Elís Miller Larsen

Elís Miller Larsen

I am interested in perennial philosophical questions that often fall at the intersection of epistemology, philosophy of mind, ethics, and social/political philosophy. Much of my work centers on a broad-minded and inclusive question—How does ignorance shape our actions and attitudes?

Presently, I am a Henderson/Harris Faculty Fellow at the University of Vermont. Prior to joining the philosophy department at UVM, I was a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at Brown University working on the question of how ignorance and inquiry shape human thought. I earned my Ph.D. in philosophy at Harvard University in 2023.

For my latest CV, click Here

I currently respond to two emails: elis_miller_larsen at brown dot edu and my latest, emillerl at uvm dot edu.

Academic interests

I am concerned with our thoughts—why we have them and how we can improve them.

A large part of my work focuses on ‘negative’ epistemic space: thoughts that do not occupy, things that we do not pay attention to, and features we do not see. I am especially interested in cases where someone ignores information immediately available to them in a way that is indicative of a kind of cognitive resistance. In my dissertation, The Ethics of Ignorance, I unpack the ethical and epistemic dimensions of ignorance as a psychological attitude, and explore the conditions under which we are (sometimes) responsible for this attitude.

There are many important connections for this research. It connects to debates on disagreement, evidence, and Knowability. It connects to the problem of how to change a person’s prejudice. And it also connects to research on Artificial Intelligence. My work in the Embedded EthiCS program at Harvard aligns my primary research questions with the problem of unknown unknowns, which is a burgeoning topic within artificial intelligence research, and is said to be the new Turing test for intelligence design.

I was recently awarded a grant for the Humility in Inquiry project with Ruth Mayo (Hebrew University) and N. Ángel Pinillos (ASU): “The Relationship between ‘I don’t know’ Judgments and Humility in Inquiry” And I am co-organizing the Inquiry Workshop to be held at Brown University April 26-27, 2024.

I have also given Public Philosophy talks on the problem of ignorance as it connects to oppressive social structures and epistemic silos that reinforce structural injustices. You can check out my mini-course on epistemology and the problem of ignorance, echo chambers, and epistemic bubbles at Outlier.org

If I had to summarize my approach to Philsoophy I’d say that I am siempre cuestionadora (Always Questioning).

(I like to reprsent my afro latina roots with a little espanglish from time to time).

Work in progress

A long paper detailing how ignoring information can produce a certain kind of epistemically evaluable ignorance—“The Epistemic Significance of Ignorance” (under review)

A paper on rational responsibility for ignorance—”What is rational responsibility for ignorance?” (under review)

A paper on the structure of unawareness— “Anti-Salience Structures: Perceptual, Moral, and Social”

A paper on epistemic justification in an unjust world and the epistemology of disagreement— “Radical Epistemologies”

A paper arguing for epistemic blame skepticism—”Epistemic Blame: Some Serious Doubts”

A paper on anti-intentions (intending to not do something)— “Anti-Motivating Motivations”

An op-ed on ‘ignorance of ignorance’ for AI—”What the Chinese Room Didn’t Know”

publications

Ignorance, Empathy, and Resisting Racism Radical Philosophy Review 24(1): 105-108, 2021

Education

Harvard University, cambridge

Ph.D Philosophy

kings college london, london

M.Phil Philosophy

nyack college, New York

BA Philosophy and Mathematics, summa cum laude