CV
SARAH K. PAUL
SPECIALTY: Philosophy of Action, Philosophy of Mind, Practical Reason
AREAS OF COMPETENCE: Epistemology, Metaethics, Philosophy of Law
EMPLOYMENT
Academic:
2023-present: Full Professor, NYU-Abu Dhabi; Global Network Professor, NYU
2019-2023: Associate Professor, NYU-Abu Dhabi; Global Network Associate Professor, NYU
2016–2019: Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin–Madison
2010–2016: Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Visiting Positions:
2018-'19: Visiting Associate Professor, New York University
2017 (Spring): Visiting Associate Professor, New York University-Abu Dhabi
2015 (Fall): Visiting Assistant Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2009–2010: Visiting Assistant Professor, Bowdoin College
Administrative:
2020-2022: Associate Dean for Research and Professional Development, Arts & Humanities Division, NYU Abu Dhabi
EDUCATION
Stanford University, Stanford, California, 2003-2009
Ph.D. Philosophy, June 2009
Dissertation: How We Know What We’re Doing: An Inferential Explanation of Agential ‘Knowledge Without Observation’
Committee: Michael Bratman (chair), Krista Lawlor, John Perry, Nadeem Hussain
Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, 1998-2002
B.A. Philosophy, June 2002, magna cum laude with Distinction in Philosophy.
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
Philosophy of Action: A Contemporary Introduction. Routledge Press, 2021. (Japanese translation in progress)
JOURNAL ARTICLES
"Institutional Inconsistency," forthcoming in Law and Philosophy, special issue on Michael Bratman's Shared and Institutional Agency.
"Rational Powers and Inaction," as part of a "Focus" on Sergio Tenenbaum's Rational Powers in Action,' Philosophical Inquiries 11(1), 2023.
"Plan B," the Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 2021.
"Grit," with Jennifer Morton, Ethics 129(2), 2019.
"II--What Should "Impostor Syndrome" Be?" Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, supplemental volume, 93(1), 2019 (Symposium with Katherine Hawley).
"Believing in Others," with Jennifer Morton, Philosophical Topics 46(1), special issue on "Can Beliefs Wrong?" 2018.
"Good Intentions and the Road to Hell," Philosophical Explorations 20(2), 20th anniversary issue, 2017.
"The Courage of Conviction," Canadian Journal of Philosophy 45(5-6), special issue on "Belief, Rationality, and Agency Over Time," 2015.
"The Transparency of Intention," Philosophical Studies 172(2), 2015.
"Doxastic Self-Control," American Philosophical Quarterly 52(2), special issue on "Reasons and Rationality," 2015.
"Embarking on a Crime," Law and the Philosophy of Action. E. Villanueva, ed. Rodopi Press, 2014.
"Diachronic Incontinence is a Problem in Moral Philosophy," Inquiry, special issue on Choice Over Time, 57(3), 2014.
"Of Reasons and Recognition," with Jennifer Morton, Analysis 74(2), 2014.
"The Conclusion of Practical Reasoning: The Shadow Between Idea and Act," Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 43(3), 2013.
"How We Know What We Intend," Philosophical Studies, 161(2), 2012.
"Deviant Formal Causation," Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, 5(3), 2011.
“Intention, Belief, and Wishful Thinking: Setiya on ‘Practical Knowledge’,” Ethics 119 (3), 2009.
“How We Know What We’re Doing,” Philosophers’ Imprint, 9(11), 2009.
SURVEY ARTICLES AND TEXTBOOK CONTRIBUTIONS
"The Norms of Practical Reasoning," with Jennifer Morton, forthcoming in the Routledge Handbook of Practical Reason, edited by Ruth Chang and Kurt Sylvan.
"John Doe and Richard Roe," The Norton Introduction to Philosophy, 2nd Edition, edited by Alex Byrne, Gideon Rosen, Elizabeth Harman, Seana Shiffrin, and Josh Cohen, 2018.
