I am a PhD researcher at Leiden University's Institute for Philosophy, where I am conducting a comparative-philosophical study of the role of the erotic in the aesthetics of Plotinus and of Abhinavagupta.
I received my BA from St. John's College - Annapolis, where I studied and tutored Ancient Greek. After completing my undergraduate, I worked teaching Latin, Ancient Greek and Ancient History to students of all ages. During this time, I completed my MA in Eastern Classics at St. John's College - Santa Fe, where I specialized in Sanskrit.
My research interests are most broadly in comparative/intercultural philosophy, Ancient Greek philosophy and Classical/Post-Classical Indian philosophy. I primarily focus on the intersections of aesthetics, poetics, hermeneutics and philosophy of religion in late Platonic and Tantric authors. I have further interest in the reception of ancient Greek and Indian philosophy, particularly within contemporary paganism.
My experience studying philosophy cross-culturally has led me to agree with Jonardon Ganeri’s assessment: “The urgent need of philosophy now is to decolonize, and that means to globalize, to embrace and incorporate a diverse plurality of philosophical traditions and practices” (“Why Philosophy Needs Sanskrit: Now More than Ever”).
The Greco-Indian comparative field has had a longstanding relationship with colonial hegemony. My own comparative research is therefore informed by a diversity of critical methodologies: the revaluation of classics by ‘critical ancient world studies’, the emphasis on practice in ‘philosophy as a way of life’ and the counter-hegemonic potentials of polycentricity (Edward Butler’s “Polycentric Polytheism and Philosophy of Religion”; “Bhakti and Henadology”).