My research interests lie primarily in Philosophy of Mind. Specifically, I am concerned at the conscious level how it is that humans (or more generally, animals with higher cognitive abilities) are able to form and hold propositional attitudes. The questions I seek to answer are: What is the nature of perceptual content? How does one acquire concepts from the empirical world? How are concepts applied in the formation of a thought? What does it mean to be conscious of something? My explorations of these issues have inevitably led me toward Epistemology, Philosophy of Psychology, and Philosophy of Language. Philosophers who continuously appear in the literature and have made significant contributions are: Immanuel Kant, John McDowell, Tyler Burge, Jerry Fodor, and Christopher Peacocke.

Dissertation Abstract

I propose that the correct account of epistemic warrant should make room for two independent concepts: justification and entitlement. We are entitled to hold various non-inferential beliefs, paradigmatically beliefs based on perception, but the higher standards associated with justification apply to beliefs that are inferred from other beliefs.

Articles

• “Reliabilism and Brains in Vats,” under review
• “Terms of Envattment,” (co-authored with Anthony Brueckner) under review
• “Solving the Epistemological Problem for Nonconceptualism,” in progress

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