
Graduate Students

Andrew Akampurira
Education
B.A., Philosophy, Uganda Martyrs University, Uganda, 2005
M.A., Applied Ethics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway, 2010
Areas of Interest
Applied Ethics, Philosophy of Law, African Philosophy, and Social/Political Philosophy
Contact Information
andrew.akampurira@email.ucr.edu

Abel Ang
Education
BA in Philosophy, Yale-NUS College, Singapore, 2017
Contact Information
abel.ang@email.ucr.edu
Areas of Interest
19th and 20th century German Philosophy (esp. Nietzsche), Japanese Philosophy (esp. Nishitani), Metaethics, Value Theory, Moral Psychology, and Metaphilosophy.
Profile
Abel is primarily interested in questions about the value and the valuable, as well as understanding the roles that they play in both our theories about the world and our everyday practices. He has found Nietzsche and Nishitani’s ideas about value and nihilism to be especially illuminating, and so he seeks to critically evaluate, respond to, and build upon their philosophical work.
He also has a secondary interest in thinking about the nature of philosophy, its value (if any), and how our implicit answers to these metaphilosophical questions impact how we philosophize and what gets counted as philosophy. Here too, he finds Nietzsche and Nishitani to be helpful: both as case studies and as explicit theorists on such matters.

Jonathan Baker
Education
BA in Politics and Philosophy, University of Hull, UK, 2016
MA in Philosophy, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK, 2017
Contact Information
jonathan.baker@email.ucr.edu
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Action/Agency, Moral and Political Philosophy, Social Ontology
Profile
Broadly speaking, I am interested in how the philosophy of agency intersects with social ontology. My hope is that by re-examining the relationship between individuals and larger social structures we may yield new tools for application in moral, legal and political philosophy. A related secondary interest is the extent to which collectives or groups may be agents, and how our understanding of their agency may inform how we understand ours as individuals.

Joseph Bernardoni
Education
B.A., Philosophy, Haverford College, PA, 2009
M.A., Philosophy, The University of Warwick, United Kingdom, 2017
Contact Information
joseph.bernardoni@email.ucr.edu

Jason Carnell
Education
B.A., Philosophy, University of California, Los Angeles, 2007
M.A., Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh, PA, 2011
Contact Information
jason.carnell@email.ucr.edu

Kendra Chilson
Education
B.A., Philosophy, Arizona State University, Tempe AZ, 2013
M.S., Philosophy, Carnegie Mellon University, PA, 2018
Contact Information
kendra.chilson@email.ucr.edu

Tristan de Liege
Education
B.A., Political Science, Philosophy – University of California, Davis 2013
M.A., Philosophy – University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 2015
Contact Information
tdeli001@ucr.edu
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Action, Moral Psychology, Ancient Philosophy, Ethics, Metaethics
Profile
Tristan has a broad interest in issues related to ethics, including questions about free will and moral responsibility. He is especially interested in contemporary virtue ethical approaches, and this relates to his interests in Aristotle, Plato, and the Stoics. He is also interested in ethical naturalism in metaethics and also in recent attempts to ground normativity in the nature of the action.

Kristen Ekstrom
Education
BA in Philosophy, College of William and Mary, VA , 2017
Areas of Interest
Applied Ethics, Moral Psychology, and Social/Political Philosophy
Contact Information
kristen.ekstrom@email.ucr.edu

Marie Evanston
Education
B.A., Philosophy, University of California, Santa Cruz, 2015
Contact Information
marie.evanston@email.ucr.edu

Akshay Ganesh
Education
B.A., Individualized Study, New York University, NY 2009
M.A., Social Sciences, University of Chicago, IL 2011
M.A., Philosophy, Georgia State University, GA 2016
Areas of Interest
19th Century German Philosophy, Ethics, Moral Psychology, Emotion, Philosophy of Race.

Gustavo Garcia Jr.
Education
M.A., Philosophy – University of California, Riverside, Winter 2021
B.A., Philosophy – Cal State University, Dominguez Hills, 2018
Contact Information
gustavo.garcia001@email.ucr.edu
Areas of Interest
- Moral Philosophy (esp. medical ethics in relation to dilemmas that arise in marginal cases of agency), Agency Theory, including Personal Identity.
- Kant/Neo-Kantianism and their relationship to Jose Ortega y Gasset, and the history of philosophy in Mexico.