"The Transparency of Mind," Philosophy Compass 9(5), 2014.
“Intention," International Encyclopedia of Ethics, Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
BOOK REVIEWS
Alex Byrne, Transparency and Self-Knowledge (Oxford 2018), The Philosophical Review 129(3), 2020.
Manuel Vargas and Gideon Yaffe, Rational and Social Agency (Oxford 2014), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2015.
Alan H. Goldman, Reasons from Within: Desires and Values (Oxford 2010). Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2011.
Richard Holton, Willing, Wanting, Waiting (Oxford 2008), Mind 120 (479), 2011
AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS, AND GRANTS
Philosopher's Annual, 2019. "Grit" was selected as one of the "ten best articles published in philosophy."
19 Washington Square Faculty Fellowship, 2020-'21
UW-Madison Vilas Early Career Investigator Award, 2018-'20
UW-Madison Vilas Associates Award, 2016-'18
Philosophy and Science of Self-Control Grant (with Jennifer Morton), 2016
UW University Houses Honored Instructor Award (x3)
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Summer Research Fellowship, 2012
Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellowship, Stanford Introduction to the Humanities Program, 2008
Graduate Student Outstanding Paper Prize, Central APA, 2007
Fulbright Grant, Germany, 2002-03
Distinction in Philosophy, Carleton College, 2002
Phi Beta Kappa
INVITED LECTURES
TBD
Keynote Address, conference on "Devotion" at Boston University, 2024; Central APA 2024
"The Case for Commitment"
Washington University in St. Louis, 2022; University of Glasgow, 2023; University of Macau, 2023; Bilkent University, 2023
"Plan B Consistency"
Cambridge University Moral Sciences Seminar, 2023; WashU Ethics and Epistemology Reading Group, 2022; Oxford Moral Philosophy Seminar, 2021; SLACRR, 2021
"Doing Enough"
Conceptual Engineering Online Seminar Series, 2022
"Constrained Pragmatism"
University of Helsinki, Moral and Political Philosophy Research Seminar, 2022
"Plan B"
University of Leeds, 2020; Washington University Ethics and Epistemology Group, 2020
"Planning and Perseverance in the Face of Doubt"
University of Vienna, 2019; Northern Illinois University, 2019; University of Chicago Practical Ethics Workshop, 2019
"Believing in Others"
University of Illinois at Chicago, 2018 ; APhil Annual Lecture, University of Barcelona, 2017; Northwestern University, 2017
"Grit"
Stanford, 2018; NYU, 2018; Yale Moral Psychology Working Group, 2018; NYU-Abu Dhabi, 2017; The American University of Beirut, 2017; USC, October 2016; UNC-Chapel Hill, 2016; Ohio State University, 2016
"The Courage of Conviction"
University of Vermont, 2015; UT-Austin, 2015
"Rationality, Normativity, and Self-Governance"
UC-Riverside, 2015
"Good Intentions and the Road to Hell"
UC-Irvine, 2015; Ryerson University, 2014; University of Pittsburgh, 2014.
"Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop"
"Philosophers Tackle Contemporary Issues" Lecture Series, Madison, October 2014.
