I started my appointment at Chicago in Autumn 2019. I received my BA in philosophy from Reed College and my PhD in philosophy from MIT. Before coming to Chicago, I was a Bersoff Fellow at the Department of Philosophy at New York University during the 2018-19 academic year.
My main research interests are in the philosophy of language, epistemology, and philosophical logic.
Recent Courses
PHIL 59950 Job Placement Workshop
Course begins in late Spring quarter and continues in the Autumn quarter.
This workshop is open only to PhD Philosophy graduate students planning to go on the job market in the Autumn of 2026. Approval of dissertation committee is required.
PHIL 20100/30000 Introduction to Logic
An introduction to the concepts and principles of symbolic logic. We learn the syntax and semantics of truth-functional and first-order quantificational logic, and apply the resultant conceptual framework to the analysis of valid and invalid arguments, the structure of formal languages, and logical relations among sentences of ordinary discourse. Occasionally we will venture into topics in philosophy of language and philosophical logic, but our primary focus is on acquiring a facility with symbolic logic as such.
Students may count either PHIL 20100 or PHIL 20012, but not both, toward the credits required for graduation.
PHIL 22961/32961 Social Epistemology
Traditionally, epistemologists have concerned themselves with the individual: What should I believe? What am I in a position to know? How should my beliefs guide my decision-making? But we can also ask each of these questions about groups. What should we -- the jury, the committee, the scientific community--believe? What can we know? How should our beliefs guide our decision-making? These are some of the questions of social epistemology Social epistemology also deals with the social dimensions of individual opinion: How should I respond to disagreement with my peers? When should I defer to majority opinion? Are there distinctively epistemic forms of oppression and injustice? If so, what are they like and how might we try to combat them? This class is a broad introduction to social epistemology. (B) (II)
PHIL 59950 Job Placement Workshop
Course begins in late Spring quarter and continues in the Autumn quarter.
This workshop is open only to PhD Philosophy graduate students planning to go on the job market in the Autumn of 2025. Approval of dissertation committee is required.
PHIL 22966/32966 Epistemology of Bias
According to our ordinary thought and talk, many sorts of things can be, and often are, biased: people, groups (the biased committee), inanimate objects (the biased coin), sources of evidence (biased samples, biased testimony, biased surveys), mental states (biased perceptions, biased beliefs), the outcomes of deliberation (biased decisions, biased evaluations), and algorithms. The course will be divided into two parts. In the first part of the course, we will ask what it means to say that someone or something is biased. Among other things, we will ask whether people are biased in the same way as surveys are biased, and whether surveys are biased in the same way as algorithms are biased. In the second part of the course, we will examine some specific forms of bias in reasoning: hindsight bias, confirmation bias, status quo bias, among others. What, exactly, are the cognitive mechanisms underlying these biases? And are they always irrational?
PHIL 59950 Job Placement Workshop
Course begins in late Spring quarter and continues in the Autumn quarter.
This workshop is open only to PhD Philosophy graduate students planning to go on the job market in the Autumn of 2025. Approval of dissertation committee is required.
PHIL 20100/30000 Introduction to Logic
An introduction to the concepts and principles of symbolic logic. We learn the syntax and semantics of truth-functional and first-order quantificational logic, and apply the resultant conceptual framework to the analysis of valid and invalid arguments, the structure of formal languages, and logical relations among sentences of ordinary discourse. Occasionally we will venture into topics in philosophy of language and philosophical logic, but our primary focus is on acquiring a facility with symbolic logic as such.
Students may count either PHIL 20100 or PHIL 20012, but not both, toward the credits required for graduation.
PHIL 59950 Job Placement Workshop
Course begins in late Spring quarter and continues in the Autumn quarter.
This workshop is open only to PhD Philosophy graduate students planning to go on the job market in the Autumn of 2024. Approval of dissertation committee is required.
PHIL 22960/32960 Bayesian Epistemology
This course will be an introduction to Bayesian epistemology. (B) (II)
Introduction to Logic (PHIL 20100/30000) or its equivalent.
PHIL 22961/32961 Social Epistemology
Traditionally, epistemologists have concerned themselves with the individual: What should I believe? What am I in a position to know? How should my beliefs guide my decision-making? But we can also ask each of these questions about groups. What should we -- the jury, the committee, the scientific community--believe? What can we know? How should our beliefs guide our decision-making? These are some of the questions of social epistemology Social epistemology also deals with the social dimensions of individual opinion: How should I respond to disagreement with my peers? When should I defer to majority opinion? Are there distinctively epistemic forms of oppression and injustice? If so, what are they like and how might we try to combat them? This class is a broad introduction to social epistemology. (B) (II)
PHIL 20100/30000 Introduction to Logic
An introduction to the concepts and principles of symbolic logic. We learn the syntax and semantics of truth-functional and first-order quantificational logic, and apply the resultant conceptual framework to the analysis of valid and invalid arguments, the structure of formal languages, and logical relations among sentences of ordinary discourse. Occasionally we will venture into topics in philosophy of language and philosophical logic, but our primary focus is on acquiring a facility with symbolic logic as such.
PHIL 20100/30000 Elementary Logic
An introduction to the concepts and principles of symbolic logic. We learn the syntax and semantics of truth-functional and first-order quantificational logic, and apply the resultant conceptual framework to the analysis of valid and invalid arguments, the structure of formal languages, and logical relations among sentences of ordinary discourse. Occasionally we will venture into topics in philosophy of language and philosophical logic, but our primary focus is on acquiring a facility with symbolic logic as such.
PHIL 20100/30000 Elementary Logic
An introduction to the concepts and principles of symbolic logic. We learn the syntax and semantics of truth-functional and first-order quantificational logic, and apply the resultant conceptual framework to the analysis of valid and invalid arguments, the structure of formal languages, and logical relations among sentences of ordinary discourse. Occasionally we will venture into topics in philosophy of language and philosophical logic, but our primary focus is on acquiring a facility with symbolic logic as such.
PHIL 22964/32964 Advanced Introduction to Epistemology
This course will be a broad introduction to epistemology—the study of knowledge and rationality. Here are some of the main questions we will discuss:
What is knowledge
What is the best way to acquire knowledge?
How can you be sure that you aren’t dreaming?
What makes a belief rational?
How should you revise your beliefs when you get new evidence? (B) (III)