Rachel Finlayson   

Hello! I am a political theorist working on topics in political epistemology and democratic theory. I am particularly interested in the ethics of belief, persuasion, and open-mindedness. 

My work has been published in The Journal of Politics and Ethical Theory and Moral Practice. 

I am currently a PhD student at Columbia University, supervised by Karuna Mantena. Prior to Columbia, I completed an MPhil in Politics (Political Theory) at Oxford where I was a Wadham College Senior Scholar. My thesis (supervised by Cécile Laborde) analyzes open-mindedness and epistemic steadfastness as democratic obligations, and proposes limits on these obligations.

Research

"Public Reasoning Together: Gender and Political Deliberation." The Journal of Politics 84, no. 3 (2022): 1556-1569. (with Ryan Davis)
Link to article here

"When Should We Be Open to Persuasion?" Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 24 (2021): 123-136. (with Ryan Davis)
Link to article here

Teaching