11/10/21

• I presented a draft of my paper, "Who I Am With You..." at Oakland University (in Rochester, Michigan). A recording of the talk is available on Youtube.

 

9/20/21

• My co-author, Samuel Reis-Dennis (Albany Medical College) have a paper coming out in Synthese, titled "‘I Love Women’: An Explicit Explanation for Implicit Bias Test Results."

• We have previously given this paper at a number of venues, and there are versions circulating around of this argument. Please refer to this paper for citation, or if you'd like to discuss it with either of us.

 

9/10 - 9/11/21

• I presented a draft of my paper, "Who I Am With You", at a conference on the Moral Challenges of the End of Relationships, organized by Monika Betzler at LMU, in Munich. 

 

8/30/21

• My paper, "Grace and Alienation" (published in Philosophers' Imprint), was selected by Philosophers' Annual as one of the best articles published in philosophy in 2020. If I could dedicate this award, I would dedicate it to Mary Renee Lindsay.

 

7/21

• I presented a draft of my paper, "Virtue and Emotional Accuracy" at a conference on The Ethics of Emotions at the University of Bern, organized by Jonas Blatter and Andreas Muller. 

 

4/2021

• I presented "The Snares of Self-Hatred" at the Pacific APA (online), at a session on Love in Personal and Political Life, with fellow speakers Ryan Preston-Roedder and Marc Lance, and commentator Melissa Yates.

 

4/21

• I presented a version of my paper, "Virtue and Emotional Accuracy," at Northern Arizona University.

 

2/21

• I presented a version of my paper, "The Snares of Self-Hatred," at Claremont McKenna College, for Rima Basu's seminar on Agency and Identity.

 

2/21

• I presented a version of my paper, "The Snares of Self-Hatred," at Boston University, for Daniel Star's course on love.

 

2/21

• I presented a version of my paper, "The Snares of Self-Hatred," for the Institute of Philosophy's PPE Workshop in London, organized by Jonathan Gingerich and Kate Vredenburgh. A recording of my talk is available on Youtube, here.

 

1/2020

• The Philosophy by Postcard project has come to fruition! I was asked to respond to the question, “What is unconditional love?” See the original card, and my reply, here.

 

4/28/20

• I am honored to Receive the Sophia Meyer Farb Award for teaching. If I could dedicate the award, I would dedicate it to my mother. 

 

2/28/20

• I presented a draft of my paper, now titled "Boredom as Cognitive Appetite" (forthcoming) at a panel on the Ethics and the Aesthetics of the Self, at the Central APA in Chicago.

• My fellow speakers were Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Oded Na'aman, and the panel was organized by Jonathan Gingerich. 

 

10/4/19

• I presented a draft of a paper on misanthropy at the University of Reading, invited by Luke Elson. 

 

10/21/19

• I presented "Grace and Alienation" as a speaker in the Oxford Moral Philosophy Seminar, at Oxford, organized and hosted by Jeremy David Fix.

 

10/2019

• I spent a week at the beautiful American Academy in Berlin, hosted by political scientist and 2019 Academy Fellow Steven Klein. I gave presentation about my work on an interpersonal conception of grace.

 

10/5/19

• I presented "Grace and Alienation", and a draft of a paper on misanthropy, as part of the Lecture Series on Love in Personal and Political life at Occidental College, in Los Angeles, organized by Ryan Preston-Roedder.

 

9/13/19

• Last June, I was interviewed by Rice Philosophy Major and McMillan Institute Intern Bilal Rehman on behalf of the Houston Jung Center.

• The video is now available on Youtube. We discuss my forthcoming paper, "Grace and Alienation", the relationship between rationality and the emotions, and depth and shallowness in philosophy. 

 

8/19/19

• I was interviewed by Benjamin Blanchard of the Daily Ant for their "Philosophy Phriday" Series. Among other things, we discuss whether one can be gracious toward ants, whether decaying corpses are beautiful, and whether ants can be bored.

• For a recording of our interview please click here.

 

8/4/19

• A short essay of mine (original here) about Houston, "Farewell for Now: Menil", was published by The Houston Chronicle.

• This essay was originally part of a series of three love letters to Houston, which was not published in full. For Part I and Part II, click here and here.​

• I previously spoke to the Chron about the meaning of life and Japanese cleaning pixie Marie Kondo.

