My research focuses on the political morality of belief. I am particularly interested in the ethics of risk imposition, the value of democratic institutions, and the principle of public justification.
A Knowledge Problem for the Civic Friendship View of Political Liberalism
Forthcoming in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics (PhilPapers) (Pre-pub draft)
Civic Duties of Belief
Committee: Steven Wall (chair), Michael McKenna, Thony Gillies, Juan Comesaña (external)
Some moral duties govern how we form our beliefs. And some moral duties are civic duties; duties we have in virtue of our citizenship. This dissertation lays the groundwork for an account of the civic duties of belief that apply to democratic citizens. In doing so, it attempts to:
Develop an account of rights against risk imposition that understands risk in terms of what it is rational for an agent to believe,
Answer the question of when (if ever) deference to expert testimony is anti-democratic, and
Defend a view of political liberalism on which one must be (minimally) epistemically meritorious in order to be reasonable.
While each chapter aims to be a self-standing contribution to moral philosophy, they can together be read as a sustained argument for the thesis that democratic citizens have a duty to form political beliefs that are supported by their evidence.