I'm creating this website for several reasons. The most important is to appreciate the burden of creation. Philosophy taught me to evaluate arguments negatively; negative in the sense of critique, as opposed to positively providing one's own ideas. This is a tradition that, in Western philosophy, I think stems from Socrates via Plato. The Socratic dialogue usually entails an interlocutor proposing a positive claim, after which Socrates, through leading questions, reveals their actual lack of understanding. The result is Aporia, and importantly, rarely any positive account of anything.
Fast forward to my philosophy degree in 2020-24: the courses I took didn't actually encourage me to develop my own ideas (except for the incredible independent studies I was fortunate enough to take; thank you Christine Thomas and Gil Raz). I just found myself discussing the flaws in other people's ideas. In my regular classes, I was rarely ever (never?) pushed to come up with my own positive account of anything. The only novel thing I created was critique.
As I've moved from collegiate philosophical writing into scientific writing, I want to make sure that I avoid being trapped by just saying why other people's ideas are bad and never contributing any of my own, like Peele in this Key and Peele sketch, or the Underground Man in Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground ("It may be reactionary, but corporal punishment is still better than nothing").
I also want a place to showcase my scientific writing and the arc of my research journey. And so, welcome!