Joseph Masotti
curriculum vitae
University of California San Diego jmasotti@ucsd.edu
Department of Philosophy https://josephmasotti.com/
Arts and Humanities Building, 4th Floor
9625 Scholars Drive North
La Jolla, CA 92093-0119
Areas of Interest
Ethics, Moral Psychology, Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence, Action Theory
Education
Ph.D. in Philosophy, University of California San Diego (in progress; expected completion: 2029)
M.A. in Philosophy, Florida State University (2021-2024)
Thesis: “Decision Theory, Action Guidance, and Moral Uncertainty”
Committee: J. Piers Rawling (chair), Alfred Mele, Michael Bukoski
B.A. in Philosophy and Psychology, Florida State University, summa cum laude, Honors Program (2018-2021)
Employment
Academic:
Non-academic:
Publications
2026 Depiction and Synthetic Images. Philosophical Studies 183, 673–695.
2025 Emotional Cues and Misplaced Trust in Artificial Agents. In P. Hacker (Ed.), Oxford intersections: AI in society (Article 62). Oxford University Press.
2024 When Do People Have an Obligation Not to Tic? Blame, Free Will, and Moral Character Judgments of People with Tourette’s Syndrome. Neuroethics 17(2), 30. (co-authored with Paul Conway)
Research (in progress)
A paper on coercion and practical identity
A paper on in silico clinical trials and the philosophy of science
A paper on the burden of the duty to care for distant others
A paper on the ontological argument and greatness simpliciter
Presentations
2026 “Coercion and Practical Identity,” Northwestern University Society for the Theory of Ethics and Politics (NUSTEP), Northwestern University.
2026 “Coercion and Practical Identity,” Berkeley-Stanford-Davis Conference 2026, Stanford University.
2026 “Anxiety, Belief, and Question-Sensitivity,” (poster presentation) The 123rd Annual Meeting of the Central Division of the American Philosophical Association, Chicago
2025 “How to Be a Layered Libertarian,” 14th Annual Florida State University Free Will, Moral Responsibility, and Agency Conference, Florida State University.
2025 “The Personal Good and Affective Responses to a Dying World,” Workshop: Climate, Emotion, and Mental Health, University of Cambridge.
2025 “Depiction and Synthetic Images,” Harvard-MIT Graduate Philosophy Conference 2025, Harvard University.
2025 “Depiction and Synthetic Images,” 2025 USC-UCLA Graduate Conference in Philosophy, University of Southern California.
2025 “Empathy or Error? The Asymmetry of Vicarious Emotions,” Perspectives on Affectivity: Normativity, Illusion, and Truth, Sociedad Argentina de Análisis Filosófico.
2025 “The Ideal Consequentialist Life is Devoid of Moral Worth,” 70th Annual Meeting of the Florida Philosophical Association, Flagler College.
2025 “A Case for Scrupulosity,” The 121st Annual Meeting of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association, New York City.
2024 “Social Robots and Relationships of Trust,” Toward Novel Concepts of Social Presence for Robots, 16th International Conference on Social Robotics + AI.
2024 “Deepfake Pornography and the Metaphysics of Depiction,” The 3rd International Conference on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, University of Azores.
2024 “No Ghost in the Machine: Emotions, Trust, and Artificial Agents,” Palermo International Workshop: Ethics & Responsibility of IA & Medicine, Università degli Studi di Palermo.
2024 “A Case for Scrupulosity,” 69th Annual Meeting of the Florida Philosophical Association, St. Petersburg College.
2023 “Uncertaintism and Action-Guidance Under Moral Uncertainty,” Risk Aversion and Normative Uncertainty Workshop, University of Stirling.
2023 “Objective Oughts When You Simply Cannot,” 68th Annual Meeting of the Florida Philosophical Association, New College of Florida. Plenary speaker. Graduate Paper Award.
2023 “Objective Oughts When You Simply Cannot,” The 1st Beijing International Graduate Conference in Analytic Philosophy, Beijing Normal University.
Commentaries
2026 On Massimo Renzo, “Life Authorship: Choices, Desires, Commitments,” Workshop on Agency, Value, and Ethics, University of California San Diego.
