About Michelle
I received my PhD in Philosophy from New York University in 2018. My research is focused on investigating the nature of normativity. In other words, I'm interested in what we ought to do and why: Where do moral demands come from? What is the source of other norms, like requirements of rationality, and why do they have authority over us?
In my dissertation, I proposed a novel relativist theory of the sources of our different kinds of normative reasons, focusing especially on moral and practical reasons that justify action. This theory draws upon insights from the growing philosophical literature on group agency.
I think that what we have moral reason to do is determined in large part by social goals.
In fall 2019, I will be joining NYU's Center for Bioethics as an Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow. I spent the fall semester 2016 as a visiting doctoral student at the École Normale Supérieure and the affiliated Institut Jean Nicod in Paris, France. Before coming to NYU, I earned a B.A. in Philosophy from Yale University.
