"I do not insist that my argument is right in all other respects, but I would contend at all costs, both in word and deed, as far as I could, that we will be better people, braver and less lazy, if we believe that one must search for the things one does not know..." –Socrates (Plato, Meno 86b)
Background image
from Unsplashed, courtesy of Wix.
ABOUT ME
Even other academics characterize me as reading a lot. And that's not wrong; I do dwell amidst text. But I also like carpentry – it's nice when a day's work leaves behind new tangible structures. I like to climb rocks and trees, run, hike, go for multi-hour trail adventures, and play basketball and Ultimate Frisbee.
In my reading, writing, and teaching, I approach systematic problems via the history of philosophy. Specifically, I work on ancient philosophy (mostly Greek, but also Egyptian and Chinese) and Continental philosophy (mostly German, but also French) of the 19th and 20th centuries. In the latter, I focus on the ways phenomenology and psychoanalysis both complement and fight each other, with help from Hegel, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche. For particular topic areas, see below.
EDUCATION
RESEARCH TOPICS
2008 - 2014
Boston College
Ph.D., Philosophy
2006 - 2008
Boston College
M.A., Philosophy
2002 - 2006
Yale University
B.A., Philosophy
POSITIONS
Erikson Scholar-in-Residence (Fall 2019)
Austen Riggs Center, Stockbridge, MA
Visiting Scholar (2018-2020)
Philosophy Dept., Loyola Marymount University
Bellarmine Postdoctoral Fellow (2015-2018)
Philosophy Dept., Loyola Marymount University
Summer Seminar Fellow (2014)
National Endowment for the Humanities
(Host: Gonzaga University
Topic: Medieval Political Philosophy)
Teaching Fellow (2007-2012)
Philosophy Dept., Boston College
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
Department Head for Humanities and Social Sciences (Current)
Catholic Theological Institute, Papua New Guinea
LANGUAGES
German
Advanced (reading/speaking/writing)
Spanish
High Intermediate (reading/writing)
Intermediate (speaking)
Ancient Greek
Advanced (reading)
Latin
Intermediate (reading)
French
Elementary (reading)
New Guinea Pidgin
Beginner (reading/writing/speaking)
Aspects of (Re)conciliation
Aside from Hegel, philosophical work on conciliation and reconciliation focuses entirely on moral, political, and legal questions. But to the extent that such renewal is possible, there must be something like transcendental conditions of that possibility. Over the long term, I want to work out these aspects of the world and of human existence.
Current project: to begin by making sense of the phenomena of trust and betrayal.
The Nature and Importance of Truth
What is the nature of our receptivity to being? Why do we care so much about the way things really are – yet in such conflicted ways? How can we both avoid the trap of relativism and recognize personal, cultural, and historical situatedness?
Current project: to attend to pre-judicative modes of receptivity, especially affective dispositions (like interpersonal trust) and epistemic virtues (like Socratic piety).
Health and Illness
Health is somehow essential and normative, but it's quite difficult to say in what ways, especially in the realm of mental illness. The DSM-V infamously makes just about everything an illness, and Westerners look to medication to fix everything while fearing its addictive power. Pain signals that something is wrong, but also signals life where there was none before. Questions about health's essence and in what way it is essential for living beings swiftly lead to problems about how to understand essences more broadly.
Current project: to articulate the unity of human meaning that is discoverable in a wide variety of psychotic suffering.
Access to Ancient Philosophy
Phenomenology offers a non-naive way for contemporary thought to return to the puzzles and proposals of ancient philosophy. Psychoanalysis takes up once again the study of the soul. Together, these modes of thinking open up ancient texts (Greek, Egyptian, and Chinese) in new and fruitful ways.
Current project: to figure out what theoria (contemplation) means for Aristotle and for us.