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Research Interests:

Political philosophy, nonideal theory, contractualism, affirmative action, rectificatory justice.

Biography:

• BA, Honours (Philosophy) Wilfrid Laurier University
• MA (Philosophy) Toronto Metropolitan University

Joel's research begins from the observation that, while political philosophers working in ideal theory have devoted much attention both to the question “what are the correct principles of ideal justice?” and to the question “which particular arrangements/policies satisfy the principles of ideal justice?”, work in nonideal theory has focused almost exclusively on the analogue to the second question - i.e., “which particular arrangements/policies count as just responses to injustice?” It's been roughly a quarter century since the beginning of the "nonideal turn” in political philosophy, yet philosophers have produced remarkably little in the way of systematic answers to the question “what are the correct principles of justice in responding to injustice?"

Ultimately, Joel’s research seeks to highlight the significance of this lacuna in hopes of encouraging others to take up the work of addressing it. His strategy for doing this consists of demonstrating i) why theories of justice in responding to injustice (i.e., theories of "nonideal justice") are needed to bridge the gap between ideal theories of justice and questions of nonideal policy (e.g., whether race-based affirmative action counts as a just response to injustice) and ii) how one might go about constructing a contractualist theory of nonideal justice.

Research Interests:

Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Law, Moral Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy, Critical Race Theory

Biography:

• B.A. Honours (Specialist in Philosophy), University of Toronto

Research Interests:

Metaphysics of Time and Logic 

Biography:

• BA (Philosophy) Trent University
• MA (Philosophy) ��Ӱֱ��

Justyn specialized in ethics as an undergraduate student and focused in on the metaphysics of time and logic during his Master's studies. He plans to continue his research into the metaphysics of time, especially the C-Series of time and how it relates to causation. He is particularly interested in temporal and dynamic logic and how such logics would work under different theories of time, including the C-Series.

Research Interests

Social and Political Philosophy, Democratic Theory, Animal and Disability Ethics, Social Epistemology

Biography

• B.A., Honours (Philosophy), Saint Mary’s University
• M.A. (Philosophy), Concordia University

I’m interested in why democracy matters. Many of us think it matters, but its value is increasingly disputed in political theory. My dissertation explores the idea that democracy enables us to co-author a shared society and asks how democratic values extend to animals, children, and persons with profound cognitive disabilities.

In a second research track, I ask how trust shapes our political life. I focus on how trust deepens political disagreements and when distrust is warranted. I approach these questions through cases involving marginalized minorities as well as conspiracy theories and echo chambers.

I am a . In 2023, I was a research fellow at Concordia University’s and Montreal’s interuniversity . In Fall 2026, I will be a visiting doctoral researcher in philosophy at the .

Publications

• “” (2025) Social Epistemology: 1–14 (online first)