Bio
I’m a current Ph.D. candidate with the Philosophy Department at The University of Texas – Austin with an expected graduation in 2026. I am ABD as of May 2023. In 2019, I graduated as a first-generation student from Princeton University, where I received a degree in Philosophy and a certificate in Values and Public Life.
You can find my official UT-Austin Website here, though all information is also here: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/philosophy/gradstudents/rcb3359.
My dissertation is expanding on my account of community, including moral, political, and social community. My graduate prospectus was defended on the topic of community and moral community on May 5th, 2023.
Current Projects
My dissertation focuses on an account of community, developing that in terms of moral community, then giving a (partial) explanation of moral authority on that basis.
My other main projects include: pardons within the U.S context, the authority of pardoning and amnesty in general, and the standing or authority of third-party forgiveness in political theory (which now has an APA blog post); the nature of the value of originality, explaining AI generated Art’s lack of value on that basis, and originality’s relationship with achievement and irreplaceable value; the obligations and permissions of gift-giving, both in gratitude and non-gratitude settings.
Presentations
I have seven official presentations:
At the 2025 Central APA, I gave a submitted colloquium talk for the Agency and Identity Session on March 1st on a conception of community and its relation with identity. This derived from my dissertation. For the Concerned Philosophers for Peace Session at the 2025 Central APA, I gave a talk about the particular wrong that declaring an unjust war (injustice ad bellum) inflicts on a sovereign’s own polity.
At the 2024 Central APA, I gave a flash talk for the MAP-International.
At the Concerned Philosophers for Peace (CPP) October 28th, 2023 conference in Knoxville, I presented on “The Logic of the Map and the Road to War.”
On June 1st, 2023, I presented at the University of London on the original value of art produced by AI.
Before then, I presented at the Central APA in Chicago in 2022 on an account of property and inheritance. A version of this paper was presented at the Second Annual Analytic Philosophy Conference in Bucharest, Romania.
CV
Teaching and Teaching Interests
I am well equipped to teach courses in ethics, logic, political philosophy, and philosophy of law. Other areas of teaching interest include ethics of technology, history of philosophy, metaphysics (especially time, time travel, determinism/indeterminism, social), and philosophy of science (especially economics).
My teaching philosophy emphasizes active learning, peer discussion, application, and critical thinking. I prefer lectures that are dynamic and leave time for discussion with peers or in-class activities; in general, I find a class is incomplete if if it unimodal.
I was the instructor of record for PHI 318K Introduction to Political Philosophy in Spring 2024. Syllabus below:
I was the instructor of record for PHI 304 Contemporary Moral Problems in Fall 2024. Syllabus below:
I was the instructor of record for PHI304T Introduction to Technology Ethics in Fall 2023. Syllabus below:
I have also prepared course syllabi for Introduction to Philosophy, Introduction to Logic, Philosophy of Religion through the lens of the problem of evil and religious toleration, Early Modern Philosophy, Introduction to Philosophy of the Arts, Moral Responsibility, Normative Economics, and Political Justice.
Outside Philosophy
I am an LSAT, SAT, AP & IB History and Economics tutor, I have also done extensive mathematics tutoring and work in other areas including probability theory and real estate. I have been a tutor since November 2017, and have taught most subjects under the sun. I have two small economics publications with cesIFO in Munich: on innovation and migrant labor-force integration.
In undergrad, I was (for a bit) the varsity coxswain for the Men’s Lightweight Rowing team. I also have written for the Daily Princetonian.
I grew up in Michigan in northern Macomb County, getting my International Baccalaureate Diploma from the International Academy of Macomb (a public magnet school) with the then-highest scores in higher-level economics and history and overall. I moved to New Jersey for undergrad and a gap year, then moved to Texas in 2019 during the pandemic for graduate school. I enjoy reading, writing, games, art, and my cats: Kalypso and Kyrkae. Kalypso spent a year and a half sitting in front of the shower, and Kyrkae asks for everything by poking me with her claw.
Art
Selected Poetry