About Me

I am an adjunct professor at Washington & Jefferson College for the 2026-27 academic year, and a PhD candidate in the Department of Philosophy at Indiana University Bloomington (anticipated defense in December 2026). In 2025-26, I was a Future Faculty Teaching Fellow at Butler University in Indianapolis. Prior to this, I completed a MA (with ethics certificate!) at Texas Tech University.

Most of my philosophical research concerns meaning in life, centered on questions of belonging & purpose, and connections between them, but I’m also interested in methodological & metaphilosophical issues raised by much current work on meaning in life. I also have interests in value theory, political philosophy, virtue ethics, existentialism, especially where these issues intersect with the above. Finally, I enjoy dabbling in classical Chinese philosophy, especially the Mengzi & Zhuangzi.

I wrote a brief piece for the IUB Philosophy Department newsletter which gathers together some of the central aspects of my dissertation research.

When I’m not doing philosophy, I enjoy reading science-fiction and fantasy books (send me recommendations!), playing PC games, listening to live music, doing karaoke, sampling craft beer, and biking everywhere. I have a guitar that someday I will learn how to play (maybe).

I can be contacted at kfosterv [at] iu [dot] edu