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I am a philosopher of mind and epistemologist who specializes in the epistemic value of emotions.
One area of my research focuses on "epistemic emotions" such as curiosity, interest, confusion and how they guide our disposition to investigate in a rational and virtuous manner. Another area focuses on “future-oriented attitudes”—hope, anxiety, faith in the future, despair—and their role in our ability to navigate an uncertain future rationally, by adjusting our degrees of belief and inquiring into the probability of certain possibilities. In other words, I combine epistemology, the philosophy of emotion, and cognitive science to shed light on the affective mechanisms that underlie our epistemic activities.
Since September 2025, I am a Senior teaching and research assistant (SNF Ambizione) at the University of Zürich, Philosophy department, and a member of the Zürich Epistemology Group on Rationality (ZEGRa).
Previously, I was as Postdoctoral Researcher at Central European University, on the “Knowledge in Crisis” FWF Project.
You can view my CV here and my ongoing projects in the "work in progress" section.
PUBLICATIONS
Forthcoming. Inquiry Beyond Curiosity: Interest and the Value of Attending. The Philosophical Quarterly
2025. Inquiring about the Future: The Epistemic Motivation in Hope. Canadian Journal of Philosophy
2025. Is Hope More Like Faith or More Like Worry?. Thought
2024. The Epistemic Virtue of Anxiety, In The Moral Psychology of Anxiety, eds. Rondel, D. & Chopra, S. Rowman and Littlefield.
2019. Passions et Psychopathologie, In Origgi, G. (ed.), Dictionnaire des Passions Sociales. Presses Universitaires de France.
2019. Darker Sides of Guilt, In Cokelet, B. & Maley, C. (eds.), Moral Psychology of Guilt. Rowman and Littlefield. (with Julien Deonna)
2018. Epistemic Anxiety, Adaptive Cognition, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Discipline Filosofiche: Philosophical Perspectives on Affective Experience and Psychopathology, 137.
2018. « Anxiété », version académique, In Kristanek, M. (ed.), l’Encyclopédie philosophique. URL: http://encyclo-philo.fr/anxiete-a/
Work in progress
Imagining One's Future
I have one paper in progress on the use of transcendent imagination for self-transformation (with Maria Fedorova), and one paper on the cognitive value of despair for severing one's attachment to vain hopes.
Emotional Attention
I am working on the interactions between attentional and emotional processes, and one on the normativity of emotional attention: what norms of attention might demand of us as emotional agents.
Inquiry and Emotions
I have an in-progress paper on the epistemic value of despair. I am also developing a paper on the distinction between inquiry and exploration and the role of attitudes such as interest in the latter (with Benoît Gaultier).
EDUCATION
Ph.D., PHILOSOPHY (2017-2021)
Institut Jean Nicod (École Normale Supérieure), Swiss Center for Affective Sciences (University of Geneva). Dissertation awarded with highest honors.
Thesis Supervisors: Fabrice Teroni, Jérôme Dokic
Members of Defense Jury: Jennifer Nagel, Michael Brady, Anne Meylan, Elisabeth Pacherie
MASTER OF SCIENCE (2011-2013)
Philosophy of Mental Disorder, King’s College London, UK. Awarded with Distinction
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY (2019-2022)
Paris-Sorbonne VIII, Paris, FR
BACHELOR OF ARTS, PHILOSOPHY (2007-2011)
Paris-Sorbonne IV, Paris, FR
EDITED VOLUMES
WORRY AND WELL-BEING
Synthese Topical Collection on "Anxiety: its Nature, Value, and Challenges", co-edited with Charlie Kurth.
TEACHING
Spring 2024
PRIMARY INSTRUCTOR, "COGNITIVE SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY"
Undergraduate Course, Columbia University, New York City
Spring 2024
PRIMARY INSTRUCTOR, "PHILOSOPHY OF PSYCHOLOGY"
Undergraduate Course offered to both Philosophy and Psychology students, Baruch College, City University of New York
Spring 2023
PRIMARY INSTRUCTOR, "INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY"
Undergraduate Introductory level course: “Major Issues in Philosophy”, Baruch College, City University of New York
Fall 2021
PRIMARY INSTRUCTOR, "ART AND EMOTION"
Graduate Philosophy course (Master and Advanced Bachelor students) on the topic of "Art and Emotions" (Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Psychology, Aesthetics). University of Geneva, Switzerland.
Spring 2019
TEACHING ASSISTANT, "META-ETHICS"
Advanced Undergraduate course in Meta-ethics (Value theory, Ethics, Moral Philosophy). University of Geneva, Switzerland.
Fall 2022
GUEST LECTURER
“Emotions and Activism”, University of Groningen (as part of a Global Health course), Spring 2023
“Emotions and Leadership”, University of Groningen (as part of a Business Ethics course), Fall 2022
PUBLIC PHILOSOPHY
ESSAY
The Nature of Confusion
An essay on confusion, its metacognitive nature and its value in guiding us through obstacles in the process of learning. Published in the online magazine Aeon/Psyche
BLOG POST
Imagining with Hope
A post on hopeful imaginings, their characteristics, and epistemic value, written together with Steve Humbert-Droz, and published in "The Junkyard", a scholarly blog devoted to the study of imagination.
PODCAST
From Eco-Anxiety to Eco-Hope
In this podcast series in french, several researchers discuss the role of emotions in our management of the climate crisis. In the episode "From Eco-anxiety to Eco-hope", I share some thoughts on the nature of anxiety, and its positive counterpart: hope.
BLOG POST
The Epistemology of OCD
A post on Epistemic Anxiety and Obsessive-compulsive Disorder, published in “Imperfect Cognitions”, a blog dedicated to irrational beliefs, cognitive distortions, delusions, etc.
PODCAST
Emotions and the Future
Invited guest on the The Monkey Dance "podcast" to discuss the way anticipatory emotions guide our future-directed imagination and reasoning
ESSAY
The Value of Despair
An essay on the role of the emotion of despair in our cognitive economy. Why is it helpful, for creatures with our unique powers of prospection, to be able to directly feel that a future is slipping out of reach? Published in the online magazine Aeon/Psyche.
CONTACT
