The Journal of Philosophy of Disability

The Journal of Philosophy of Disability is a scholarly publication that examines questions of disability, broadly construed. It includes peer-reviewed articles, book reviews, critical responses, commentaries, and occasional symposia and special issues. The editors welcome scholarship from all philosophical perspectives, including analytic, continental, and pragmatist traditions, the history of philosophy, empirically informed philosophy, non-Western philosophy, feminist philosophy, philosophy of race, and other traditions and fields that substantively engage research in philosophy of disability. Founded in 2020 by Joel Michael Reynolds, the goal of the JPD is to provide easy access to the highest-quality work in the field of philosophy of disability. It is published by the Philosophy Documentation Center without requiring payments from authors. The JPD is the official journal of the Society for Philosophy and Disability and it fully supports the society's mission.

The Journal of Philosophy of Disability accepts submissions year round. #disability #philosophy #accessibility

Gene Editing Technologies, Utopianism, and Disability Politics - Volume 3, 2023 Scholars have long speculated about what a future affected by gene editing technologies might hold. This article enters current debates over the future of gene editing and the place of disability with...

Her essay, “Gene Editing Technologies, Utopianism, and Disability Politics,” was included in the third volume of the JPD!

You can read it here!
www.pdcnet.org/jpd/content/...

Amber Knight is Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her research focuses on contemporary democratic theory, disability theory, and feminist political thought.

Against Philosophy, Against Disability - Volume 2, 2022 This paper argues that the field of philosophy, and bioethics spe­cifically, engages in a series of speech acts that identify scholarship advocating for increased philosophical engagement with the exp...

His essay, “Against Philosophy, Against Disability,” was included in the second volume of the JPD!

You can read it here!
www.pdcnet.org/jpd/content/...

Black and white photo of Johnathan Flowers in front of a microphone.

Researcher Highlight: Johnathan Flowers is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at California State University, Northridge. His work focuses on questions in African American intellectual history and philosophy, Japanese Aesthetics, and Philosophy of Disability.

Why Human Difference is Critical to a Conception of Moral Standing: An Argument for the Sufficiency of Being Human for Full Moral Status - Volume 1, 2021 I argue that the claim that merely being born of two human beings in a condition that supports life is sufficient for full moral status. Not only ought we not to exclude any human being from full mor...

Her essay, “Why Human Difference is Critical to a Conception of Moral Standing: An Argument for the Sufficiency of Being Human for Full Moral Status,” was included in the first volume of the JPD!

You can read it here!
www.pdcnet.org/jpd/content/...

Researcher Highlight: Eva Feder Kittay is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Stony Brook University, a Senior Fellow of the Stony Brook Center for Medical Humanities, and an Affiliate of the Women's Studies Program. Her research focuses on feminist ethics and disability studies.

Access Without the Demand for Explanation: Glissant, Disability, and the Right to Access Opacity - Volume 3, 2023 Within Western approaches to disability, the expectation for disabled people to ‘prove our disability’ is not only central for receiving access supports, but also for being accepted by those around us...

Her prize-winning essay, “Accommodation Without the Demand for Explanation: Glissant, Disability, Opacity,” was included in the third volume of the JPD!

You can read it here!
www.pdcnet.org/jpd/content/...

Headshot of Rhea Ienni in front of a city skyline.

Researcher Highlight: Rhea Ienni is a philosophy PhD student at Loyola University Chicago and the 2022 winner of the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (SPEP) S. Kay Toombs Prize.

Gaming the System?: Justice, Fairness, and Disability Accommodations - Volume 2, 2022 I am legally entitled to certain accommodations for my visual impairment that I do not always need. Affording me these rights is required by justice even on those rare occasions in which they are not ...

His paper, “Gaming the System?: Justice, Fairness, and Disability Accommodations,” was included in the second volume of the JPD!

You can read it here!
www.pdcnet.org/jpd/content/...

Headshot of Professor Adam Cureton.

Researcher Highlight: Adam Cureton is the Lindsay Young Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tennessee. His research focuses on issues in ethics, the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, and the philosophy of disability.

Supported Decision-making: The CRPD, Non-Discrimination, and Strategies for Recognizing Persons’ Choices About their Good - Volume 1, 2021 People with cognitive impairments often have difficulties formulating, understanding, or articulating decisions that others judge reasonable. The frequent response shifts decision-making authority to ...

Her paper, “Supported Decision-making: The CRPD, Non-Discrimination, and Strategies for Recognizing Persons’ Choices About their Good,” was included in the first volume of the JPD!

You can read it here!

www.pdcnet.org/jpd/content/...

Headshot of Professor Leslie Francis

Researcher Highlight: Leslie Francis holds joint appointments as Alfred C. Emery distinguished professor of law and distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of Utah. Her research focuses on philosophy of law, bioethics, & disability law and ethics.

Intellectual Disability, Dehumanization, and the Fate of “the Human” - Volume 3, 2023 Dehumanization Studies is a burgeoning field that has much to teach Critical Disability Studies and philosophers of disability. Conversely, a critical disability perspective can inform and challenge t...

Her paper, “Intellectual Disability, Dehumanization, and the Fate of 'the Human',” was included in the third volume of the JPD!

