Philosopher · Educator · Writer
Joshua Paschal
I work at the intersection of legal, political, and moral philosophy with particular interests in criminal law, public and environmental affairs, AI & technology, and the craft of teaching difficult questions well.
About
Ideas should survive contact with ordinary life.
I completed my Ph.D. in Philosophy at Indiana University Bloomington, including a minor at the Maurer School of Law. My dissertation, Criminal Law and the Setting of Standards, asks what criminal law is for and what can make its demands legitimate.
The question connecting much of my work is reciprocal: how do beliefs shape behavior and institutions, and how do ordinary practices and standing institutions shape what people come to believe? Criminal law makes this relationship unusually visible. It protects rights and responds to wrongdoing, but it also establishes responsibilities, directs conduct, and expresses collective commitments.
At Indiana, I spent five years teaching philosophy—two years designing and teaching my own courses and three years assisting in large introductory courses. I also served in graduate governance and organizing roles, including president of the Graduate Association of Students in Philosophy, graduate-worker representative, and bargaining coordinator.
Education
Indiana University Bloomington
Ph.D., Philosophy, 2026
Minor in Law (Maurer School of Law)
M.A., Philosophy, 2021
University of Mary Washington
B.A., Philosophy, 2019
Current work
I am working with both Mercor Intelligence and Handshake AI, bringing both my expertise and operations experience into various major projects in the emerging artificial intelligence industry.
Research, teaching, and public work belong together.
Research
My core research develops a pluralist account of criminal law and applies it to negligence, hate-crime enhancements, moral agency, role responsibility, legal symbolism, and over-enforcement. My other research projects extend into immigration, secession, legal moralism, environmental ethics, and intellectual history.
Teaching
I design discussion-centered courses that pair serious intellectual demands with rapport and collaboration. My teaching spans ethics, law, environmental thought, applied ethics, political philosophy, and general humanities.
Public work
My public writing addresses AI and education, secession, graduate-school belonging, and other questions where philosophical distinctions can clarify live concerns. I am also developing ideas for collaborative forums and better public surveys of moral and political reasoning.
Beyond the work
I am an album-review enthusiast, amateur guitarist and keyboardist, MIDI sequencer, and devoted karaoke participant. I am also interested in the significance people create through apparently minor practices—from fandom and games to shared musical rituals—and in what those practices reveal about agency and collective life.
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For teaching, research, public philosophy, or collaborative projects:
