Sophie Kikkert
I'm a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP). Previously, I was a Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities ‘Human Abilities’ in Berlin. Before that, I obtained my PhD at the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
I am interested in what it takes to have and exercise abilities, and in how we learn about our own abilities. I further investigate how the abilities that we have and believe we have affect our aspirations and choices. My most recent project concerns the relation between abilities and disability.
Research
My research centres on various topics within social philosophy, modal epistemology, metaphysics, and practical rationality. Currently, I focus on three interrelated projects. First, I investigate how an agent’s social context may hinder their epistemic access to their own abilities. Second, I examine which options someone rationally ought to represent, given their beliefs about their abilities. And third, I am developing a new theory of disability with a special focus on enculturation and the normativity of ability.
Journal Articles
Kikkert, S. (2022). 'Ability's Two Dimensions of Robustness'. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, https://doi.org/10.1093/arisoc/aoac002
I individuate two dimensions along which abilities can be robust. Dimension I distinguishes the successful exercise of abilities, which requires local control, from cases of lucky success. Dimension II concerns the global availability of relevant acts, which ensures that an agent has the option to perform some act across a variety of scenarios. I show how this framework resolves a point of tension in the literature regarding the strength of the robustness required for ability and explain how it provides insight in the relation between ability possession and exercise.
Kikkert, S. and Segundo-Ortin, M. (forthcoming). 'Disability, Affordances, and the Dogma of Harmony: Socializing the EE-model of Disability', Topoi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-024-10120-0
Recent years have seen increased interest among 4E cognition scholars in physical disability, leading to the development of the EE-model of disability. This paper contributes to the literature on disability and 4E cognition in three key ways. First, it examines the relationship between the EE-model and social constructivist views that address the bodily reality of disablement, highlighting commonalities and distinctions. Second, it critiques the EE-model’s focus on individual strategies for expanding disabled persons’ affordance landscapes, arguing that disability policy should integrate insights from both the EE-model and social constructivist approaches. Finally, it assesses the EE-model against the “dogma of harmony.” We argue that while the EE-model’s focus on active human-environment collaboration is valuable, it can inadvertently perpetuate this dogma. We contend that integrating certain social constructivist insights can help the EE-model avoid the dogma of harmony.
Book Reviews
Kikkert, S. and Vetter, B. (2024). 'Options and Agency', Australasian Journal of Philosophy,
Work in Progress
'Society-relative Abilities'
'Ability Knowledge and Epistemic Disadvantage'
'Knowing What You Can Do’ (with Tom Schoonen)
'Disability: an Ability-based View'
YAYOI KUSAMA (2002) INFINITY NETS - SEA