2024 On Nicholas Laskowski, “Skepticism about Ought Simpliciter Skepticism,” The Second Annual Philadelphia Normative Philosophy Conference, University of Pennsylvania.
2024 On Julia Mosquera, “Conflicts and Emotions: A New Problem from a Long-Standing Value
Inquiry,” The Heart of Ethics: The Role of Emotions in Value Theory, University of Leeds.
2023 On Bobby Johnson and Zhexi Zhang, “Dilution, Decontamination, and Diachronic Blameworthiness,” Free Will, Moral Responsibility, and Agency Conference, Florida State University.
2023 On Jacob Zimbelman, “The Benefit of The Doubt and the Everyday Problem of Other Minds,” Free Will, Moral Responsibility, and Agency Conference, Florida State University.
Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant, University of California San Diego
Teaching Assistant, Florida State University
Public-Facing Work and Involvement
Talks/presentations:
2025 “Depiction and Synthetic Images,” UCSD Night of Research and Creative Activities
2025 “Is That a Picture of You? AI-Generated Images and the Philosophy of Art” (TED-style talk)
2024 “When Do People Have an Obligation Not to Tic?,” Imperfect Cognitions
2023 “Navigating the Moral Maze: Acting Ethically When We Don’t Know” (TED-style talk)
Service:
Volunteer instructor, Corrupt the Youth (philosophy outreach program for high schools) (2025-present)
Middle school discussion group leader, Florida Philosophy Friends (2023)
Honors, Awards, and Fellowships
Service to the Profession
Translations
2025 L’odissea della mente: Dialoghi sul cervello e sulla coscienza, translated from English. By Steven S. Gouveia. Translated by Joseph Masotti and Denise Giano-Masotti. Independently published.
Graduate Seminars
Spring 2026 Philosophy of Emotions (Matthew Fulkerson, UCSD)
Spring 2026 Reactive Attitudes (David O. Brink and Dana Nelkin, UCSD)
Winter 2026 Political Legitimacy (Yuan Yuan, UCSD)
Winter 2026 Mexican Philosophy (Manuel Vargas, UCSD)
Fall 2025 Coercion (Saba Bazargan-Forward, UCSD)
Fall 2025 The Psychology of Emotion (Christine Harris, UCSD)
Spring 2025 Normativity, Prudence, and the Personal Good (David O. Brink, UCSD)
Spring 2025 Metaphysical Fundamentality in Post-Kantian German Phil. (Eric Watkins, UCSD)
Spring 2025 Philosophy of Music (Jonathan Cohen and Matthew Fulkerson, UCSD)
Winter 2025 Epistemic States via Semantic Ascent (Jennifer Carr, UCSD)
Winter 2025 Topics in Philosophy of Science (Nancy Cartwright, UCSD)
Fall 2024 Free Will and Determinism (Eddy Keming Chen and Manuel Vargas, UCSD)
Fall 2024 Proseminar in Philosophy (Matthew Fulkerson, UCSD)
Spring 2024 Contracts and Consequences (Michael Bukoski, FSU)
Spring 2024 Ethics and Epistemology of AI/ML (Zina Ward, FSU)
Fall 2023 Intentional Actions (Overt and Mental) (Alfred Mele, FSU)
Fall 2023 Moral Relations (Simon May, FSU)
Spring 2023 Anger and Forgiveness (Andrea Westlund, FSU)
Spring 2023 Causation (John Schwenkler, FSU)
Fall 2022 Free Will and Moral Responsibility (Alfred Mele, FSU)
Fall 2022 Ethics of Ignorance, Uncertainty, and Risk (Michael Bukoski, FSU)
Fall 2022 Kant’s Practical Philosophy (Courtney Fugate, FSU)
Spring 2022 Modern Logic (J. Piers Rawling, FSU)
Spring 2022 Greek Philosophy (Nathanael Stein, FSU)
Spring 2022 Proseminar in Value Theory (Michael Bukoski, FSU)
Fall 2021 Self-Deception (Alfred Mele, FSU)
Fall 2021 Metaphilosophy (James Justus, FSU)
Fall 2021 Proseminar in Metaphysics and Epistemology (Stephen Kearns, FSU)
Languages
English (Native)
Italian (C1)