Works in Progress

⊕ Provisional Governments and Peremptory Rights

This paper is about Kant's distinction between provisional rights, in the state of nature, and conclusive (peremptory) rights in the civil union. I am working out a novel analysis of Kant's claim that the obligation associated with a property right must be placed by an omnilateral will, or by the idea of a general united will.

⊕ Master's thesis given 9/2019 Putting the Postulate in its Proper Place

This paper was originally presented for the completion of my A-exam, so that I might advance to candidacy at Cornell. It concerns Kant's description of the possibility of having things as one's own, and focuses on the paradigmatic case of using an external object. In addition to offering crucial insight into the way taking possession of an object effects the freedom of others, my work in this paper gave me the unique opportunity to weigh in on a disagreement regarding translation and arrangement of the chapter.

⊕ Kant on Marriage

In this paper, I develop a view on Kant's account of marriage using his legal framework as a guide. The aim of this project is primarily to show that the descriptions of marriage offered in both the Metaphysics of Morals and Lectures on Ethics depict a unified, coherent institution. This project is achieved by extending the principles of jurisprudence that Kant introduces in the Rechtslehre. Additionally, I highlight the ways that Kant's account is uniquely able to legally condemn gendered violence in the context of marriage.

⊕ Microaggressions, Marginalization, and the Academic Riot Grrrl