Maddie Dowd

Maddie Dowd
mdowd@college.harvard.edu
  • What do you like about studying philosophy at Harvard? My favorite thing about philosophy is that it slows down to ask questions that other disciplines don’t have time for or don’t deem practical. For example, I’ve always loved biology, but I found the lack of room for ethical discussions disturbing, and that I was more interested in questions of what, if anything, makes humans unique, and what our evolutionary continuity with other animals means about our moral obligations to them. Another of my favorite things about philosophy at Harvard is the extreme versatility and breadth of thought that studying this subject allows for. I’m a person with broad ranging interests, which is what made it so hard for me to choose a concentration. Luckily, Harvard philosophy has allowed me to scratch my “English Literature itch” (Philosophy of Jane Austen), my “Psych/Neuroscience Itch” (Philosophy of Mind), my “Women/Gender Studies Itch” (Feminism in the Arts and Sciences), my “History Itch” (Life and Death, Early Modern Philosophy) . . . etc. Philosophy is a concentration for the curious, for the exploratory, and I’m thrilled to have found a home base that still allows me to engage with other disciplines while staying grounded in the clear thinking argumentation that is the hallmark of my department.
  • House: Lowell
  • Concentration: Philosophy, with a secondary in Human Evolutionary Biology
  • Other Concentrations Considered: Human Evolutionary Biology, History and Literature, Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience), English
  • Courses Taken: PHIL 3: The True and the Good, PHIL 4: Logic, PHIL 8: Self and World: An Introduction to Early Modern Philosophy, PHIL 121: Life and Death: A History, PHIL 156: Philosophy of Mind, PHIL 186: Feminism in Arts and Sciences, PHIL 188A: The Philosophy of Jane Austen, GOV 94SAF: E&L Safra Undergraduate Ethics Fellowship Seminar, ITAL S-190: Beauty, GENED 1025: Happiness
  • Thesis: I plan to write a thesis on the philosophy of empathy, with a particular focus on the limitations of our empathy for nonhuman animals and the possibility for perspective taking across forms of consciousness that are very different from our own.
  • Other Interests / Notes: Animal ethics, philosophy of mind, art and aesthetics, food systems, nonhuman animal cognition, evolutionary neuroscience, practical ethics, bio ethics, tech ethics, comedy and creative nonfiction writing