Laurie Shrage

Laurie J. Shrage is an American political and moral philosopher, born on December 4, 1953. She is recognized for her significant contributions to the analysis of social change agendas proposed by gender and sexual dissidents. Shrage has held academic positions at several institutions, including Howard University, Lake Forest College, Scripps College, California State Polytechnic University, and currently teaches at Florida International University. She obtained her B.A. from the University of California, Davis, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego. Her early work, particularly in her first book, *Moral Dilemmas of Feminism: Prostitution, Adultery, and Abortion* (1994), emphasized the importance of empirically informed philosophical inquiry into moral issues. She challenged the idea of a universal social ethic, proposing instead an interpretive methodology influenced by thinkers like Charles Taylor. In her second book, *Abortion and Social Responsibility: Depolarizing the Debate* (2003), Shrage revisited the abortion debate, analyzing international policies, historical movements, and ethical discussions to suggest a policy of restricting elective abortions to the first trimester, aiming to balance competing rights and values. Shrage has been a visiting fellow at Princeton University's Center for Human Values and a fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center. She has also been actively involved in academic service, including co-editing the journal *Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy*, serving as the American Philosophical Association's Ombuds for Non-Discrimination, and acting as Program Chair for the APA Pacific Division meeting. She also directed Women's Studies at FIU. Her research areas include public policies concerning markets in sexual services, expressive materials, reproductive healthcare, legal gender identity, and marriage. Shrage advocates for philosophers to engage more directly with historical and scientific accounts to inform public debate, a perspective she calls 'empirically informed philosophy.'