"Doxastic Self-Control"
Keynote address, graduate conference, University of Iowa, 2014
"Embarking on a Crime"
United Arab Emirates University, 2019; University of Toronto, 2013; University of Auckland, 2013
"Diachronic Incontinence is a Problem in Moral Philosophy"
Utrecht University, 2012
"The Conclusion of Practical Reasoning: The Shadow Between Idea and Act"
CUNY-City College of New York, 2011
“How We Know What We’re Doing: Intention, Belief, and Knowledge Without Observation”
UW-Madison, 2010; Rice University, 2010 ; USC, 2009; Bowdoin College, 2009; Colgate College, 2009; UC-Berkeley, 2008
CONFERENCE AND SEMINAR PRESENTATIONS
TBD
Conference on Knowledge and Action, Sydney 2024; Workshop on "Mind in Motion," University of Copenhagen 2024
"Bounded Agency: Interpreting Adversity"
6th Annual PPE Conference, 2022
"Learning What We Can Do"
First Interdisciplinary Workshop on Interactive Causal Learning, 2022
"Constrained Pragmatism"
Uppsala Epistemology Workshop, University of Uppsala
"Plan B Consistency"
University of Helsinki, workshop on Agency and Attention, 2022; Online workshop on Action, Intention, and Language, 2022; Luca Ferrero's graduate seminar at UC Riverside, 2022; Jennifer Morton's graduate seminar at Penn, 2022
Doing Enough
Chapel Hill Metaethics Workshop, 2022; Effort and Self-Control workshop, Neuchâtel 2022
"Plan B"
Royal Ethics conference, UT-Austin, 2020; Mt. Holyoke Summer Philosophy Conference (canceled)
"Knowledge of Intention"
Chris Hill and Adam Pautz's graduate seminar on "Introspection", Brown University, 2019
"What Should "Impostor Syndrome" Be?"
Joint Session of the Aristotelian Society and the Mind Association, Durham University, 2019
"Commitment and Uncertainty "
"The Conclusion of Practical Reasoning" conference, Auburn University, 2018
"Believing in Others"
UNC-Chapel Hill Metaethics Workshop, 2017
"Intention and Motivation "
Invited Symposium, European Society for Philosophy and Psychology (Organizer)
"Grit"
"Mechanisms of Intention" conference, University of Copenhagen, 2017 ; Philosophy and Science of Self-Control Project Capstone Conference, Florida State, 2017 ; "Normativity and Reasoning" workshop, NYU, 2017; Early Career Ethics Workshop, NYU, 2017; "Agency and Time" conference, University of Oslo, 2016
"Action and Its Limits"
"Taking Action First" conference, Tel Aviv University, 2017.
"Rationality and Self-Blindness"
NYU Philosophy of Mind discussion group, 2018; "Transparency and Apperception" conference, Ryerson University, 2018; WIPHICA, Northwestern University, 2016; "Varieties of Self-Knowledge," Harvard University, 2016; Epistemology of Action symposium, Central APA 2016
"The Courage of Conviction"
Keynote address, undergraduate conference, Illinois State University, 2016; Midwest Epistemology Workshop, 2015; "Belief, Action, and Rationality Over Time" conference, UW-Madison, 2015; MIT Work-in-progress seminar
"Resisting the Temptation of 'Willpower"
Dartmouth Moral Psychology Workshop, 2015
"Continent Believing"
Symposium on Free Will and Epistemology, Pacific APA, 2015
"Normativity and Self-Governance"
Normativity and Practical Reasoning Workshop, NYU- Abu Dhabi, 2015.
"Good Intentions and the Road to Hell"
“ The Moral Significance of Intention, University of Leeds, 2014.
"Embarking on a Crime"
Columbia University, Joseph Raz's Legal Theory Seminar, 2013.
"Diachronic Incontinence is a Problem in Moral Philosophy"
Workshop on Rationality Over Time, CSMN, University of Oslo, 2013; Northwestern University Philosophy and Linguistics Workshop, 2012.
"The Transparency of Intention"
SPAWN conference on "Transparency of Mind," 2013.
"How We Know What We're Doing"
Workshop on "Practical Knowledge," University of Leipzig, 2013.
"The Force of the 'Because'"
Philosophy of Action Group Session, Pacific APA, 2013.
"Doxastic Self-Control"
Auburn University, conference on Theoretical Agency: Issues at the Intersection of Freedom and Belief," 2013.
"The Indifferent Gardener"
Practical Knowledge Workshop, University of Basel, 2010.
