2026 Young Epistemologist Prize
Epistemic Insurance Policies Provisionally Accepted
A paper in defense of a class of epistemic norms which insure our intellectual lives against error.
Conner Schultz
Assistant Professor of Philosophy · Florida International University
Email · CV · PhilPeople
About
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Florida International University.
I work primarily in epistemology (including social and applied), metaethics, and the theory of normativity. My essay “Epistemic Insurance Policies” won the 2026 Young Epistemologist Prize and is provisionally accepted at Philosophy & Phenomenological Research.
I received my PhD in Philosophy in May 2025 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before that, I received my MLitt in Philosophy from the University of St. Andrews and my BA in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin.
In 2026, I organized the Southeastern Epistemology Conference.
In a past life, I was ranked among the top 500 players globally in the video game Overwatch. In an even more distant past life, I wrote commercial stock music for a publishing company; my songs have been used for commercial purposes all over the world.
Publications
Believe It or Not: Transparency Is False
A paper rejecting the popular view that deliberation about what to believe is transparent to what's true. En route, I argue (a) that suspended judgment can be a settled attitude, and (b) that we can believe partly on the basis of non-epistemic reasons.
Deliberative Control and Eliminativism About Reasons for Emotions
A paper arguing, on the basis of the deliberative constraint, that there are no normative reasons for emotions.
The Deliberative Constraint on Reasons
An opinionated guide to the deliberative constraint (of which I am a big fan).
Works in Progress
A paper on the truth norm Under review
arguing that there is no truth norm on belief, using the deliberative constraint on reasons.
A paper on reliabilism Under review
arguing that the reliabilist's standard response to the problem of followability exposes reliabilism to a dilemma.
A paper on norm followability In Progress
arguing that norms must be followable—by connecting norms to reasons and reasons to the deliberative constraint.
A paper on deepfakes In Progress
drawing out the skeptical implications of deepfakes.
Talks
A paper on reliabilism (title redacted)
- 2027American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division
Epistemic Insurance Policies
- 2026Rutgers Epistemology Conference
- 2024Applied Epistemology Project Works-in-Progress Series
- 2024Duke–UNC Graduate Conference
Norms Must Be Followable
- 2026Philadelphia Normative Philosophy Conference
- 2026American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division (online)
- 2025Southeastern Epistemology Conference
- 2025Virginia Philosophical Society Meeting
- 2025Alabama Philosophical Society Meeting
Deepfakes, Skepticism, and the Age of Suspicion
- 2026Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Society 10th Annual Meeting
A paper on the truth norm (title redacted)
- 2025American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division (Invited Symposium)
Teaching
Florida International University
- Applied Epistemology
- Epistemology
- The Masters of Suspicion: Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud
- Introduction to Ethics
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
- Marxism and the Critique of Ideology
- The Ethics of War
- Introduction to Critical Thinking
- Introduction to Epistemology
- Applied Epistemology
- Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art