Graduate Students
Tim went to Texas A&M where he received a bachelors and masters in philosophy. He is writing his dissertation on Kant's concept of freedom. His other areas of interest are applied ethics, early modern, and ancient Greek philosophy.
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Emily Barrett
e-mail: ebarrett3@wisc.edu
Emily received a B.A. in philosophy from Colby College and an M.A. in philosophy from Cal State Long Beach. In her master's thesis she defended the view that delusions are beliefs, and her research sparked an interest in philosophy of psychiatry. She also has interests in epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychology, and philosophy of cognitive science.
Martin Barrett
e-mail: mbrrtt@pobox.com
Elizabeth Bell
Area of Interest: Formal Epistemology, Ancient Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Cognitive Science
e-mail: ebell3@wisc.edu
Office: 5112 Helen C. White
Before coming to Madison, Elizabeth earned her B.A. in philosophy and B.S. in psychology from Boise State University. She also earned her M.A. In philosophy from the University of Wyoming. In her master’s thesis, Elizabeth began modifying the AGM model of belief revision so that it could accommodate multiple entrenchment orderings. The main questions currently plaguing her include: “What are the ways in which a belief becomes important to an agent?”, “If there are different ways, are some better (or more rational) than others?”, “What is the connection between evidence, explanation, and understanding?” In her search for answers, she is currently focused on Bayesian approaches to belief maintenance. When she isn’t actively pursuing her philosophical interests, she enjoys Backpacking, cooking, and a good fantasy novel.
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Dylan Beschoner
e-mail: beschoner@wisc.edu
Dylan is interested primarily in metaphysics in general and individuation in particular. However, he is also interested in topics in value theory, especially concerning the metaphysical underpinnings (whether there are/ought be any) for true normative claims. He's an avid watcher of sports (especially the Razorbacks, Broncos, and Lakers) and listener of music (especially Bob Dylan).
Frank received his BA in Philosophy (and Spanish) from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. His primary interests are in philosophy of science, in particular the nature of Inference to the Best Explanation and its relationship to Bayesianism. He is also interested in methodological issues in historical linguistics, in particular the recent adoption of phylogenetic methods from biology in order to infer language trees.
Clinton is primarily interested the (meta)ethics of belief, epistemic permissivism, and mushy credences. He also enjoys thinking about issues in applied ethics having to do with the moral limits of markets (particularly with respect to data markets) and corporate social responsibility. When he isn't worrying about what he should believe, what should be for sale, etc., he can likely be found biking around Madison, playing with his dogs, or working on Philosophy TV.
Hadley Cooney
Area of Interest: Early Modern Philosophy
Phone: 608-273-3700
e-mail: hcooney@wisc.edu
Office: 5184B Helen C. White
Hadley works in the history of philosophy. She is especially interested in Spinoza's epistemology and metaphysics, as well as in the intersection between philosophy and natural science in the early modern period. She also has a developing interest in Kant.
Andrew Cuda
Areas of Interest: philosophy of science
Phone: 608-263-3700
e-mail: accuda@wisc.edu
Office: 5168 Helen C. White
Andrew is primarily interested in the philosophy of science. He is currently working on problems concerning laws of nature.
Stewart Eskew
Areas of Interest: Metaethics, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Education, Epistemology
Phone: 608-263-3700
e-mail: eskew@wisc.edu
Office: 5168 H.C. White
Stewart is primarily interested in issues in moral epistemology. Recently, his work has focused on various issues surrounding moral perception. However, he is also interested in the nature and epistemic status of moral intuition, the possibility of a priori moral knowledge, peer disagreement, and non-naturalist moral realism. He also has teaching and research interests in the philosophy of science, the philosophy of education, and applied ethics.
Stewart Eskew'sWeb site
He is currently working on a dissertation on how agents come to have justified verdictive moral judgments and justified beliefs in general moral principles.
