SHAWN X. HERNANDEZ
About

I'm a Philosophy Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pennsylvania. I grew up in Los Angeles and completed my M.A. at California State University, Long Beach.

I'm also a musician and have been playing in metal bands since I was a teenager. My current project Wounddress is for my fellow emo kids who never grew up.

Shawn X. Hernandez

Research

My dissertation is about love, respect, and what they have to do with each other. The central idea is that love is a creative emotion, and the best way to understand what that means is to rethink the ethics of respect from the ground up.

publications
Practical Reasons for Belief Without Stakes (with N.G. Laskowski), Analytic Philosophy, 2021.
What Makes Normative Concepts Normative (with N.G. Laskowski), Southwest Philosophy Review, 2021. Presidential Prize for best article by a junior scholar.

Teaching

I'm a first-generation college student, and a big part of what drives my teaching is helping the next generation of philosophers find their place and voice in the discipline. I teach at the University of Pennsylvania and in the greater Philadelphia area. I'm also a Philosopher-in-Residence at the Academy at Palumbo in collaboration with PLATO, and a volunteer instructor for Penn's Philosophy for the Young.

instructor of record
Introduction to Philosophy, Summer 2026 (planned)
Introduction to Philosophy, Summer 2025
teaching assistant
Ethics and Society (Dr. Paul Musso), Fall 2025 & Spring 2025
The Social Contract (Dr. Jennifer Morton; Dr. Paul Musso), Spring 2025 & Spring 2023
Knowledge and Reality (Dr. Daniel Singer), Fall 2024
Philosophy of Law (Dr. Carlos Pereira Di Salvo), Fall 2023