Master's Portfolio, 2026

"The Train of Ideas: A Holistic Look at Lockean Succession"

As one of the few simple ideas we can get from reflection, I show throughout that Locke’s understanding of succession is particularly illuminating for his philosophy of mind and has a fundamental significance for Locke that has not yet been emphasized in the secondary literature. This paper includes a deep-dive into what Locke means when he speaks about succession and how it fits into the web of other ideas gotten from reflection. I also show how Locke’s categorization of succession as simple can provide clarity in the debates around Locke’s criterion for simplicity, in particular his criterion for simple ideas of reflection.

"Locke’s Simple Ideas of Reflection"

There is a lacuna in Locke’s account and the literature regarding how Locke’s claim that ideas enter the mind as simple would be applied to ideas of reflection. Reflection, a faculty that provides us with ideas of our mental operations, does produce simple ideas: they are “furnished to the Mind, only by… sensation and reflection” (II.ii.2, II.iii.1). However, Locke and his commentators tend to explain simple ideas exclusively in terms of sensation. It might be common sense that one experiences a “uniform Appearance” of redness when perceiving an apple. We can imagine an idea of simple redness. However, it is less clear whether an idea from reflection—like doubting—is given simply as a uniform appearance, or if doubting is more complex. To resolve this unclarity, I look at the commitments Locke does make about simple ideas of reflection and synthesize them with a broader textual understanding of Locke’s taxonomy of ideas and theory of knowledge.

From there, I propose that Locke follows a criterion of simple ideas given to us phenomenally as uncompounded for sensation and reflection. That is, I argue that we know an idea is simple because we experience it as unable to be broken down. I emphasize that this does not entail that simple ideas of sensation and reflection are experienced in the same way, and note that the two faculties should still be held as disanalogous in some important ways. I conclude that Locke’s criterion is almost the same for simple ideas of sensation and reflection even if the two faculties are quite different. I also demonstrate how to apply my proposed criterion of simplicity to reflection to resolve taxonomization unclarities.

"Locke's Simple Ideas of Reflection" was presented at the Fall 2025 CSULB Philosophy Day event.

"The Role of Moral Inconsistency in Collective Harms"

I argue that instances of collective harm often happen because those working within collectives are operating against their own moral convictions. That is, acting within a collective often causes individuals to be blind to, or distort, their moral priorities, and act with moral inconsistency. Thus, I posit that collective harms can be partially mitigated or wholly avoided if those acting within collectives spend more time considering the different demands on them at any given time and evaluating whether any of those demands are at odds. I do not intend to tell my reader what their demands ought to be, but instead I provide my reader with the suggestion that they should examine their own moral demands carefully and ensure they have enough of those demands in view as they act within different collectives.

Undergraduate Honors Thesis, 2024

"Making Sense of Lockean Reflection"

While researching Locke on free will, it became apparent that reflection was integral to much of Locke's work, and yet a confused notion both in the primary and secondary literature. Delving into Lockean reflection became my thesis project, as I attempted to make sense of it and provide a charitable reconstruction of reflection.

In my thesis, I address various questions surrounding reflection: What are the steps of reflection? How does reflection produce ideas? Does reflection contribute to ideas becoming clear, distinct and lasting? How does reflection relate to other Lockean notions, like sensation or consciousness? Many questions about reflection remain unanswered or disputed in the secondary literature.

This research was presented in both the Spring 2024 CSULB Student Research Competition and the Spring 2024 CSULB Philosophy Day event.

Summer Research Assistantship (2023)

Locke on Experience and the Will

In the Summer 2023, I was selected for a competitive undergraduate research position through the CSULB Research Foundation. I worked as a full-time research assistant under Dr. Marie Jayasekera. As part of her larger project on empiricists' conceptions of free will, we researched the role of experience in John Locke's understanding of free will. Ultimately, my honors thesis was based on some of the ideas discussed during this summer research project.

This role included extensive analysis of the primary text (An Essay Concerning Human Understanding). I also sought out relevant secondary texts, kept track of them using Google Sheets and Zotero, read, annotated and discussed these texts. Finally, I produced annotated bibliographies for various secondary texts.