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My research spans the history and philosophy of science, the philosophy of medicine, and the philosophy of mind. I am particularly interested in foundational problems in the study of pain and their implications for contemporary pain science and medical practice. My current research focuses on the following questions:
Is pain measurable?
Is our "language of pain" ever meaningful to others?
Can pains be false or inaccurate?
What is the "mental architecture" of pain systems?
In pursuing answers to these questions, my work aims to improve our understanding of pain by bringing philosophical attention to scientific, historical, and cultural aspects of its study.
Journal Articles
2025. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 110(3): 789-810.
Synopsis: Pain systems don't infer, they transduce.
[2] Is Pain Modular? (with Sam Clarke)
2023. Mind & Language 38(3): 828-846.
Synopsis: If pain systems did infer, your hopes and dreams wouldn't be part of the mix.
[3] A Hole in the Box and a Pain in the Mouth (with Henry Schiller)
2021. The Philosophical Quarterly 71(4): 685-700.
Synopsis: If there's a pain in your finger, and your finger is in your mouth, then there's a pain in your mouth. Duh!
2021. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 99(2): 364-378.
Synopsis: Pain doesn't care all that much about our injuries.
Commentaries
[5] Bodily Core Knowledge (with Marlene Berke)
forthcoming. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. Commentary on Bai et al.'s "Core Perception: Re-imagining Precocious Reasoning as Sophisticated Perceiving".
Synopsis: The core perception hypothesis cannot be supported by visual evidence alone. The bodily senses are the place to look.
Public Writing
[6] The Thermal Grill Illusion
The Illusions Index (forthcoming)
Synopsis: Introductory entry on a controversial thermal (or pain?) illusion you can recreate with sausages.
[7] When do we first feel pain?
The Conversation, May 2025 (republished at The Independent)
Synopsis: The brains of infants may process pain differently from those of adults. What any of this feels like we still don't know.
[8] Objective pain score? Here's the problem with that
The Conversation, July 2025
Synopsis: The problem with pain measurement is not technological, but philosophical. Biomarkers won't fix it.
Work in Progress
[9] A paper arguing against alleged evidence for biosocial differences in pain sensitivity
(R&R at BJPS)
Synopsis: Let's not pretend anyone knows how to measure this stuff.
[10] A chapter on perceptual accounts of pain (with Sabrina Coninx; Invited in The Routledge Handbook in contemporary philosophy of perception)
Synopsis: Perceptualism was a good time for everyone, but it's time to move on.
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