You can read it here!
www.pdcnet.org/jpd/content/...

Headshot of Professor Licia Carlson.

Researcher Highlight: Licia Carslon is a professor in the Department of Philosophy at Providence College. Her research focuses on philosophy of disability, biomedical ethics, and 20th century continental philosophy.

Chronic Pain, Mere-Differences, and Disability Variantism - Volume 2, 2022 While some philosophers believe disabilities constitute a “bad-difference,” others think they constitute a “mere-difference” (Barnes 2016). On this latter view, while disabilities may create certain h...

His paper, “Chronic Pain, Mere-Differences, and Disability Variantism,” was included in the second volume of the JPD!

You can read it here!
www.pdcnet.org/jpd/content/...

Headshot of Dr. Thomas Nadelhoffer

Researcher Highlight: Thomas Nadelhoffer is a professor in the Department of Philosophy at the College of Charleston, affiliate member of the Department of Psychology, and roster faculty member in the Neuroscience Program. His research focuses on moral psychology, free will, and neuroethics.

Technologies of Reproduction: Race, Disability, and Neoliberal Eugenics - Volume 1, 2021 When considering the relation between race, disability, and reproduction, race and disability tend to figure as outcomes of reproduction. It is assumed that one births a child with a certain race and ...

Her paper, “Technologies of Reproduction: Race, Disability, and Neoliberal Eugenics,” was included in the first volume of the JPD!

You can read it here!
www.pdcnet.org/jpd/content/...

Researcher Highlight: Desiree Valentine is an Assistant Professor in the philosophy department at Marquette University. She works at the intersections of Critical Philosophy of Race, Feminist Philosophy, Queer Theory, and Disability Bioethics.

Concealing Gender Non-Conformity: A Trans Phenomenology of Disability - Volume 4, 2024 Cissexist perception involves a prejudicial judgment and an unmediated affective response, such as that of disgust, directed at the gendered aspects of another person. In this paper, I advance a view ...

We are excited that her paper—“Concealing Gender Non-Conformity: A Trans Phenomenology of Disability”—was included in the fourth volume of the JPD!

You can read it here!
www.pdcnet.org/jpd/content/...

Headshot of Bella-Rose Kelly

Researcher Highlight: Bella-Rose Kelly is a doctoral candidate in the philosophy department at Georgetown University. Her research interests include critical phenomenology, settler colonial studies, and philosophy of disability.

More than Merely Present: Mobile Maps and Agency in the City - Volume 4, 2024 E-mapping technologies are a recent technological intervention promising to promote accessibility for disabled city residents. As part of their promise, they seem to position disabled people as agents...

We are excited that his paper—“More than Merely Present: Mobile Maps and Agency in the City”—was included in the fourth volume of the JPD!

You can read it here!
www.pdcnet.org/jpd/content/...

Researcher Highlight: Dr. Nate Whelan-Jackson is an Associate Professor in the Religion and Philosophy Department at Capital University. His research focuses on pragmatism, philosophy of disability, and 20th century philosophy.

Curative Eschatology: Christian Ableism and Religious Cripistemology - Volume 4, 2024 Mobilizing a “cripistemological” approach that “think[s] from the critical, social, and personal position of disability,” (Johnson and McRuer 2014, 134), this paper engages a fundamental site of Chris...

We are excited that his paper—“Curative Eschatology: Christian Ableism and Religious Cripistemology”—was included in the fourth volume of the JPD!

You can read the article here! www.pdcnet.org/jpd/content/...

Headshot of Professor Joshua St. Pierre.

Researcher Highlight: Joshua St. Pierre is Canada Research Chair in Critical Disability Studies and Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta. He researches the interplay between communication and disability in information societies.

Dementia and Value Neutrality - Volume 4, 2024 According to Elizabeth Barnes’s minority body view, to say that a disability is value neutral is to say that it is neither automatically good nor bad, but rather can become good or bad depending on wh...

We are excited that her paper—“Dementia and Value Neutrality”—was included in the fourth volume of the JPD!

You can read the article here!
www.pdcnet.org/jpd/content/...

Headshot of Dr. Chris Weigel

Researcher Highlight: Chris Weigel is Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy and Humanities at Utah Valley University. Her research extends to caregiving ethics, experimental philosophy of free will, and moral psychology.

Cripping Cis: Rethinking Cisgender within a Disability Critique - Volume 4, 2024 In this paper, I look for the crip potential at the heart of cis. What would a theory of cisgender look like if that were presumed from the start? I begin by observing that many early endorsers theori...

We are excited to include his paper, “Cripping Cis: Rethinking Cisgender within a Disability Critique” in the fourth volume of the JPD!

You can read the article here!
www.pdcnet.org/jpd/content/...

Headshot of Perry Zurn.

Researcher Highlight: Perry Zurn is Visiting Associate Professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Cornell University and Provost Associate Professor of Philosophy at American University. His research extends to political philosophy, critical theory, and lgbtq+ studies.

The Journal of Philosophy of Disability

The fourth issue of The Journal of Philosophy of Disability is available (open access) now!

Check out the work of the incredible authors who contributed to this issue: www.pdcnet.org/collection-a...