Welcome to my website!
I am an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Ashoka University in Sonipat, Haryana (India). Currently, I am on research leave and located at the University of Pittsburgh, my alma mater. I first spent my sabbatical year at PITT as Visiting Professor and Lecturer at the Philosophy Department, now I am serving as PITT’s inaugural Bhagawan Vasu Pujya Swami post-doctoral fellow in Jain Studies. Before taking my current sabbatical and research leave from Ashoka, I served as Ashoka’s Associate Dean of Academic Affairs (2019-22) and as Department Chair (2021-22).
Apart from administratively supporting the University, faculty and students through the many challenges posed by the pandemic, my biggest administrative achievements have been to develop, with IT, an automated degree check system for the University, to create a significant number of academic policies (e.g., on Academic Integrity, Mentoring and Advising, and Ashoka’s policy governing the Honors year: the Ashoka Scholars Programme), to create a new course code system for the entire University that served as the basis for its automated degree check system, and, as HoD, to be the driving force behind the creation of two new Interdisciplinary Majors: Psychology and Philosophy (PSYPHI) and Philosophy and Computer Science (PHICS) (up and running since Fall 2022).
My philosophical interests are broad and fall into two areas. The first lies in the intersection of philosophy of mind, epistemology, and philosophy of science, the second in the intersection of Philosophy of Love and Friendship, Moral Psychology, and Indian Philosophy (especially Jaina Philosophy, Buddhist Ethics, and Bhakti). The latter is due to my background in Indian Studies (I studied Sanskrit and Hindi for 6 years each) and Psychology. I confess to having a philosopher’s crush on Iris Murdoch, and I love teaching logic. Recently, I have also earned a certificate from the APPA in Philosophical Counselling.
In my dissertation, I discussed how to best characterize experience, particularly in light of the possibility that experience may be variously affected by background beliefs (for more, see here, you can also download my CV here).
I have a number of research projects that I am working on, including two book projects and an edited volume on Reformed Empiricism.
Besides philosophy, I care most about my amazing wife Sabrina, who is a speech and language therapist, and our twin daughters (12 years old). I also love languages and enjoy picking up new ones whenever I get the chance (see here for more on this topic). Furthermore, I am interested in classical music, Jazz, Indian classical music, Āyurveda (traditional Indian medicine) – I even earned a certificate as an Āyurvedic massage therapist. I like squash (both the game and the vegetable), backpacking, hiking, canoeing with the kids, biking, and getting to know new people. Finally, I am a passionate chef with a strong penchant for vegetarian cuisine from all continents.
Questions? Contact me. I am looking forward to hearing from you!
Raja Rosenhagen 