Previous Education
MA, Philosophy, University of Chicago
BA, Philosophy, Montana State University
BA, English, Montana State University
Interests
19th- and 20th-century continental philosophy, epistemology, and metaphilosophy; as well as general philosophy of science, history and philosophy of social science, history of analytic philosophy, and Kant
Dissertation
Title: Marx's Naturalism: A Study in Philosophical Methodology
Committee: Brian Leiter (co-chair), Robert Richards (co-chair), Michael Forster, Matthias Haase
Abstract: In my dissertation, I develop a detailed reconstruction of Karl Marx’s views in epistemology and metaphilosophy. I argue that Marx’s method undergoes definite, well-reasoned changes over the course of his career. He begins by criticizing a sophisticated non-naturalist method in philosophy — a version of conceptual explication — and comes in time to defend his own alternative: a naturalistic method on which philosophical progress is made when more adequate successor theories explain (etiologically, in scientific style) how their less adequate predecessors acquire the illusory appearance of plausibility. I argue that, though the methods Marx criticizes are no longer popular today, his arguments draw attention to theoretical vices common to many non-naturalist methods. Moreover, through my reconstruction of Marx’s mature method for philosophy, I sketch the outlines of an independently defensible, non-moralistic, thoroughgoingly naturalistic alternative to available options in the contemporary methodology debate.
Recent Courses
PHIL 29200-02 Junior Tutorial
Topic: Marx and Philosophy. Karl Marx is at once an incisive philosophical thinker, and a powerful critic of the whole enterprise of philosophy. In this course, we will investigate Marx's critique of philosophy. In particular, we will do so with an eye to the implications such a critique may have for philosophy as it exists today. That is, we will ask what conclusions can be drawn within philosophy, and about philosophy, from Marxian premises. This will require careful examination of key works by Marx, as well as by Hegel, Feuerbach, and Engels. It will also involve reflection on central disputes in contemporary theoretical philosophy, including the mind-body problem, the problem of knowledge, and the naturalism/anti-naturalism dispute.
Meets with Jr/Sr section. Prerequisite: Open only to intensive-track majors. No more than two tutorials may be used to meet program requirements.
PHIL 29300-02 Senior Tutorial
Topic: Marx and Philosophy. Karl Marx is at once an incisive philosophical thinker, and a powerful critic of the whole enterprise of philosophy. In this course, we will investigate Marx's critique of philosophy. In particular, we will do so with an eye to the implications such a critique may have for philosophy as it exists today. That is, we will ask what conclusions can be drawn within philosophy, and about philosophy, from Marxian premises. This will require careful examination of key works by Marx, as well as by Hegel, Feuerbach, and Engels. It will also involve reflection on central disputes in contemporary theoretical philosophy, including the mind-body problem, the problem of knowledge, and the naturalism/anti-naturalism dispute.
Meets with Jr/Sr section. Prerequisite: Open only to intensive-track majors. No more than two tutorials may be used to meet program requirements.