About
Toby Napoletano, PhD
I am a lecturer in the Philosophy department at the University of California-Merced. I received my PhD in Philosophy from the University of Connecticut in 2017.
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My academic research currently focuses on the concepts of desert and meritocracy, their connections to justice, education, and related areas in political philosophy, though I also have specializations in philosophy of language/linguistics. I currently teach courses on Human Rights, Political Philosophy, Introductory Logic, and Ethics. I have run the Badlands Politics and Philosophy Podcast since 2018.
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(Pictured left: Wally, the mountain ranger cat.)
(Pictured Below: Mariposa Lily, a native wildflower in the Sierra Nevada which blooms on our property each May)
Research and Writing
"Desert or Dignity? Rethinking Injustice in Wages. (forthcoming) Economics & Philosophy.
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"Meritocracy, meritocratic education, and equality of opportunity." (2024) Theory and Research in Education, 22(1), 3-18. https://doi.org/10.1177/14778785241226662
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"Can Retributivism and Risk Assessment Be Reconciled?" (co-authored w/ Hanna Gunn) (2024) Criminal Justice Ethics 43 (1):37-56.
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"Desert Is a Dyadic Relation" (2022), Analysis.
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"Can Essentiality of Origin Save Meritocracy From The Luck Objection?" (2022), Philosophia 51 (2):883-895.
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"Measurement and desert: Why grades cannot be deserved" (2021), Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 10 (4): 282-292.
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"How Important Are Truth-Conditions In Truth-Conditional Semantics?" (2019), Linguistics and Philosophy 42 (6): 541-575.
"Why Truth-Conditional Semantics in Generative Linguistics is Still the Better Bet" (2017), Erkenntnis 82 (3): 673-692.
"Compositionality As Weak Supervenience" (2015), Synthese 192 (1): 201-220.
Podcast
The Badlands Politics and Philosophy
I also run The Badlands Politics and Philosophy podcast. The Badlands aims to present, in a publicly accessible way, the philosophical dimensions of contemporary political issues, with a particular focus on progressive politics and issues. All Badlands related content can be found at BadlandsPhilosophy.com (Twitter: @TheBadlandsPod).