Graduate Students

I graduated from UCLA in 2018 with a BA in philosophy. I am most interested in contemporary political philosophy, social philosophy, and ethics, especially as they relate to globally situated questions of public importance. I spent the last three years working for South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA - another way of saying Middle East) humanitarian and political advocacy groups. I started “Full Potential” — an online collective dedicated to empowering SWANA women, living in the region and in the diaspora. We host panels, organize advocacy campaigns, and post informative content aimed at clearing misconceptions commonly held about the SWANA region (check us out on Instagram @full__potential). Feel free to reach out: sara.azmoudeh@tufts.edu.

I graduated from MIT in 2020 with a BS in Mathematics and Computer Science and in 2022 with an MS in Computer Science. I then worked for a year as a software engineer at a carceral reform nonprofit. My primary interests are in meta-ethics, ethics, and moral psychology. I am interested in the structure of deliberation, especially in exploring the tension between Kantian constructivism that emphasizes activity and self-consciousness and mystical traditions that aspire to passivity and non-self-consciousness. For example: in deliberation, is it virtuous or vicious to turn your attention to your deliberative process itself? Or: is it possible to make a mistake in identifying which agent you are? Separately, I am interested in restorative justice and pacifism -- especially as they are confronted with emergency situations and power imbalances -- and related questions about how to navigate fear, anxiety, and moral anger. For example: how do our empirical expectations about someone's behavior (including ourselves) interact with our normative expectations for them? Or: what is the distinction between giving up on something and leaving it up to someone untrustworthy? I am also always interested in metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and critical theory. Please get in touch at dbau01@tufts.edu.

I graduated from Fudan University with a BA in philosophy in 2022 and then spent a year studying jazz music in Shanghai before coming to Tufts. My main areas of research interest are the philosophy of language and epistemology. I also wish to learn more about critical theory. Besides philosophy, I enjoy playing jazz guitar and video games. Feel free to reach out to me at yiqing.cao@tufts.edu.

I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.A. in political philosophy from UCLA in 2021. My intention in undergrad was to apply to Law School but I unexpectedly found my passion for moral philosophy in my junior year. My main areas of interest lie within normative and applied ethics, particularly non-consequentialism and obligations of aid. Some of my favorite philosophers are Judith Jarvis Thomson, Kant, Plato, and Hobbes. Outside of philosophy, I am a very active person. I was a gymnastics coach for 8 years and enjoy hiking and working out. If you are a prospective student please feel free to email me at: tanner.carter@tufts.edu.

I graduated from Wellesley College in 2021 with a BA in mathematics. My primary interests in philosophy lie in value theory and especially metaethics and philosophy of art. Outside of philosophy, I enjoy reading novels, playing games, and listening to music.

Before coming to Tufts, I studied politics and philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. My current philosophical interests are in moral, political, and feminist philosophy, as well as social epistemology, applied ethics, and existentialism. Originally from the greater Boston area, I enjoy spending time in the city's bookstores, coffee shops, and green spaces. Throughout college, I taught preschool, which I still love to do. I also like reading fiction, listening to podcasts, and visiting art museums. My email is helena.colbert@tufts.edu; please feel free to reach out!

As a combined degree (BA/MA) student, I am in my senior year of undergraduate at Tufts, double majoring in philosophy and mathematics. My primary interest lies in the intersection of philosophy of language and epistemology, with overlaps in philosophical logic, formal semantics, and formal epistemology. Topics I am currently most concerned with include belief and knowledge ascription, inquiry and questions, and first- and higher-order evidence and (un)certainty. I also have strong interests in logic and metaphysics, with recent focus on the debate over whether and how higher-order languages shed light on issues in (meta)metaphysics and philosophy of language. Outside of philosophy, I watch anime films, explore bookstores and natural history museums, and sleep. Feel free to reach me at xinyi.fang@tufts.edu

I graduated from Tufts in the spring of 2023 with a BA in Philosophy and a BA in Film and Media studies. My areas of interest are Kantian Ethics, philosophy of cognitive science, and philosophy of humor. I like to spend my free time playing music, working out, and playing chess. Feel free to contact me at lucas.ferrer@tufts.edu.

I graduated from USFQ in Ecuador with a BA in International Relations in 2020 (magna cum laude) and a BA in Liberal Arts in 2022 (summa cum laude). I also spent a year at the Philosophy Department at the University of Tübingen, Germany. My philosophical interests are broad and include political philosophy, the philosophy of mind and cognitive sciences, and the history of philosophy (especially Kant). I am also moved by international politics, literature and art history. Outside of philosophy I enjoy sports, making bread and pizza, playing chess, and recently I'm trying to resume an old passion for the violin and classical music.

