interesting has for how we understand experience, cognitive engagement, the self, and boredom. She’s also interested in exploring its practical application in contexts including aesthetics, end-of-life care, and k-12 education.
Her first trade book, The Art of the Interesting (2024), shows why and how our lives will go better when they are more interesting. The Art of the Interesting was longlisted for the 2024 Porchlight Business Book Awards, and recognized as a “book of the year” by the Greater Good Science Center, The Next Big Idea Club, and the Non-Obvious book club.