Hello! My name is Elizabeth (website with the official stuff) and I’m a grad student in philosophy and a longtime philosophy instructor. I’m hoping to use this newsletter thing as a blog to share my work as well as shorter, public-facing pieces based on my professional research and personal interests.
My research lies at the intersection of social philosophy, applied philosophy of language, (social) metaphysics, and metaphilosophy. I am particularly interested in how we use language to express and communicate attitudes, rather than refer to or describe the non-linguistic world. I believe that whatever philosophers care about when they care about “value” is revealed in our interactions with art very broadly construed (films, movies, T.V. shows, dancing, jokes, video games…).
I have published on the value of aesthetic disagreement as well as the role of truth in disagreements over the nature of disability (paywalled, please email for a copy). I have also published on copyright law (email for copy) and its implications for how we think and talk about appropriation art. My dissertation argues that humor is a cross-cultural capacity that arises once we take ourselves to be subject to the judgements of other people. Basically, once we understand that we are expected to act and speak ‘appropriately’ we have all we need for making other people laugh. Really, though, my work centers around questions regarding the social dimensions of authority.
I’m going to use this newsletter to share my professional work, conference talks and papers, as well as shorter pieces that incorporate philosophy but are not necessarily tied to a professional paper or larger argument. Frankly, I can’t help thinking about certain things and I’ve found writing it out helps me clarify my thoughts and not hate myself as much. I have been working on some pieces about post-modernism, irony and alcoholism, comedy, appropriation, and the psychological harms of bad movies.
Mark Twain once said that every thought a human utters is a secondhand thought, and I see myself as working out ideas that owe whatever value that have from all the people around and before me. I see myself as contributing to interesting discussions rather than explaining what is “really going on” and ending collective inquiry. I think philosophy is a symptom, not a solution.
I hope this newsletter can be a way for me to use my professional training to contribute to larger cultural conversations, rather than insular professional disputes or as a necessary hurdle in a career path. I plan to scratch some of my idiosyncratic philosophical itches and hopefully, in the process, help generate productive discussions with other interested parties. I think it will be a good time.
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