Academics
ὁ δὲ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ
"but the unexamined life is not liveable for a man" - Socrates
Philosophy
Areas of Interest
Logic, Epistemology, Philsophy of Chemistry
Why I Study Philosophy
Philsophy is the means by which we can examine our life, internally and externally. I find logic to be very useful in articulating and reasoning through these questions. I seek to understand how higher order thought operates, how we know, if we know, the basis for our reason - metacognition. I am fascinated by the fundamentals of thought, how we conceptualze ideas and why. These are the internal questions, the phenomonological, metaphysical and otherwise. I also study how we examine the external world. Primarly in the philosophy of chemistry, questions of reduction, causation, justification and mechanism. In a more pragmatic sense I am also interested in rhetoric and semantics, how arguments are crafted and their logical entailment.
Future Research Interests
I begin the Humanities Scholars Program this upcoming fall and intend to conduct research in the aforementioned area
Some of my Favorite Philosophers
Kant, Russel, Hendry
Mathematics
Areas of Interest
Analysis, Geometry
Why I Study Math
I find math to be the "language" by which I can convey my thinking. My interest in philosophy, epistemology, is often centered around certainty. Math, on most accounts, is the most fundamental and apodictically certain discipline. Math is a neccessity based on our conception of reality and logic. As such, there is no better language to articulate ideas that on principle must be deterministic and true. While I call it a language, it is more a way of thinking. I find math to provide a sense of order to my thinking that, instead of bounding it, gives me unlimited approaches to almost problem. It's very satisfying to solve a difficult problem or model a complex system. for me, this is often visual, which lends to my interest in analysis and geometry (and by extension linear algebra and logic).
Some of my Favorite Math Books
The Art and Craft of Problem Solving, Visual Complex Analysis, Logic, Techniques of Formal Reasoning
Chemistry
Areas of Interest
Physical Chemistry: Surface & Materials Science, Mathematical Chemistry, Quantum Chemistry