Shmuel Gomes
Education
B.A., Philosophy, Humboldt State University, CA, 2014
M.A., Philosophy, Tufts University, MA, 2017
Contact Information
shmuel.gomes@email.ucr.edu

Daniel Green
Education
B.A., Philosophy, Brandeis University, MA, 2015
Research Areas
German Idealism, Hegel, Aesthetics, Critical Theory, Kant
Contact Information
daniel.green@email.ucr.edu

John Green
Education
B.A., Philosophy, Wheaton College in Massachusetts 2015
Areas of Interest
19 and 20th Century Continental Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Existentialism, and Nietzsche.

Tom Hanauer
Education
B.A., Philosophy, History, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, PA 2009
M.A., Moral and Political Philosophy, State University New York, Binghamton NY, 2012
Contact Information
thana003@ucr.edu
Areas of Interest
Ethics, Moral Psychology, Aesthetics, 19th-20th Century German Philosophy (esp. Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Kant, and the Frankfurt School).

Nicholas Hanson-Holtry
Contact Information
email: nhans012@ucr.edu
website: www.nicholashh.com
pronouns: “they/them/their”
Education
M.A., Philosophy, Brandeis University, MA, 2017-2019
B.S., Computer Science, Rice University, TX, 2012-2016
Profile
Nick is interested in metaphysics, as well as early modern philosophy and its progeny, especially Schopenhauer. Nick’s background is in computer science, which extends to the philosophy of computation, the applied ethics of artificial intelligence, etc.
Areas of Interest
- the philosophy of…
- computation
- description
- emergence
- causality
- action
- mind
- the applied ethics of…
- artificial intelligence
- freedom of speech
- psychedelics
- meta-
- physics
- ethics
- philosophy
- people:
- Plato
- Epicurus
- Descartes
- Kant
- Schopenhauer
- Husseri
- Beauvoir
- Nagel

Rebecca Harrison
Education:
B.A., Liberal Arts, The New School (2010)
M.A., Philosophy, Georgia State University (2013)
Contact Information:
rharr008@ucr.edu
Areas of Interest:
Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology, Feminist Philosophy, Philosophy of Perception
Profile:
After focusing on Kant and 19th Century European Philosophy during her M.A., Rebecca turned her attention to Phenomenology, especially Merleau-Ponty's work on perception. Her dissertation explores Merleau-Ponty's response to the "Problem of Perception," and argues that Merleau-Ponty's model of perception should be thought of as a unique variety of realism, characterized by our bodily engagement with the world in perceptual experience. She is also very interested in the possible consequences of this kind of view for contemporary philosophers of perception, and for feminist philosophers.
Rebecca has additional teaching experience and interests in contemporary moral theory, existentialism, the history of philosophy (especially modern), and the philosophy of art. She has also served as co-founder and President of the UCR chapter of Minorities And Philosophy.
Publications:
"Merleau-Ponty and the Perceptual Basis for Standpoint Theory," forthcoming in the edited volume Horizons of Phenomenology
Selected Presentations:
"Merleau-Ponty on Hallucination and Skepticism" (American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, April 2021)
"Merleau-Ponty on Perspective" (Invited Colloquium, University of Redlands, November 2019)
"Can a Phenomenologist be a Realist?" (American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, April 2019)
"Merleau-Ponty on Perceptual Error" (Invited Colloquium, Loyola Marymount University, November 2015)
"Illusion and World-Responsiveness in Merleau-Ponty" (University of Copenhagen Summer School in Phenomenology and Philosophy of Mind, August 2014)

Rotem Herrmann
Education
B.A., Philosophy and History – New York University 2013
M.Sc., – Mind, Language and Embodied Cognition – University of Edinburgh 2014
M.A., – Bioethics – New York University 2015
Contact Information
rotem.herrmann@email.ucr.edu
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychology, philosophy of cognitive science, bioethics.
Profile
Rotem’s primary interests surround the intersection of philosophy and empirical studies of the mind and brain. More recently, her research has focused on memory; i.e. it’s effects on autonomy (especially in addiction), as well as its relationship to imagination, intuition, dreaming and hallucination.

