I am an assistant professor of philosophy at Western University. My research sits at the intersection of epistemology and philosophy of mind, with a focus on imagination and imagistic representation.

Before coming to Western, I did postdocs at York University and the University of Barcelona. I got my Ph.D. in philosophy from New York University in 2023. Before that, I did a B.A. in philosophy and psychology at the University of Miami.

When I'm not doing philosophy, I like to noodle around on my guitar, listen to (mostly scary) music, cook and bake lots of delicious food, play videogames, read novels, and walk all over the place.

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Research

I work at the intersection of mind and epistemology. Broadly speaking, I am interested in how we manage to represent and reason about the world. While a long philosophical tradition focuses on discursive (or language-like) modes of representation and reasoning, my research proceeds from a conviction in the importance of non-discursive modes of representation and reasoning. This has two (closely intertwined) strands:

Epistemology of Imagination

We use our imaginations to engage in spatial reasoning, make physical predictions, understand other minds, and assess hypothetical experiences. But how could merely imagining something give you any reason to believe that it is true? After all, the imagination is free to roam untethered by reality. My research investigates how the imagination can be a source of epistemic value. Along the way, I've thought about whether the imagination can generate novel evidence, epistemic norms governing the imagination, the epistemic role of vividness, and the relationship between imagination, inference, and belief.

Representational Format

Consider the differences between a digital thermometer, a mercury thermometer, a heat map, and a timeline of average temperature. While all of these systems represent temperature, they encode this information in very different ways. In other words, they differ in their representational format. My research investigates the nature, semantics, and epistemology of different formats. Along the way, I've thought about the metaphysics of representational systems, the relationship between analog and iconic formats, the format of mental representations, and why it can be useful to represent information in one format rather than another.

For a more comprehensive overview of my research, see my Research Statement.

PUBLICATIONS

Imaginative Beliefs (2024, online first)

Inquiry

There are mental states that are both imaginative (in format) and doxastic (in attitude). (PDF)

The Epistemic Role of Vividness (2025)

Analysis

Vividness is higher-order evidence. (PDF)

How Imagination Informs (2025)

The Philosophical Quarterly

The imagination can generate new justification in virtue of its analog format. (PDF)

Imagination as a Source of Empirical Justification (2024)

Philosophy Compass

A review of the recent literature on the epistemology of imagination. (PDF)

The Structure of Analog Representation (2023)

Noûs (co-authored with Andrew Lee and Gabriel Rabin)

Analog representations have interpretive rules that map syntactic structure to semantic structure. (PDF)

The Epistemic Status of the Imagination (2021)

Philosophical Studies

The imagination is a justified justifier: it is epistemically evaluable and can be epistemically based on evidence. (PDF)

Reasoning with Imagination (2021)

Epistemic Uses of Imagination, Routledge

Imagination is a sui generis form of reasoning. (PDF)

IN PROGRESS

A paper on the nature and epistemology of aphantasia (under review)

A short version of this paper was the winner of the 14th Annual Essay Prize at the Center for Philosophical Psychology, University of Antwerp

A paper on imagination and understanding (under review)

A paper on whether images can represent particulars

A paper on practical understanding and motor imagery

A paper on iconic representation (co-authored with Andrew Lee and Gabriel Rabin)

A paper on compositionality in episodic construction (co-authored with Johannes Mahr)

A paper on the epistemic value of testimony with graphs and diagrams (co-authored with Kevin Lande)

Teaching

PRIMARY INSTRUCTOR

Intro to Metaphysics (Western, upcoming)

Epistemology (Western, upcoming)

Philosophy of Cognitive Science (York, Winter 2026)

Aesthetics (NYU, Summer 2021)

Epistemology (NYU, Summer 2020, 2 sections)

TEACHING ASSISTANT

Early Modern Philosophy (Spring 2021, with Don Garrett)
Ancient Philosophy (Fall 2020, with Jessica Moss)
Nature of Values (Spring 2020, with Sharon Street)
Minds and Machines (Fall 2019, with David Chalmers)
Religion, Mind, and Society (Spring 2017, with William Green and Michael McCullough)