​

7/20/19

• I wrote a short piece on Bernard William’s discussion of the use of fiction within philosophy, titled “Philosophical Examples: The Stark and the Dense”, for the PEA Soup blog. You can access the piece here.

 

6/29/19

• I did a short interview with the American Philosophical Association.

 

6/6/19

• I am now officially Moral Philosopher of The Doerr Institute for New Leaders, under the directorship of former Brigadier General Tom Kolditz. ​

• I will be present at the 2019 FRED Forum in San Francisco, NOV 4-6, 2019, representing Rice University and the Doerr Institute.​

• On May 28, Rice philosophers George Sher, Tim Schroeder, Gwen Bradford and I participated in a day long workshopping session, providing a moral framework for the Doerr Institute's student coaching program.  

 

5/7/2019

• Rice grad student and exemplary Research Assistant Stijn Talloen will be interning with The Boston Review, starting in June. 

 

5/2/2019

• Rice Philosophy Major Jason Barton has been awarded the Philosophy Department's Fulton Award. Jason will start his PhD in Philosophy at the University of New Mexico in the Fall.

• Rice Philosophy Majors Caroline (Carly) Frieders and Bilal Rehman have been jointly award the Philosophy Department's Kolenda Award. Rice is lucky to have these two for one more year.

• Blame it on their juice.

 

4/18/2019

• I've been selected as one of one hundred philosophers who love stamps, Iris Murdoch, and writing postcards. ​

• Here is how I responded to the question, What Does Iris Murdoch's Philosophy Mean To You?​

 

"Iris Murdoch challenges us to think boldly about moral philosophy: what life would be like if centered around love, and what love and morality would be like if centered around vision and attention. She was that rare philosopher who unearths such deeply-held dogmas one is left shaken and unsure to what extent one’s own vision is clouded by those dogmas. She expands my imagination of what moral philosophy can be, demonstrating the possibility and importance of rich and ambitious work."

 

4/17/2019

• I presented comments on Lorraine Besser's paper, "The Interesting and the Pleasant", at the Pacific APA in Vancouver. 

 

4/11/2019 - 4/12/2019

• I held the second Rice Workshop in Humanistic Ethics, at Rice University. I also presented a draft of my paper, now titled "Virtue and Emotional Accuracy". For details about the workshop, click here.

 

4/4/2019

• I presented two papers, "Grace and Alienation", and ""'I Love Women': An Explanation of Implicit Bias Test Results" at Loyola Marymount University, in New Orleans. I was invited and hosted by Leonard Kahn. 

 

2/20/2019

• My co-author, Samuel Reis-Dennis and I presented our paper, "'I Love Women': A Non-Implicit Explanation of Implicit Bias Test Results." We received comments from Elis Miller.

• I also chaired a session on "Prejudice in Philosophy," organized by Noell Birondo. The Speakers were Lucy Allais, Charles Mills, Robert Bernasconi. Rest in peace, Charles Mills.

 

2/11/2019

• I presented "Grace and Alienation" to the UC Santa Cruz Philosophy Department.

 

11/2/2018

• I presented a draft of a paper on grace and misanthropy at the Nickel City Ethics Conference at SUNY Buffalo. I received comments from Macalaster Bell, and I was invited and hosted by Lewis Powell and Nic Bommarito.

 

5/10/2018

• I presented my paper, "Two Problems Posed by the Suffering of Animals" at the University of Vermont’s Food Ethics Conference. I was invited and hosted by Kate Nolfi and Tyler Doggett.

 

4/5/2018

• I presented my paper “Two Problems Posed by the Suffering of Animals” at the American Philosophies Forum in New Orleans. The theme of the forum was “Memory, Mood, Hope, and Action.” 

 

3/9/2018

• I presented “Grace and Alienation” at NUSTEP’s 12th annual conference. I received comments from Laura Gillespie, and was invited and hosted by Kyla Ebels-Duggan and Stephen White. Rest in peace, Stephen. Rest in peace, Waheed.

 

1/4/2018

• I presented “Grace and Alienation” at the Eastern APA in Savannah, Georgia. I received comments from Michelle Mason Bizri and Bridget Clarke.