Sara Higgins
Education
B.A., Philosophy, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ, 2018
Contact Information
sara.higgins@email.ucr.edu

Matic Kastelec
No information is available.

Elliott Koch
Education
B.A., Philosophy, Haverford College, PA, 2011
M.A., Philosophy, University of Chicago, IL, 2015
Contact Information
elliott.koch@email.ucr.edu

Osup Kwon
Education
B.A., Philosophy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 2008
M.A., Philosophy, Texas Tech University, TX 2011
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Action, Epistemology, Philosophy of Race, Philosophy of Religion
Contact Information
osup.kwon@email.ucr.edu

Daisy Laforce
Education
B.Sc., (Medical Chemistry), University of Ottawa, Canada, 2003
M.A., (Philosophy), Simon Fraser University, Canada, 2010
Contact Information
daisy.laforce@email.ucr.edu
Areas of Interest
Bernard Williams; Nietzsche; History of Philosophy; Moral Psychology
Profile
Daisy’s academic interests began in organic chemistry. Bioethics, the philosophy of science, and (especially) Bernard Williams drew her into academic philosophy. Her research interests are now squarely in the humanities, particularly the history of philosophy.
Publications
“Bernard Williams on Knowledge and Objectivity,” Western Canadian Philosophical Association 2011 Conference.
“A problematic principle,” with L. Crawford and Z. Master, American Journal of Bioethics. 8:12 (2008), 40-42.
“Towards the library generation of natural product-like polycyclics by stereocontrolled diversity oriented synthesis,” with P. Arya, S. Quevillon, R. Joseph, C. Wei, Z. Gan, M. Parisien, E. Sesmilo, P. Reddy, Z. Chem, and P. Durieux, J. Pure and Applied Chem. 77:1 (2005), 163-178.
“A solution and solid phase synthesis of natural product-like tetrahydroquinoline-based polycyclic having a medium size ring,” with P. Arya, S. Couve-Bonnaire, P. Durieux, R. Kumar, and D. Leek, J. Comb. Chem. 6:5 (2004), 735-745.

Soofia Lateef
No information is available.

Andrew MacDonald
Education
B.A., Philosophy, University of California, Berkeley, 2012
Areas of Interest
Kant, 19th and 20th Century European Philosophy, Ethics, Meta-ethics
Profile
https://ucriverside.academia.edu/AndrewMacDonald
Contact Information
amacd003@ucr.edu

Jordon Kent Martin
Education
B.A., Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh, PA, 2013
M.A., Philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 2019
Areas of Interest
Hegel, Kant, Philosophy of Mind, and Pragmatism
Contact Information
jordon.martin@email.ucr.edu

Maxwell McCoy
Education
B.A., Philosophy/Political Science, Drury University, MO, 2012
Areas of Interest
19th and 20th-century European philosophy, selfhood, moral responsibility, normativity, and ethics

Deborah Nelson
Education
B.A., Philosophy & English Literature, Austin Peay State University, TN, 2012
M.A. Philosophy, Brandeis University, MA, 2014
Areas of Interest
Metaethics, History of Modern Philosophy, Philosophy of Action
Contact Information
deborah.nelson@email.ucr.edu

Jeremy Pober
Education
B.A., Philosophy, Haverford College, PA, 2004
M.A, Philosophy, University of Maryland (College Park), MD, 2008
M.A., Philosophy, San Francisco State University, 2014
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Psychology, Philosophy of Action, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Psychiatry
Profile
Broadly construed, Jeremy is interested in how the psychological basis of behavior relates to issues in action and agency theory. More specifically, he does work in the philosophy of psychology and psychiatry on natural kinds, psychological explanation, and the nature of the mental illness. He also works in the philosophy of action and agency on issues in responsibility, self-control, and autonomy, especially as they relate to mental illness, but also on theories of these concepts more generally. Additionally, Jeremy has interests in philosophy of mind in mental causation, the metaphysics of mental states, and reductive accounts of the mental. He occasionally dabbles in social ontology, causal theories of meaning, and general issues in the philosophy of science, as well as American Pragmatism and the history of analytic philosophy.
Publications
“Addiction is Not a Natural Kind” (2013) Frontiers in Psychiatry 4, 123.
“Is Addiction a Heterogeneous Condition? Reflections on Pickard’s ‘The Purpose in Chronic Addiction.'” (2012) American Journal of Bioethics-Neuroscience 3(2) 52-54.
In Progress (Inquire for Draft):
“Reasons-Responsiveness and Responsibility-Mitigating Factors”
“What (Psychologically Constructed) Emotions Really Are”

Megha Sachdev
No information is available.

