Caroline von Klemperer
Assistant Professor
Office: LA 247
Education
PhD, Philosophy (2025), Rutgers University
MA, Philosophy (2019), Simon Fraser University
BA, Environmental Studies (2016), Carleton College
I work mainly in ethics, epistemology, feminist philosophy, and bioethics. Much of my research is at the intersection of ethics and epistemology (or, our cognitive lives more broadly construed) and bears on topics with social and political import. For instance, I have work arguing: that ethical considerations apply to our cognitive lives, belief and beyond, apart from external action; that gaslighting can undermine victims not only as epistemic agents but also as zetetic agents, attentional agents, and perspectival agents; that patients who lack decision making capacity can have autonomously held values, even when these values are epistemically-untethered (even when they fail to meet ultra-minimal epistemic standards).
I also love teaching. Philosophy helped give me the tools to understand, challenge, and communicate my convictions, and it’s a joy to seek to give these tools to my students.
Outside of the classroom, I bake a lot of banana bread. I also love being outside, sitting, drawing, playing squash, parkour, and spending time with my cat Ted.
Recent Publications
Moral Encroachment, Symmetry, and Believing Against the Evidence. Philosophical Studies, 180(7) (2023), 2175-2190.
Awards/Honors
Mellon Dissertation Fellowship, 2024-2025
Courses Taught
PHIL 4456/5556: Ethical Issues in Healthcare Law and Policy
PHIL 3999: Topics in Feminist Philosophies
PHIL 2230: Medical Ethics