I am a senior at Tufts while also enrolled in the fifth-year program. My philosophical interests are contemporary philosophy, epistemology, and philosophy of mind. I am currently researching what is wrong with higher education with my advisor for her book.

I am interested in going into academia after finishing my education. I want to focus on writing and researching how philosophy can aid in resolving some of the social and personal issues individuals face in their everyday lives.

Outside of philosophy, my primary interests are crocheting and spending time with my family; I mostly crochet hats during the spring/summer and blankets and sweaters in the fall/winter.

You are more than welcome to reach out to me at kimmone.henry@tufts.edu.

Before coming to Tufts, I studied Philosophy and Computer Science at Ashoka University. My philosophical interests lie in the philosophy of language and philosophy of mind. I also take a personal interest in thinking about art, self-identity and how these might relate to our linguistic choices. Apart from philosophy, I enjoy windy days, colorful things and being near water.

I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2022. I have many philosophical interests, but perhaps my most pertinent interest is the metaphysics and epistemology of objective truth. Particular philosophers whose work I find fascinating on this matter is Aristotle, Aquinas, Kant, and Nietzsche. Outside of philosophy, I have many hobbies, but none more important than golf. I try and golf as much as I can.

I am a current Combined Degree student at Tufts University, pursuing both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in the Tufts Philosophy Department. I'm particularly concerned with political philosophy and ethics, and I focus on issues of justice, freedom, and social organization. I also have an interest in unorthodox sources of philosophical thought, especially in fiction, and have taught courses on the philosophy of Kurt Vonnegut at Tufts and other institutions. Outside of the Department, I serve as an elected member of the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee. You can reach out to me anytime at mark.lannigan@tufts.edu.

I am Tang. I did my undergraduate at Fudan University, Shanghai, majoring in philosophy. My interest in Plato and Aristotle started there and ancient philosophy continues to be my main research focus. I am also very curious about modern theories of ethics and political philosophy. Recently, problems concerning public opinion , political emotion and education also interest me exceedingly. My hobbies include yoga, singing and doing anything outdoor!

I graduated with a B.A. in physics and philosophy from UCLA in 2019, and worked for the next two years as a research assistant in a condensed matter physics lab before switching focus back to philosophy. I am mainly interested in topics in epistemology and ethics – particularly rational choice, explanation, and moral reasoning – as well as the implications of our best understanding of these matters on the political-legal sphere. Reach me at xling01@tufts.edu.

I graduated from Wellesley College in 2021 with BA in Philosophy and Mathematics. During my undergraduate, my primary interests are in metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of science. Specifically, in metaphysics and philosophy of mind, I am interested in theories of properties, universals, particulars, and property dualism. In the philosophy of science, I am especially curious about topics (not completely separated from my interests in metaphysics and philosophy of mind) on laws of nature, counterfactuals, and causation. I am still very much interested in these topics but have also developed related interests in the philosophy of physics, epistemology, and aesthetics, hoping to explore these topics during my MA as well. In my spare time, I enjoy art, watching psychological thrillers, and going to the seaside when I can. You can reach me at zhitong.liu@tufts.edu.

I graduated from Carleton College in 2023 with a double major in philosophy and Classics. I am happy to discuss and learn about any philosophical issue, but I am especially fascinated by epistemology, metaphysics, logic, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and ancient philosophy. My favorite philosophical problems are the ones that keep me up at night, like the liar paradox and McGee’s apparent counterexamples to modus ponens. I wrote my senior thesis about what determines whether a conditional is true or false. Having failed to answer this question in my thesis, I continue to spend much of my time staring into space and thinking about conditionals. I am also obsessed with the nature of abstract entities, be they properties like blueness, mental entities like thoughts and feelings, or necessary truths like the law of non-contradiction. The only things I like besides philosophy are dogs, candy, and ancient Greek. You can reach me at emma.macarthur_warner@tufts.edu.

In 2022, I graduated from Mississippi College, where I studied philosophy. I am accompanied on this, my northerly migration, by my lovely wife, Sarah. My interests are many, but notably include the philosophy of religion and Kant.

