Dr Paula Keller

Paula Keller is interested in how we mentally represent the social world around us: what ideological misrepresentations we have about social structures (including unjust or oppressive ones) that function to support the status quo, and how we are nevertheless able to gain accurate beliefs about the social world.

Academic interests

Paula Keller’s academic interests include: 

• Feminist epistemology
• Radical political thought.

Degrees obtained

• BA, Cantab.
• MPhil, Cantab.

Awards and prizes

• Wood Whistler Prize, Newnham College, University of Cambridge.
• Matthew Buncombe Prize, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge.

Biography

Paula Keller works on topics in epistemology and political philosophy. She wrote her PhD thesis, ‘Epistemic Emancipation: Essays on Learning about Injustice’, on how it is possible for individuals embedded in unjust or oppressive social structures to know about these very structures.

During her research fellowship at Jesus, she will examine what utopian thinking can tell us about the social status quo. In this context, she is interested in modal misrepresentations of the social world – presenting as inevitable or natural what is not – as well as utopia-bashing from all sides, liberal and socialist alike.

Other interests

Hiking, cycling, rowing.