Akshath Jitendranath

Welcome!

I am an Assistant Professor in PPE at the Department of Philosophy, Purdue University.I came to Purdue from Paris, where I was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Philosophy and Economics at the Paris School of Economics. Before that, I cut my intellectual teeth in The Netherlands—first with a Research Master in Philosophy and Economics from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, then with a PhD in PPE from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. And before all of this accidental—but happy—cosmopolitanism that has taken me to some fascinating parts of the world; I was born and raised in another fascinating part of the world. In India, where I also did an undergraduate degree in Economics.

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.

Indeed, 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).

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] jitendranath [at] gmail [dot] com or connect with me on PhilPeople | Twitter/X | Bluesky.

Akshath Jitendranath

Papers:

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

2. Optimization and Beyond. The Journal of Philosophy (2024)
          —Recipient of the Isaac Levi Prize

3. 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)

Interviews:

1. What Egalitarianism Requires: An Interview with John E. Roemer (with Marina Uzunova). Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics (2021)

2. What Public Policy Can Be: An Interview with Matthew Adler (with Måns Abrahamson). Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics (2024)

Going somewhere:

These are papers in alpha mode, which means that a draft, or something resembling a draft, exists and I am actively seeking comments on them. So feel free to reach out if you are curious about what I am getting up to here.1. What Are We Talking About When We Are Talking About Hard Choices?2. Two Dogmas of Decision Theory3. A Dilemma for Bargaining-Based Approaches to Incommensurable Values4. How Not To Be A Fanatic (with Nikhil Venkatesh and Andrea Petrou)5. Hoodwinking the Public: On The Ethics and Epistemology of Administrative Data (with Anmol Somanchi)6. On the Epistemic Role of the Administrative State (with Kirun Sankaran)7. Rational Choice Theory, in Comprehensive Philosophy of Science, ed. Sven Ove Hansson. Philosophy of Social Science section ed. Till Grüne-Yanoff. Elsevier. (encyclopedia entry, invited, in preparation)

Going nowhere:

These are papers in beta mode, which means that even something resembling a draft does not (yet) exist. Feel free, nevertheless, to reach out if you are curious about what I am getting up to here.1. Against Anyaya: A Restatement and Defense of Amartya Kumar Sen2. What is the Point of the Capability Approach?3. Rational Decision Making with Multiple Considerations (with Susumu Cato)