Summer 2025 Faculty
Each 2-hour Reason & Rationality class session is led by one Instructor and one supporting Group Leader for a highly interactive 5:1 Student to Instructor ratio. Our Instructors are Ph.D. students or graduates from top philosophy programs. Group Leaders are undergraduate students focused on philosophy, who actively participate and facilitate discussions and help to support activities and continuing conversations outside class.
Peter Bach-y-Rita
DEAN OF ACADEMICS
Peter Bach-y-Rita: Ph.D., MIT (Philosophy), J.D. Stanford Law School, A.B. Princeton University (highest honors). Dr. Bach-y-Rita's dissertation at MIT was at the intersection of ethics, biology and technology. He has published work on intellectual property, bankruptcy law, and the nature of legal causation. He co-founded Reason & Rationality in 2023.
Joe earned a BA in Philosophy with highest distinction from Purdue University and is currently a Philosophy PhD student at Princeton University. He has published 16 articles on topics in metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and ethics in leading peer-reviewed philosophy journals. He also authored the books Existential Inertia and Classical Theistic Proofs (with Dr. Daniel Linford) and The Majesty of Reason: A Short Guide to Critical Thinking in Philosophy. On the popular level, he creates lecture videos and hosts discussions with philosophers on his YouTube channel Majesty of Reason. His videos have attracted nearly 1.5 million views in total.
Joseph Schmid
HEAD OF INSTRUCTION
Expert Guest Lecturers
Benjamin Morison
DEPARTMENT CHAIR OF PHILOSOPHY, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Peter Baumann
DEPARTMENT CHAIR OF PHILOSOPHY, SWARTHMORE COLLEGE
Christy Wampole
PROFESSOR OF FRENCH,
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Instructors
Noah McKay
Noah is a PhD student in philosophy at Princeton University. He earned his BA in philosophy from Covenant College (summa cum laude) and his MSc in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh (First Class Honours). He has published several peer-reviewed academic articles about epistemology, metaethics, and philosophy of religion and presented original research at about a dozen conferences. He has also coached high school debate for seven years.
Florence Bacus
Florence is a Philosophy PhD student at Harvard University. She received a BS in mathematics and physics from the University of Michigan in 2018, and an MA in philosophy from Tufts University in 2020. Her current work concerns the nature of rational agency and free will and what that has to do with the foundations of ethics, in particular influenced by the moral theory of Immanuel Kant.
Summer Convivium Group Leaders
Amos Wollen
Amos Wollen is an undergraduate reading Philosophy and Theology at Oriel College, Oxford. He is an Emergent Ventures winner.
Cole Whetstone
Cole is a graduate student at NYU. Before beginning his doctoral work, he earned a Master of Studies in Ancient Philosophy at Oxford, where he also taught Ancient Greek at Jesus College. He previously completed his undergraduate degree in Classics at Harvard.
Cadence James
Cadence James studies philosophy, politics and economics at Wadham College, Oxford, where she also rows.
Eugene Shcherbinin
Eugene studies philosophy, mathematics and economics at London School of Economics. He is an Emergent Ventures winner and Ex-President of LSE Effective Altruism.
Oak Hu
Oak Hu does math & philosophy at Magdalen College, Oxford — so, she thinks 'philosophy' means playing with symbols like '◊' and 'λ'.
Eugenia Brotons-
Batista
Eugenia studies philosophy, politics, and economics at the London School of Economics. She used to ski competitively and now she teaches in her spare time.
Questions About the Reason & Rationality's Vision for Conversation-Based Education?
Check out the frequently asked questions on our website or reach out to Reason & Rationality at info@reasonandrationality.com.
