Hi, I'm Jes. I'm a writer and PhD Candidate in Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. I am also a recipient of the Chateaubriand (HSS) Fellowship funded by the French Embassy to the United States which will allow me to spend Fall 2023 at Institut Jean Nicod working with the Body, Space, and Self Group.
My philosophical interests lie broadly in embodiment, philosophy of psychology, philosophy of perception, phenomenology, and social epistemology. My dissertation explores the affective, epistemic, and ethical dimensions of gut feelings. My conception of gut feelings understands our bodily feelings as embodied, non-neutral, revelatory appraisals. I attempt to address how and when gut feelings are epistemically justified. Can we gain “knowledge” from our gut feelings, and if so, what is the nature of this knowledge? Drawing from literature on skilled action and social cognition, I express optimism about the inferential self-knowledge we can gain from our gut feelings. Finally, I explore the ethical dimensions of gut feelings. Evidence suggests that what might appear to a subject as an “inner knowing” is liable to reflect our implicit biases and prejudices. I conclude by arguing that being a responsible epistemic agent requires a commitment to hypothesizing about the life experiences, biases, instincts, and beliefs that inform our gut feelings.
I am interested in embodiment, self-knowledge, and interoception in both theory and in practice. To this end, I teach meditation. I am also training to become a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner.
My philosophical interests lie broadly in embodiment, philosophy of psychology, philosophy of perception, phenomenology, and social epistemology. My dissertation explores the affective, epistemic, and ethical dimensions of gut feelings. My conception of gut feelings understands our bodily feelings as embodied, non-neutral, revelatory appraisals. I attempt to address how and when gut feelings are epistemically justified. Can we gain “knowledge” from our gut feelings, and if so, what is the nature of this knowledge? Drawing from literature on skilled action and social cognition, I express optimism about the inferential self-knowledge we can gain from our gut feelings. Finally, I explore the ethical dimensions of gut feelings. Evidence suggests that what might appear to a subject as an “inner knowing” is liable to reflect our implicit biases and prejudices. I conclude by arguing that being a responsible epistemic agent requires a commitment to hypothesizing about the life experiences, biases, instincts, and beliefs that inform our gut feelings.
I am interested in embodiment, self-knowledge, and interoception in both theory and in practice. To this end, I teach meditation. I am also training to become a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner.