Huemer is a philosophical
dualist and an
agnostic. His 2005 book,
Ethical Intuitionism, was reviewed in
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews,
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, and
Mind. In 2013, he published
The Problem of Political Authority, in which he argues that modern arguments for
political authority fail and that society can function properly without state coercion.
Phenomenal conservatism Huemer has defended
phenomenal conservatism, the
epistemological view that it is reasonable to assume that things are as they appear, except when there are positive grounds for doubting this.
Problem of evil Huemer has stated that the
presence of evil in the world, such as children with terrible diseases, is strong evidence that an
omnipotent,
omniscient, and
omnibenevolent God does not exist. He has argued that immaterial
souls exist,
Animal ethics On the
ethics of eating meat, Huemer has commented that "In the overwhelming majority of actual cases, meat eaters do not have any reasons that could plausibly be claimed to justify the pain and suffering caused by their practice." In 2016, he debated
Bryan Caplan on the ethical treatment of animals, including insects. Regarding killing insects, he has argued that they are not raised in horrible conditions like animals in factory farms and that animal farming requires killing more insects, claiming that it is "much less likely that insects feel pain". His 2019 book,
Dialogues on Ethical Vegetarianism, is a series of dialogues on the
ethics of eating meat.
Peter Singer, who wrote the foreword to the book, commented that "In the future, when people ask me why I don't eat meat, I will tell them to read this book."
Ostroveganism Huemer is an advocate of ostroveganism, a
plant-based diet with the addition of
oysters and other
bivalves. In a 2023 interview, Huemer stated that it is "fair game" to eat animals without brains such as
scallops and that he also occasionally eats pasture-raised eggs. He has argued that is impossible to inflict pain on bivalves, because they do not have a brain. ==Personal life==