Carolina Flores is a PhD candidate at Rutgers, advised by Liz Camp and Susanna Schellenberg. She works primarily at the intersection of philosophy of mind and social epistemology, with interests in cognitive science and feminist philosophy. Her dissertation focuses on evidence-resistance and the social nature of belief.
What are you working on right now?
I am working on my dissertation and on two co-authored side-projects. A driving motivation in all my work is an interest in thinking about belief in a social context: What is the role of belief in explaining social hierarchies? To what extent are our beliefs, and the cognitive capacities that ground them, dependent on the social world we are embedded in? How can we change beliefs that are supported by powerful social and motivational forces?
In my dissertation, I explore cases of evidence-resistance – in which we don’t change our mind despite counterevidence – and what they imply for the nature of belief. I argue that such cases are best accounted for by a theory on which beliefs are constitutively supported by evidence-responsiveness capacities, but where these capacities can be and often are masked by other factors, in particular, by motivational factors. In my view, beliefs don’t aim at truth, nor are they easily revised in the face of evidence. But there is still a substantive connection between belief and evidence-responsiveness, one which supports our practices of trying to change minds by giving evidence and argument. For my dissertation, I am also thinking about delusions as extreme cases of evidence-resistance, and about the role of the social world in shaping up the very ways in which we respond to evidence.
I am also working, with my (co-)advisor Liz Camp, on essentialist thinking in the social domain: roughly, centering one social identity (e.g. the fact that someone is a woman, or black) in thinking about a person, taking it to be a really significant fact about them. We argue that essentialist thinking does not require essentialist beliefs about social groups or individuals, but is often implemented in intuitive, perspectival, ways. We explore how such ways of thinking can help construct and reinforce social hierarchies, but can also be useful tools in resisting hierarchies when self-applied in ways that enable solidarity and pride.
Finally, Elise Woodard and I are working on a paper arguing that there are epistemic norms on evidence-gathering, and not, as the orthodoxy in epistemology has it, only on responding to evidence one has. In doing so, we also develop a picture of epistemic life which requires vigilance and takes seriously our role as testifiers.
I have learned so much from co-authoring, and have found it really fun and rewarding – I highly recommend it!
What are you most proud of in your professional life?
Here I want to highlight my work as a MAP (Minorities and Philosophy) organizer. MAP works to make philosophy more inclusive and diverse – in other words, less sexist, racist, homophobic, ableist, etc. MAP is primarily a grassroots network of chapters. As a chapter member, I am super proud of having co-organized, with folks in 4 other departments in the New York area, the ‘Oppression and Resistance’ conference in 2018, which included both practical workshops and excellent social philosophy. As a central MAP organizer (and, currently, MAP director), I have been involved in producing and distributing resources on important topics for inclusion, such as our report on service work distribution and compensation among graduate students. I am really proud of MAP’s role in building community, putting important social issues on the table, and shifting norms in professional philosophy.
What do you like to do outside work?
Exploring New York’s queer scene; running loops of Central Park, or up hills; giving myself tours of neighborhoods or cities I don’t know; going to oddball art performances – drag-dance-club nights, rap shows in immersive art galleries, feminist theater, quirky puppetry, poetry readings,…; having long meandering conversations with strangers; wearing performatively silly outfits (my all-time favorite is probably a bright white-and-red astronaut tracksuit); eating at new-fangled vegan restaurants; trying out new hobbies, especially ones that involve lots of physical movement (two recent ones are burlesque and kickboxing). Basically, I am up for anything that can be done in an experimental and playful mode, ideally involving spending a lot of energy and being surrounded by people.
What is your favorite book of all time? (Or top 3). Why? To whom would you recommend them?
All-time favorites is too hard! I will recommend three non-philosophy books that are fresh on my mind and which I think other philosophers would enjoy.
I’m currently reading Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House. It’s a genre-bending memoir about an abusive queer relationship, and it does a beautiful job of laying bare and rejecting common tropes about queerness on the one hand, and simplistic feminist views on which all women are victims and only men are abusers on the other.
Esme Weijun Wang’s The Collected Schizophrenias is a limpid, icy, gut-wrenching first-personal description of living with schizoaffective disorder. It is both imagination-expanding and a useful corrective to philosophers’ tendency to appeal to decontextualized mental illness case studies from a third-personal perspective to support their views.
Finally, and on a lighter note, Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels are an extraordinary depiction of the different ways in which our identity is constituted by our relationships and by the places we live in. Besides, it is as full of gossipy drama as a telenovela, and, as a southern European, I found plenty that was delightfully (or tragically) familiar.
What is your favorite sound in the world?
Charli XCX’s “Track 10”; more generally, hedonistic-themed, aggressively artificial, heavily autotuned experimental pop. On a classier note, I never fail to be thrilled when the soft melancholy notes of my musician neighbor practicing the sax ebb through the window while I’m writing at home.
If you could only use one condiment for the rest of your life, which condiment would you pick and why?
Sriracha – because sensory overload makes everything better.
This section of the APA Blog is designed to get to know our fellow philosophers a little better. We’re including profiles of APA members that spotlight what captures their interest not only inside the office, but also outside of it. We’d love for you to be a part of it, so please contact us via the interview nomination form here to nominate yourself or a friend.
Dr. Sabrina D. MisirHiralall is an editor at the Blog of the APA who currently teaches philosophy, religion, and education courses solely online for Montclair State University, Three Rivers Community College, and St. John’s University.
