Daniel Aram Hampikian was drawn to philosophy as a field of study after learning about the famous Greek and Chinese philosophers recorded in history. Absorbing their moral lessons, Daniel Aram Hampikian was inspired to study philosophy for himself after reading about Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, and Lao Tzu. As a student, he went into his first classes believing that happiness was found in virtue, and that people who lead moral lives would be happier than those who did not.

Daniel Aram Hampikian soon found there was a lot more to philosophy than he first imagined. As an undergraduate student, he attended Georgia State University. “It was a good school and it inspired to study philosophy of mind and ethics at the University of Miami,” says Daniel Aram Hampikian. Daniel Aram Hampikian had earned scholarships as a student and graduated summa cum laude with his bachelor of arts degree in philosophy.

Daniel Aram Hampikian turned to the University of Miami for a wider breadth of courses. As a graduate student, he met two notable philosophers: Mark Rowlands and Michael Slote. “It was Michael Slote who first drew my attention to empathy. I began to write on this very new realm of psychological inquiry and its relation to ancient eastern ethical systems like that of Mencius, a disciple of Confucius,” says Daniel Aram Hampikian.

In the fall of 2008, at the University of Miami’s Mind and Ethics Workshop, Daniel Aram Hampikian presented his paper entitled “Confucianism, Empathy, and Care Ethics.” It was a direct link to the influence Dr. Michael Slote had on him. In 2009, Daniel Aram Hampikian presented another paper entitled “Emotions,” at the Graduate Student Colloquium.

Mark Rowlands had a profound impact on my education. When I met Dr. Rowlands, he was working on animal rights and embodied cognition. I started to work with him on the nature of human morality and the possibility that animals and humans shared many aspects of morality,” says Daniel Aram Hampikian.

This would branch out to become his thesis. In the early part of 2013, Daniel Aram Hampikian presented and defended his dissertation, “Moral Emotions in Nonhuman Animals.” Both Dr. Slote and Dr. Rowlands served on his dissertation committee. By May of 2013, Daniel Aram Hampikian successfully graduated as a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Miami.