Ph.D. Candidate
they/them
Pronouns: they/them/theirs
Interests: Political and Social Philosophy, Philosophy of Law, Feminist and Queer Theory
Website: https://linktr.ee/caseygrippo
See What Casey’s Reading: https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/caseygripps
Casey Grippo primarily works in the realm of social ontology, focusing on the relationship between social forces and individual identity formation. Their dissertation, a prescriptive project arguing for a politics of solidarity, concentrates on solidarity as one such individuating social force worthy of cultivation.
Inspired by philosophers like Baruch Spinoza, Gilles Deleuze, and Brian Massumi, Casey’s ontology centers becoming and the affective dimension of embodied life. In fact, this emphasis on affect is the thread that ties Casey’s work together. When they’re not working on their dissertation, Casey is often found writing on the role of affect in human reasoning and its socio-political impact. Otherwise, Casey is reading and writing about their favorite topic—social anarchism.
Prior to arriving at BU in 2020, Casey received a B.A. from Hofstra University (Major: Philosophy; Minors: International Affairs & European Studies; 2018) and an M.A. from The University of Luxembourg (Concentration: Modern & Contemporary European Philosophy; 2020). While Casey’s love for philosophy began in the French tradition after reading Camus’s Myth of Sisyphus as a young teen, they spent most of their pre-Ph.D. studies focused on German Idealism—specifically, Kant scholarship. They now jokingly refer to themself as “a reformed Kantian.”
Outside of their academic career, Casey spends most of their limited free time engaging in political organizing for various causes. They are also a founding organizer of the BU Graduate Workers Union (BUGWU), and they currently serve on BUGWU’s bargaining team.