Research
Overview
I work in the history of philosophy, the philosophy of language, and ethics. My research focuses on the social, political, and ethical aspects of language use. I am particularly interested in how a person’s political and ethical thinking are tied to their beliefs about the limits of language, and this theme connects my current research programs.
Dissertation
The structure of my dissertation is a collection of four papers connected by the theme of the limits of language as treated by Wittgenstein and Heidegger. The first chapter “The Ordinary and Philosophical Method in Heidegger and Wittgenstein” offers a reading of Wittgenstein and Heidegger that foregrounds their mutual engagement with the question of the limits of language—not as a philosophical question that demands an answer but as a characteristic of a way of doing philosophy to which they are both opposed. The second chapter “Translating the Tractatus and Tractarian Ethics” builds upon the work of the first chapter by tracing Wittgenstein’s concern with the limits of language to the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. By exploring what I call opacity in the text, I discuss the tensions within Wittgenstein’s own early conception of the limits of language and how this is connected to an ethical reading of the Tractatus. The chapter ends with a discussion of how translators of certain texts (such as, in my reading, the Tractatus) are obliged to maintain, rather than interpret away, certain instances of opaque language. The third chapter “Opacity and Esotericism in Tractarian Elucidations” continues with the notion of opacity in Wittgenstein’s Tractatus and argues that by attending to opacity the reader can best appreciate the elucidatory method of the text. By bringing the text’s opacity and its elucidatory method together, I provide a novel account of Wittgenstein’s unique philosophical method. The final chapter “Hayek’s Critique of Language (In Mauthner’s Sense)” applies the framework of the previous chapters to the history of political economy. I argue that Hayek’s diverse works can be connected to his preoccupation with the question of the limits of language—a preoccupation he inherited from the Austrian-German language critical tradition (including Fritz Mauthner and Ludwig Wittgenstein).
Other Projects
Two further projects build off the work of my dissertation. The first continues the work of my dissertation’s last chapter and traces the historical engagement with the question of the limits of language in Enlightenment and Classical liberal ethical and political philosophy—particularly as related to questions of scientific progress (especially the social sciences) and self-governance. A second project engages with the social, political, and ethical aspects of place-based language. Recent scholarship has noted a decrease in linguistic expressions or terms that are indexed to particular locales and communities. Such language has either been replaced by abstract or mass culture terms or simply lost, raising questions about the consequences of this linguistic loss for communities. This project investigates the connections between language use, phenomenology, and local moral and political commitments.
I have also published and presented on topics and traditions beyond the question of the limits of language. One chapter in an edited volume (University of Chicago Press) uses a Foucauldian framework to argue that the successes of anti-vice activist Anthony Comstock depended on the establishment of a multi-faceted state apparatus. A second chapter on aesthetics and philosophy of language (McFarland & Co.) uses country music song structures to exemplify Wittgenstein’s work on aspect perception. A critical review (Gatherings: The Heidegger Circle Annual) of an edited volume explores the status of reason in the philosophy of Heidegger. I have presented work on Buddhist philosophy of language, Ancient philosophy, and environmental philosophy, among others.