Teaching
Epistemology Working Group
My advanced students and I meet regularly to workshop each other's research. Description here.
Course Guides
Graduate Seminars
Ignorance, Distraction, and Confusion Graduate Super Seminar
Featured in the APA's Syllabus Showcase
Featured in the department newsletter (Description)
Social Epistemology Graduate Seminar
Undergraduate Classes
Epistemology Upper Level Undergraduate
Photo
This photo is a screenshot from a student's hilarious and beautiful commemoration video for an Introduction to Philosophy course, autumn 2020. (Photo credit: Nathanael Parsons.)
Student News
Recent news about student projects I advise and collaborations with students. Details on request.
Congrats to Claire Dartez and Catherine Dartez, who both graduated yesterday, with a doctorate and a BA, respectively. May 2023.
I have joined the Mikaela Mackenzie's (UCLA) doctoral committee as the external member. I look forward to reading more of her work, May 2023.
Linh Mac has advanced to candidacy. Congrats, Linh! April 2023.
After writing an exceptional Haslam Thesis on the epistemology of juror selection procedures for sex crime trials, earning an 180/180 LSAT score, and collecting university prizes and law school scholarship offers as though they were Pokemon cards, Delia McDevitt is off to Harvard Law School! Congrats, Delia! They are lucky to have you!
Claire Dartez defended an astonishingly good doctoral dissertation, April 2023. Congrats Dr. Dartez!
It's prize season at the Epistemology Working Group (EWG)!! We're collecting prizes in every direction: Michael Ebling received the prestigious Yates Fellowship. Claire Dartez received the departmental essay prize, with Dario Vaccaro receiving the runner up award. Delia McDevitt won a College of Arts and Sciences Achievement Award, a departmental research award and was the runner-up in the undergraduate philosophy essay prize, and I received the Provost's early career research award. All in epistemology, and all in April 2023!
Nathanael Parsons has received the $3000 Herman Scholarship. Congrats Nate! April 2023.
Hannah Fantuzzi's law school application season is blazing. Updates coming soon!
Delia McDevitt is knocking it out of the park with law school applications. Update coming soon.
Claire Dartez won the 2023 departmental essay prize, and Dario Vaccaro received runner-up (in his first year here!). UTK Epistemologists taking it home! April 2023.
Amy Flowerree (TTU) has joined Linh Mac's doctoral committee. February 2023.
Dario Vaccaro has been interviewed for the Philosopher's Nest podcast. Great work, Dario! Nov 2022
Donnie Barnett successfully defended his doctoral thesis, Content Externalism and Self-Knowledge. Congrats to Dr. Barnett! Nov 2022.
Delia McDevitt and I have received a Faculty Research Assistants Funding (FRAF) Award to continue our research on sexual harrassment and voir dire selection procedures, September 2022. I look forward to working even more with Delia!
Liz Camp (Rutgers) has joined Claire Dartez's doctoral committee. July 2022.
Michael Ebling received the 2022 Prados Summer Fellowship for his research on moral knowledge. Congrats, Michael! May 2022.
Lots of Milestones this week! Jeffrey Pannekoek defended his doctoral thesis, Dignifying Decisions: The Role of Dignity in Representative Decision-Making. Michael Ebling and Claire Dartez have both advanced to candidacy for the doctorate. Congrats! May 2022.
Paige Greene defended her fantastic undergraduate Haslam Scholars thesis, Gray Area: The Discursive Erasure of BDSM Abuse. April 2022.
Delia McDevitt has received a departmental scholarship. Congratulations, Delia! April 2022.
Michael Ebling received the departmental essay prize for "Apriority and Moral Knowledge". Claire Dartez received runner-up, for "Understanding and the 'Grasping' Condition". Congrats to Michael and Claire! March 2022.
Jeffrey Pannekoek has received the fantastic two-year Cleveland Fellowship in Advanced Bioethics! Congratulations, Jeffrey! January 2022.
Nathanael Parsons and I have received university funding to study the epistemology of trauma, January 2022
Delia McDevitt and I have received a Student Success Research Award to study the epistemology of legal proof and rape; and the ethics of belief, December 2021.
This co-authored essay has been published, October 2021.
Linh Mac has been accepted into both the Cologne Summer School on experts, authority, and epistemic autonomy and the Vienna Summer School on resistance. Congrats Linh! August 2021.
Hannah Fantuzzi has been awarded both the Bacon-Beard Scholarship and the Louise Carr-McClure Scholarship. Congrats! July 2021.
Alex Richardson successfully defended his dissertation, Civility and the Politics of Resistance. Congrats, Alex! June 2021.
Jeffrey Pannekoek has been awarded the Prados Summer Dissertation Fellowship, May 2021.
Jacob Smith joins the philosophy doctoral programme at the University of Virginia, Summer 2021. Congratulations!
Kamyar Asasi joins the HPS doctoral programme at the University of Pittsburg, Summer 2021. Congratulations!
Jacob Smith and I co-authored 'Opacity of Character: Virtue Ethics and the Legal Admissibility of Character Evidence' (forthcoming) Phil Issues.
Research by Jacob Smith and Georgi Gardiner is featured on the Open for Debate blog at Cardiff University, June 2021.
Jacob Smith has been selected for a Student Spotlight at the Office of Research and Engagement, based on his legal epistemology research.
Linh Mac has been awarded a Spring Fellowship for doctoral research, March 2021.
Jacob Smith and I received a Graduate Research Assistance Award for our joint work on the epistemology of character evidence. February 2021.
Paige Greene has been nominated for Undergraduate Researcher of the Year for her work on hermeneutical injustices in BDSM discourse. December 2020.
The course 'Ignorance, Distraction, and Confusion' received funding for a graduate assistant. Michael Ebling has been appointed. December 2020. The course also received "super seminar" funding and will feature seven guest speakers. October 2020.
Spencer Atkins's essay 'Moral Encroachment, Wokeness, and the Epistemology of Holding' is forthcoming in Episteme. October 2020.
Linh Mac received the North American Society for Social Philosophy (NASSP) Graduate Student Award for her essay on the epistemology of #BelieveWomen. July 2020.
Linh Mac received the University of Tennessee's Thomas Fellowship Award for her research on hermeneutical and testimonial injustice concerning rape accusations. May 2020.