Julia Staffel, University of Colorado at Boulder

Julia Staffel is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She received her PhD in Philosophy from the University of Southern California in 2013. Before joining USC, she studied Philosophy and Linguistics at Humboldt University in Berlin and at Brown University. She mainly works in the areas of traditional and formal epistemology, with a focus on questions about rationality and reasoning. She is especially interested in exploring how thinkers ought to manage non-ideal conditions, such as their own irrationality, mistakes, time constraints, and other hardships.

"...rich and rewarding text. I cannot recommend Unsettled Thoughts strongly enough. If you haven't bought and read a copy of it yet, I urge you to do so. It truly repays careful study." -- Branden Fitelson, Philosophical Studies

"...excellent book." -- Jason Konek, Philosophical Studies

"I argue that for beliefs to properly play their simplifying role, reasoning with beliefs must inevitably lead to small degrees of incoherence among the agent's attitudes. There are many interesting questions about how to think of rationality as a graded notion that Unsettled Thoughts leaves open, and I point out a slew of them in Chap. 10. My hope is that others will join forces with me and continue the investigation of why humans should strive to be more rational." -- Julia Staffel, Philosophical Studies

"Excellent book" -- Jason Konek, Philosophical Studies