About Me

Joshua Stein

Philosophy matters. My overarching goal in teaching and writing about philosophy is to make abstract work in the field accessible to a broader audience and show how philosophy relates to real world issues. This includes writing about ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of economics. Some people think philosophy is obscure and too abstract to be applicable; I think even very abstract ideas can be useful and interesting when they’re presented well. That’s what I try to do in most of my writing.

Biography

I was born and raised in Oakland, California. I bounced around North America for years during college and graduate school, and eventually settled down in Arlington, Virginia.

I have a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Calgary (completed 2021), with a doctoral dissertation advocating for a hybrid constructivist theory of practical reasons and showing the potential applications of a theory of reasons to issues in political philosophy, philosophy of law, and philosophy of economics.

I also hold two M.A. degrees from New York University in Bioethics (completed 2016) and Science and Technology Studies (completed 2014). These degrees gave me an interdisciplinary approach to philosophy.

In addition to writing, I am a practicing martial artist and train and compete actively in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (in which I have a purple belt), muay thai, and catch-as-catch-can wrestling. I also frequently write about the history of the martial arts and what martial arts can teach us about life and ethics.