Project Description

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RESEARCH AREAS:

  • Ethics

  • Social/ Political Philosophy

  • Feminist Philosophy

CONTACT:

JASMINE GUNKEL

Assistant Professor,
Department of Philosophy, Western University

Jasmine Gunkel is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy. She completed her PhD at the University of Southern California, followed by a two year postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. She is also a member of Western’s Bioethics Centre. She works across normative and applied ethics (particularly in bioethics, animals ethics, and AI ethics) and social/political philosophy.

Much of my research centers around intimacy. I think about what it is, why our intimate rights are so important, and how this should (and does) shape our behavior, policies, and institutions. I explore, for instance, how we should regulate intimate labor and how the intimacy of medical care affects the obligations of medical professionals and researchers. I have sought to characterize what distinguishes intimacy from “pseudointimacy,” and explored how these insights can help us more ethically design AI companions. I’ve also worked on the ethics of other emerging technologies, including xenotransplantation and the use of AI in healthcare.

Solo and First Authored Journal Articles

“Supported Decision Making for All” (forthcoming). Jasmine Gunkel, David Wasserman, and Leslie Francis. Journal of Law, Medicine, & Ethics.

“Xenotransplantation: Injustice, Harm, and Alternatives for Addressing the Organ Crisis” (forthcoming). Jasmine Gunkel and Frank Miller. Hastings Center Report. 

“Intimacy, Vulnerability, and the Imperfect Art of Patient-Centered Self-Disclosure” (2025). Annals of Family Medicine 23(5): 474 476. https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.240532 

“The Overlooked Risk of Intimate Violation in Research: No Perianal Sampling without Consent” (2024). American Journal of Bioethics 24(4): 118 120. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2024.2308145 

“What is Intimacy?” (2024).Journal of Philosophy121(8).  https://doi.org/10.5840/jphil2024121833 

“Pleasures of the Flesh” (2023).Social Theory and Practice49(1): 79-103. https://doi.org/10.5840/soctheorpract202339181  

 

Public Philosophy

An invited, commissioned piece on intimacy forPsyche(magazine by Aeon), expected fall 2025

A conversation on the philosophy of intimacy for Philosophers on Culture radio show (September 2025). https://www.kzfr.org/broadcasts/43687 

“Jasmine Gunkel: “What is Intimacy?” (2023).New Work in Philosophy.https://newworkinphilosophy.substack.com/p/jasmine-gunkel-university-of-southern 

“Intimacy, Illness, and Forced Gestation” (2022).Blog of the American Philosophical Association.https://blog.apaonline.org/2022/07/13/intimacy-illness-and-forced-gestation/  

 

Collaborative Journal Articles

“Making Firefighting Roles for Incarcerated Individuals Ethical” (forthcoming). Chloe Connor, Daniel Karel, Jasmine Gunkel, Marcos Picchio, Holly A. Taylor. Criminal Justice Ethics.

“The Doctor Will Polygraph You Now: Ethical Concerns with Clinical AI for Social Behavior Verification” (2024). James Anibal, Jasmine Gunkel, Shaheen Awan, Hannah Huth, Hang  Nguyen, Tram Le, Jean-Christophe Bélisle-Pipon, Micah Boyer, Lindsey Hazen, Bridge2AI  Voice Consortium, Yael Bensoussan, David Clifton, Bradford Wood. Npj (Nature Portfolio Journal) Health Systems. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44401-024-00001-4 

“Simulated Misuse of Large Language Models and Clinical Credit Systems” (2024). James Anibal, Hannah Hugh, Jasmine Gunkel, Susan Gregurick, and Bradford Wood. Npj (Nature  Portfolio Journal) Digital Health 7(317). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-024-01306-2  

Faculty Research Domains

Rotman Institute faculty members are listed below by shared research areas. Visit individual member profiles to learn more.