I graduated from the University of Massachusetts - Boston in 2019 with a BA in philosophy and a minor in history. Prior to my philosophy degree, I spent nearly 30 years in drug discovery research in the biotech/pharmaceutical industry working to discover new drugs to treat cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and psychiatric diseases. My main interests in philosophy are in social and political philosophy, epistemology, and ethics.

I graduated from the University of Toronto in 2022 with a BA in Philosophy and English. I was especially interested in metaphysics as an undergraduate and now carry that forward along with a related interest in philosophy of language and logic. I am also interested in epistemology. You can reach me at simon.navarrete@tufts.edu.

I graduated with honors from NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2020. I pursued a mixture of philosophy, politics, psychology, and completed a minor in mathematics. Generally, I'm interested in anything to do with Logic, Metaphysics, or Epistemology. My philosophical interests leave me interested in mathematics and physics; I also enjoy classics, economics, history, and the other areas of my undergraduate degree. I hope to one day utilize my philosophical research to improve our daily lives.

Outside of academics, I am thankful to have traveled to over twenty countries and lived in three (the UK, US, and India). I enjoy discussing music, media, and politics; exploring nature and skiing; playing video games and the guitar; and I am trying to get into rock climbing and skateboarding. Feel free to reach out:  shray.pathania@tufts.edu.

I graduated from Arizona State University with a BA in Political Science in 2016. In the seven years since my graduation from ASU, I served as an Infantry Officer in the United States Army. My philosophical interests include morality, ethics, and political philosophy. Outside of philosophy, I enjoy fitness, traveling, and spending time with my family. Please feel free to reach out to me at gerald.prater@tufts.edu.

Hello! I graduated from Saint Mary’s College of California in 2022, where I studied in the Integral Program of Liberal Arts. Since then, I have divided my time between teaching for the Great Books Summer Program and traveling in Europe. I have broad philosophical interests, but currently my strongest one is in ancient philosophy, particularly at the intersection of ontology, epistemology, and ethics in Plato and Aristotle. I find it hard to distinguish what is philosophical in my life from what is not, but when I am not reading philosophy or socializing, I love to play guitar and exercise. Please feel free to reach me at william.roush@tufts.edu.

I graduated from Fordham University in 2020 with a BA in economics. Afterwards, I spent some time as an accountant before obtaining a post-baccalaureate diploma in philosophy from Simon Fraser University. My primary philosophical interests are in metaethics and philosophy of mind. I also enjoy learning about ancient philosophy as well as Kant/ post-Kantian continental philosophy. Some things I like are the New York Jets, the Grateful Dead, and long-form hiking. Please feel free to reach me at theodore.schoneman@tufts.edu.

After graduating from Duke University with a degree in Cultural Anthropology, I moved to Somerville where I have spent the last several years working as a career coach in the non-profit sector. I began auditing philosophy courses at Tufts in 2020 and am excited to now be joining the department as a Master’s student. My interests are primarily in philosophy of language, philosophy of mind and cognitive science, epistemology, and metaphysics. I am curious about the ways philosophers use the study of language to frame and answer questions about the nature of the mind, its access to reality, and the nature of reality itself. I am currently reading about theories of non-linguistic thought, intelligence, and the link between language and personhood. You can reach me at jennifer.sherman@tufts.edu.

I graduated with honors from Wesleyan University in 2020 with a B.A. in philosophy. As an undergraduate, I was focused on the relationship between the Western Marxist and French theory traditions in Continental philosophy. My primary interests now are in contemporary political philosophy, the philosophy of the social sciences, and analytic metaphysics. In particular, I’m interested in debates surrounding fundamentality, grounding, and causation, and how they might inform social-scientific model-building. I’m also deeply interested in distributive justice, and other normative issues regarding the relationships among state and market actors. Outside of philosophy, I have coached competitive debate, and recently helped found a summer program for middle and high-school debaters which highlights issues of equity and inclusion in the community (check us out at magnoliadebate.com!). I also enjoy hiking, movies, and videogames. You can reach me at nathan.witkin@tufts.edu.

I graduated from the University of Chicago, where I studied philosophy, in 2021. I’m primarily interested in ethics and epistemology, especially where they intersect. I also have a longstanding interest in Kant. You can reach me at swyatt01@tufts.edu.

I graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen in 2023 with a BBA in Economics. My interests in philosophy include philosophy of language, metaphysics, and metaethics. I am particularly curious about various topics about truth, especially theories of truth and truthmakers. Outside of philosophy, I enjoy playing Apex. You can contact me at  zzhang35@tufts.edu.