Allison Aitken
Department of Philosophy
Columbia University
717 Philosophy Hall
1150 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY, 10027
[email protected]

EMPLOYMENT
Columbia University, 2021 – present
Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy
New York University, 2020 – 2021
Bersoff Faculty Fellow, Department of Philosophy

​EDUCATION
Harvard University, Joint Ph.D., South Asian Studies and Philosophy, 2020
     Dissertation: “Everywhere Relations”
  • Dissertation Project I: “Śrīgupta on Unity and Being”
  • Dissertation Project II: “Locke on Relations and Persons”
  • Committee Members: Parimal Patil, Leonard van der Kuijp, Jeffrey McDonough, Alison Simmons
Harvard College, Joint A.B., South Asian Studies and Comparative Study of Religion, 2013

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
Asian Philosophy (esp. Indian and Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy), Early Modern Philosophy

AREAS OF COMPETENCE
Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Religion 

PUBLICATIONS
Books
  • Madhyamaka Metaphysical Indefinitism: Neither One Nor Many, in progress, under contract with Oxford University Press.
  • Introduction to Reality: A Study of Śrīgupta’s Tattvāvatāravṛtti with a Critical Edition and Annotated Translation, Harvard Oriental Series, vol. 102, Harvard University Press, 2025.

Journal Articles and Chapters in Edited Volumes
  • "Dharmakīrti on Relations and Persons," British Journal for the History of Philosophy (forthcoming)
  • “Vasubandhu on the Mind-Body Problem: From Atomism to Idealism,” in Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Mind, volume 5, edited by Uriah Kriegel (forthcoming).
  • “Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu on the Principle of Sufficient Reason,” Asian Journal of Philosophy, special issue on “Metaphysics: East and West,” edited by Michael Clark, Li Kang, Kris McDaniel, and Tuomas Tahko, 3, no. 19 (2024): 1–28. doi.org/10.1007/s44204-024-00142-1
  • “A Case Against Simple-Mindedness: Śrīgupta on Mental Mereology,” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 102, no. 3 (2024): 581–607. doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2023.2226687
  • “Chomden Reldri on Dharmakīrti’s Examination of Relations,” in Histories of Tibet: Essays in Honor of Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp, edited by Kurtis Schaeffer, Jue Liang, and William McGrath, Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, 283–305. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2023. (peer-reviewed)
  • “An Appearance-Reality Distinction in an Unreal World,” for an author-meets-critic symposium on Jan Westerhoff’s The Non-existence of the Real World (Oxford 2020), with reply from Westerhoff, Analysis 82, no. 1 (2022): 114–130. doi.org/10.1093/analys/anab085
  • “Śāntarakṣita: Climbing the Ladder to the Ultimate Truth,” in The Routledge Handbook of Indian Buddhist Philosophy, edited by William Edelglass, Pierre-Julien Harter, and Sara L. McClintock, 463–479. New York: Routledge, 2022.
  • “No Unity, No Problem: Madhyamaka Metaphysical Indefinitism,” Philosophers’ Imprint  21, no. 31 (2021): 1–24.  hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.3521354.0021.031
  • “The Truth about Śrīgupta’s Two Truths: Longchen Rabjampa’s ‘Lower Svātantrikas’ and the Making of a New Philosophical School,” Journal of South Asian Intellectual History  3, no. 2 (2021): 185–225. doi:10.1163/25425552-12340024
  • “Somethings and Nothings: Śrīgupta and Leibniz on Being and Unity,” Philosophy East and West 70, no. 4 (2020): 1022–1046. (with Jeffrey K. McDonough) doi:10.1353/pew.2020.0074

Reference Work Entries
  • “Śrīgupta,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (forthcoming)
  • Entries on “Madhyamaka” and “Mahāmudrā,” Encyclopedia of Mindfulness, Buddhism, and Other Contemplative Practices, Springer Living Reference Work, 2024.

Book Review
  • Jonathan Stoltz’s Illuminating the Mind: An Introduction to Buddhist Epistemology (Oxford 2021), Journal of Buddhist Philosophy, 5 (2023): 94–98. doi.org/10.1353/jbp.2019.a919586

Public Philosophy
  • “What’s Wrong with Anger?” Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Winter 2022 issue, vol. 32, no. 2. Adapted from “Śāntideva on Etiological Analysis as a Palliative for Anger,” a talk given at the 2021 Holberg Symposium on “Fear and Anger in Public Life: A Challenge for the Humanities,” in honor of 2021 Holberg Laureate Martha C. Nussbaum. https://tricycle.org/magazine/shantideva-anger
 
