Department of Philosophy

I joined the Philosophy Department at Georgetown in the Fall of 2009. I specialise in the work of Martin Heidegger, and also have interests in existentialism, phenomenological ontology, Freud, Kierkegaard, Plato and Aristotle.

The centre of gravity for my research is the question of the role of finitude in human nature. I approach this question from two directions. From the perspective of the ontology of human existence, I explore the different forms of human finitude (for example, moods, the past, the limits of knowledge or meaning, death, the human being's animality). I would like to develop a vocabulary for finitude that is adequate to these different ways of being finite. From the perspective of lived human existence, I consider how we encounter our finitude and what it takes to live well – excellently or authentically – in light of it. This leads me to work on crisis experiences, such as the mood of anxiety or the experience of absurdity, and how they change our lives.

I am currently working on a book on Heidegger’s notion of uncanniness. I develop Heidegger’s account of the limitations on our ability to make sense of ourselves as human beings, and show why this finitude is constitutive for being human.

I also run the 20th Century European Workshop for graduate students in the Philosophy Department: https://sites.google.com/a/georgetown.edu/european-philosophy-workshop/

and a website to support the Department's graduate student Teaching Associates: https://sites.google.com/a/georgetown.edu/philosophy-teaching-associates/ (login required).

I received my PhD from The University of Chicago, and my undergraduate degrees from The University of Auckland, New Zealand. I hail from the Hibiscus Coast, just north of Auckland.