I am an assistant professor at the University of California Santa Cruz. Prior to this, I was at Brown doing postdoctoral research funded by SSHRC. Currently, I am also a Faculty Research Fellow at the Humanities Institute at UCSC. 

I work on contemporary issues in value theory, in particular moral psychology and aesthetics, its intersection with philosophy of mind, as well as on the history of these fields. I have written on Kant’s aesthetics, particularly on his views on art here, on Kantian art criticism here, his take on music here, and the historical development of his views on beauty here. Imagination is another topic I am interested in. I have written the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on imaginative resistance. Some of my recent projects include articles on imagination, Bolzano’s and Mary Mothersill’s aesthetic cognitivism, and aesthetic perception and normativity.

For further information, you can have a look at my CV, Phil Papers Profile, or Academia.edu Profile. I also post information on recent and upcoming talks, publications, and events here. 

TEACHING

In previous years I’ve had the opportunity to teach a variety of courses at MacEwan University and at the University of Alberta: Introductions to Philosophy (Values and Society; Knowledge and Reality), Bioethics, Aesthetics, and Existentialism. At UCSC, I have taught courses on the history of philosophy, aesthetics, moral psychology, feminist philosophy, and existentialism. 

In the 2023 Winter Quarter, I am set to teach an undergraduate course on existentialism and a graduate seminar on philosophy and fiction. If you are interested in taking or auditing any of these classes, please do not hesitate to contact me. You can reach me via email.

I am also the subject of numerous abstract portraits. You can see a selection of this work here. Not so surprisingly (since I live in California), I love surfing (I’m still a baby surfer) and talking about surfing.