Research

My research examines the systemic influences that social structure imposes on different groups of individuals, as well as the normative issues that arise from these dynamics.

Below, I outline three interrelated lines of research projects that I have invested in and will continue expanding on. Overall, these projects examine structural wrongs across the social, political, and epistemic realms and engage philosophical inquiry with empirical studies to develop more comprehensive measures for pursuing structural justice.

(1) Developing a philosophical framework for analyzing structural injustice

The first line of my research projects examines issues surrounding structural injustice—a type of moral wrong that exists when social structures systematically place groups of people into social positions prone to undeserved burdens while conferring power to other groups. My research advances a philosophical framework for diagnosing and remedying structural injustice through clarifying its moral distinctiveness, elucidating the corresponding moral demands, and suggesting suitable implementations.

  • Sexual violence and two types of moral wrongs (2024, Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy) [open-access published version]
  • Acting together to address structural injustice: A deliberative mini-public proposal (2024, Law, Politics, and Responding to Injustice, Routledge, edited by Kevin Walton, Wojciech Sadurski, and Coel Kirkby [published version; penultimate version]
  • A paper on the moral demands for addressing structural injustice (under review; title redacted)

(2) Examining the concerns and potential of emerging technologies through a structural lens

My second line of research examines how emerging technologies, such as AI, shape the social structure. Informed by my research on structural injustice, I analyze AI through a structural lens, situating its development, deployment, and governance within the broader social structure and examining how interactions among its components shape embedded power dynamics.

(3) Diversifying academic philosophy by removing unjust structural constraints

Social structures also influence knowledge production and dissemination, and the surrounding dynamics can constitute unjust restrictions. The third line of my research focuses on the impact of structural injustices in academia, particularly in philosophy, with the aim of promoting structural change.

  • Analytic philosophy in Taiwan: Impact within and beyond academia (2024, APA Studies on Asian and Asian American Philosophers and Philosophies, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Special Issue on the Emergence of Analytic Philosophy in East Asia) [open-access published version]
  • Taiwanese Marxist Buddhism and its lessons for modern times (2024, Australasian Philosophical Review, commentary on Tzu-wei Hung’s “Equity and Marxist Buddhism”) [published version; eprint link (with 50 free online copies; penultimate version]
  • “Moving up or moving out?” A structural analysis of the norm of academic mobility (forthcoming, Structural Injustice in Philosophy. Bloomsbury Academic) [penultimate version]