I am a Professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
Most of my recent research has been in feminist/social epistemology, philosophy of language, and ethics, especially sexual ethics.
I am currently focusing on issues having to do with the normativity of epistemology—in particular, whether there are 'positive' epistemic norms that actively require belief, rather than merely negative ones that prohibit it—and on connections between analytic epistemology and feminist ideas, especially relating to rape culture.
I currently hold a SSHRC Insight Grant for a project on positive epistemic norms. From 2018–23 I held a SSHRC Insight Grant for work on epistemology and rape culture.
Other things I’ve spent a lot of time focused on in my career include a wide variety of questions in epistemology (especially questions about knowledge and questions about the apriori), feminist ethics (especially questions about consent and the ethics of sex), philosophy of language (especially questions about context-sensitivity, presupposition, power, and feminism), and philosophy of mind (especially questions about imagination and questions about intentionality).
Photo by John Bengson, May 2015
My full CV is here. Selected publications and works in progress are below; a full list of publications is here.
Books:
Epistemic Courage. Forthcoming with Oxford University Press, expected publication 2024. More information here.
The Rules of Thought. Co-authored with Benjamin Jarvis. Oxford University Press 2013. (Paperback edition 2016.) A monograph articulating a Fregean theory of content, with applications to the epistemology of the a priori, and a discussion of the role of intuitions in philosophy. OUP's product page.
The Routledge Handbook of Epistemic Contextualism. Taylor & Francis 2017. An edited volume containing 37 original articles on contextualism. More information here.
Contextualising Knowledge: Epistemology and Semantics. Oxford University Press 2017. Articulates and defends a synthesis of (a) knowledge-first epistemology and (b) contextualism about knowledge ascriptions. More information here. (Errata list here.) OUP's product page.
Selected Papers/Chapters forthcoming or in progress:
“Defensiveness and Identity,” a paper exploring how anti-oppressive identities can interfere with self-knowledge of contributions to injustice, co-authored with Audrey Yap. Forthcoming in the Journal of the APA.
“Normative Inference Tickets,” a paper about stereotypes, language, and thought, co-authored with Jen Foster.
“Sexual Agency and Sexual Wrongs: A Dilemma for Consent Theory,” a paper describing a particular harm of a too-simplistic consent-emphasizing approach to sexual violation, having to do with denying agency to victims of sexual misconduct featuring sexual contact that they genuinely chose, co-authored with Melissa Rees.
A paper on racism and discourse about racism, especially the use and interpretation of the word “racist”. Draft available on request.
A paper raising a challenge to consent’s canonical role in sexual ethics, having to do with the order of explanation for sexual moral wrongs. Under review — draft available on request.
Hybrid Virtue Epistemology and the A Priori. Co-authored with Benjamin Jarvis. (draft) Research paper defending a combination of a virtue-theoretic and belief-based approach. Follows up themes from The Rules of Thought.
Selected Other:
The Analysis of Knowledge, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, co-authored with Matthias Steup. (online here)
On Being the Only Ones, Off Topic, a 2011 magazine article about our experience with a non-monogamous marriage, co-authored with Carrie Jenkins. (draft)