Bio
I am a Post-Doctoral Scholar working on a National Science Foundation funded project –Institutional Transformation: Intersections of Moral Foundations and Ethics Frameworks in STEM. This work crosses disciplines and analytic methods by drawing on the expertise of our interdisciplinary team of philosophers, rhetoricians, and scientists in the University of Central Florida’s College of Arts and Humanities. Our project aims to better understand how the moral foundations that students bring to the university interact with and effect and ethical frameworks already present in STEM. This project connects to my more general interests in ethics and philosophy of education.
Before coming to UCF I taught for two years in the department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Phillips Academy – Andover. I earned my PhD in Philosophy at Northwestern University in October 2021.
My own research centers on our conception of social freedom and its realization. In short I argue that we should embrace a robust and nonmoralized understanding of freedom that sits somewhere between ordinary liberal and republican conceptions. I then argue for the importance of exit rights, democracy, and, most controversially, informal egalitarian norms as the best means of securing this freedom.
When I’m not teaching philosophy, I enjoy eating vegan food (especially of the deep-fried variety), traveling, learning new things (Acabo de terminar cuatro meses de clases en español en Quito. El subjuntivo todavía está un gran dolor para mí.). I also enjoy weight lifting, riding bikes and snowboards, and playing games! Finally, I’m keen on making this place a little nicer for all of us. This motivates my participation in the Effective Altruism movement and political organizing.
Joshua Kissel 