We seem to be quite confident in our valuing ascriptions: we say we value, for example, philosophy, or kindness in a partner. Yet what is the mechanism that allows us to generate such self-knowledge? If someone were to ask ‘Are you sure you value philosophy? It does not seem like it’, how might we go about establishing a convincing answer?

Currently I am focusing on arguing that one prominent tool we may use to establish whether we value is the imagination. That is, knowledge about our valuing states can be obtained through an examination of our emotional responses to imaginative scenarios. Specifically, I argue that when we engage in imaginative exercises involving a particular object p and experience emotional reactions to these scenarios, the resulting emotional responses can be construed as evidence for the presence of underlying (emotional) dispositions integral to valuing p. 

This work is underpinned by previous work I have done into the notion of valuing, which I take to be partly constituted by a set of emotional dispositions towards the valued object. In the course of developing this view, I have also introduced a taxonomy of valuing: I argue that we can value emotionally, intellectually, strongly, and weakly. Emotional valuing is when we have significantly more emotional dispositions than cognitive dispositions towards the valued object. Intellectual valuing is the opposite situation. Strong valuing is when we have a substantial amount of both kinds of dispositions, and weak valuing is when we only have a small amount of both.

I am also working on a project where I apply the notion of self-knowledge to sexual orientation. I start by noting a limitation to knowing one's sexuality in the case of bisexual and asexual subjects. After exploring some intuitive explanations for those limitations, I conclude that they do not suffice. I therefore introduce a novel explanation for what might be going wrong in these cases. With this explanation on the table, I proceed to develop an account of how one can gain knowledge of one's sexual orientation. That is, I develop an epistemology of sexual orientation. 

I am also working on a project about using AI to know ourselves - the paper is currently under review.