Cathleen Muller

Lecturer in Philosophy
Director of Core/Liberal Studies

Bio

I am a Lecturer in Philosophy and the Director of the Core/Liberal Studies program at Marist. I started teaching full-time at Marist in 2011 and have taught a wide range of courses over the years: Philosophical Perspectives, Ethics, First-Year Seminar: Family Matters, Knowledge and Reality, Foundations of American Social Thought, and Symbolic Logic. My academic interests are similarly wide-ranging, although I am most interested in the metaphysics of fiction and how fiction and art intersect with other questions that shape our lives, such as political activism, personal identity, race, and gender. When not engaged in academic work, I enjoy reading, running, spending time with my family, playing accordion, and walking on stilts at local parades and festivals.


Education

PhD, Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2012|
MA, Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007
MA, Philosophy, Tufts University, 2004
BA, English Literature, Swarthmore College, 2000


Research Interests/ Areas of Focus

Areas of Specialization: Metaphysics, Aesthetics, Philosophy of Language

Areas of Interest: Logic, American Philosophy, Philosophy of Gender, Philosophy of Race


Selected Publications

“In Defense of Racebending,” Contemporary Aesthetics, 23 (2025): https://contempaesthetics.org/2025/11/17/in-defense-of-racebending/

“Cheap Art and Creative Activism,” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 81, no. 2 (2023): 269-279, https://doi.org/10.1093/jaac/kpad009

with Camelia Moczydlowski, “The Objective Value of Appreciating Beauty and Living Morally: Reply to Hooker,” Journal of Practical Ethics: April 2, 2019.

with David Sanson and Ben Caplan, "Counting Again," Grazer Philosophische Studien, 94, nos. 1-2 (2017): 69-82

"Journaling and Pre-Theoretical Discussion as Inclusive Pedagogy," AAPT Studies in Pedagogy, Volume 3: Inclusive Pedagogies (2017): 72-86.

With Ben Caplan, "Brutal Identity," Fictional Objects, ed. Anthony Everett and Stuart Brock (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 174-207.

"Exercises in Empathy: Commentary on Barnbaum," Philosophy through Teaching, ed. Emily Esch, Kevin Hermberg, and Rory E. Kraft, Jr. (Charlottesville, VA: Philosophy Documentation Center, 2014), 65-69.

With Ben Caplan, "Against a Defense of Fictional Realism," The Philosophical Quarterly 64, no. 255 (April 2014): 211-224.


Selected Presentations

“Play, Pretense, and Power,” American Society for Aesthetics, Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, October 2025.

“White Skin, Black Masks: Race in Puppet Theater,” American Society for Aesthetics, Rocky Mountain Division, Santa Fe, NM, July 2025.

“Imagining Transformative Experience,” American Philosophical Society, Eastern Division, New York City, NY, January 2025.

“Are Racially Diverse Fictions Anti-Racist?” American Society for Aesthetics, Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, November 2023.

“How to Have Fun in Your Online or Hybrid Course,” American Association of Philosophy Teachers, Annual Conference, Zoom, July 22, 2020.

“Racebending in Fiction: Does the Character Survive?” American Society for Aesthetics, Eastern Division, Philadelphia, PA, April 5, 2019.

"Grounding Fictional Objects," Canadian Philosophical Association Annual Congress, Montreal, Quebec, June 2018.

"Gender- and Race-Bending: Does the Character Survive?", Workshop on the Metaphysics of Art and Music, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, February 2017.

"Cast of Characters: The Temptation of Realism about Characters in Theater," American Society for Aesthetics, Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, November 2016.

“‘I’m a Real Boy!’: Predication and Fictional Characters,” American Philosophical Association, Central Division, Chicago, IL, February 2014.

with Henry Pratt, “The Case of the Disappearing Epaulets: An Account of Continuity Errors,” American Society for Aesthetics, Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, October 2013.

“The Relation of Puppet to Character in the Work of Bread and Puppet Theater,” Fifty Years Bread & Puppet, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, September 2013.

“A Feminist Argument Against Free Choice,” Women and Society Conference, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY, October 2009.

“Reply to Everett’s ‘Against Fictional Realism,’”  American Society for Aesthetics, Pacific Division, Pacific Grove, CA, April 2009.

“Reply to Everett’s ‘Against Fictional Realism,’”  UMass Metaphysics Conference, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, January 2009.
 

Cathleen Muller

Contact Information

Academic School

School of Liberal Arts

Office

Fontaine 213

Email

cathleen.muller@marist.edu

Phone

(845) 575-5095