Philosophy Ph.D. candidate Elís Miller Larsen recently presented “Personal Choice and the American Dream” with Associate Professor of Philosophy at UChicago Agnes Callard virtually at the 2021 Roosevelt University American Dream Reconsidered Conference, which is available for viewing on YouTube here.
The conference investigated the idea of whether we truly have complete agency in the face of social structures that might inhibit the “American Dream.” Miller Larsen posed the question of whether ignorance is always an ill when making personal choices, or if there are circumstances in which ignorance may provide an advantage. What kind of responsibility, if any, might we have for our ignorance, especially when we make choices out of ignorance that may impact the lives of others?
Elís Miller Larsen is an epistemologist at work on her Ph.D. dissertation on the topic of ignorance. Her research intersects with philosophy of mind, psychology, cognitive science and social psychology. Previously she has been the recipient of the Embedded EthiCS Graduate Fellowship at Harvard and the GSAS Summer Pre-Dissertation Fellowship. She holds an M.A. in Philosophy from King’s College in London.