Katherine Martha

Graduate Student

Katherine Martha is a sixth year PhD Candidate in the philosophy department at Vanderbilt University. Her research interests are in ethics, specifically post-Wittgensteinian ethics, moral psychology, and bioethics. Presently, Katherine is co-authoring a chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Iris Murdoch with Dr. Matthew Congdon, as well as writing her dissertation, which contributes to the growing body of literature surrounding the reasons of love debate—which asks whether or not reasons of love are moral reasons—by arguing that love’s reasons are fundamentally ethical, yet private, which presents challenges for love to play a role in public practices of moral justification. At Vanderbilt, Katherine has been a teaching affiliate at the Center for Integrated Research, Teaching, and Learning, is a current member of Minorities and Philosophy (MAP), and served as the President of the Philosophy Graduate Student Association for two years. When she is not working, she enjoys hiking with her black lab, reading Jane Austen novels, and—more recently—cuddling with her son.