Matthew Faline
Areas of Interest: Philosophy of Language, Metaphysics and Logic
e-mail: faline@wisc.edu
Office: 5164 Helen C. White
I moved to Madison from Delaware where I completed my BA in Philosophy at the University of Delaware. As an undergrad, I initially became interested in metaphysics after our discussions about identity through time, and then about the philosophy of time in general. I grew to really enjoy talking about time travel and now love talking about how time travel movies don't work. Eventually I became interested in the philosophy of language after discussing truth in fiction and began to wonder how reference to non-existent objects works. More specifically, how can we have true statements about non-existent objects. This lead to a general interest in the overlap of metaphysics and the philosophy of language. Currently I am interested in counterfactual statements and the associated logic involved in interpreting their truth values. When I'm not "doing" philosophy, I enjoy watching movies and traveling.
Camila Flowerman
Areas of Interest: Ethics, Social/Political philosophy
e-mail: flowerman@wisc.edu
Office: 5170 Helen C. White
Camila graduated from Carleton College in 2015 with a BA in philosophy. She is primarily interested in ethics and social/political philosophy, especially climate ethics and the intersection of philosophy and public policy.
Megan Fritts
Areas of Interest: Metaethics, Philosophy of Religion, Kierkegaard, Philosophy of Action
e-mail: mfritts@wisc.edu
Office: 5170 Helen C. White
Megan got her B.A. at University of Missouri-Kansas City. Her main interests are in metaethics, philosophy of religion, philosophy of action, and Kierkegaard. She is especially interested in the metaethical assumptions present in religious frameworks. Aside from philosophy, she spends her time running, writing stories, lounging with her cat, and enjoying the outdoors.
Andrea Guardo
Areas of Interest: History of philosophy, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Language, Metaethics
e-mail: guardo@wisc.edu
Office: 5191 Helen C. White
Before coming to Madison, Andrea studied at the Università degli Studi di Milano. Most of his work is in the history of philosophy, metaphysics, the philosophy of language and metaethics, but he also has research interests in epistemology and the philosophy of biology. You can find some stuff he wrote at http://philpapers.org/profile/2351.
Casey Hart
Areas of Interest: Formal Epistemology, Logic, and Game and Decision Theory
Phone: 608-263-3700
e-mail: cthart@wisc.edu
Office: 5164 Helen C. White
Casey is particularly interested in formal epistemology, logic, and game and decision theory. While these occupy most of his research, he also enjoys the places where these primary interests spill over into ethics and philosophy of science. Outside of philosophy, he is involved with sports whenever possible: biking, basketball, curling, climbing, fishing, etc.
Alex Hyun
Areas of Interest: metaethics, philosophy of religion, epistemology
Phone: 608-263-3700
e-mail: abhyun@wisc.edu
Office: 5146 Helen C. White
Alex mostly works in ethical theory, and especially metaethics. Specifically, he is interested in moral deference, normative reasons for action, and appeals to epistemic reasons as companions in guilt for moral reasons. His dissertation deals with all of these topics, in the context of defending moral realism. Alex also has a secondary interest in philosophy of religion.
Alex Hyun's Web site
Jason Leardi
Areas of Interest: Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Psychology and Neuroscience, Epistemology
Phone: 608-263-3700
e-mail: leardi@wisc.edu
Office: 5160 Helen C. White
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Sean Leibowitz
Areas of Interest: Formal Epistemology, Decision Theory
Phone: 608-263-3700
e-mail: sleibowitz@wisc.edu
Office: 5146 Helen C. White
Sean went to Carnegie Mellon where he received a B.S. in Mathematical Sciences with an additional major in Philosophy. Sean is primarily focused on problems in formal epistemology and logic, specifically utilizing logic as a formalism to represent different problems in formal epistemology and decision theory. When not doing philosophy Sean enjoys rooting for his fantasy football teams, listening to podcasts, and playing video games.
- Zi Lin's WebsiteWeb site
Zi Lin (Lindsay)
Normative Ethics, Metaethics, Animal Ethics, Constructivism, Political Philosophy
Phone: 608-263-3700
e-mail: zlin29@wisc.edu
Office: 5112 Helen C. White
David's philosophical interests lie in philosophy of law, ethics, and political philosophy. He is particularly interested in tax policy. David also holds a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening, baking sourdough bread, and trying obscure beers.