Shamoni Sarkar
Education
B.A., Philosophy and Spanish, Mount Holyoke College, 2013
M.A., Philosophy, University of Chicago, 2015
Areas of Interest
19th and 20th-century continental philosophy, particularly Hegel and phenomenology; aesthetics; critical theory; and Latin American philosophy.
Profile
Shamoni wrote her Master's thesis on the role of individual artistic creativity in Hegel’s aesthetics. Along these lines, she is interested in the question of how individuals develop interior (or private) lives while still being shaped by larger socio-historical systems of ideas and culture.

David Shope
Education
B.A., Philosophy, Guilford College, NC, 2009
M.A., Philosophy, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, WI 2013
Areas of Interest
Agency (especially diachronic agency), Ethics, the normativity of content, Pedagogy, Kierkegaard, German idealism, and 20th-century French philosophy.

Jared Smith
Education
B.A., Philosophy/Religion, Political Science — Flagler College, 2011 Summa Cum Laude
M.A., Philosophy — University of Houston, 2014
Contact Information
jsmit055@ucr.edu
Areas of Interest
Moral psychology, philosophy of action, ethics, metaethics, philosophy of psychiatry
Profile
Jared focuses primarily on moral responsibility and agency, with some of his previous research concerning the way reactive attitudes feature into our responsibility practices, as well as the role revenge and retributive acts play in our normative systems.
While continuing to work on these topics, Jared also researches how psychopathology can inform our theories of personal identity, the theoretical requirements for the blame of distant, dead, or fictional entities, as well as the connection between human activity, value, and meaning. Other topics of philosophical interest include Humean constructivism and the intersection and interplay between the nosology and ontology of mental disorders.

Nichole Smith
Education
B.S., Philosophy, Valparaiso University, IN, 2017
Interest
Metaphysics and Epistemology, particularly Ontology, Agency, Time, and Modality, which additional interests in Metaphilosophy, Philosophy of Religion, and Early Modern Philosophy.
Contact Information
nichole.smith@email.ucr.edu

Christopher Spano
Education
B.S., Physics/Philosophy, Temple University, PA, 2018
Contact Information
christopher.spano@email.ucr.edu

James Anthony Stoner
No information is available.

Yvonne Tam
Education
B.A., Philosophy and Gender Studies, Colgate University, 2007
M.A., Philosophy, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, 2011
Areas of Interest
Moral theory and its’ history, moral emotions, and practical agency.
Profile
Yvonne has spent a lot of time thinking about Kant’s theory of freedom and autonomy, the relational structure of practical self-knowledge, and the social basis of self-regarding attitudes like self-respect and self-love. Her dissertation aims to rehabilitate self-love’s bad rap by showing its moral and social character, and attempts to articulate the possibility of a duty of self-love that we owe not just to ourselves, but to those who love us.

Marek Twarzynski
Education
B.A., Philosophy with Honors, Stanford University, 2015
Areas of Interest
Ethics, meta-ethics, moral psychology, and the theory of agency, and how these problems are treated in the history of modern philosophy, particularly in Nietzsche and also in Kant, Sartre, and Foucault.
Profile
Marek is interested in broadly historical and contemporary issues in normative ethics, meta-ethics, agency, epistemology, and philosophy of mind. His primary research centers around how Nietzsche speaks to each of these topics, and this leads him to secondary research in modern philosophy, including Kant, the existentialists, Foucault, and beyond. His current projects focus on Nietzsche’s views of knowledge, agency, autonomy, and the role and value of suffering.

Katherine Vidueira
Education
B.A., Philosophy/Finance, University of Florida, FL, 2017
Contact Information
katherine.vidueira@email.ucr.edu

Joshua Waugh
Education
B.A., Philosophy, University of California, Los Angeles, 2013
M.A., Philosophy, University of Wisconsin Milwakee, WI, 2017
Contact Information
joshua.waugh@email.ucr.edu