J.S. Russell received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1994 and then did a year of post-graduate work at Oxford University. He headed the B.C. Civil Liberties Association’s office staff from 1980, resigning as Executive Director in 1988 to pursue graduate studies in philosophy at Cornell. He is now an instructor in the philosophy department at Langara College. He has been Ethics Advisor to the University of British Columbia Clinical Research Ethics Board since November 2001. He has published articles in moral and political philosophy and philosophy of law and has taught philosophy and been an adjunct professor of law at the University of British Columbia.

A current research interest is in philosophy of sport where he has published several articles and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of the Philosophy of Sport. He is currently completing a manuscript on metaethics and is co-editing with Andrew Irvine a wide-ranging collection of essays by Canadian philosophers that are addressed to non-specialist audiences. In his spare time, Russell coaches little league baseball and, when any time is left over after that, he rides his motorcycle.

He has a peculiar cognitive disturbance (which is perhaps an as-yet unlabelled character disorder). When he thinks of philosophy, he thinks of baseball; and when he thinks of baseball, he thinks of philosophy. He is married to Joy Russell and has two children, Nicholas and Keith.