Augusta Moore
Areas of interest: Metaethics, Normative Ethics, Moral Reasoning, Moral Epistemology, and Moral Psychology
e-mail: aamoore@wisc.edu
Josh Mund
Areas of interest: Animal Ethics
Phone: 608-263-3700
e-mail: jmund@wisc.edu
Office: 5170 Helen C. White
Josh studies animal ethics, especially the ethics of animal experimentation.
Derrick Murphy
Areas of Interest: Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind
Phone: 608-263-3700
e-mail: dsmurphy3@wisc.edu
Office: 5164 Helen C. White
Derrick’s work is focused mainly in Metaphysics and Philosophy of Mind, especially where the two intersect. He is specifically interested in issues having to do with ontology, modality and causation as well as ontology of mind, the hard problem of consciousness and mental causation. Outside of philosophy, Derrick spends his time watching TV shows of the critically-acclaimed-underperforming-in-the-ratings variety and listening to music from decades before he was born.
Blake is interested in questions related to emotion, theory of mind, causal judgments, moral judgments, and language evolution.
Blake Myers’sWeb site
Gregory Nirshberg
Areas of Interest: Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Psychology, Moral Psychology, Metaethics
e-mail: nirshberg@wisc.edu
Office: 5174 Helen C. White
Greg's main philosophical interests are in a set of interrelated questions focused on accounts of our cognitive capacities, and the way in which those accounts affect our conception of agency. This includes questions regarding how accounts of cognitive capacities and mental representation constrain each other, as well as questions surrounding how these capacities affect moral decision making and what it means to be a morally good person.
Shannon Nolen
Areas of Interest: Philosophy of Science
Phone: 608-273-3700
e-mail: snolen@wisc.edu
Office: 5112 Helen C. White
Shannon earned a BA in philosophy and a BS in psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and then an MA in philosophy from Georgia State before making her way to Madison. She is particularly interested in philosophical issues regarding the explanatory status of mathematical models in science, particularly dynamical systems models; the reliability and validity of experimental methodology in the sciences; and issues in philosophy of science related to causation and causal models. Outside of philosophy, she enjoys ballet, poker, a good Irish whiskey, and attending symphonies, operas, and ballets.
David works in moral and political philosophy, with a side interest in decision theory. In moral philosophy, he's especially interested in the nature of the values and aggregation principles that ground our assessments of the goodness of outcomes. In political philosophy, he's especially interested in egalitarian theories of justice and theories of distributive equality.
Emi Okayasu
Areas of Interest: Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Biology
Phone: 608-263-3700
e-mail: okayasu@wisc.edu
Office: 5142 Helen C. White
Emi is interested in philosophy of biology and philosophy of science. She is particularly interested in philosophical methodology and pedagogy, and how they relate to the study of science.
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Katie Petrik
Areas of Interest: Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Education
e-mail: kpetrik@wisc.edu
Office: 5142 Helen C. White
Katie double majored in Arabic and the Program of Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame. She taught preschool and earned a Masters in Education through Teach For America-Las Vegas before pursuing a Masters in Philosophy at Texas A&M. She is interested in applying questions about theory validation and fallibility to education policy and pedagogy. In her free time she enjoys feverishly relocating her car to elude parking tickets while imagining what she would do with additional free time.
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Before coming to Madison, Emma received a BA in philosophy from Millikin University in Decatur, IL. Her primary interests include metanormativity, ethical theory, and political philosophy.
Michael Schon
e-mail: mschon@wisc.edu
Michael completed his B.A. and M.A. in philosophy at the University of Cincinnati, and he was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic working on potable water aqueducts before beginning his studies here at UW-Madison. He is primarily interested in philosophy of mind, philosophy of science—particularly the mind sciences—and philosophical methodology. Outside of philosophy, he enjoys making beer, doing carpentry, playing cards and sports, and traveling.
Ben’s interests fluctuate between metaethics, philosophy of action, decision theory, and self-knowledge. He’s especially interested in the way in which agents’ abilities constrain their obligations. Before coming to Madison, Ben earned a BA in philosophy and history from the College of Wooster. He spent the next four years living in Washington, DC, working for a member of the US House of Representatives. Beyond philosophy, Ben enjoys the outdoors, Cleveland sports, and music.
