My research is on early modern metaphysics and epistemology, especially the work of Spinoza and Descartes, with a focus on questions concerning understanding, definition, essence, and causation.
I received my Ph.D. from UCLA in December 2024, with a dissertation on Understanding, Real Definitions, and Causes in Spinoza, supervised by John Carriero. Since then, I have been an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Harvey Mudd College. This fall I am teaching a course in epistemology (with a focus on knowledge and understanding) as well as Mudd’s Introduction to Academic Writing.
Contact: aawest [at] hmc [dot] edu
