Christopher Kelley is currently a PhD candidate in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism at Columbia University. He received a B.A. in Anthropology and Sociology from Lafayette College (1997), and an M.A. in Religion from Columbia University (2003).

He is presently engaged in doctoral research on Buddhist moral philosophy. In his dissertation he makes an appeal for Buddhist moral judgments that is, on the one hand, grounded in the Indo-Tibetan theory of “intentional action” (karma, las) and “voidness” (śūnyatā, stong pa nyid), while on the other hand, consilient with the criteria for both meta- and applied ethics. The outcome of this fusion pushes normative discourse in new directions, and sheds light on philosophical debates regarding selfhood, free-will, intentional action, moral responsibility, and moral relativism.

Kelley is the rapporteur and co-founder of the Columbia Society for Comparative Philosophy (www.fusionphilosophy.org), as well as a regular contributor to the Buddhist Studies Weblog (www.cbs.columbia.edu).

He also teaches at Lang College (The New School for Liberal Arts), and Columbia College.


In 2007 he directed a team that produced a rigorous two-day event entitled "Mind and Reality: A Multidisciplinary Symposium on Consciousness." The proceedings are available online as an e-seminar (http://mindandreality.org).