AOS: Ethics, Political Philosophy
AOC: Philosophy of Law, AI & Technology Ethics, Introductory Logic
I defended my dissertation and earned my Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin on April 3rd, 2026, with graduation in May.
I was ABD as of May 5th, 2023 at UT-Austin. In 2019, I graduated as a first-generation student from Princeton University, where I received a degree in Philosophy cum laude and a certificate in Values and Public Life from the Center of Human Values.
My main research has been on characterizing community on its own terms, considering the value of community, and applying this characterization to moral community. Operating at the intersection between ethics, social philosophy, and political philosophy, my Strawsonian account provides a novel structure able to reconcile general morality with various changeable moral features: moral authority, moral progress, and the bounds of moral concern.
I have also developed a view of the corrosive nature of the U.S pardoning power. This project has led me to further develop a view about the epistemic burden of political amnesty, relating to views on third-personal forgiveness (which now has an APA blog post).
I also argue that the value of original works of art derives from their status as achievements, explaining how LLMs and AI cannot have value in that regard.
My email is ryan dot born {a} austin dot utexas dot edu
