Akshath Jitendranath

Welcome!

I am, Akshath Jitendranath, a Postdoctoral Fellow in Philosophy and Economics at the Paris School of Economics. Starting in Fall 2025, I will be a tenure track Assistant Professor in PPE at the Department of Philosophy, Purdue University.Here is my CV.My office hours will be by appointment and you can make one using Calendly.Feel free to reach out to me at akshath [dot] j [at] gmail [dot] com or connect with me on PhilPeople | Twitter/X | Bluesky.

But who are you?

By way of stating my academic identity, economists think I'm a philosopher, while philosophers think I'm an economist. Let's just say that I enjoy playing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in my academic work which is at the intersection of philosophy and economics. However, and to quote one of my greatest influences, the union of my interests in the two fields far exceeds their intersection.

My work has appeared in philosophy journals (Journal of Philosophy), economics journals (Journal of Mathematical Economics) as well as interdisciplinary journals (Theory and Decision). My paper in the Journal of Philosophy also won the Isaac Levi Prize (2023).

Now, since we are also getting to know each other, let me say that I welcome, and indeed thrive on conversations about new pedagogical and research initiatives at the intersection of philosophy and economics with: (i) potential collaborators from anywhere; (ii) students at any level; (iii) and colleagues in any discipline. I especially thrive on conversations with people who manage to combine a healthy disregard for disciplinary boundaries with a deep respect and appreciation for the internal standards of excellence within their disciplines. So please do feel free to reach out if this speaks to you!

But where do those blue eyes come from?

If you couldn't already tell from my blonde hair and blue eyes, I was born and raised in Bangalore, India. Despite the costs involved with this choice (for it is a choice) I continue to be a citizen of that complicated country. In this context it is worth emphasising that while I do not take the South Asian sub-continent to be my direct object of research in any immediate way, I have wasted spent a lot of my free time thinking about South Asian society, its history, politics, culture, and its various discontents.The time that I have wasted spent thinking about these issues has resulted in a new, parallel, line of research that is at the intersection of philosophy and political science and a lot more applied. Specifically, this line of my research is on the empirically informed normative analysis of institutions in the Global South in general and South Asia in particular. I will be publishing in this area soon.

Et cetera....

When I am not engaged by my intellectual pursuits, I enjoy cooking, tending to my houseplants, curating playlists on Spotify, supporting Arsenal Football Club, watching Test match cricket, and reading poetry (it's May 2025 and I'm reading Vikram Seth's translation of the Hanuman Chalisa).

Akshath Jitendranath

Journal articles:

Choice Functions and Hard Choices (with Martin van Hees and Roland Luttens), Journal of Mathematical Economics. (2021)

Optimization and Beyond, Journal of Philosophy. (2024)
     — recipient of the Isaac Levi Prize of the Journal of Philosophy

Small Amendment Arguments: How They Work, and What They Do and Do Not Show (with Martin van Hees and Roland Luttens), Theory and Decision. (2025)

Edited volumes:

Book Symposium on Prof. John Roemer's, "How We Cooperate: A Theory of Kantian Optimization" (with Marina Uzunova). Special Issue of the Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics.(2020)
     — with contributions from: John Roemer, Itai Sher, Peter Vallentyne, Jean-François Laslier, Matthew Braham, and Martin van Hees

Interviews:

What Egalitarianism Requires: An Interview with John Roemer (with Marina Uzunova), Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics (2020)

What Public Policy Can Be: An Interview with Matthew Adler (with Måns Abrahamson), Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics (2023)

Going somewhere:

These are papers in alpha mode which means that they are ready and fit for circulation. Indeed, I am seeking comments on these papers so please do email me if you would like to read a latest draft.

1. Hard Choices: Neither Parity, Nor Incommensurability, Nor Incomparability

2. Two Dogmas of Decision Theory

3. Rational Decision Making with Multiple Considerations and Hard Choices (with Susumu Cato)

4. What Are We Talking About When We Are Talking About Hard Choices?

5. Hoodwinking the Public: On the Ethics and Epistemology of Administrative Data (with Anmol Somanchi)

6. A Dilemma for Bargaining-Based Solutions to Incommensurable Values

7. How Not to be a Fanatic (with Andrea Petrou and Nikhil Venkatesh)8. On the Epistemic Role of the Administrative State (with Kirun Sankaran)

Going nowhere:

These are papers or projects in beta mode which means that even an early draft does not exist (at least not in a state that is fit for circulation or comment). So please do not email me asking for a latest draft. But if you are curious about what I am trying to do in these papers, then do get in touch.

1. Don't Call Me Postcolonial!2. Against Anyaya: A Restatement and Defence of Amartya Kumar Sen3. The Savarna Stance: An Essay on the Epistemology of Ignorance4. What is the Point of the Capability Approach?5. Are Hard Choices a Psychological Phenomena?

Akshath Jitendranath

Resources and notes for students:

  • On arguing, reading, and writing in philosophy

  • On reading "notation heavy" papers or books

  • Notes on modelling (for those just learning the ropes)

  • Some notes on etiquette within and outside the classroom

My teaching dossier, along with teaching letters are available upon request.