I am Postdoctoral Fellow in the Mudd Center for Ethics at Washington and Lee University. I earned my Ph. D. in philosophy from Emory University in 2021. I work in the areas of nineteenth-century European philosophy and continental philosophy, and I am also interested in the philosophy of nature and the philosophy of art.

I was born in El Paso, Texas, but grew up across the border in Cd. Juarez, Mexico. After my family emigrated to the U.S. when I turned fifteen, I spent my early adult years in Denver. I take it that my interest in continental philosophy comes from my experience as a “border-town kid.” Growing up accustomed to the ambiguity of being from “neither here, nor there” resulted in being comfortable with and indeed appreciative of a philosophical style that emphasizes the haze and fuzziness of life. 

My research explores the meaning of thinghood, mostly through four lenses: plasticity, damageability, inertness, and perspectivity. I know of my interest in things since my first semester of college. In fact, I think I can pinpoint the exact moment I came to realize this. On a cold January day in Denver, while helping my father remove the transmission of his Ford F-150, I remember thinking just how imposing such a greasy, massive, bulk of metal was. In some sense, things silently dictate our lives. We did, after all, spent a cold day outside, on the ground, playing entirely by its rules.

At Emory, I built a foundation in the history of philosophy as well as contemporary areas of inquiry, such as critical theory, Heidegger, and French continental philosophy. My training has been interdisciplinary and intersectional thanks to the close affiliation between the Philosophy Department and other graduate programs, such as the Institute for the Liberal Arts, the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department, and the Comparative Literature Department. At W&L, I put this to practice by helping organize the Mudd Center’s interdisciplinary speaking series. I teach courses that complement the humanistic yearly theme of the Center’s speaking series.

Besides doing philosophy, I am currently listening to four great albums: Kishi Bashi’s Emigrant, Pomme’s Consolation, Nacho Vegas’ Mundos inmóviles derrumbándose, and Clara Luciani’s Coeur. Thank you for looking! You’ll find information here on my research and recent work and teaching. Feel free to write me at oquinonez@wlu.edu