Ben Schwan's Web site-
Lindsey Schwartz
Areas of Interest: Metaethics, Ethics, Applied Ethics, Evolutionary Biology, Neuroscience, Moral Psychology
e-mail: lschwartz4@wisc.edu
Lindsey completed her BA in philosophy at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Her current interests lie at the cross-section of biology, neuroscience, and ethics; particularly whether or not one can locate in that space a basis for natural ethical realism. In her spare time, she enjoys hanging out with friends, lounging around with her dogs, and playing the occasional video or card game. 
Stephanie Sheintul
Areas of Interest: Social/Political Philosophy, Ethics
e-mail: sheintul@wisc.edu
Office: 5170 Helen C. White
Stephanie is most interested in social/political philosophy and normative ethics. She has a particular interest in the moral permissibility of paternalism as it pertains to Nussbaum's Capabilities Approach. She also likes to think about the concept of dignity and the demands it places on different actors. Outside of philosophy, Stephanie enjoys exercising and cooking. One of her favorite activities is looking at menus- she can look at them for hours! She also enjoys running and hiking.
Shanna went to Boston University for her B.A. and Georgia State for her M.A. (both in philosophy). Her main areas of interest are metaethics and political philosophy. She likes thinking about metanormativity and philosophical methodology, and is beginning a dissertation on moral epistemology.
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Lindley Slipetz
Areas of Interest: Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Biology, Philosophy of Perception
e-mail: slipetz@wisc.edu
Office: 5160 Helen C. White
Before coming to Madison, Lindley earned her BA in Philosophy from University of Illinois-Chicago. She continued her studies, earning an MA in Philosophy from Virginia Tech. Finally, she received an MA in Philosophy and an MA in Social Science (concentration Mathematical Behavioral Science) in the Logic and Philosophy of Science department at University of California-Irvine. Her interests are in biological theories, models, laws, how these relate to the world, and how they figure into scientific explanations.
Nicholas Vallone
Areas of Interest: Early Modern Philosophy, Moral Epistemology, Metaethics, and Metacognition
e-mail: nvallone@wisc.edu
Office: 5146 Helen C. White
Nicholas received a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His main interests are in early modern philosophy (focusing on Kant, Descartes and Malebranche), moral epistemology (the role emotions play in moral cognition), the philosophy of emotions, and metacognition (the role of noetic feelings in cognition). Outside of philosophy, Nicholas enjoys learning languages, hanging out with friends, and hiking.
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Jonathon VandenHombergh
Areas of Interest: Philosophy of Mind (especially consciousness), Formal Logic (especially modal), Cognitive Science
e-mail: vandenhomber@wisc.edu
Jonathon received his MA in philosophy at the University of Houston, and his BS in psychology and philosophy at Aquinas College. During his MA, he focused primarily on research at the intersection of the philosophy of mind and logic, with special attention to two-dimensional semantics and their relation to reductivism about consciousness. Generally, he wants answers to the following questions: what is the relationship between physical systems and conscious experience? Could we ever hope to understand this relationship? What sorts of things are conscious, and how can we know? What philosophical implications do answers to these questions have? And what *is* it like to be a bat? For more information, see: https://uh.academia.edu/JonathonVandenHombergh.
Olav is primarily interested in issues in the general philosophy of science.
Yang Zhong
Areas of Interest: Ancient Philosophy, Ethics, Philosophy of Action
e-mail: yzhong38@wisc.edu
Office: 5162 Helen C. White
Yang often finds himself gravitated towards ethical, epistemological and metaphysical problems in Plato’s and Aristotle’s works. Other than that, he is also interested in the history of ethics and contemporary discussions in the domain of philosophy of action. In the future, he’d like to know more about virtue theory and its application in practical problems.
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Aaron Yarmel
e-mail: yarmel@wisc.edu
Aaron has interests in philosophy of science, philosophy of music, philosophy of education, and applied ethics. Before moving to Wisconsin, he earned an MSc from the London School of Economics and a BM from the Eastman School of Music. When not philosophizing, Aaron can be found playing the violin, taking pictures, spending time with his adorable pit bull terrier, and doing animal rights advocacy. He is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Effective Altruism, UW. For more information, see www.aaronyarmel.com.