What is the subject of your thesis?
I am writing about the genealogy of belief. In particular, I am addressing the question: does the fact that a belief is culturally contingent give one reason to doubt the belief.
How did you decide on this topic?
This question has always been of interest to me. In fact, it's one of the reasons I became interested in philosophy in the first place. I always wondered, for example, if I should adopt my parents' religious faith knowing that had I grown up in a different household I likely would have believed something drastically different.
Who on the faculty are you working with and what has it been like?
I am working with Professor Parimal Patil. Professor Patil is an incredible advisor and mentor, and working with him has been one of the true highlights of my thesis-writing experience.
What have been the most rewarding aspects of writing your thesis?
The most rewarding aspect of the thesis writing project has been diving into a topic for an extended period of time and getting to think through the many different features of a topic. When you write a shorter philosophy paper, you can come up with a single argument or claim on a specific topic, and you don't necessarily have to think through all of its implications. But writing a thesis involves building a sort of "system" of your own in which the various arguments and features fit together. This process has been new and very rewarding for me. And it has also been the greatest challenge!