COMMENTS, WORKSHOPS, AND BLOGS
Author-Meets-Critics, John Brunero's Instrumental Rationality: The Normativity of Means-End Coherence, Eastern APA 2022
Author-Meets-Critics, Joshua Shepherd's The Shape of Agency, Eastern APA 2021
Author-Meets-Critics, Sergio Tenenbaum's Rational Powers in Action, Central APA 2021
Workshop on Michael Bratman's Shared Agency and the Construction of Organized Institutions, Yale University, 2020
Symposium on Agnes Callard's Aspiration, North American Association for Philosophy and Education, 2019
On Ravit Dotan, "Resilience in the Face of Counterevidence," Central APA 2018.
On Al Mele, "Are Practical Decisions Mental Actions?", "Mental Action" conference, Institute of Philosophy, London 2017.
Chapel Hill Metaethics Workshop, 2016
Workshop on Tamar Schapiro, Northwestern University, 2016.
Workshop on "Agency and Ability," University of Leipzig, 2016.
Comments on Berislav Marušić, "Do Reasons Expire?" "Normativity and Reasoning" workshop, NYU-Abu Dhabi, January 2016.
Commentator, Pea Soup symposium on John Brunero's "Cognitivism about Practical Rationality," September 2015.
Featured Blogger, Flickers of Freedom, August 2015
Comments on Kenny Walden, "Ideals," Midsummer Philosophy Workshop, Cambridge University, June 2014.
Comments on Agnes Callard, "Aspiration," NYU-Abu Dhabi, Workshop on Normativity and Practical Reasoning, January 2014.
Comments on Mark Schroeder, "Knowledge is Belief for Sufficient (Subjective and Objective) Reason," Conference on Epistemic Normativity, UNC-Chapel Hill, 2013
Comments on Lisa Bortolotti, "Imperfect Beliefs," at "The Nature of Belief," Harvard University, September 2012.
Comments on Michael Bratman, Luca Ferrero, and Sergio Tenenbaum, invited symposium, "Choice over Time," Pacific APA, April 2012.
Workshop on Gideon Yaffe's Attempts, University of Southern California, October 2011.
Comments on Luca Ferrero "Diachronic Rational Constraints," St. Louis Conference on Reasons and Rationality, May 2011.
Comments on Anton Ford "Practical Reason and Perception," at Virtue, Action, Reason: A Symposium for Anselm Mueller, University of Chicago, April 2011.
Comments on Iskra Fileva “A Puzzle about Knowledge in Action,” Eastern Division APA Meeting 2010.
Comments on Joseph Ulatowski "An Experimental Approach to Act Individuation," at the Southern Society of Philosophy and Psychology Annual Meeting 2010.
SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION
Co-Editor in Chief, Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy (2024-)
Area Editor, Ergo (2015-).
Associate Editor, Philosophical Explorations (2020-2023)
APA Central Division Program Committee, 2023
Nominating Committee, Central APA (2017-18, 2019-20)
Tenure referee (x4)
External reviewer, Ph.D. thesis for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Oslo, and the University of Geneva.
Referee for Philosophical Review, Journal of Philosophy, Ethics, Mind, Nous, Philosophers’ Imprint, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Philosophical Studies, Philosophical Quarterly, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, European Journal of Philosophy, Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, Philosophical Psychology, Synthese, Inquiry, Theoria, Philosophia, Thought, Ergo, Erkenntnis, Topoi, Philosophical Explorations, Journal of Philosophical Research, The American Journal of Political Science, Oxford University Press, MIT Press, Routledge, the SSHRC, the Israeli Science Foundation, DFG, Academia Sinica, the Rutgers Young Epistemologist Prize, and SLACRR.
Mentor, MarketBoost program to mentor women on the philosophy job market (2014-15).
PH.D. STUDENTS
Ben Schwan, The Reach of Action and the Boundary of Ought, 2018
Megan Fritts, Actions and Causes: A Methodological Inquiry into the Explanation of Action, 2020