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS (* indicates invited, † indicates refereed)
  • May 2026       TBD, University of Toronto*
  • Apr 2026        TBD, Group in Buddhist Studies Colloquium, University of California, Berkeley*
  • Mar 2026       TBD, Yale University Global Philosophy Working Group*
  • Apr 2025        Comments on Charles Goodman and Malcolm Keating’s translation of Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośabhāṣa (on IV.1-4), Workshop on Buddhist Philosophy and its Critics, Yale University*
  • Apr 2025        “Vasubandhu on Intentional Action: From Mind-Body to Mind-Only,” Logic and Metaphysics Workshop, CUNY Graduate Center*
  • Mar 2025        “Vasubandhu on Intentional Action: From Mind-Body to Mind-Only,” Harvard-Columbia Philosophy Workshop*
  • Mar 2025        “Vasubandhu on Intentional Action: From Mind-Body to Mind-Only,” College of William and Mary, Philosophy Department Colloquium*
  • Nov 2024        Comments on Hannah Kim’s “Fiction without Mimesis: A Comparative Philosophy of Fiction,” Danto at 100: What comes Next? Workshop at Columbia University*
  • Dec 2023         “Vasubandhu on the Mind-Body Problem,” SEMPY/The Society for Early Modern Philosophy at Yale University*
  • Apr 2023         “Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu on the Principle of Sufficient Reason,” 2023 Annual Undergraduate Philosophy Conference at NYU*
  • Apr 2023         “Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu on the Principle of Sufficient Reason,” Method, Theory, and Reality, Speaker Series for Early Career Researchers in Philosophy*
  • Mar 2023         “Turtles All the Way Down? Madhyamaka Anti-foundationalism,” Speaking Series in Cosmopolitan Philosophy, University of California, Berkeley*  
  • Feb 2023         Comments on Tuken Lobsang Chokyi Nyima on the Sakya View, Workshop on “Representation in Buddhist and German Idealist Philosophy,” Princeton University*
  • Dec 2022         “Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu on the Principle of Sufficient Reason,” Columbia Philosophy Department Works in Progress Workshop
  • Jul 2022           “Dharmakīrti’s Examination of Relations: Unreal Relations and Selfless Persons,” 16th International Association for Tibetan Studies, panel on “Arguments from and against Authority, Prague, Czech Republic†
  • May 2022         “A Case Against Simple-Mindedness: Śrīgupta on Mental Mereology,” Columbia University Seminar on Comparative Philosophy*
  • May 2022         “A Case Against Simple-Mindedness: Śrīgupta on Mental Mereology,” Proseminar in the History of Philosophy, Cornell University*
  • Apr 2022         “A Case Against Simple-Mindedness: Śrīgupta on Mental Mereology,” Workshop on Buddhist Philosophy of Consciousness, Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University*
  • Feb 2022         Comments on Amber Carpenter’s “Ethics of Atomism,” Center for the Ancient Mediterranean, Columbia University*
  • Feb 2022         Comments on the Vasubandhu Translation Group’s translation of Vasubandhu’s Twenty Verses Symposium on Translating Sanskrit Buddhist Philosophy for the Philosophy Curriculum, Princeton University*
  • Nov 2021        “Madhyamaka Metaphysical Indefinitism,” Buddhism as Philosophy Lecture Series, Boston University Institute for Philosophy and Religion*
  • Oct 2021         “A Case Against Simple-Mindedness: Śrīgupta on Mental Mereology,” Philosophy Colloquium, Arizona State University*
  • Jun 2021          “Śāntideva on Etiological Analysis as a Palliative for Anger,” Holberg Symposium, “Fear and Anger in Public Life: A Challenge for the Humanities,” in honor of 2021 Holberg Laureate, Martha Nussbaum, Bergen, Norway*
  • May 2021         “Madhyamaka Metaphysical Indefinitism,” Global Philosophy Group Talk, University of Toronto*
  • May 2021         “Śrīgupta on Mental Mereology,” Five Colleges Buddhist Studies Faculty Seminar, Smith College*
  • Apr 2021         “Madhyamaka Buddhist Metaphysics: Turtles All the Way Down?” NYU Philosophy Forum*
  • Feb 2021         “Śrīgupta on Mental Mereology,” Invited Symposium: Self and Agency in Indian Buddhist Philosophy, APA Central Division Meeting*
  • Jan 2021          “An Appearance-Reality Distinction in an Unreal World,” Critic in author-meets-critics symposium on Jan Westerhoff’s The Non-existence of the Real World, APA Eastern Division Meeting*
  • Nov 2020        “Madhyamaka Metaphysical Indefinitism,” Buddhism as Philosophy Lecture Series, Boston University Institute for Philosophy and Religion*
  • Nov 2019        “Śrīgupta Against the Unity of the Mind,” 5th International Workshop on Madhyamaka Studies, Madhyamaka and Yogācāra: A Dialogue Between Two Main Streams of Mahāyāna Buddhist Philosophy, Ryukoku University, Kyoto, Japan†
  • Aug 2019         “Fathers, Friends, and Foes: Locke’s Relational Account of Persons,” 3rd Arctic Circle Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, Thick Selves in Early Modern Metaphysics, Kilpisjärvi Station, University of Helsinki, Finland†
  • Jul 2019           “The Truth about Śrīgupta’s Two Truths: Longchen Rabjampa’s ‘Lower Svātantrikas’ and the Making of a New Philosophical School,” 15th Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Panel on Mapping Intellectual Networks of Tibetan Scholasticism, Paris, France†
  • Apr 2019         “Somethings and Nothings: Leibniz and Śrīgupta on Being and Unity,” with Jeffrey McDonough, Varieties of Unity in Early Modern Philosophy, University of Groningen, Netherlands 
  • Nov 2018        “No Thing isn’t Nothing: Śrīgupta’s Neither-One-Nor-Many Argument and Metaphysical Infinitism,” Panel Co-organizer: Neither-One-Nor-Many: Buddhist Philosophy of Religion at Vikramaśīla, Co-sponsored by Buddhist Philosophy and Philosophy of Religion Units, Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion†
  • Jul 2017           “Epistemological Payoffs of a Relation Interpretation of the Lockean Person,” Respondent: Donald Ainslie, University of Toronto, Colloquium on Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy, Groningen Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Thought, Netherlands

AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS, AND GRANTS
  • Visiting Fellowship, Australian National University, Department of Philosophy, Research School of Social Sciences — 2025
  • Lavine Scholar, Columbia University — 2021–2022
  • Presidential Scholar, Harvard University — 2013–2020
  • George Plimpton Adams Prize for outstanding dissertation in the Department of Philosophy, Harvard University — 2020 
  • Fulbright Scholar, Cultural Exchange Fulbright (Institute of International Education), dissertation research in India — 2018–2019 (declined)
  • American Council of Learned Societies Dissertation Fellowship, Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies Dissertation Fellowship — 2018–2019
  • Harvard Asia Center Conference Attendance Grant, funding to present at the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Paris, France — 2019
  • Harvard Graduate Student Council Conference Grant, funding to present at the Varieties of Unity in Early Modern Philosophy Conference at the University of Groningen, Netherlands — 2019
  • Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Harvard University, “Early Modern Philosophy: Self and World” — 2018
  • Ezra F. Vogel Grant, Travel and Research at the Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies, Sikkim, India — Summer 2017
  • Jack C. Tang Grant, Travel and Research in China — Summer 2017 (declined)
  • Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Harvard University, “Introduction to Early Modern Philosophy” — 2016
  • Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Harvard University, “Intermediate Classical Tibetan” — 2015
  • Senior Thesis Book Prize from the Committee on the Study of Religion, Harvard College, highest thesis grade in concentration, summa cum laude — 2013
  • John Harvard Scholar, top 5% of Harvard College class — 2010–2011, 2011–2012, and 2012–2013
  • Fung Scholar, Tibetan language study and senior thesis research at Sichuan University, China; fieldwork in Amdo and Kham ethnic Tibetan regions — Summer 2012
 
TEACHING
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Classical Indian Philosophy — Fall 2025
Philosophy Major Seminar on Metaphysical Disputes in Classical Indian Philosophy — Fall 2023
Graduate Seminar on Buddhist Philosophy — Spring 2023, Spring 2026
Buddhist Philosophy (Columbia College Global Core Course) — Fall 2022
Major Seminar on Buddhist Philosophy — Spring 2022, Spring 2026
Contemporary Civilization — Fall 2021–Spring 2022, Fall 2022–Spring 2023, Fall 2023
 
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
Topics in the History of Philosophy: Buddhist Metaphysics of Persons — Spring 2021
Great Works in Philosophy: Self and World, East and West — Fall 2020
 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Head Teaching Fellow
   Early Modern Philosophy: Self and World (Alison Simmons) — Spring 2018
 
Teaching Fellow
   Introduction to Early Modern Philosophy (Alison Simmons) — Spring 2016
   Buddhist Philosophy Proseminar (Parimal Patil) — Fall 2015
 
Primary Instructor
   Intermediate Classical Tibetan — Fall 2015–Spring 2016, Fall 2016–Spring 2017, Fall 2017           
   Elementary Classical Tibetan — Fall 2016–Spring 2017
 
GUEST LECTURES
   Graduate Seminar on Leibniz, University of Toronto (Marleen Rozemond) — Spring 2020
   Graduate Seminar on British Empiricism, Harvard University (Alison Simmons) — Spring 2019
 
SERVICE
Associate Editor, Journal of Indian Philosophy (2026–present)
Co-Chair, Columbia University Seminar on Comparative Philosophy (2022–present)
Program Committee Member, American Philosophical Association Eastern Division, 2023–2025; 2026–2028
Referee for Asian Journal of Philosophy, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, European Journal for Philosophy of Science, Journal of Indian Philosophy, Journal of Philosophy, Noûs, Philosophy East and West