Academics

My  research is based in the European philosophical tradition developed by thinkers like Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Foucault. Building from these great minds, I explore a broad range of philosophical topics, from the ethics of technology to the depths of mental illness. I am especially interested how these topics intersect with Japanese and other Asian philosophical traditions of thought.  

"A World Loved by Moonlight: Tragedy, Psychosis, and the Humanization of Art Literacy." Existential Analysis 35, no. 2 (July 2024).

This paper delves into often-unspoken realms of human suffering — tragedy and psychosis — to uncover the role that art can play in understanding and overcoming experiences that defy conventional language. Dovetailing from Heidegger’s aesthetics, I explore the unique qualities that make the artistic process such a powerful medium for existential restoration, connecting otherwise disparate individuals to the wider tapestry of humanity.

Phil Papers APA Psych Net EBSCOhost

[Forthcoming] “The Photographed Earth: Ethics in a World Made of Images” Environmental Philosophy (Fall 2025)

Photography no longer merely records nature; it co-creates it, binding us ethically to a porous frontier where representations and landscapes continuously shape one another. Grounded in Heidegger, post-phenomenology, and environmental ethics, this paper shows how social-media imagery turns natural places into hybrid spaces that guide design, identity, and expectation. Exposing the hermeneutic circle between seeing and building, it calls for a photographic ethic of “construction” that fosters ecologically attuned, aesthetically responsible ways of dwelling on a photographed Earth.

Environmental Philosophy

Publications

Awards

  • GSO Merit-based Award for Research ($5000) — 2025

  • Arthur Ordaz Award (Promising Research) ($250) — 2022

Presentations

  • “Toward an Ontology of Death in the 21st Century” SJSU Alumni Conference, 2025

  • “Heidegger, Art, and Humanity”Chiang Mai University (Thailand) – Guest Lecture, 2022

    Guest lecture on Heidegger, humanism, and cross-cultural aesthetics.

  • “Madness and Conspiracy: Silence’s Unintended Harms” SJSU Alumni Conference, 2023

    Highlights the semantic difficulties in our moderation of speech online, and some potential solutions.

  • “Seeing the World Through Instagram…” SJSU Alumni Conference, 2022

    Explores the unique embodied experience that Instagram affords its users; one which is becoming increasingly embedded in the way we construct our human environments.

Teaching

Instructor

  • Phil 387: Meaning of War (2025 – Spring and Fall)

  • Phil 222: Existentialism (2025 – Summer)

Study Abroad (San Jose State University)

  • Hands on Thailand, funded teacher’s assistant (2024, 2023)

Graduate Assistant (UH Manoa)

  • Phil 111: Inductive Logic (Fall 2024)

Teaching Assistantship (San Jose State University)

  • Phil 113: Existentialism and Phenomenology (Spring 2023)

  • Phil 186: Professional and Business Ethics (Fall 2022, Spring 2023)

  • Phil 110: Science, Technology, and Human Values (Fall 2022)

  • Phil 10: Intro to Philosophy (Spring 2023)

Instructional Student Assistant (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo)

  • Phil 230: Metaphysics and Epistemology (Fall 2019, Winter 2020, Spring 2020)