I work at the intersection of philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and ethics in Western, Indian, and Chinese Philosophy. My current research projects center around the nature of and the interrelations between imagination and self. I've published and worked on Buddhist metaphysics, interpretation of the Zhuangzi, perception of absence in philosophy of mind and cognitive science, the epistemology of romantic love, and why there is anything rather than nothing. I've also conducted experimental work on how people with different imaginative tendencies approach simulation scenarios.
My interests are broad yet they interpenetrate one another. I like Wilfrid Sellar's formulation of the aim of philosophy as "to understand how things, in the broadest possible sense of the term, hang together, in the broadest possible sense of the term." My research is unified by a concern for how mind and reality are constructed. While I believe in the intrinsic value of inquiry, steeped in the Buddhist and Chinese tradition, I recognize philosophy's immense potential to shape how we live. I thus hope to show how a more accurate understanding of imagination and the structure of reality can inform the path to a meaningful, well-lived life.
My dissertation is an interdisciplinary investigation of the imagination and the self that engages with cognitive science, philosophy of mind, ethical theories, aesthetics, and a variety of perspectives from Asian and Western philosophy. Against a narrow understanding of the self in analytic philosophy of language, I build a multi-dimensional model of the self in imaginative experiences, drawing on psychological and neuroscientific findings on memory and imagination. The model better captures the rich phenomenology of imagination, and has implications for the ethics of fantasy. In discussing the ethics of fantasy, I examine the psychology of inner tension from the first-person, and make an intervention in debates on the ethics of pornography and the demands of feminism. I also apply the multi-dimensioinal model of self in Buddhist philosophy, analyzing the meditative technique of self-dissolution and exploring how different forms of selves can or cannot be dissolved through imagination. Situated in a cross-cultural context and combining empirical studies and close textual analysis, the project enriches current philosophical understanding of imagination and the self.
Role of empathy in Buddhist philosophy
Whether Buddhist ethics prioritizes generalized compassion over empathic understanding, and how it accounts for skillful attunement to particular sufferings.
Neo-Confucian Views on Empathy without Self
How Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhu Xi's view on "other-focused empathy" (以己即人) can be in conversation with contemporary empirical works on empathy in cognitive science and psychology. And how the view stands up to the challenge of ubiquitous self-involvement in imagination, which I argued for in my dissertation.
A critical conversation on the modes of self-involvement in empathy among Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism, and European phenomenology.
Studies intuitions about whether living in virtual reality is desirable, how imaginative tendencies drive variations in attitudes towards virtual reality, and how different cultures shape intuitions about imagination and virtual reality.
Examines the social impact of private sexual fantasies
Clarifies notions including desire, arousal, and autonomy in the context of sexual fantasies
Interpenetration on the Field of Sūnyatā – Nishitani and Buddhist Metaphysics, Philosophy East and West, 75-4
A paper on Zhuangzi's absolute values and how he argues for them (under review)
A paper defending the perceptual view of seeing absence
A paper on how we know we are really in love
A paper that clarifies the question "Why is there anything rather than nothing"
Imaginative Tendencies and Virtuality Tolerance: Re-examining the Experience Machine