About me

​Curriculum Vitae

Hi, I am Xiaoxing Zhang.  I work mainly on epistemology and the history of modern philosophy. My Ph.D. thesis, recently defended at Paris-Sorbonne University, argues for an orthodox version of "Cartesian epistemology." This position appears to be a little obsolete, but I seem to have found some treasure in Descartes' writings that can fend off several contemporary objections and save Descartes from his own troubles as well.

The precious texts of Descartes were digged from Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris where I did my M.A.. I still visit its tiny garden from time to time. The students just cannot stop throwing one another into the pool. Wish I were young. By the way, when I was really young as an undergraduate at Peking University, I was an admirer of Jacques Derrida. That's what had led me to Paris.

I did do some physical exercice in the garden though - traditional Chinese martial art. It has been an inspirational experience. Sometimes when it helps to find what Master Shifu calls "inner peace," I thought "maybe that could provide epistemic justification for Taoist doctrines." I thereby found the works of William Alston. Now I am still exploring the literature of religious epistemology and hope to contribute something from an oriental perspective.

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