I am a PhD candidate in philosophy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where I also hold a graduate certificate in Global Studies. My dissertation, “From Academic Philosophy to Folk Philosophy: Reconstructing a Research Paradigm for Cross-Cultural Psychological Comparison between East and West,” develops a framework for using philosophical traditions as theoretical resources for constructing provisional models for the empirical study of cross-cultural differences in practical reasoning.

My approach to philosophy is both interdisciplinary and comparative across philosophical traditions. Two primary convictions motivate my research: (1) philosophical traditions can provisionally articulate culturally transmitted patterns of practical reasoning among laypersons across contexts; and (2) global structures should be arranged so as to sustain the conditions under which different philosophical traditions can be transmitted, developed, and brought into productive interaction. My current research reflects these two convictions and spans cross-cultural reasoning and cognition, Confucian role-based virtue theory, and global structural injustice.

My teaching interests include ethics, Chinese philosophy, experimental philosophy, philosophy of cognitive science, social and political philosophy, and logic. Before coming to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, I studied human resource management, economics, psychology, human rights, and philosophy in China, Ireland, Australia, and the United States.